My old rock tumbler was leaving my agates scratched up and dull

I was getting really bad results with my agates from Lake Superior, even after the polish stage. I read online to add a tablespoon of borax to the final polish grit. Did that, ran it for another two days, and the difference was crazy. The stones came out with a real shine, no more tiny scratches. Has anyone else found a good fix for a cheap tumbler?

2 comments

2 Comments

julia2868d ago

I always thought borax was just for laundry. My dad used it in his old tumbler back in the 90s and I figured it was an outdated trick. After reading your post I tried it with my last batch of Montana agates. The shine is completely different, like a wet look instead of just smooth. I guess some old methods still work best. What kind of polish grit were you using when you added the borax?

the_dylan8d ago

What grit size are you running before that polish stage? Sometimes the scratches come from not stepping down fine enough first.