November 2017 – TumbleStone

The Seven Stages in Tumble Polishing Stones: Stage Two, 100 Grit Tumble, 15-25 November 2017

There are seven stages in the tumble polishing of stones. The first stage is acquiring the rough stones, the topic of The Seven Stages in Tumble Polishing Stones: Stage One, Stone Collection, Riverton, 2-6 November 2017. The stones to be tumbled as illustrations in this series are described in The Seven Stages in Tumble Polishing Stones: The Selected 40 Stones. Stage Two involves tumbling rough stones in a solution of water and a low grade abrasive grit, in this case, 100 grade silicon carbide. (Note that if a beach stone is quite smooth, this stage, and even the next one, could be skipped. If a stone is quite rough or jagged or has pits in it, it might need to go through this stage twice.) A 4lb tumbling barrel will be used as the largest stones are too big for the smaller 3lb barrel.

Note that in this series I have counted the collection of stones as Stage One. Nearly all other accounts of tumble polishing call the 100 grit tumble (or the tumble with some other coarse grade grit) Stage One whereas I have called it Stage Two – and this affects the numbering of all subsequent Stages.

NOTE: March 2021. My supplier now stocks 80/100 grit instead of simply 100. The former contains a range of grit sizes between 80 and 100 which actually has little different effect on stones, being only slightly more corrosive.

First, the stones are placed in the 4lb rubber barrel and plastic beads (also known as pellets) are added. The beads help to “carry” the grit to the surfaces of the stones, making the process more efficient and thorough. When not enough stones are available to make a good-sized load, beads are also used to bring the contents of the barrel up to two-thirds full, the ideal level of good tumbling (see this video for a demonstration of why two-thirds is a good level). These beads were bought from my stone tumbling supplier in Rotorua. Once beads are used with a particular grade of grit, they are stored in a marked container and used only with the same grit – this prevents contamination of one kind of grit by another (each grade of grit produces a consistent set of minute scratches on the stones, contributing to the final polished product). I have a kitchen dessert spoon that I use for 100, 220 and 320 grit beads, and another is used for the pre-polish and pro-polish beads, again to minimise cross-contamination. I added 10 dessert spoons of beads to the barrel, then added water to just above the level of the stones and beads.

b - 4lb barrel — About to add beads to 4lb barrel

c - 4lb barrel with beads — Barrel is 2/3 full of stones and beads

d - 4lb barrel with beads and water — Water is added, to just above the level of the stones

Silicon carbide grit is added next. I use seven tablespoons of 100 grade grit for a 4lb barrel load (the guidelines are “6 to 8 tablespoons”). I keep different grades of grit in their own containers, and each container has its own tablespoon measuring spoon (to avoid cross-contamination):

e - 4lb barrel and 100 grit container — About to add 100 grade silicon carbide grit

f - 100 grit — A measuring spoon is kept in each grit container

g - 100 grit being added — The grit is added to the mix of stones, beads and water

h - 100 grit being added 222 — Seven tablespoons of grit have been added

The lid is then placed on the barrel and the barrel placed on the tumbler. It will now rotate continuously on the tumbler for at least seven days (the recommended time). Longer is fine – I often tumble for about two or three days more. The grit breaks down after a while, but then it can act like a finer grit.

i - top on barrel — It is important not to over-tighten the lid

j - barrel ready — The barrel ready to be placed on the tumbler

k - tumbler motor — A small electric motor turns one of the rods

l - barrel on tumbler — The barrel rotates at a slow and steady rate. The electric motor is very quiet. As the barrel is rubber, there is little noise made by the tumbling

Finally, I fill out the Tumble Log, noting where the stones are from, the type of barrel and grit used, how many beads or pellets were put in, the time and day the tumbler was started, how much grit was used, and the weight of the stones. This is my 189th barrel since I placed the first one on the tumbler in March 2016.

m - tumbling log entry — I developed this simple log myself and print off pages as needed

Nine days later, on Friday 24 November, I turn the tumbler off and prepare to open the barrel to see how the stones have fared. I grab a yellow plastic colander that hangs on the wall under a calendar and then select the appropriate stainless strainer from nearby, one labelled for 100 grit. There is a strainer dedicated to each grade of grit and polish, to avoid cross-contamination. I place a bucket in the sink then put the colander and strainer across the top. I will pour the stones and beads into the strainer, to wash them, and the colander will act as a safety net in case some spill over the side of the strainer. I also have some paper towels handy for cleaning and mopping up purposes.

n1 collander — Plastic colander, which is placed under a strainer whenever barrels are emptied and stones washed, to act as a safety catcher

n2 strainers — Bottom left is 100 grit stainless steel strainer, bottom right is 220 grit strainer. Top strainers are for 320 grit, pro-polish, and pre-polish. Small strainer at bottom, far right, is a spare one, sometimes used for scooping up beads that have fallen into the bucket

n5 work station — Work station around the tap and sink, built by my wife Petra (who also tumble polishes stones). Paper towels are used for cleaning and mopping up

n6 prep1 — After tumbling, the contents of the barrels are poured into a strainer resting on the colander, placed over a bucket. This allows slurry to be disposed of appropriately

