Praise for the Beagle from a Customer

Carol & I received a letter (yes, that's right, a letter...the hand-written kind...in the mail!) from a mom. She was thanking us for our efforts with the First Lego League robotics team we fielded this year: The Crash Test Smarties. Anyway, in her letter she closed with this, "In pursuit of the truth in Science and Mathematics, you two are paving the way for a better and more enlightened future for our kids."

We sincerely hope that all of our customers feel this way. This makes all the hard work worth while.

==JFK==

Pure Silver, Anyone?

I'm mulling over the possibility of offering an intense workshop to teach DIY silver recovery, reclaimation and refining. I have a technique that I have used, and taught to others, that allows one to relatively easily recover and reclaim silver from coins, jewelry, silver plate, etc. and to refine it into a state of up to .999 purity. This three-nine purity is the same as what one gets when purchaining silver bullion whether in the form of 1,000-oz ingots or 1 oz. bars and rounds (coins). If there is enough interest I will set up dates that will work for everyone.
Please tell us at the Beagle if you're interested.

And, BTW, we will be offereing a limited supply of pure silver bars and rounds at the Beagle.

==JFK==

Updates All Over...

There are many, many things going on at the Beagle right now, and I thought that I'd take a minute here to lay out a few of them for you, faithful reader:

New look website: the H.M.S. Beagle website has been updated to make it easier to navigate and use. If you have questions, comments, or problems, let me know via email - I've got a second generation of improvements planned, but this framework had to go in place first.

Social Networking: we've expanded our presence on Facebook and Twitter. The Twitter updates also fold neatly back into both the main website and this blog (they're over there on the right). Follow us on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, and keep up with all of the latest happenings at the Beagle. And make certain that you let us know if you became a fan, read the blog, or saw the main website after clicking through our advertisement on Facebook - it'll help us to keep track of how effective those adverts are!

Workshops, Workshops, Workshops: under the Events / Activities tab on the website, you'll find all of the things that we're doing, including the Events Calendar, with all sorts of useful information; updates on our Astronomy-related activities, including Star Parties, Telescope Basics Workshops, and Star-Hopping Workshops; additionally, we have Workshops in Chemistry, Electronics, Robotics, Rocks & Minerals, and Rocketry planned for the summer, take a look at those listings as well!

Fossil Digs: we're very, very excited about our upcoming Fossil Digs, including our First Trilobite Jam in Delta, Utah this July, and our usual Science Club fossil digs in June. Make sure that you plan to attend, and let us know via email if you have questions!

Special Events: right now, we're delighted to be planning a party on a Sunday, 11 April 2010 for Yuri's Night, and international celebration of manned spaceflight (sadly, I'll be out of town for this, but I'm hoping we'll get to swing by the one in San Francisco). The Beagle's Yuri's Night fun will include a showing of "October Skies", free rocket launches (bring your rocket!) in association with the Kansas City Rocketry Association (KCAR), and an evening of star-gazing with Leif! All of this fun is free for the whole family (weather permitting, of course); check out our Special Events Page for more information.

So that's what we've been doing, instead of writing blog entries... There's a great deal going on at the Beagle, and we hope that you'll stop in, sign up, and support us in continuing to provide great science-based activities in the Kansas City area!

MSNBC: UFOs over Cleveland?

Typical of the ignorant mis-comprehension of the mundane workings of the natural world, the mainstream media (MSNBC specifically) turn to a pseudo-scientific hack to explain something that he doesn't understand and therefore implies that it must be something "other-worldly."



And my response sent to "Contact us-MSNBC.com": "I just saw a report from MSNBC about "UFOs" over Cleveland. The "expert" you had on to talk about the lights doesn't know anything about the night sky. What you could have done was had someone on who knows something about lights in the sky. An astronomer, even an amateur astronomer, could have told you that this light is the planet Venus, which is in the western sky right now for a couple of hours after sunset. When it gets close to the horizon it appears to flicker and change colors when its light refracts as it passes through Earth's atmosphere. The next time you want to "get to the bottom" of a mystery maybe you could consult a scientist instead of a crank."

