New to tumbling

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peterau

Peter
Joined
Nov 20, 2013
Messages
226
Reaction score
207
Location
Adelaide, SA
Hi All, I have bought a tumbler and I am interested in trying to tumble some stones. I am completely new to this, so have a lot of unknowns. I have a lot of prehnite I collected when working at kalkaringi, I would like to tumble this. The prehnite is in various sizes and is sandwiched between a grey host rock. Do I have to remove this host rock before I tumble or will the tumbling remove the host rock. If I have to remove the host rock before tumbling, how do I do it. Do I cut the prehnite into tumbling sizes or just crack it up Any help appreciated.

Cheers peterau
 
What do you want to get out of your tumbling? Do you just want to polish your rocks or do you have plans for jewellery?
If the host rock is similar hardness you could tumble it with the prehnite and it should slowly remove it, may have to give them a bit longer at first two stages or re-tumble a few times to fully remove depending on hardness. If crumbly of soft better off getting rid of it before tumbling.
If you have a rock/tile saw you may be able to cut the rocks into shapes/sizes, as you want varying sizes in the barrel (so try not to do big bits one load and small in another, mix them up).
 
Hi Shivan, Thanks for your reply. I'm not sure where I want to go with lapidary, at this stage I have bought a tumbler and a tile saw. Happy for now to polish some prehnite and see what happens. The tumblers been going now for 2 days and the host rock is gone. Looks so different already, washed a couple of bits and there is a lot of cracks, I'll have to be more selective of what I put in the tumbler in future. Thanks again Shivan
 
G'day Peterau,

great to hear you are giving your tumbler a go. The Southern Rockhounds are holding their annual Gemfair this weekend at their clubrooms "The Log Cabin" 17 Gerald Court Christies Downs 10.00am to 5.00pm Saturday & 10.00am to 4.00pm Sunday. There will be tumblers in action as well as gold-panning Metal Detector demonstrations by the Southern Seekers metal detecting club. Numerous displays and demonstrations as well as heaps of stalls. Come down and have a look and ask any questions regarding tumbling as there are members who are willing to share their knowledge.
 

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