Brenda Red Jasper Tumbler Rough
An easy-to-tumble rough for the beginner.
This photo shows two pounds of Brenda Red tumbling rough, scattered in a colander and sprayed with water to reveal its bright red to dark red color and fine markings produced by included agate and common chalcedony. The pieces of Brenda Red being sold here range between about 3/8 inch and 1 1/2 inches in size (measured across their maximum dimension).
We polished Brenda Red in Thumler's 3-pound rotary tumblers. Here are some of the stones that we liked. If you look closely, you can clearly see that some of this material is actually a red moss agate in several of the stones.
Brenda Red Jasper Tumbling Rough
, 
, and 
What do they mean?
Size:
Mostly 3/8 inch to 1 1/2 inch pieces-- Highly Recommended For Beginners
-- Small-Size Rough for Use in Small Tumblers
What Is Brenda Red?
Brenda Red is a bright red to dark red chalcedony that ranges from a red jasper into a red moss agate. It was sourced from a site near the community of Brenda, Arizona, and that is where it got its name.
Related: What is the difference between jasper and agate?
| Tumble this rock using our Instructions for Jasper, Agate, and Chalcedony. |
Our Tumbling Tests
We tumbled a few batches of Brenda Red in a Thumler's A-R2 tumbler and found that it shapes easily into rounded tumbled stones. Two weeks of tumbling in coarse (60/90 mesh) silicon carbide grit was enough to shape the stones nicely.
Please don't pour your rock tumbling waste water down a drain. It will harden in the drain and ruin your plumbing!
For the polishing step, we tumbled our Brenda Red into brightly polished stones with one week in TXP aluminum oxide polish. (Aluminum oxide is an inexpensive polish that we use in nearly 100% of our rotary and vibratory tumbling.)
You can see the "mossy" inclusions in this stone - click here for a closer look!
Exploring Your Stones!
After you finish polishing, examine your Brenda Red tumbled stones closely under a bright light. You might find numerous tiny (less than 1/4 inch) pockets of gray, white and blue-gray chalcedony within the red jasper.
Look even closer with a magnifier, under good lighting. You might discover that some of those chalcedony pockets are actually finely banded agate. And, much of your Brenda Red is actually a red moss agate!
Happy Tumbling!
| Tumble this rock using our Instructions for Jasper, Agate, and Chalcedony. |
Brenda Red Jasper - Tumbling Properties | |
| Marketing Name: | Brenda Red Jasper |
| Classification: | Quartz >> Chalcedony (microcrystalline quartz) >> Jasper / Moss Agate |
| Composition: | Microcrystalline quartz (SiO2) |
| Mohs Hardness: | 6+ to 7 |
| Size: | Pieces of this rough range from about 3/8 inch up to 1 1/2 inches in size (measured across the maximum dimension). |
| Recommended Recipe: | We tumbled Brenda Red in Thumler's rotary tumblers with good results using our "Tumbling Instructions for Jasper, Agate, and Other Hard, Tenacious Materials". |
| Recommended Polish: | TXP aluminum oxide |
| Tips for Rock Tumbling Success: | (1) For nicely rounded stones, we tumble Brenda Red for two weeks in coarse (60/90) silicon carbide grit.
(2) Some pieces of Brenda Red contain tiny open cavities (mostly under 1/4 inch across). These cavities are sometimes lined with drusy quartz or botryoidal chalcedony. These cavities can be very interesting. But, they are places where grit can hide. So, we highly recommend inspecting your stones immediately after you have rinsed them thoroughly, but before they have dried, and flush any grit out of these cavities. We do that with a stream of water under a faucet or hose. Do this inspection after each step of tumbling. (3) Some people do a 30-minute burnishing tumble with Ivory bar soap after the fine grit step. They do this to help remove particles of grit from the cavities - to prevent the grit particles from being present in the polishing step. We think this "clean-up step" is a good idea. |
| * Tumbling properties are for the stones being sold here. Stones purchased from other vendors may require a different procedure. If your material was sold as "tumbling rough" you should ask the vendor for tumbling instructions. | |
Customers also bought...
Large Ceramic Media
Small Ceramic Media
Standard Grit Kit