Just a hint to UFO hunters: if an object appears in the sky at the same time every night, travels across the sky at the same rate as the stars around it, and sets in the west, it just might be an astronomical object.

"Polonium Halos" in Granite

As often happens we get visitors to the Beagle that like to try out their knowledge on us "sciencey" types. A gentleman was looking at Polly in our front window this afternoon. When I told him it was a nearly complete fossil of an adult Psittacosaurus that was 125 million years old, he replied, "you don't really believe that do you?" I allowed as to the fact that I neither discovered the fossil nor dated the fossil itself, but was confident that it had been properly dated most likely based on several factors. He than said, "how do you explain the fact that granite contains polonium, since polonium has a half-life of only a few seconds?" I replied that I didn't have to explain it, but I did tell him that polonium has isotopes that range in weight from 194 to 218 and the natural isotopes have half-lives ranging from 0.145 seconds to 102 years.

After he left I did some data mining on-line and found a short article that is spot on point:

"Creationist Robert Gentry has argued that ring-shaped discoloration (halos) in primordial granite rocks are the result of damage from alpha-particle emission by radioactive isotopes of the element polonium (Po). Since radiogenic polonium has a very short half-life (usually measured in fractions of a second), Gentry argues that, if granite takes thousands to millions of years to form as mainstream geology believes, any polonium originally present would have decayed away long before the granite could have formed and could not have produced these (halos). Therefore, he feels that their existence is evidence for an instantaneous and recent creation of these granite rocks, and by extension the Earth. The following articles point out the flaws in Gentry's argument.
"Polonium Haloes (sic)" Refuted
Professional geologist Tom Bailleul takes a second look at Gentry's claimed polonium (halos), arguing that there is no good evidence they are the result of polonium decay as opposed to any other radioactive isotope, or even that they are caused by radioactivity at all. Gentry is taken to task for selective use of evidence, faulty experiment design, mistakes in geology and physics, and unscientific principles of investigation and argument style.
Evolution's Tiny Violences: The Po-Halo Mystery
Amateur scientist John Brawley investigated Gentry's claims directly by studying local rock samples, and concluded that there is no good evidence that these "polonium" (halos are actually produced by polonium at all, as opposed to longer-lived radionuclides such as radon or uranium."

This was taken from: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/po-halos/.

Participate in Midwest Precipitation Measurements

We are on a weekly email blast from Earth Gauge which keeps us updated on the global climate change situation. The following item arrived today and I thought many of you would find it interesting and would want to participate:

Parkville, MO
Link: http://www.earthgauge.net/2010/march-madness-2

Earth Gauge: March Madness
It’s March Madness for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) – they want to see how many volunteers sign up this month to measure precipitation in their backyards. CoCoRahS is a nationwide network of citizen scientists who are measuring and mapping precipitation in their communities. CoCoRaHS volunteers help to provide quality rain, hail and snow data used by the National Weather Service, hydrologists, emergency managers, city utilities, engineers, ranchers and farmers, teachers and a range of other interest groups.
Viewer Tip: CoCoRaHS is in all 50 states! Sign up to become a Volunteer Observer with CoCoRaHS in your state to help this network grow. You can volunteer to measure precipitation as an individual or as part of a community or school group. Check out http://www.cocorahs.org/ to learn more.

(Sources: Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. www.cocorahs.org; “About Us,” http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=aboutus)

Let us know here at the Beagle if you do, in fact, decide to participate. Additionally, why not post you findings here and/or on our FaceBook page?

Rock Tumblers Redux: Looking at the Stages of Tumbling

Several weeks ago, I posted an entry to the blog about how to work with your new rock tumbler (this of course assuming that you had received one at some point). Six weeks into my own experimenting with rock tumbler, I'm back with a few lessons and things that I've gleaned from my own experience, which I hope will be helpful to you.