I carry the 4lb barrel over to the sink and take the top off. Inside what is first apparent is the grey liquid slurry that contains the material that the grit has worn away from the stones. Some broken down grit will also be part of this mix. I hold the lid under the stream of water from the tap so that the slurry and beads on the lid are washed into the strainer. I then use a paper towel to wipe the lid, especially the outer rim which is the connection to the barrel’s rim – when the lid is placed back on the barrel, this connection needs to be clean so that the seal is a good one. No matter how much water is run on the lid to clean it, a paper towel will always pick up more.

n7 lid off — After a few days tumbling, the water in the barrel contains a grey slurry of very fine material worn away from the stones. Sometimes there may also be a little foam

n7 wash lid — Rinsing off the lid, holding it so that any beads are washed into the strainer

n8 lid wipe — Wiping the lid after the rinse will remove any remaining slurry and/or broken down silicon carbide

The contents of the barrel are then poured carefully into the strainer, usually with water running to assist the clearing and cleaning process. The beads and stone are covered in the grey slurry, and at the bottom of the barrel will be a muddy sticky layer where the slurry has started to settle in the short time it has stopped tumbling. Some of the smaller stones are likely to get stuck in this and extra water will be needed to free them. We reach the point where the stones are relatively clean and 99% of the grey slurry has been washed through into the bucket beneath.

n9 slurry pour1 — Pouring the barrel’s contents into the strainer

n10 slurry pour2 — The stones are covered with the slurry

n12 slurry pour4 — There is usually some slurry that has settled at the bottom of the barrel, and water may need to be run into it to remove the last stones and beads

n13 slurry rinse — Once all the stones and beads are in the strainer, some water is run over them to wash away the slurry covering them

n14 slurry rinse2 — The stones and beads after the initial rinse

The next steps are to empty the slurry, clean the barrel, and do a final rinse of the stones before putting them back into the barrel for a soapy tumble.

The slurry in the red bucket in the sink is poured into a bucket on the floor. There, over the next few days, the slurry will settle. The water on top can eventually be poured off and the accumulated sediment in the bucket will be buried or otherwise disposed of. Slurry should never be poured down the drain in a house as the sediment will accumulate in the S-bend, turn as hard as concrete, and block the pipe. Once the slurry has been poured out of the red bucket, it will need rinsing. The sink in my shed has no S-bend, drains through a hose out onto the ground a few metres away, so sending some slurry down it is ok.

n15 slurry — The slurry in the bucket after the first wash of stones

n16 slurry pour — Pouring the slurry into settling buckets on the floor

n17 bucket after slurry pour — The bucket needs to be rinsed, and sometimes wiped, to get rid of the slurry remnants

The 4lb tumbler barrel needs to be well washed out. Then attention needs to be given to the rim of the barrel, where the lid “seats” and seals. Stubborn slurry needs to be removed. I use a toothbrush for this, and have a brush for each grade of grit and polish (with the grade written on each). Finally I wipe the rim down with a paper towel.

n19 brushes — I keep three toothbrushes in a jar, to clean the barrels. The spoon is to move the washed beads from the strainer

n20 barrel clean1 — Each toothbrush has the grade of grit written on it to avoid cross-contamination

n21 barrel clean2 — Using the toothbrush to clean slurry and grit from the rim of the barrel

n22 barrel clean3 — A final clean of the rim with a paper towel

The stones and beads in the strainer are then given a thorough rinse, to remove as much slurry from them as possible. After that, I place the stones then the beads back in the 4lb barrel, topping them up with some more beads (as the size of the stones has been reduced due to the previous nine days of tumbling and it is a good idea to refill the barrel to two-thirds). Water is added to the level of the top of the stones, and a little soap is sprinkled on top. I have seen various sources recommend the use of a mild low-sudsing soap, with Sunlight mentioned. I have managed to track down an outlet for Sunlight soap and I grate the cakes. The lid is then placed on the barrel and it is put on the tumbler for a few hours. This cleans the last of the slurry off the stones, and also cleans the inside of the barrel.

n18 final rinse — Final rinse of the stones and beads

n23 replace in barrel1 — The washed stones are placed in the barrel again for a soap tumble

n24 replace in barrel2 — The beads are also rinsed

n25 replace in barrel3 — Using the spoon to put the rinsed beads back in the barrel

n26 bead topup — Topping up the barrel with other beads that have previously been used for 100 grit tumbling

n27 soap1 — Grated sunlight soap is stored nearby

n28 soap2 — Just a few gratings are added then the lid is put on and the barrel placed back on the tumbler

The two last jobs for this phase is to clean the bucket (it contains the remnants from the final rinse of the stones) and to add details to the Tumbler Log about the time the tumbling ended, how long the tumble period was, and to note when the soap tumble started.

n29 bucket after rinse and remove — This is the water in the bucket after the stones and beads have had their second rinse.

