CStone Tumbling Service
Our tumbling service is the heart of this shop. We take a rough load, weigh it, record it and place it in a barrel with the right grit and the right amount of water. The drum then turns for days at a slow, even speed so that the stones round against each other rather than against a hard tool. Coarse work is done first to knock down the corners and open the surface, and only when that stage is finished do we wash the load and move it down a step.
Timing matters more than equipment here. A drum pulled too early leaves fractures that will only crack later, and a drum left too long wastes material that had real colour inside it. We step the grit by hand, inspect the load between stages and note how each stone is reading before the next run begins. For collectors who send a full bucket, this is what keeps a good piece from being ruined by a bad neighbour in the barrel.
- Staged rotary runs from coarse cut through to the last prepolish.
- Weighed and logged loads so nothing is lost between stages.
- Hand inspection at every grit change before the drum turns again.
ASurface Polishing
Polishing is where a dull shell becomes a stone worth keeping. After the prepolish stage we move the load into the glaze drum, where a very fine medium closes the last of the surface and starts to bring up depth. From there the pieces go to the cloth wheel, one at a time, so the operator can see the sheen arrive and stop before it burns. This is the stage that lifts the flame colour out of a carnelian and makes the banding legible all the way through.
We keep the glaze bench against the window wall, with a felt lined tray and a drain board so pieces rest clean while they cool. No polish is applied by machine alone. The final pass is always a hand buff on cloth, and we look at each stone under the shop light before it earns the word finished. If a surface is still hazy under that light, it goes back a step rather than out the door.
- Glaze drum run followed by a hand buff on the cloth wheel.
- Each stone checked under shop light before it is called complete.
- Hazy pieces return a stage instead of leaving the bench.
RCutting and Shaping
Not every stone fits a barrel. A heavy nodule, a slab with one ragged corner or a piece with an awkward fracture all need the trim saw before grit is any use. Cutting and shaping brings a rough piece down to a size and a form that will finish evenly across its whole surface. We square edges, remove thin sections that would break in the drum and reduce oversized material so that the whole load can run on the same schedule.
Shaping is careful work because a saw removes material that cannot be replaced. We look at the banding before a single cut and decide which face is worth keeping, then work the piece so that the best pattern ends up on the finished surface. For makers who send blanks, this stage also settles the outline the piece will hold once it is polished and mounted.
- Trim saw work to size oversized or awkward rough.
- Fracture and edge removal so loads finish evenly.
- Banding reviewed before a cut so the best face is preserved.
NRough Stock Selection
Rough stock selection is the quiet service that saves the loud ones. A mixed bucket rarely belongs in one drum. Hard and soft material finish at different rates, and a single soft piece can grind down to nothing while a hard neighbour is still rough. We sort incoming loads by hardness, by fracture and by colour band, then set the pieces into groups that can travel together. The pieces that are not worth the time we say so plainly, before any grit is spent on them.
This stage is also where a collector learns what is actually in the bucket. We will point out the stones with real depth, the ones with a fracture running through them, and the ones that only look promising wet. That reading is worth more than a fast run, because it decides the shape of the whole batch that follows.
- Sorting by hardness, fracture and colour band before any run.
- Grouping so no piece is ground away by a harder neighbour.
- A plain account of which rough is worth the drum and which is not.
LCollection Restoration
Stones that have lived on a shelf for years come to us cloudy, scratched and dull from handling. Collection restoration brings them back without grinding away what made them worth keeping. We start at a gentle stage, lift the surface haze slowly and stop the moment the original depth returns. The goal is not a new stone. The goal is the old stone as it looked before the wear, still holding its original shape and its original edge.
This service suits heirlooms, club shelf pieces and any carnelian that has lost its shine to time rather than damage. We photograph a restored piece beside its condition on arrival, so the owner can see exactly how much was taken off and how much was left. If a piece is too fragile for the drum, we say so and work it only by hand.
- Gentle re-runs that lift haze without erasing the original form.
- Before and after record so the owner sees what changed.
- Hand only treatment for pieces too fragile for a barrel.
SDisplay Mount Preparation
A finished stone still has one more stop before it belongs on a shelf. Display mount preparation cleans the surface, settles the footing and prepares the piece for the plinth, tray or cabinet it will sit on. We remove the last of the polish residue, check that the stone stands level without wobbling, and where a mount is wanted we set the piece so it presents its best face to the room.
This is the stage that turns a nice stone into a display piece. Collectors who keep their material in cases want every item ready to place the moment it comes out of the wrap, and that is what we return. Nothing here changes the stone itself. It simply makes sure the stone arrives in the condition the drum and the bench worked to produce.
- Surface clean and residue removal after the final polish.
- Footing checked so the piece stands level on its shelf.
- Best face set toward the room for cabinet and plinth displays.