Tumbling is typically a multi-week process, depending on the materials that you choose and the kind of polish that you are hoping to achieve. The choice of materials is important, as tumbling something rather hard with things that are soft will tend to result in the soft things being smashed down into tiny bits. To be certain of the hardness of the materials with which you are working, it's essential to have either a good rock & mineral field guide (I've got about a half dozen), all of which will give you the hardness of most anything you are likely to be tumbling, as presented by the Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness, which ranges from 1 (talc), to 10 (diamond). If you pick up a field guide and it doesn't have this basic information, put it back on the shelf and find something else. You can also use online resources to determine the hardness of your material: the most thorough of which I am aware is Mindat, which is currently a free site (although with a free registration you can have access to more features). Even with care taken in selecting which minerals and rocks you tumble, you should still expect for anywhere from a quarter to half of the volume to disappear into your slurry bucket.

Polish is also a consideration: some people will like their stones to have different lustres, so it does come down to individual taste. Personally, I want to see just how brilliantly reflective I can make some materials, so I am experimenting with a range of stone.

Assuming that you are indulging in a basic four week-long process, you will also want to choose your grits with care. Before I'd started working with a tumbler again - after a gap of many years - I had expected that four standard grits made of silicon carbide would be sufficient, and hadn't really understood the importance of the pre-polish and polish phases. I can now tell you that these are crucial (this probably should have been self-evident). The pre-polish and polish phases, both accomplished in my case with very fine aluminium oxide polishes, are essential... if you want your tumbled stone to shine, that is.

Time is also an important variable. Your tumbler should come with a guide, or you can find them on the web with relative ease (also in my last post). On my first attempt through the whole of the process, I allowed at least a week for each tumbling stage. This may have been overkill, but on the other hand, I was recently told of a man who left his rough in the final polish phase for something on the order of six weeks! This is probably unnecessary, at least at first. Follow the guides to begin with, until you will get a sense of which materials will require longer than others in the various stages. Again, this often comes down to personal taste.

One thing that is somewhat annoying is that, for the cleaning phase, the use of Ivory Snow flake detergent is often recommened, at least in North American guides. Unfortunately, this product no longer exists. However, if you can't find another plain, pure, unscented soap, the workaround is simple: find a bar of Ivory Snow soap (which does still exist), or any other basic unscented Castille-type soap (Pure & Natural also comes to mind), and use an old cheese grater to make your own flakes. It may help to dry the soap out a bit first - put it in a warm, dry place for a few days, then grate. You will now have soap ideal for use the cleaning phase of tumbling.

Rock tumbling seems, in the shiny new digital 21st century, like something of an anachronistic pursuit, and perhaps it is. But it is also one which connects us with the realities of making something, of doing something, rather than simply paddling around in the virtual pool. Hopefully, you will take as much enjoyment from it as I am.

New Merchandise from Tucson - Part 2

We have been able to purchase some exceptionally nice Lamna species teeth as well as Megalodon teeth while here in Tucson. The latter are very nice indeed in that they vary considerably in color rather then being just the run-of-the-mill black. For the Lamna teeth one must always look for the cusps on either side of the main tooth. If the cusps are missing the tooth isn't as valuable.

The Lamna teeth are almost always white to a light tan in color and are very sharp!

The Megalodon teeth are the right in these pictures and the Lamna are directly above on the left.

Below, on the left are teeth from the mosasaur species globidens. These were shell-crushing aquatic reptiles that died out 65 million years ago. Most of you are familiar with the more common mosasaur teeth we sell, but these are entirely different and much rarer.

Below on the right are ammonites from Madagascar. These have been polished to expose the sutures that marked the separations between the internal air spaces the animal used for buoyancy.

Finally, we have also been acquiring some minerals specimens, and for the first time we have purchased some polished quartz crystals about 1.5" to 2" long. These are pictured below.

New Merchandise from Tucson

Here are some photos of the merchandise we have acquired here in Tucson. First we bought some fossil fishes from the venerable, jolly and highly knowledgable Bob Finney. We bought three larger plates and 65 unprepped 4" to 6" "singles". The latter will be put in our Fossil Prep kits we. The former are pictured here; the first is a triple plate with two Knightia and a Diplomystus:

The above place is ~18" x ~14". Next is a 12" x 12" plate with a large Diplomystus:


Finally, we acquired a very nice Mioplosus and preditory perch that lived in the lake 55 million years ago. This plate is 12" x 8":

Those of you who really like Fossil Lake fishes from Wyoming should stop by the Beagle next week to see these pieces in person.

