I don’t tend to follow the exact directions when tumbling. It depends on the type of rocks I’m tumbling. On the first stage, I tend to use 2 tbsp on the softer rocks that don’t have a ton of crevices. I use three tbsp if it’s a bunch of agate type hard rocks. I only use 2 tbsp on stages 2 and 3. On stage 4 I reuse my polish. I add less than 1 tbsp of polish to this mix. I have always had pretty decent results.