Large Lace Agate Tumble

That's the tricky thing tumbling rocks right? I definitely considered this very question every clean out. I knew there were seams visible on the outer surface when I started and I could really only guess how deep they'd go. Combine that with a lack of proper tools to do any serious shaping and I don't ultimately regret tumbling away so much mass. There were some details/patterns that I watched disappear but new ones were also revealed. A couple chunks cleaved off throughout the rough stage as well. One of which was large enough to take through polish on its own and keep. 

For me tumbling is like a big experiment and the real fun is in the process. I've had rock go in, that I expected to turn out amazing, only to have it break apart or be so riddled with pits beneath the surface that the end result is disappointing. I've had other rocks I've just thrown in to take up space come out looking pretty cool too. When I get a cool result that's just gravy on top. 

I did finally just pick up some diamond discs I can mount on a 7" DA sander. I tried doing some face polishing on rock halves I don't want to tumble (like thunder eggs). It's super labor intensive to work through all of the grit stages!! I was surprised just how much effort it took to smooth out some relatively fine saw marks left by my tile saw with lapidary blade. I have a couple other large lace agate chunks I may try this method on but I'm not very motivated to sink that much time into it.

Ultimately I've learned some things so no matter the end result here I think I'll end up calling this a success.