Where we stay in Tucson during the TGMS

For those of you who have not visited our the home of our friends, Joe and Cheri, in Tucson we wanted to show it to you. We have enjoyed Joe and Cheri's hospitality for 6 years during our visits to the Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil show. In fact, it was Joe and Cheri's insistence that we stay with them and visit the show back in early 2004 that first brought us here.

Anyway, to take a look, visit this web site: www.longrealty.com/AZ/Tucson/85718/homes-for-sale/5441-E-Gleneagles-Dr-46575313, and take a virtual tour of their home, which is now for sale. Any of you wishing to purchase a new home in beautiful Tucson could certainly do far worse.

We'll be on our way again today for more exploring and buying. Keep watching for information on the new merchandise we will be acquiring.

Also, please post any comments, especially if there is something in particular you would like for us to acquire.

Let's take a trip to Utah to collect Trilobites

Well, while here at the Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show Carol and I found a group through which we can offer a trip for 10 to 12 persons to dig for Trilobite fossils in Western Utah. We'll have lots more information here, as well as on our web site, but the important thing is, "all fossils discovered during the (dig) belong to the person who discovers them! (n)o mater how rare or valuable they may be." We want to offer this trip to our Beagle Society and Science Club members and families first.

Those of you who went on the Great Montana Dinosaur Hunt will recall that we could not keep anything that was of significance to the permit holder. However, just like that trip, HMS Beagle will be handling all of the trip details including lodging, meals, access to the collecting site (over 300 sq. miles) and more. There will be bonfires each evening, fantastic scenery (the West Desert of Utah), workshops on digging techniques and field curation of specimens, and at leaast 20 different species of Trilobites can be found on this largely unexplored land.

The two gentlemen in the picture are Jake Skabelund and Jason Cooper. They will be the hosts for the dig. Let us hear from you if you think you will be interested in this experience.

Science Gifts Unwrapped: the Microscope

Here's a nice daydream for you. You've been given a microscope for the holidays, for your birthday, for St Swithin's Day... whatever the occasion, you've got a terrific gift on your hands. So now what do you do?

Science writer Natalie Angier put her view on the matter in this way in her excellent book, The Canon:

"Another fail-safe way to change the way you see the world is to invest in a microscope. Not one of those toy microscopes sold in most Science 'n' Discovery chain stores, which, as Tom Eisner, a professor of chemical engineering at Cornell, has observed, are unwrapped on Christmas morning and in the closet before Boxing Day... it wasn't until my daughter received a dissecting microscope as a gift, and we began using it to examine the decidus of everyday life, that I began yodelling my hallelujahs. A feather from a blue jay, a fiddlehead fern, a scraping from a branch that turned out to be the tightly honeycombed housing for a stinkbug's eggs. How much heft and depth, shadow and thistle, leap out at you when the small is given scope to strut..."

-- page 24

Almost any microscope will open up a world of wonder and amazement for you, if you give it a chance. Life on earth, after all, began with the very, very small. Much of what goes on in the world around us, and indeed passes unnoticed, is a result of processes taking place at the level so minute that human eyes require mechanical aid to see it. What is the largest and most successful class of living organism on the planet? If you said bacteria, then you're exactly right.

There are a few simple things to remember, before you even get started:

1. The microscope is only as good as its parts. By this, I mean that if you buy the inexpensive microscope with plastic optics and expect to be able to see wonderful things through it, you're probably in for a disappointment. It's not a universal law, as there are some good inexpensive 'scopes out there, but basically, you do get what you pay for. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.


2. Bells and whistles are good. You will find that the more flexibility that your microscope offers you, the more possible uses you will likely find for it. Interchangeable eyepieces and objectives, binocular / dissecting versus traditional design, multiple light sources with a rheostat, adjustable stages, compatibility with digital camera add-ons - these are just some of the things to consider. You'll want to get the most out of your microscope, so why not make it as flexible as possible?


3. Consider what you don't know. Then get a book. Two books, even. Books will give you some great ideas for basic sorts of experiments, and serve as a guide to the basic equipment that you'll need to go with your microscope.
   
