After finishing my first batch of tumbles, I took a long break from operating my rock tumblers.
Tumble Batch 1: General failure, lessons learned
Tag: rock tumbling
Tumbling away, short hound at the beach, defining “high grade”
Our special British Columbian rocks have been travelling all over the United States lately, and between that and my own tumbling, I felt justified doing a quick rockhound on the weekend.
Tumbling away, Dallasite out of the rotaries and into the vibe
I’ve just been tumbling away over here. I took my 24 lbs of Dallasite out of my rotary tumblers after about 10 days in coarse grind and put a different batch of Dallasite in my vibratory tumbler on final polish.
Dallasite and Flowerstone cabochons!
We’re breaking new ground at BC Rockhound. I sent some Dallasite and Flowerstone to Tommy Lay, the best cabochon maker I’ve seen on the internet.
Blown away by Dallasite
I took my 24 pounds of Dallasite out of coarse grind in the tumblers today. No matter how many times I tumble this jasper, I am always blown away by some of the pieces that come out.
Beach rockhound with a deer
I went on a quick trip to my favourite Vancouver Island beach as the sun came up one recent morning. This is the beach I found my first piece of Dallasite on. It still yields more than enough beautiful rocks for me and anyone else who would be interested.
Setting the tumblers, need more!
I’m badly in need of more rock tumblers. I set both of my rotary tumblers last night and had my vibe going the whole weekend. But it’s not enough. My rockhounding hobby is dwarfing my production capacity. I am looking for a warehouse of some sort and operations headquarters.
Glad to be a lonely rockhound
I went back to a local beach in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, this morning for a quick rockhound before the heat got too serious. I wasn’t the only one out there, and not even the only one after rocks.
Pits, cracks and undercutting: the sad side of rock tumbling
It’s painful to go through your freshly tumbled rocks and hold your breath when you see a great one and then inspect for problems. Sadly, some of my best-looking pieces have suffered from undercutting during the rock tumbling process.
Petrified Wood update, getting the beauty out
Along Lower Mainland river basins I find a lot of what I assume is petrified wood, with the odd piece from the ocean. Some look perfectly like wood and are very striking, but many look quite dull and are harder to positively identify. But tumbling stones can bring out the beauty in them.