Stones are ranked on hardness on the “Mohs hardness scale,” which ranks from 1 (very soft)–10 (very hard). Most of the stones listed above are a 3 or 4 on the Mohs scale.
If the stone is left with a metallic mark from the knife blade, it is hard enough to polish. Be careful when using a pocket knife, and always scrape the stone with the blade moving away from your body. It doesn’t take much pressure to scrape the stone’s surface; start with light pressure on the knife, and only increase pressure as needed.
Once the stones have soaked, rinse them off. It’s necessary to clean excess dirt from stones before you polish them; otherwise, you’ll clog up your sandpaper or tumbler with dirt and the stones won’t be polished.
Once you see the final results, it will entice you to continue with this hobby.
Periodically, dip the stone into your bucket of water to keep the stone wet. Sandpaper is available from your local hardware store or online here: 60 grit, 160 grit, and 360 grit.
Remember to keep the stone wet; dip it in the bucket periodically. When all the larger scratches have been removed; proceed to the next step.
Continue to rinse off the rock periodically. It’s important that the rock surface be damp when you are sanding it. You will be finished once all scratches from the previous sanding have been smoothed over.
Three highly rated tumblers available online are this Dan&Darci kit, this National Geographic kit, and this Kome Stone kit. Although using a tumbler takes much less physical work than polishing by hand, the process takes substantial amounts of time. You’ll tumble your stones three times (each with a successively finer grit), and each of these tumbling sessions takes about 7 days. The final polishing step takes 7 days as well.
You don’t have to put a lot of polish on the cloth; it’s best to start with a small amount of the polish (e. g. ½ teaspoon) and only add more polish if needed. Powdered stone polish will likely be available at your local hardware store. Polishing powder is often used with dremel tools, so if you’re having trouble finding the powder, ask the sales staff if they stock dremels. If not, you may need to go to a rock or gemstone hobby store to find the powder. Be advised that colored polish will sometimes effect the color of the stone.
You can add polishing power onto the leather itself, for both a smoother and softer finished product. [5] X Research source
Be advised that this step is optional. Rouges are often colored, and can stain the tone of your stone. If you apply a rouge, look for a color that already matches that of your stone. [6] X Research source If you have trouble finding a rouge at your hardware store, check at a rock and gemstone hobby store. If that fails, try a jewelry store.
