From a tumble-polishing point of view, today’s stone has to be treated a little differently. It needs only a 400 grit tumble to reach its most shiny state. Taking it further does not improve it, I have discovered. Such a stone comes from the sediments and shells and tiny animals that fall to and accumulate at the bottom of the ancient ocean, close packed and petrified.
There is an amazing diversity of little things in this type of stone, and many times, when examining close-up photos, I can spot something I didn’t see before:
The stone was found on a beach just north of Kakanui on 24 June 2020 and came out of the 400 grit tumbler in November 2021. The stone as found on the beach (see below) clearly showed what it consisted of, though some fossilised sea floor stones have a more weathered surface that masks the detail. The 400 grit tumble removed some of the surface, changing to some degree what can be seen:
About five years ago, while in England, we bought a set of fossil stone table coasters. They came from the Lyme Regis Fossil Shop in Devon, England. We also have a candle holder and egg-shaped stone from the same material.
I have lost the details of their origin but a couple of websites suggest it is “the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains”. This website refers to it as “Himalayan marble”. I never thought I would find stones to rival this in New Zealand!
For more examples of these Kakanui stones on TumbleStone Blog, see here.
Stone of the Day #14 is here. The Index to the January 2022 Stone of the Day Series is here.
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