[bemilyjane]

My husband gave me raw garnets he found when he was a boy scout. Some of the stones are as big as an inch in diameter, and some are really small, like pea sized. I am interested in tumbling them or getting them polished. Should I invest in a rock tumbler? With these precious stones, will that damage them in any way?I'd like to eventually turn them into jewelry. Is this the best way to do this? Thanks!!

[★Greed★]

Yes, just keep the two sizes separated while cutting and polishing.

[dougger]

Probably not. You can get some nice polished garnets by tumbling but they will not be as pretty or as interesting as cutting (really grinding) the minerals into angular shapes with flattened polished surfaces. Most garnets are between 6 and 7.5 in hardness so grinding them and polishing them is not considered particularly difficult. To a beginner it will be though.Maybe you should do both. New tumblers are ridiculously over priced. Try to pick one up at a garage sale, since parents are always buying them as presents for children they are always available. Work with less valuable and softer stones until you learn and have some useful experience, getting good results from tumbling is actually pretty hard and takes 2 or 3 weeks for each full run.