We use two level tablespoons of TXP aluminum polish for each pound of rock. Dusty media or media that has not been broken in and smoothed can scratch up your tumbled stones at this step. Add more media if needed, but if you have to add more media be sure it is clean POLISHED media. Also, make sure that the barrel is filled to the proper level. Polish Step: Be sure that the rocks, media, barrel and lid are extra clean. If you allow the rocks to tumble more than is needed, you run the risk of bruising. Add enough water to almost cover the rocks and tumble for one week. Use two level tablespoons of grit per pound of material for each of these steps. This should get the media up to the suggested 40-50% of barrel capacity. Add some additional media to bring the barrel up to proper level. Your rough volume will have dropped because of loss during the coarse and medium grit steps. Medium Grit and Fine Grit Steps: Again, fill the barrel 2/3 full. Then tumble for two to four weeks - or long enough to shape and smooth the stones. Add two level tablespoons of coarse grit per pound of material and cover the rocks completely with water. This can work well if your small rough meets two requirements: 1) the small pieces of rough must be blocky or rounded in shape to produce a good tumbling action - thin or flaky pieces will break up quickly and might not produce a smooth tumbling action 2) the small pieces of rough must have a hardness that is equal to or greater than the rough that they are tumbled with - if they are softer they will tumble into mud before their job has been done.īarrel slurry dumped down the drain will harden like concrete.Ĭoarse Grit Step: Fill the barrel 2/3 full with a mix of 20% media and 80% rose quartz. Using Small-Size Rough Instead of Media: Some people use small pieces of rough instead of media. The small pieces of media also deliver grit to all surfaces of the rough. The cylindrical shape of the ceramic media will act like a roller bearing and give the rocks a smooth tumbling action in the barrel. That will give you a ratio of about 70% quartz and 30% ceramics. When we tumble crystalline quartz in coarse grit, we fill the barrel about a third of the way with ceramic cylinders and then add the quartz. This is required if you want to avoid bruised tumbled stones. When you are happy with the shape, move on to medium grit.Ģ) Media Needed: You want crystalline quartz to be swimming in a sea of ceramic cylinder media. We suggest tumbling crystalline quartz in coarse grit for two weeks, clean the rough and the barrel, then run one or two more weeks in coarse grit - until you are happy with the shape. In small tumblers of two or three pounds capacity, three or four weeks - or longer - can be needed. For the rough that we are selling, in six-, twelve- and fifteen-pound capacity barrels, two to four weeks might be required to shape the rough nicely. When tumbling the rose quartz sold here, two things should be considered:ġ) More Time: Crystalline quartz is hard, and because of that it requires more time in the tumbler with coarse grit to produce nicely-shaped tumbled stones. The ceramic media absorbs much of the impact energy produced during the tumble. The small particles of ceramic media smooth the tumbling action, and isolate the pieces of quartz from impact with one another. This problem is easy to solve by tumbling the quartz in a sea of ceramic cylinder media. These bruises are caused by quartz-to-quartz impacts within the tumbler barrel. A few pieces might be a bit over or under those sizes.Īs a crystalline variety of quartz, rose quartz can be polished to a very high luster, but many people who tumble it in pieces over about one inch in size experience a problem - tiny bruises around the edges of their tumbled stones. Most of the material in these bags will be within the state size range along their maximum dimension. You might also slice this rough into small slabs, for cabbing or tumbling, with a trim saw or small slab saw. Smaller tumblers can be used as well, but fewer pieces will be able to fit in the barrel. They are large chunky pieces which will make beautiful tumbled stones in a large or medium-sized tumbler. This material is from South Africa and is being sold in five-pound bags. We are offering some beautiful rose quartz with a strong pink color. Rose Quartz Rock Tumbling or Cabbing Rough
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