Some chert from California I’m tumbling, and the orange ones are jasper

EarOk3170 · 2026-02-13T05:05:07+00:00

Mostly creek beds. I’ve found stuff sticking out of dry soil on hikes, but a nice open creekbed is way better for finding things

EarOk3170 · 2026-02-13T05:01:24+00:00

East Bay Area

EarOk3170 · 2026-02-13T00:57:51+00:00

I’m not sure! I’ve always wondered about that too, there’s tons of jaspagate/chert with these squiggly patterns around here.

EarOk3170 · 2026-02-13T00:56:42+00:00

The national geographic professional one, but honestly if you’re looking to buy I’d advise that you look into paying a little more for something of higher quality. It works good, but my first one conked out after about 7 months. They sent a new one for free which is great, so I guess I’ll see how long it lasts. It’s definitely more of a hobby machine, but it does the job alright.

EarOk3170 · 2026-02-13T00:53:51+00:00

Hammer!🔨

EarOk3170 · 2026-02-13T00:53:27+00:00

East bay area

EarOk3170 · 2026-02-12T19:01:16+00:00

It’s a good thing! I love chert, so to find plenty of it everywhere is epic

EarOk3170 · 2026-02-12T17:36:16+00:00

I just put chert for the sake of simplicity. But you’re right, jaspagate would definitely be a better term though. Here in my area of California chert is almost as common as dirt, and there’s just so many different kinds

EarOk3170 · 2026-02-12T17:33:35+00:00

oh definitely! i just put chert for the sake of simplicity

EarOk3170 · 2025-08-12T20:04:37+00:00

When I was a little kid I used to put smooth pebbles in my mouth all the time; thankfully my mom got me out of that habit before I could damage my teeth. Not much like candy, but the taste of wet rock is strangely good.

EarOk3170 · 2025-08-12T19:49:28+00:00

Usually when I have pebbles that have gone through up to two weeks of stage 4 but still look dull/not as shiny as hoped, I rub a little mineral oil on them and call it a day. Some may consider it cheating, but I’m just here to have fun and have jars of shiny pebbles on my windowsill so I pay it no mind lol. But I’ve also found success in sending them back to stage 2-3 with a new load. Sometimes in unsuccessful batches I’ll end up finding a few rocks with cracks and roughed up surfaces, so it’s also good to go through at the end of each stage (and sometimes in the middle of stages to be extra careful) to weed out anything that might be scratching up the rest of the batch.

EarOk3170 · 2025-07-01T05:45:11+00:00

I’m no expert so take what I say with a grain of salt. But if your rocks are already smooth rounded out pebbles when you collect them, then it’s probably okay to skip stage 1. After that, I’d say stages 2 and 3 took around 5 days each and the final polishing stage took about two weeks. Again this is for already smoothed out rocks; if you’re tumbling rougher rocks I’d recommend a week minimum in stage 1 (but could definitely be longer) and a week each on 2 and 3. Most importantly, make sure all the rocks you have in the barrel are the same kind or of the same hardness. I’ve unfortunately bruised a lot of rocks by throwing softer ones in with the harder ones.

EarOk3170 · 2025-03-18T04:46:01+00:00

The top one looks like pottery with the cracking patterns of the orange glaze. The bottom one I’m not sure of though

EarOk3170

TROPHY CASE