n30 log update — Adding details to the Tumbling Log

After 12 hours, I take the barrel off the tumbler to remove the stones and beads from the soapy water. They are placed in the strainer again and rinsed. The stones are placed on a paper towel. I remove as much water from the beads as I can then they are spooned into the “100 grit” storage container.

n31 after soap1 — Not a lot of soap is needed for an effective wash

n32 after soap2 — Using the colander and strainer to rinse the soapy stones

n34 after soap4 — This is the result of the 12 hour soapy tumble – a significant amount of extra slurry is removed

n33 after soap3 — The washed stones are taken from the strainer and placed on a paper towel

When I weighed the dry stones, I found they were now 1470 grams, having lost 135 grams during the tumbling process. This means they lost 8.4% of their weight. In my experience, this is towards the lower end of the expected range, meaning that perhaps at least some of the 40 stones being tumbled are relatively hard. I add the end weight to the Tumbling Log.

n35 weigh after 100 — Weighing the dry stones after the 100 grit tumble

The last thing to be done before the stones go to the next tumbling stage is to “sort” them. This means that I look at each stone in good light while it is dry. I look for lack of smoothness and consider whether a stone would benefit from more tumbling in 100 grit. A relatively small imperfection in smoothness is ok as the 220 grit tumble will remove that. In rare cases I will decide that a stone can skip the 220 grit stage and move straight to the 320 grit tumble. Sometimes, especially after the finer grit tumbling, I use a loupe (magnifying glass) to check for cracks, pits and imperfections before deciding what to do with a stone. This loupe can magnify three times (the magnification I used most often) or six times or nine times.

n37 sorting — My sorting tray for Riverton stones

n38 magnifier — My loupe, or magnifying glass – it has three x3 lenses that can be “overlapped” to increase magnification

The next Post considers the inspection and sorting of the stones prior to them being tumbled in 220 grade silicon carbide grit.

The Seven Stages in Tumble Polishing Stones: The Selected 40 Stones

The first Post in this series described Stage One, Stone Collection. To illustrate the next six stages in the tumble polishing of stones, I decided to select 40 of the stones I had collected at Riverton in early November. I chose a range of sizes, colour and quality. The following are photos of all 40 stones, first of all how they appear dry and then how they appear wet. This demonstrates how wetness brings out colours and patterns much better.

Stones 1 to 5:

1st 4 dry 1st 4 wet

It will be interesting to see how much of each stone is worn away throughout the tumbling process. Stone 1 (far left) is about 8 cms long and about 5 cms wide at its widest point (using the graph paper it is lying on in the “dry” pic above). Stone 3 is about 6 cms long and 4.5 cms wide, while Stone 5 (far right) is just over 7 cms long and is 3 cms wide. I think that Stone 1 is of volcanic origin, as it has small specks in it that would have originally be gaseous pockets, and will turn out to be similar to another Riverton stone I polished recently (below).

Stone 2 is also probably volcanic in origin, having similar specks. Stone 4 looks like a conglomerate (which simply means it consists of small rounded stones cemented together in a fine-grained matrix). [As its surface became clearer after some tumbling, I decided Stone 4 is in fact a breccia, composed of angular fragments.] Stones 1, 2, 4 and 5 would be too big for a 3lb barrel.

Stones 6 to 10:

2nd 4 dry 2nd 4 wet

These are progressively smaller, with Stone 6 (far left) being about 6 cms long and 4 cms wide. Stone 7 could be argillite (a kind of mudstone subjected to heat and pressure) or epidote (green coloured rock), Stone 9 is a breccia (which simply means it consists of broken fragments of very small stones) and Stone 10 is another conglomerate.

Stones 11 to 15:

3rd 4 dry 3rd 4 wet

The progression to smaller continues. Stone 14 (second from right) is a pink granite that is just over 5 cms long and is just under 4 cms wide at the top. Stone 12, a quartzite, demonstrates how wetness brings out the nature of a stone. Dry, it appears a bland white. Wet, patterns of colour in a strand-like formation become visible with a subtle depth being present. Stone 15, which could be argillite, has an interesting wavy band of white silica.

Stones 16 to 20:

4th 4 dry 4th 4 wet

Stones 18 and 19, both about 4 cms long, are potentially quite spectacular. Stone 18 has a number of different coloured bands. Stone 19 contains contrasting black and white sections, and it will be interesting to see if these erode or polish differently.

Stones 21 to 25:

5th 4 dry 5th 4 wet

Stone 25 (far right) has some interesting bands that will be brought out by the tumble polishing, but Stone 22 (second from left) may turn out to be even more interesting. The white on the surface of Stone 23 (middle) may be worn away in the process it goes through, but there may be interesting patterns underneath.

Stones 26 to 30:

6th 4 dry 6th 4 wet

Stone 26 (far left) is 3.5 cms long and just over 2.5 cms wide. Its two-toned character attracted my eye on the beach. White is a colour that always stands out on the beach too, Stone 27 being a white quartz with a couple of dark intrusions.

