Keyes Stones

07/28/2026

Stage 1 rock tumbling
Wash and reveal

Brazilian agate. Howlite. Sierra jasper, Bahia agate, Mexican lace agate. Laguna lace , Kambaba, prairie agate and more

17 lb Rebel Extreme Rotary
60/90 grit
10 days for this run … most rocks have been through stage 1 multiple times already

07/26/2026

Stage 5 finished a week of polish, got cleaned in the sonic cleaner, burnished w borax for an hour and dried for enjoyment

Miscellaneous tumbled and polished stones including …
Agate, jasper , quartz , petrified wood, serpentine, lace agate, dumortierite, feldspar, quartz, amethyst and more

07/17/2026

My rock tumbling process

Every stone I offer goes through a carefully controlled five-stage polishing process designed to bring out its natural beauty while meeting a professional standard. Many tumblers stop after four stages, but I go one step further with an additional finishing stage to achieve a deeper, more refined polish.

The process begins with rotary tumbling using coarse 60/90 grit to shape and prepare each piece. This first stage is the most demanding and often requires a month or more of careful processing, depending on the hardness, condition, and character of each stone. This extended shaping stage creates the foundation for a quality polish by refining surfaces and revealing the unique features of each piece.

After rotary preparation, stones move through vibratory polishing for stages two through five. The finishing sequence includes a 1,000 grit stage with a 1,500 grit recharge, followed by a final polish using 8,000 grit with a 15,000 grit recharge. Throughout every stage, I personally inspect each stone—including the smallest pieces—for quality, consistency, and polish before moving it forward. Only stones that meet our select and premium standards are offered in our higher-grade collections.

The result is a collection of carefully finished stones that showcase their natural patterns, colors, and character—each one receiving the time, patience, and attention to detail that natural stone deserves

07/15/2026

Lessons to re-remember. If that’s a thing.

Sadly my last two final polish batches both had stones that damaged during their run iand ruined the finish on all but my hardest stones .

One was Beryl from NH. A thin inch long shallow crevice appeared ... funnily, the beryl came out shined as well as a few other, mostly chalcedony, agates. The jaspers all have a dull finish as well as the dumortierite and quartz variations The other cause was a small piece of moss agate that broke up. I could see a sparky of courser grit in a cavity that was left. I’m guessing a crack occurred in an early stage and I didn’t reject it.

I reviewed the remaining. About 1/3 went back to stages 2->4 depending how they looked. Two pieces went back to stage one with new damage

I need to be more diligent about mixing types . More that just MOH hardness … how well they hold together … is it brecciated or something like lace that has different stone compositions within it.

Scrutinize each batch when dry. Every piece even the small ones

Do not advance tiny stones with normal sizes. The tiny ones are prone to breaking and their small size could gouge any parts that are softer rock or causing undercuts which could contaminate the polish

Don’t run the vibratory tumbler on high all the time. Softer rocks, crystalline rocks etc should be turned down and run longer if needed. Start on medium until a paste is starting then turn up. Listen to the rocks. If something sounds too rough then turn it down

07/13/2026

07/13/2026

Cleaning out Stage 5 on the Diamond Pacific 10lb vibratory tumbler using 8000 grit for the first 24 hours then add a teaspoon of 12000 grit for at least another 24 hours. Rinse and send to sonic cleaner for 15 minutes then rinse and burnish for 2 hours then dry and done

Enjoy

07/11/2026

Stage 3 rock tumbling from stage 3 vibration tumbler using 500 grit after 2 days

Misc types including quartz, chevron amethyst, African picture jasper, rose quartz, pink opal, lace agate, leopard skin jasper (rhyolite) and more

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do

07/09/2026

Green Tree Moss Agate and Rio Grande River Agate backlit