   
   Here are some possible books to consider, from the shelves at the Beagle...
   
   

   
   
   • Star Levine's The Ultimate Guide to Your Microscope - colourful and well-illustrated, with lots of discussion of technique and the fundamentals of microscopy. Indispensible, especially for younger readers.
   
   
   • Richard Headstrom's Adventures with a Microscope - I'm a huge fan of Dover Books, and this is a wonderful reprint. Don't let the fact that it's almost 70 years old fool you - this is a great book, filled with lots of practical exercises and possessed of a quirky, idiosyncratic style. Headstrom also wrote Adventures with a Hand Lens, which I heartily recommend.
   
   
   • Georg Stehli's The Microscope and How to Use It - another Dover book; the discussion of microscope technology will interest anyone who likes to know about the history of science, but it is somewhat dated now. The rest of the book, however, is again full of practical, sensible suggestions for projects and explorations with a microscope.
   
   

   
   
   
   


4. Attend a class. Even audit a local university-level biology class, or look for a workshop (we've got one in the planning stages at the Beagle, watch this space for details). If you studied biology at university, or way back in high school, you'll want a refresher course.


5. Slides: making your own, buying prepared. Personally, I think it's good to do both. You can get a basic slide preparation kit from us, or put together your own, suited to your own interests and requirements.

It's your microscope: do what you want to do. The possibilities of the micro world open up just as readily as do those of the macro world with a pair of binoculars or a telescope: don't miss your chance to see all things miniature.

The Galileo Project

The International Year of Astronomy may be over but the celebrations of Galileo continue. This Sunday, January 31, at 4pm, The Friends of Chamber Music present Tafelmusik -- The Galileo Project: Music of the Spheres at the Folly Theater, 300 W 12th St., Kansas City, Mo. This concert will include NASA/Hubble Space Telescope images, live narration, and even some music by Galileo's father, the famed lutenist and music theorist Vincenzo Galilei.

In addition to the music and images, there will be a lecture beginning at 2:30 on "The Life and Inventions of Galileo," featuring facsimile copies of first edition books by Galileo courtesy of Linda Hall Library.

For more information check out http://www.chambermusic.org/Default.aspx?tabid=137

For tickets go to http://www.chambermusic.org/Default.aspx?tabid=194&CategoryID=2&List=1&SortField=ProductNumber%2cProductName&Level=1&ProductID=49

What We're Reading

You could imagine that we're a bookish lot, and to a great extent that is true. One of us, of course, is fond of claiming that he has no time for anything but work or school, but personally I suspect that such a statement is really just a cover for various nefarious activities. Nevertheless, it remains true that we tend to read a lot, each in our own areas of interest and speciality.

One thing that we are reading, however, is Michael Faraday's 1861 classic, The Chemical History of the Candle. Originally presented as a popular lecture, the Chemical History is a beautifully clear and cogent introduction not only to Victorian chemistry and physics, but to the fundamentals which we still must understand 150 years later. Clearly, cogently written and accompanied by a range of experiments, this book represents some of the best of 19th century popular science.

And further, these are experiments which cry out to be performed. Some of the demonstrations and illustrations are remarkably simple. Relying upon simple experimental tools, Faraday's demonstrations are just as impressive today as they would have been in the 1850s and 1860s.

At one point, we had considered attempted to re-stage Faraday's lecture, with a significant number of the demonstrations intact. It would take time and effort, but I think that it would be a great deal of fun and highly informative (aside from which, I'd love an excuse for a round of snap-dragon). Interested? Leave us a comment and let us know if you'd like to see and hear the words of Michael Faraday given new life.

The Elements and How to Keep Them

Most days, I could go either way when it comes to a certain popular web video site. I have subscribed to some people who post regularly, but I tend to lose interest after a while. In most cases. Not, however, in the case of the University of Nottingham's The Periodic Table of Videos (their main site is here). These videos are genuinely worth your time, even if you don't have the slightest interest in chemistry.