Stones 31 to 35:

7th 4 dry 7th 4 wet

Stone 31 (left) may be part-jasper, and Stones 32 and 34 are probably varieties of jasper. Stone 33 has interesting reddish protuberance that caught my eye on the beach. Stone 35, white quartz, is 3 cms long and just under 2 cms wide.

Stones 36 to 40:

8th 4 dry 8th 4 wet

The smallest stone, Stone 40 (far right), jasper, is 2 cms by 1.5 cms. Up to 20% of a stone may be worn away by the tumbling process so not much may be left of this at the end. However, small stones are good in a tumbling barrel as they “carry” the grit and polish to the larger stones.

I weighed the 40 stones on a set of scales I have in my stone tumbling shed. First placing the empty container on the scales, I moved the setting back to zero so that only the weight of the stones would be indicated = 1605 grams (3.5lbs).

a - weigh in

I will weigh the stones after each stage of tumbling to see how much of them is worn away.

The next Post in this series describes Stage Two of tumble polishing, the 100 grit tumble.

Hard Won and Well Deserved! The Final Thesis Milestone

I supervised Charlotte’s Masters thesis, The Price of Pain: Studying Strategies Used by Women with Chronic Pain Disability to Sustain Worker Identity. As each chapter was completed, Charlotte chose a “milestone”, a polished stone to symbolise significant progress. This is the final milestone, chosen to signify the end of the journey. A fitting stone for a gem of a thesis!

013A

UPDATE

One year later, the “milestones” are still functioning as intended. Charlotte posted a comment and photo on Facebook:

“Someone came to replace my computer at work and noticed my milestones. They sit on my desk and are a reminder of how anything can be achieved one small step at a time. Still some of my favourite things and a wonderful reminder of each small step and the people who helped along the way.”

chstones

Tips on Using “Maps Past”

In Maps as a Resource: New Zealand’s “Maps Past”, Part One and Part Two, I demonstrate ways in which the “Maps Past” website provides maps of interest to researchers. The following is a step-by-step introduction to using the website for those who might find it useful.

Step One: Go to http://www.mapspast.org.nz. The following (or something similar) is likely to open as the home page:

01 home page

The next two steps are aimed at getting rid of unnecessary material from the screen before zeroing in on a location of interest.

Step Two: Get rid of the “Select basemap” pop-up menus by clicking on the “x” on it (circled in black on the image below):

02 home page base map pop up

Step Three: Remove the text material from the lefthand side of the page by clicking on “Mapvv” (partly circled in black in the image below) which is on the righthand margin at the top:

03 home page margin

This then should leave you with a map of New Zealand and seven icons at the left top of the page:

04 home page simple

The seven icons are:

05 icons

From left to right:

White plus and minus signs on blue background = Zoom in/Zoom out.

Three layers icon = “Select basemap” = Brings up list of 14 options, most of them decades.

Cog icon = “Map options, Coordinate format” = Brings up list of 11 options.

White i in blue circle = “Show mapsheet details for current series when you click on the map”.

Clipboard list with white i in blue circle on bottom right corner = “List all available mapsheets at point you click on the map”.

Magnifying glass with three arrows = “Zoom to extent of current mapsheet/series”.

Two chain links = “Show URL of currently displayed map”.

Below I will discuss the use of four of these icons – the first, second, fourth and fifth. I have found that I can achieve what I want through using these four.

Step Four: Use the “Zoom in” icon (white plus sign on blue background at top left of screen) to zoom in to the location you want to examine. You are likely to also need to move the map to bring your intended location to the centre of the screen – move the cursor to somewhere on the screen, click and hold, then move the cursor – this will move the map. I have chosen to zoom in on Riverton at the bottom of the South Island (see below). At the bottom right hand of the screen are some figures, the scale of the map on screen, the map sheet or series, and co-ordinates of the cursor. In this case, for example, there is “Scale = 1 : 27K” (27K = 27000) and “NZTM2000” map series. This information may or may not ever be of use to you.

06 Riverton11

Step Five: Once you have zoomed in to the location you want, at the scale or level of detail you want, you can then click on the “Select basemap” icon (three layers icon) at the top left to choose which map you want to see.

07 Riverton select basemap start1111

I decided to try to find the earliest map. I clicked on the fourth last map “NZMS13 1899”. The list then disappeared and the screen went blank. This means such a map does not exist. I clicked again on the “Select basemap” icon to bring the list of maps up again, and clicked on “NZMS13 1909”. Same blank result. When I next clicked on “NZMS13 1919”, the following map came up:

08 Riverton 1919

The 1929 map was the same. The 1949 map was not at a good level of detail:

09 Riverton 1949

But the 1959 map was a good one:

10 Riverton 1959

And we could go on, choosing more recent maps or the air photo…

Step Six: Finding out what maps are available for the location. To do this, you click on the icon of a clipboard list with white i in blue circle on bottom right corner – this is to “List all available mapsheets at point you click on the map”. This icon turns green when you click on it. You then click on a point on the map and a popup list appears which you can scroll down. This lists all maps that have been published or are available for this location.

