redpoll
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2023
Posts: 6
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Post by redpoll on Oct 22, 2023 7:16:08 GMT -5
I'm completely new to this forum, so hello. It's not for my personal interest per se (though I do still find it interesting and I love gems/rocks/crystals in the form of jewellery), but we recently bought my mum a stone polishing kit for her birthday because she'd been on about having a go at it for ages. The kit came with a mix of raw stones (which are currently tumbling away, on step two I believe), consisting of some of the most common stones for polishing (quartz, rose quartz, tiger's eye, amethyst, aventurine, jasper, etc.), as well as some she picked up on the beach, but for Christmas I want to get her a mix of other, not so generic raw stones/gems to have a go at tumbling but I have no idea where to start. There are that many gems and minerals and I am quite familiar with a lot of them because of my love of gemstone jewellery, but Googling each one individually to find out whether it is tumbleable would take ages.
Could anyone recommend some stones that are tumbleable but are not one of the ones that are always recommended? Thanks.
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dshanpnw
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2020
Posts: 1,071
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Post by dshanpnw on Oct 22, 2023 7:29:38 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from Washington state, our state gem is petrified wood. It sounds like you bought a National Geographic tumbler kit. There are videos and links on how to better use that specific tumbler if you need advice for it. I would suggest some agates for starters, perhaps Botswana agates, or Mexican crazy lace. Those turn out very nice.
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iamchris
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2023
Posts: 722
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Post by iamchris on Oct 22, 2023 7:49:56 GMT -5
There are lots of options here for you to peruse!
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 22, 2023 8:26:06 GMT -5
redpoll - Welcome to the forum from South Dakota! I'll second what iamchris posted about getting rocks from The Rock Shed. In fact, you could get your mum the "mixed rock" option a little bit down the page. If she does have the Nat Geo tumbler, I'd recommend the "small" sized rocks. Now...since you called your mom your "mum"...I'm curious if you're on the other side of the pond. If so, there's a thread somewhere on the forum for suppliers in Europe...if you use the search the function, it'll be pretty easy to find the thread.
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geoff59
spending too much on rocks
Member since October 2022
Posts: 288
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Post by geoff59 on Oct 22, 2023 8:32:26 GMT -5
Hi and welcome i can’t really add much here, except that IMO tiger eye isn’t a good mix with quartz, or much of anything really. I don’t often tumble it, but on the occasion I do, the drum is all tiger eye and nothing else, it requires a bit of specific technique in order to have it come out right. I’ve never had good results mixing it with any variation of quartz. I would remove it from the drum the next time you routinely open the drum. Stick with the easy rocks for the first few batches, then after that move in to more specialty tumbles maybe. -Geoff
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michiganpebbler
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2023
Posts: 344
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Post by michiganpebbler on Oct 22, 2023 9:30:31 GMT -5
Welcome from lower Michigan! You’ve got some great advice here already. Jasper and agates are pretty easy to tumble and take a beautiful shine. And definitely watch the National Geographic tumbler video by Michigan Rocks. He’s got awesome tips for making that tumbler work best for you.
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redpoll
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2023
Posts: 6
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Post by redpoll on Oct 22, 2023 9:59:41 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from Washington state, our state gem is petrified wood. It sounds like you bought a National Geographic tumbler kit. There are videos and links on how to better use that specific tumbler if you need advice for it. I would suggest some agates for starters, perhaps Botswana agates, or Mexican crazy lace. Those turn out very nice. Yes, I think it was a National Geographic one. Thank you for your suggestions, I love agates, especially crazy lace agate .
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redpoll
off to a rocking start
Member since October 2023
Posts: 6
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Post by redpoll on Oct 22, 2023 10:10:56 GMT -5
redpoll - Welcome to the forum from South Dakota! I'll second what iamchris posted about getting rocks from The Rock Shed. In fact, you could get your mum the "mixed rock" option a little bit down the page. If she does have the Nat Geo tumbler, I'd recommend the "small" sized rocks. Now...since you called your mom your "mum"...I'm curious if you're on the other side of the pond. If so, there's a thread somewhere on the forum for suppliers in Europe...if you use the search the function, it'll be pretty easy to find the thread. I am indeed across the pond. Greetings from the UK . I'll have a look for suppliers in Europe as I don't know whether The Rock Shed ships to the UK, and if it does, it's probably extortionate.
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 22, 2023 10:56:54 GMT -5
redpoll - Welcome to the forum from South Dakota! I'll second what iamchris posted about getting rocks from The Rock Shed. In fact, you could get your mum the "mixed rock" option a little bit down the page. If she does have the Nat Geo tumbler, I'd recommend the "small" sized rocks. Now...since you called your mom your "mum"...I'm curious if you're on the other side of the pond. If so, there's a thread somewhere on the forum for suppliers in Europe...if you use the search the function, it'll be pretty easy to find the thread. I am indeed across the pond. Greetings from the UK . I'll have a look for suppliers in Europe as I don't know whether The Rock Shed ships to the UK, and if it does, it's probably extortionate. I'll admit...I was lazy and didn't feel like looking for it earlier! LOL Here's the thread...there might be a vender here that makes more sense: forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/94534/lapidary-vendors-worldwide
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Post by vegasjames on Oct 22, 2023 12:23:06 GMT -5
Welcome from Southern Nevada.
High silica rocks will tumble the best such as agates, jaspers, chert/flint. Personally, I like candy rhyolite the best as I like to tumble the stones without grit or polish, and the candy rhyolite takes the highest polish this way.
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dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,622
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Post by dillonf on Oct 22, 2023 14:28:03 GMT -5
If you are looking to do a cool mix I would suggest: Moss agates (any you can get), Botswana agate, Swazi (Mozambique) agate, I'm sure you can probably get a wider variety of Indian agates then we can, if you can get some Mexican lace agate I'd throw some of them in too. That would be a nice colorful batch.
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