A case in point: their most recent posting, which really deserves a look:

Additionally, around the holidays, this was one of my personal favorites:

Personally, I think these videos are amusing, intelligent, and fascinating. But that's one person's opinion. What's your view? Post it in the comments.

Interested in starting your own collection of elements, but don't have the $2,000 mentioned in the video for even the basic set? You can at least dip your toe in the shallow end - check out those available from the Beagle, by following this link to the webstore:

• Native Elements

And if you have your own element questions, don't forget that there's at least one person at the Beagle with more than just a little chemistry knowledge...

High School Students' Science Alliance Update

I've asked David Dunalewicz, our roving high school correspondent / part-time lackey (don't worry, David, I'm a lackey too), to provide his impressions on "how it went", with regard to the High School Students' Science Alliance meeting which was held last Monday. He's provided this assessment:

"The recently formed High School Students' Science Alliance had their very first meeting on January 11th. We had a very nice turnout, and we got a lot decided about how the group will operate in the future. Those in attendance engaged in a discussion on one of the Beagle's favorite scientists-Charles Darwin-and enjoyed a one hour insight into his fascinating life, and how his observations and research completely changed science forever. We are happy to say that this meeting was a very successful start to the Science Alliance, and we look forward to expanding the group in the future."

This being an undertaking largely by-and-for the high school set, it's a Facebook-driven sort of thingy. So be sure to take a look at the HSSSA (surely there's an entertaining acronym there somewhere) group, or to check out the Beagle's own large-looming Facebook entry, and find out what's going on. You can also email us at the Beagle, or check the Beagle's website. After all, it's what all the really cool* kids are doing...

Congratulations to David and everyone involved, and here's to hopes for many more successful meetings to come!

* "cool" here defined as "those who almost definitely will not have a future career involving frozen slabs of ground beef". Not strictly an OED definition, but you get the point.

Science Club for January: Mr Electricity

This month at HMS Beagle, Science Club members will be in for a treat when they come to see Mr Lightning (also known as Steven Siegel) put on a demonstration of all things electric. Come and see a Tesla coil, a bicycle-powered light, spark generation, and much more!

Looking for a related gift idea? Here are some relevant sections on the Beagle's webstore, have a browse...

• Books - Physics


• Books - Physics - Kids


• Electricty & Electronics

Remember, HMS Beagle's Science Club presents new and compelling topics in science every month for school-aged students. To find out more, check out our Science Club Meetings page or email us for more information. Please remember that we do ask for reservations in order to ensure that we have sufficient space for participants: email us at the link above to reserve your spot!

The Hubble Space Telescope in Action

With a hat tip to the BBC's The Big Picture which featured this photo, here is another of those brilliant Hubble images for you to enjoy...

From the article:

"The image shows a rich tapestry of 7,500 galaxies stretching back through most of the universe's history. The closest galaxies seen in the foreground emitted their observed light about a billion years ago. The farthest galaxies, a few of the very faint red specks, are seen as they appeared more than 13 billion years ago, or roughly 650 million years after the Big Bang. This mosaic spans a slice of space that is equal to about a third of the diameter of the full Moon (10 arcminutes)."

Follow the link to Hubblesite.org for the full details and a chance to download larger, higher-quality versions of this image.

New Symphony of Science Video

I saw the following video posted over at Pharyngula, and thought that it would be worth bringing to the attention of the Beagle's blog followers. It features three great names in science, David Attenborough, Jane Goodall, and the still much-missed Carl Sagan, voices modulated and set to music. I don't know how you feel about these things, but I think they're quite moving and brilliant...

Enjoy. For more, please check out Symphony of Science, especially if you haven't seen the early videos.

Science Gifts Unwrapped: the Rock Tumbler

I haven't done much with a rock tumbler since I was a child, when one of my father's brief enthusiams led him to play with one and to try and interest me in it as well. For whatever reason, I wasn't patient enough to be interested as a child, but, having worked around them and explained them to people for a year and a half, now, I found myself wanting to try one out for myself.

Strangely enough, therefore, one appeared under the tree for me this year, and once the haze of new gifts had worn off, I found myself eager to set the tumbler up and get it going. A little more than a week later, here's what I have to report.

