Rock Tumbling: obsidian from rough to polish in lortone and lot-o tumbler

My tumbling process goes as followed

1. Break or cut rocks into the right shapes and sizes I want for tumbling

2. I always start in my rotary tumbler and I roll them as many weeks as necessary to remove all the flaws. In my three pound barrel I use 3 tablespoons of 46-70 silicon carbide, in my 12lb barrel I use 14 tablespoons. I roll them a week then clean and inspect them. If they need more time I repeat this process. If I have more of the material I will remove any that are ready for the next stage and add new. I normally never use any Filler or media in coarse girt.

3. Once they are shaped and all the flaws are gone I move them to my lot-o vibratory tumbler for 189-220 silicon carbide. On this stage I do 2 one day runs with 1 tablespoons of 180-220 grit. I dump them and wash between the 2 runs. I always add ceramic media when I run in my lot-o and that media stays with that batch until they are done.

4. After the 180-220 stage it done I do a burnish run. For this I dump them and wash them and put them back it the barrel to clean the rocks and the barrel really good before the next stage. For the burnish I use 1 tablespoon of borax and run 1-2 hours.

5. After the burnish we are ready for 400-600 grit silicon carbide. On this stage I use 1/2 teaspoon of 400-600 grit and 1 tablespoon of borax and run for 3 days.

6. After 400-600 grit I run another burnish stage with 1 tablespoon of borax for 1-2 hours.

7. After burnish we are ready to run 1000 grit silicon carbide. This stage is also 1/2 teaspoon of 1000 grit and 1 tablespoon of borax and it runs for 3 days.

8. After 1000 grit I run another burnish with 1 tablespoon of borax for 1-2 hours.

9. Now we are ready for the polish stage. For this stage I run micro-alumina. I run a 1/2 teaspoon of the micro-alumina and 1 tablespoon of borax and it runs for 3 days.

10. After the polish is done I run another burnish stage and the rocks are done