The earliest map listed for Riverton is Series: NZMS13 Sheet: SD58, Printed: 1910. This will be why no map came up earlier for 1909 but one came up for 1919 when I was using the “Select basemap” icon.

Step Seven: Finding out which map you are viewing. When a map is on the screen, you can use the icon of the white i in blue circle = “Show mapsheet details for current series when you click on the map”.

12 Riverton map being viewed

This icon also turns green when you click on it. You then click on a point on the map and a popup list appears which identifies the map that is being shown. In the case above, the 1910 map is identified even though the map came onto the screen originally when I was using the “Select basemap” icon and had chosen “NZMS13 1919” from its menu list. In other words, the decade menu list that appears when you click the “Select basemap” icon does not mean that the map that comes up was published the year shown (1919 in this case) but it may have been earlier (1910 in this case).

It was the use of these steps that helped me obtain the material discussed in the Posts Maps as a Resource: New Zealand’s “Maps Past”, Part One and Part Two, and which has proved useful in my local history and family research.

Maps as a Resource: New Zealand’s “Maps Past”, Part Two

In a previous Post, Maps as a Resource: New Zealand’s “Maps Past”, Part One, I introduced the website “Maps Past” and discussed the first four of the following nine maps from that website relating to the Waikaka District. This Post discusses the last five maps, in the context of local and family history.

Note that the following map images are not expandable – use the thumbnail above for a more detailed view of any of the maps. The fifth map is for the decade ending in 1979. The “Maps Past” website indicates this is based on the NZMS1 topographic series “Heriot” Sheet published in 1974:

005 - NZMS1 1979

The Waikaka Branch Railway closed in 1962. On this map, the “Old railway formation” is noted, although only the last couple of miles of it. Uniquely among the maps examined here, included are the names of a number of local farms, including “The Mains”. Usually these names go back to the 1870s and 1880s when the large pastoral runs were broken up for farms, and often refer back to a place or district in the “Home Country”, especially Scotland, of the new owner. “Turnbulls Road” is now “Turnbull Road”. Note that the road running north-south on the east bank of the East Branch of the Waikaka Stream is called “East Waikaka Road”. This later changes too. [The term “East Branch” is near the top of the map, just to the east of the town name “Waikaka”.]

The sixth map is for the decade ending in 1989. The “Maps Past” website indicates this is based on the NZMS260 1:50000 topographic series “Gore” Sheet published in 1981 (maps three, four and five had the pre-metric scale of 1:63360):

006 - NZMS1-260 1989

The road running north-south on the east bank of the East Branch of the Waikaka Stream is now called “Gardyne Road” after families who farm in this area. A “Rubbish Dump” now appears in the middle of “The Mains”, an arrangement made for locals for a number of years. The dump was located quite close to Shepherd’s Creek (which is not named on the map), a stream historically important for gold recovery, including near Waikaka town and even further upstream. It was dammed near Waikaka in 1870 and fed the “Great Waikaka Water Race”. “The whole race was about nine miles long [14.5 kms], two feet deep and four feet wide [0.6 and 1.2 metres]…[It] included seven flumes, the shortest one being five chains [100 metres] and the longest 57 chains [1150 metres]” (D. McKenzie, “Early Waikaka”, pages 43-47 of “Records of the Gore and Surrounding Districts’ Early Settlers’ Association” 1927). These flumes were in effect aqueducts on trestles, some of them a number of metres high off the ground where gullies were crossed. Near the start of the race, a couple of tunnels had been dug to allow further water to be fed in from the Waikaka River to the northwest of the town. In “Waikaka Saga” (1962), Evans contends that the 57 chains is an exaggeration for the length of the longest flume but he otherwise confirms the extent of the enterprise. He records that in 1876 an extremely strong northwest gale brought down the flume near Waikaka, bringing the water race to an end (page 11). About one to two miles of The Great Waikaka Water Race ran through “The Mains”, where the lowest of the labels “Great Waikaka Water Race” is placed on the sketch map below. This would have been not far east of the Rubbish Dump of the 1970s and 1980s shown on the sixth map.

Evans Waikaka Saga water race — Segment of back insert map in Alister Evans (1962) “Waikaka Saga”. South of Waikaka, the Great Water Race ran along the line of the river terrace, close to where later part of the railway ran. The race water was used for gold washing and sluicing.

The seventh map is for the decade ending in 2009. This is based on the Topo50 1:50000 topographic series “Black Umbrella” Sheet (CE12) published in 2009:

007 - NZTM Topo 2009

I purchased a paper copy of this map last week from the Hamilton Map and Chart Shop, to assist me with the local and family research I am doing. The “Rubbish Dump” on the previous map is now labelled as “Landfill”. There are no longer any indications on the map of the gold dredging days – just a few scattered unlabelled ponds. There is also no longer any remnants of the old railway line.