The tumbler that I received, the Lortone Model #33B (Beagle Webstore | Lortone site), features two three pound capacity rubber drums, which are rotated on a direct-drive chassis. The practical result of this is that you can either double your tumbling capacity over the Model #3A, or you can have two batches at two differing stages of polish running at the same time. Not clear yet? Don't worry, it will be.

Set up is a breeze with a tumbler, but it pays to have thought out your tumbling process, just a bit. First thing out of the box, you'll want to have some oil for the bearings on your tumbler. Lortone recommends oiling the bearings (the four points where the spindles intersect with the tumbler housing) before you start, and then once for every thirty days of operation afterwards.

You'll also want to have a space which is sufficiently remote from the rest of your home that the noise won't be distracting. The rubber-barrel direct-drive tumbler is quiet, but it's still audible enough that it won't be something you'll want in your bedroom. Laundry rooms, basements, or garages are the typical sites. Make sure that you have a level surface, like a workbench or table, with easy access to electricity. You'll also want ready access to water. I don't have any taps in the basement, so until I can come up with a better idea that doesn't involve my having to attempt anything resembling plumbing, I've got a number of buckets - for clean water, and rinse water. And remember - although I'm going to say it again later - NEVER put the water / slurry / waste from your tumbled barrels down your home plumbing. EVER. Why? The slurry, when poured out, tends to solidify into something with roughly the consistency of concrete, particularly at bends in the piping. Find another place to pour it out: it's that simple.

While I'm on the subject of slurry, I've heard it claimed that it's possible to reclaim at least some of the grit for re-use after tumbling. I'll have to report back on this, but at the moment, I'm somewhat at a loss to see exactly how that might be done. Perhaps washing it and then pouring the debris off through filter paper? If you've done this, drop your suggestions in the comments, otherwise I'll re-post when I've tried it.

But back to the subject. Now that you've prepared a work area, and oiled your tumbler, it's time to fill the barrel(s) and get weaving. There are plenty of sites out there, as well as books, that cover this. I'd just add that you need to be absolutely certain that your barrel is sealed. If it isn't, and it starts leaking, things can get very messy very quickly, and your batch won't be properly tumbled.

Choose your rough with care, but feel free to experiment. There's no wrong way to tumble rocks and minerals, and the only way to learn what works in each situation is to make a few mistakes. I started with one of the Beagle's batches of high quality tumbling rough, which is turning out to be a great mix of amazonite, tiger's eye, carnelian, chrysoprase, unakite, rose quartz, amethyst, and others, but you can start wherever you like, with whatever you like. I added the rough to the tumbler, then added the coarse silicon carbide grit and water to the appropriate level. Think of grits like sandpapers - beginning coarse, and then increasingly fine. Then start the tumbler.

Rock tumbling takes time. But you knew that already, right? The first cycle, depending on the hardness of the materials, can take between five and ten days. You should really check every day or two, to make certain that you have no leaks, and that you do not have any build-up of pressure in the barrel. Dip out a stone or two just to see how things are going - even after a few days, you should start to see smoothing of the rougher edges. After seven days, I removed the rough in my first barrel, rinsed it, emptied out the slurry, rinsed and dried the barrel, then recharged the barrel and added the next finer round of silicon carbide grit. The rough was already significantly smoothed and shaped. Filled with water, the process continues, with a second new barrel, beginning again with the coarsest grit, this time with a batch of rough corundum, agate, and hessonite garnet.

That's the process so far. Repeat according to directions, and watch your rough turn into attractive, decorative, and interesting tumbled stones. It's easy, if time-consuming, but the results will delight both you and your friends. So try out your new tumbler, and see what treasures you can produce!

There are sites out there to help you, too, as well as books. Rock Tumbling Hobby, and Rock Tumblers for example, both provide some excellent tips and good information. One other thing that they will mention which I must also say again: NEVER put your slurry down your household pipes. Not in the kitchen, the bathroom, the lavatory or directly into the mains drain. Find a place outside instead, preferrably somewhere that you can observe the accumulation over time, to see why this is such an important point. I'll be watching mine with interest (after things thaw, that is).

Happy tumbling!