Polishing Natural Stone Beads...

[gottjoy]

I have some strands of natural stone beads that I purchased fairly cheap - they look like they have been around for awhile, with some of the edges scratched. Has anyone tried using a rock tumbler or some other method to polish stone beads back to their original condition? Thanks, Joyce

[appyridr]

Can you tell me what the stones are (jasper, agate, etc) and the shape of the beads (are they smooth and rounded, faceted, etc). It would help if you could post a picture. And do you have a tumbler available?

[appyridr]

bump

[desertdesigns*]

Is there a way to polish stones like jasper, quartz or agate without a tumbler? I have a few pieces with edges here and there that are less than perfect.

[nono-badkitty]

Linda, I have 'fixed' stone beads with sandpaper and my dremel...depends on the bead shape and stone. They may not come out perfect, but a bad bead can be made useable 🙂 Especially jasper/agates and quartz! I have a variety of polishing and buffing wheels/tools for the dremel...depends on the shape of the bead too.

[desertdesigns*]

Cool. Thanks for the tips.

[appyridr]

A Dremel is great but it's slow going, especially if you have more than a couple of beads to do or they are very tiny. For just a quick polish or light scratching I would load a tumbler with the beads, plastic pellets to fill and protect, and use tin oxide for the polish medium. If the scratching goes deeper I would start with a prepolish of aluminum oxide and then run a second step with the tin oxide. For chipped beads I would go through the whole four step process but be aware that if the beads are faceted or have well defined edges this will change the shape and character and even the finished size of the beads I've also used my tumbler for reducing a high polish to a matte finish on all kinds of stone and glass beads. All in all the tumbler is a most useful tool and I couldn't go very long without it now. I think a small single barrel tumbler would be more than adequate for most users. I have a double barrel but I do a lot of stones that I've dug myself so I need the heavier duty equipment. Okay I'm through rambling. Any questions class? 😉

[appyridr]

See, I went a forgot something already. The length of time in the tumbler is dependant on the material, whether the stone is hard or soft. Try not to mix hard and soft stones. By the time the hard stuff is the way you want it, the soft will be worn away to nothing. Any more questions?

[ladybugdesignsbyamber]

I want a tumbler! You did stones, wow! I want to do that, where do you do that?? I dont even know where to buy any stones, all I ever find on ebay are chips 😞 I want bigger nugget type rocks. I am really starting to like the cherry quartz and yellow jade. And I really like jasper!

[captelaine_1]

I buy my stones from a retail store in Tallahassee Fla.. do a google search for Crystal Connection... I got some really lovely Malachite, and rose quartz as cheap as .25 each. The shop owners have been in a time warp since the 60's but it's a pretty cool place to buy rocks, polished and unpolished. Never thought about trying to tumble them myself... guess I'm too lazy... but I do love polished stones. Capt Elaine

[upzndowns]

hey Elaine, is that place in the upper level of the mall? i remember the first time i went to go visit my husband's grandparents, and he showed me around town (he lived there for awhile as a kid) and there was this store we visited that he had to literally drag me out of, after almost 2 hours of me picking up every little thing and declaring how much i NEEDED it 😉 i did make it out of there with a most awesome, very large pair of bookends made of geodes with orange and blue crystals :D sorry for hijacking, i have no clue how to polish stone beads; my only experience is from having a rock tumbler as a kid, and it disappeared after my dad got his electric bill...

[captelaine_1]

Could be the same folks, but they are in s strip mall off the Appalachee Parkway now... and yes I get lost in there for hours... or at least till the incense gives me a headache. :) Capt Elaine

[ladybugdesignsbyamber]

Hi Elaine, I found it but they just have pics, no order form or pricing 😞

[gottjoy]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their helpful comments. Looks like I need to purchase a tumbler. Does it have to be a special tumbler or just any old tumbler?

[ladybugdesignsbyamber]

I suggest getting a real one instead of a kiddie one if you plan on using it allot, the kiddie ones are so loud!