The eighth map is designated “Topo50 latest” on the Maps Past website:

008 - LINZ Topo50 latest 2017

This map appears at a slightly greater scale, covering slightly less than the previous ones though I did not change the zoom setting. It seems to be more up-to-date than the seventh map, as it includes at the bottom in the centre a large dredge pond. This pond is located only 100 metres from the southeast boundary of “The Mains”. It was created between October 2001 and June 2002 by the L&M Mining Ltd Waikaka Alluvial Gold Mining Project. This Project proposed to “re-mine late-Tertiary and early-Pleistocene Gore Piedmont alluvial gravels” for alluvial gold in the Waikaka River flood plain. The aim was to mine outwash gravels lying beneath historical gold dredge tailings. A dredge removed much of the overburden on the site but the Project ended prematurely due to economic considerations. The source of this information is a paper by C. Ross, G. Hogan, M. Ryan, D. Manhire and S. Whitely, 2003, “Restoring the Site: L&M Mining Limited Waikaka Alluvial Gold Mining Project, Southland”. This was published in “Opportunities for the New Zealand Mining and Metals Industry: Prceedings AUSIMM NZ Branch 36th Annual Conference, Greymouth”. AUSIMM is the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, and this paper can be purchased online here.

The ninth map is designated “Air Photo latest” on the Maps Past website:

009 - LINZ Airphoto latest 2017

I couldn’t find the date of the air photo but the L&M Project’s large dredge pond is obvious at the centre bottom of the photo so it is at least post-2002. Some of the equipment from the recent dredge operation is still there, and it can be clearly seen at the top left of the pond when you zoom in on the air photo.

dredge pond air photo

The black X at the top left of the above image marks the spot on the road from where I took the following photo on 1 November 2017:

Air photos from the past are especially interesting to historical researchers and it is a pity that the Maps Past website makes available only the most recent air photos. Google Maps is an easy way to access the same up-to-date material.

CONCLUSION

Maps Past is an outstanding resource for researchers and interested people. Maps on any part of New Zealand at any scale can easily be accessed online. Another Post sets out Tips on Using “Maps Past” to assist you if you are not sure what to do to get started in using the website.

Maps as a Resource: New Zealand’s “Maps Past”, Part One

Over the past few months, I have been doing some research on the district in which I grew up, around Waikaka in Southland, and on the members of my family who first settled there in the 1870s and their involvement in farming and gold dredging. This is an area I return to from time to time, and from which I collect stones. Recently I have been seeing what is available online in terms of historical maps. One very useful website I have discovered is “Maps Past” http://www.mapspast.org.nz which, oddly enough, does not have a page giving details of who has produced the site.

The opening page of “Maps Past” presents a map of New Zealand, and it is possible to zoom into any particular part of the country. Then you are able to click on different dates (set as decades, starting at 1899 with only 1939 not available) and bring up maps from that time of the area on your screen. Sometimes as you go from one decade to another, the same map will be presented, depending on when new maps were constructed. I will illustrate this by showing the different maps available for Waikaka and the area to the south which includes “The Mains”, the farm on which I grew up.

There are nine different maps that are available for the Waikaka area, one of which is a recent aerial photo. The following are thumbnails that will expand when clicked on (there is a “View full size” underneath the expanded image in the viewer – you may need to scroll down to see it):

This first part of this Topic will deal with the first four of these maps. The other five are dealt with in Maps as a Resource: New Zealand’s “Maps Past”, Part Two. Note that the following map images are not expandable – use the thumbnail above for a more detailed view of any of the maps.

The first map is for the decade ending in 1899. It is actually from a map of the Chatton Survey District published in 1888:

It is interesting to note the areas around Waikaka designated as “Auriferous Reserve” and “Gold Reserve”, and the area of dots to the southeast of the town labelled “GOLD WORKINGS” (though it is very difficult to see this label). Gold had been discovered near Waikaka in 1867 and the following 60 years saw various phases of panning, mining, sluicing and dredging. Section 30 of Block 3, located directly south of Waikaka, just below the centre of the map, was bought in April 1876 by Hugh Paterson, my great-great-grandfather. This was the beginnings of “The Mains” farm.

The second map is for the decade ending in 1929. It is actually from a map of the Chatton Survey District published in 1929:

002 - NZMS13 1929

One noticeable addition to the map is the Waikaka Branch Railway, constructed in 1907 and 1908 to provide faster transport of agricultural produce to markets. It was the last of the branch lines authorised in northern Southland. In “Waikaka Saga” (1962), Evans refers to James Paterson, my great-grandfather, as one of the “well-known characters” (page 191) on the train, one of the local land-owners who traveled to Gore (about 25 kms away) on Saturdays to do business. “All of these men were intensely interested in politics, religion, world affairs, agriculture, and so on. Even before the train had pulled out of Waikaka station, the argument had started and they had forgotten to buy their tickets, and so scrambled on at the last moment…[They] used to have great arguments and discussions on the train, so much so that it became quite an institution.” The railway line ran through “The Mains”, with the Pullar Railway Station (Siding) located just on the southern boundary of the farm. It is reported in the Mataura Ensign on 27 July 1909 that James Paterson was given 50 acres of the Waikaka Commonage (mining reserve) to compensate for part of The Mains being cut off from access to water. Due to competition from roading, the Waikaka Branch Railway closed on 9 September 1962 (Wikipedia).

