You may wish to check out the "before" pictures at the link below. I've also added new
photos & info on ceramic shapes:  Tumbling Instructions Recipe
"Go To" :
Check out my ebay store,
Flickr, African Adventures &
even buy crystal/mineral
postage & postcards on
Zazzle!
Tumbling Page 2 - Finished results:
Here's how the batch turned out!
Updated May 13, 2018
11:00 AM Eastern Time
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Click here for info on the Georgia Rock shop : The Mineral Gallery in Mcdonough, Georgia. Just South of Atlanta
The fossil red horn coral  (shown at left
and below) turned out fantastic. Note
how much smaller they turned out
compared to the original size on the
previous page!
The pietersite shown at left also turned
out fantastic. I'll have lots of close-up
photos of the individual pieces lower
down on this page.  First I'll show the
group shots of everything.
The rutilated quartz and the ametrine
shown at left turned out okay. Some
were great, some fair, and some were
a little beat-up.  This indicates that I
needed more small buffer material in
the batch. See further down for lots of
individual photos of this material.
Shown at left is the small ametrine chips and amethyst. I ended up with a
full plate of the small material.


Shown below is some odds and ends as well as stones that I used as a filler
and buffer.  When you go from one stage to the next you need to add
material to keep the barrel full to the correct level. I used some ceramic
shapes (not shown) and also some stones that didn't have a good polish -
and even a few that had a good polish but I just needed them to bring the
level up so now those have an excellent polish!
Below is photos of one of the best pieces of pietersite.   It is
excellent material that looks fantastic when polished!
At left and below is a small and big woodward ranch
agate nodule or "biscuit" that I collected myself and then
tumble polished. Trey Woodward recommended at least
tumbling in coarse grit to remove the skin so that you
can see what kinds of patterns are inside.  The thick
rough skin always hides the interiors which can vary
wildly in appearance!
At left is a black plume
agate slab / slice that
polished well. I'm not
sure if I dug this at
Woodward or in Marfa or
if I got it in an estate that
I bought.
Below is Ametrine that I tumble polished. The smaller pieces turned out much better than the
larger pieces.
The bruises indicate that I didn't have enough small buffer material.  Quartz can be really tough to
polish as it bruises readily and much more so than other materials. I didn't waste any time getting
this on the shelves at my rock shop in McDonough, Georgia.
Click on photos to enlarge. Some
expand twice and are high resolution
that will fill even the widest screens.
Below are some hi-res photos of polished fossillized red horn coral.
Most greatly expand.
Below is some "Gary Green" also known as "Larsonite".  Beside that is
some tiger eye slabs and Arizona Petrified Wood.
Below is some of the rutilated quartz.   Some are perfect but some are bruised on the edges. Quartz is really susceptible to doing
that.  When you see edge bruising it generally means that there was not enough small buffer material used to cushion the stones
impact.  With the next batch I will add a lot of small and large sized ceramic media.
Below is more examples of polished pietersite. I have these for
sale in my rock shop in McDonough as well as listed on ebay.
Arizona Rainbow Petrified Wood that I dug in Arizona. Polished to perfection!
If you're in Georgia you can purchase these at my rock shop in McDonough, Georgia  (store web page
below)  or you can check out my items on ebay.  Just enter the item name in the search box that searches my
store content. Please note that items with a number in the photo are likely listed on ebay, but if there is no
number in the photo then that exact item is probably in my physical brick and mortar shop with only a similar
item available on ebay.
CLICK HERE FOR MY EBAY STORE
At left is an agate from Australia. I was
lucky to find some rough material at an
obscure show in Alpine, Texas that I
sometimes vend at.  I was also able to
get some nice Amethyst crystals from
Australia as well.  These were both
from a dealer that vacations in
Australia.
I got the amethyst before  people in
the public knew about the new finds.
I've added new pictures on the previous page that show the ceramic shapes that are used to improve
the grinding and polishing, and most importantly, to cushion to stones so that they don't bruise or
chip.  Quartz is very bad about bruising on any thin edges.   In hindsight I should have added a lot
more of the ceramic shapes.  
Yes, they can be a hassle to deal with as you have to catch them when rinsing off the stones between
grit phases.  Yes, they are expensive and they do wear down which adds an expense to polishing the
rocks.  The results are worth it though!  If you sell any of the stones the higher quality will easily pay
for itself.

Lower down is a link to my rock shop and ebay store if you are interested in buying some tumble
polished stones.     

I've started a new batch of the same types of stones and I an changing the recipe up some in order  to
see how this effects the finished results.  I'll post a link to new pages with the altered recipe and the
results lower down at the bottom of this page.
More Pietersite and other
tumbled stone photos are
shown below:
There's more!  Use the navigation bar at top of page to check out the new "Tumbling Page 3"
where I compare my Lortone QT12 with my Thumler's Ar12.