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Mixing various stones to tumble

Grunter

Active member
I have noticed when I tumble alot of different types of stones they give off an ammonia smell. I'm tumbling with water and stainless steel media. The water comes out jet black. I don't know what types of stones they are,different colors.I've tumbled some that glow red under a black light.
 
Well, you made me look up ammonia in domestic drinking water on Google. Seems ammonia is used in treating water to increase the effectiveness of chlorine that is also used. Now if you are on a well it can also be found in ground water. I would guess the tumbling is releasing it as a gas that is probably staying dissolved just in normal household use. In FL there is a lot of hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell) in the ground water. When I would run my irrigation sprinklers the hydrogen sulfide would be released and make a very unpleasant smell. But if you just took a hand full of it from the ground you wouldn't smell it.
 
Thanks Johnbo,My water is well water that has a high content of limestone.Not knowing where these stones came from, the earth thats left on them could be reacting with the limestone. I was kinda worried that I might get a face full of gas when I took the lid off my tumbler.
 
My irrigation well is pretty shallow. I don't know how deep your well is. It's not common to find ammonia in drinking water wells because they are usually deeper but can be subject to surface water getting into them also. Fertilizer can have a lot of ammonia in it too, also if you're on a farm the animals can add to it if it's shallow. Limestone is a great rock for well water. What kind of rocks are you tumbling? Do you add anything to the mixture other than water and rocks? Have you had your well water tested for contaminates?
 
On a sort of related topic, some marbles are quite valuable, but are easily scratched or dinged, which lowers their value. I wonder if tumbling them in a very fine polishing medium could remove the scratches and shine them back up like new, or nearly new?
 
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