In the middle of “The Mains” was a rail bridge across the “Waikaka Stream”. Soon after the line opened, Leonard Paterson, my grandfather, traveled to high school in Gore by train which would slow down by this bridge so he could hop on (“Paterson Family Reunion 2002”, page 24). He was also a passenger on the final train from Waikaka in 1962, standing sixth from the right in the photo below, his wife Annie to his right. They had retired to live in Gore in 1957.

school centennial p71 last train — Source: “Waikaka and District Schools Centennial 1883-1983 Pictorial”, page 71

The third map is for the decade ending in 1959. It is actually from a map of the NZMS1 series published in 1946, the S161 “Heriot” Sheet. This is a topographic map, showing relief, using contour lines, whereas the previous two are land survey maps primarily concerned to present farm land boundaries.

003 - NZMS1 1959

This is the same map with the approximate boundary (in black) of “The Mains”:

003 - NZMS1 1959 - Copy

Note that the road running east of the boundary of “The Mains” is called “Turnbulls Road” (after a prominent family) . In later maps this becomes “Turnbull Road”. Note also that “Tailings” are indicated in “The Mains” to the left of the railway line. Elsewhere on the map is reference to “Workings” and “Old Workings”. These are old gold dredge tailings and sluicing areas. Most of the flat land along the west and east branches of the Waikaka Stream as far south as McNab (21 kms) was heavily dredged between 1896 and 1926. As reported in an entry on “Gold-Dredging in the Waikaka Valley” in “The New Zealand Mining Handbook” of 1906, “By means of a separating-box soil and sand are distributed over the tailings, which are left perfectly level, and when sown with clover and grass yield excellent grazing” (page 198). In “Golden Reflections: A History of Waikaka Valley” (1992), J.F. McArthur reports: “Dredging operations disturbed the whole valley floor, which was completely turned over to the depth of 12 to 14 feet [3.7 to 4.3 metres]” (page 366). He refers to how the dredges lifted the top soil of the area about to be dredged and placed it, using an extended chute, over the area previously dredged (page 367). It has been claimed that much swampy land was improved considerably by gold dredging. Certainly I remember the tailings on “The Mains”, although prone to drying out in summer, provided great free-draining winter grazing and grew excellent lucerne (alfalfa).

The fourth map is for the decade ending in 1969. The “Maps Past” website indicates this is based on the NZMS1 series “Heriot” Sheet published in 1957, again a topographic map: 004 - NZMS1 1969

However, only parts of the railway line are indicated even though it was not removed until after 1962, when I remember my father dismantling the section that ran through “The Mains”. Maybe this is actually based on a later map. A new “Old Workings” label appears on the map to the south of “The Mains” boundary. These old gold dredge ponds on the Waikaka Stream existed even prior to the previous map. I used to fish for trout there often as a boy, and we called it Turnbull’s Dam as it is located on Turnbull’s farm (even though it is a couple of ponds through which the river flows rather than a dam). It is interesting to note on this map that the road in the south-east corner is called “Sandy Knowes Road”. On later maps this becomes the “Kelso Maitland Road” before becoming “Glenkenich Road”. Meanwhile, the road in the north-east is on this map called the “Waikaka Kelso Road” (the “Kelso” part can’t be read on this segment) and on the next map is called “Sandy Knowes Road”. (On all maps, “Garden Gully Road” connects these two roads.) There is potential confusion here for local historians when local people or documents refer to Sandy Knowes.

This Topic is continued in Maps as a Resource: New Zealand’s “Maps Past”, Part Two, where the next five maps are discussed. Another Post sets out Tips on Using “Maps Past” to assist you if you are not sure what to do to get started in using the website.

“Down to the Earth’s Core”: A Documentary

I recently saw part of an animated documentary on National Geographic about what can be found as you move from the Earth’s surface to its centre. “Down to the Earth’s Core”, a 90 minute film released in 2012, uses often spectacular computer generated imagery. An earthquake inside the San Andreas Fault is shown, along with an erupting volcano and bizarre cave-dwelling creatures. Earth’s extraordinary history is laid bare, layer by layer. A number of fascinating stories are told in the course of the journey downwards, such as how prehistoric forests became modern-day fuel and how dinosaurs experienced cataclysmic death. Eventually the planet’s super-heated liquid core is reached.

Some of the highlights for me are listed below, along with how many minutes they can be found into the YouTube video above: the Carlsbad Caverns of New Mexico, 240 metres below the surface (at 9.00 minutes); a cave of giant crystals, 300 metres deep (at 20.17 minutes); the layer of extraterrestrial iridium rock at 550 metres and its link to dinosaur extinction (at 25.45 minutes); the accumulation of gold deposits nearly 2 kms down (at 34.22 minutes); the formation of amethyst quartz crystals at 3.9 kms (at 38.42 minutes); and how diamonds came to be, at 240 kms down (at 1 hour 8.40 minutes).

The Seven Stages in Tumble Polishing Stones: Stage One, Stone Collection, Riverton, 2-6 November 2017

NOTE: March 2021. Due to changes in the supply of grit and polish, plus a few other things, there are now six stages that I recommend instead of seven. The details are in UP-DATE OF “The Seven Stages in Tumble Polishing Stones” – One Less Stage. However, there are many useful practical suggestions in this original series so I have decided to leave it basically unchanged.

There are seven stages in the tumble polishing of stones. The first stage is acquiring the rough stones, stones of the right shape and condition and colour that show good promise for polishing. (Note that nearly all other accounts of tumble polishing don’t include stone collection as a stage.) Stage Two, for me, is tumbling the stones for about a week in 100 mesh silicon carbide grit, then tumbling them in a soap wash for a few hours. In Stage Three I repeat this process, using 220 mesh silicon carbide grit, while Stage Four is the same procedure with 320 silicon carbide grit. At this point, the stones should be shaped and smooth enough to begin actual polishing. I then use two polishing stages. Stage Five involves tumbling the stones in a tin oxide “Pre-Polish” powder (five microns in size) for three to five days, followed again by a few hours soap tumble. Stage Six is the “Pro-Polish” tumble, using tin oxide powder of one micron size, for at least one week. The final stage, Stage Seven, is a “burnishing” tumble for a week in borax. At every stage, stones are individually examined and may be set aside to repeat a stage or, more rarely, even skip a stage.

I emphasise that these seven stages describe what I normally do. However, I often start tumbling a newly collected smooth beach stone at Stage Four. Note that other tumble polishers often use different grits and polishes in different ways. What I am describing is what I do and how I do it.

For me, Stage One, stone collection, usually involves spending time on beaches, head down, occasionally bending over to pick up a stone worthy of collection. The best way to decide if a stone is worth polishing is to view it wet, so I often walk along the sea edge where the waves roll in then die out as they wash over the sand and stones. I will often take a promising dry stone to the wave edge so it can be wettened to bring out its colour. If it is raining, all the better as I then do not need to keep on checking for the next big wave that may wash in and wet my feet.

I often wear gumboots but sometimes even those are overwhelmed by an unexpectedly larger or more energetic wave.

imagejpeg_0001 — Wringing out wet socks after a wave swept in further than expected and overwhelmed my gumboots. Bag of collected rocks beside me. This is at Orepuki (Gemstone Beach) near Riverton, 4 November 2017. Photo taken by Helen Hannah.

Clothes worn for stone collecting: usually warm clothes as beaches are often windy; gumboots or jandals depending on temperature; cap (if sunny) or woolen hat (if cold and cloudy); light waterproof coat and waterproof over-trousers if weather is wet.

Equipment used for stone collecting: small backpack to carry drinking water, food, camera, plastic collecting bags, and collected stones.

Kinds of stones worth collecting: those with interesting colours and patterns; the smoother the better; the harder the better; the more slippery the better; with a minimum of cracks and pits and jagged edges; not too big (as the tumble barrels are small) and not too small (as the polishing process wears away a proportion of the stone). When wet, you can see a stone’s colours but the cracks and pits in it are not so easy to see. When dry, the cracks and pits can be more easily seen, but the stone will look dull.

I mainly collect beach stones and river stones. They have the advantage of being smoother and more easily identifiable than stones or rocks found anywhere else. They are easier to tumble polish because their jagged edges have already been worn off.

Some beaches have just a scattering of stones along the sand – it is still possible to find some very good specimens here as you stroll along.

Other beaches have masses of stones. Sometimes a collector need just stand or sit there to find many good specimens.

Stone collecting means that you visit interesting and scenic places. During this trip to Riverton, I appreciated patterns on the sand at Henderson Bay, bird wildlife at the Back Beach, and the rising of a full moon over Taramea Bay.

Once the stones are collected, they need to be taken home. Sometimes, such as when I am travelling by aeroplane, that means putting them in a plastic container and then posting them. When I went to post some to my home in the North Island at a Post Shop in Gore, I was asked by the assistant, “Don’t they have any stones up there?” “Not like these, no,” I replied, and I showed her some polished ones I had in my pocket. She was amazed at their beauty and understood why I was doing such a strange thing as mailing what looked like ordinary everyday stones across the country.

The next stage in tumble polishing happens at home after I unpack the collected stones or after the Postie has delivered those I earlier put in the mail. Stage Two involves tumbling rough stones in water and a low grade abrasive grit. In the next Post I will describe the Riverton stones selected to go through the stages of tumbling to illustrate this series. I will then look at their first tumble, in The Seven Stages in Tumble Polishing Stones: Stage Two, 100 Grit Tumble, 15-25 November 2017.