Choosing the right polish for your material

Not every polish works equally well on every material, and using the wrong one usually just means a longer wait rather than a ruined stone. Cerium oxide is the most common all purpose polish and works especially well on quartz family stones like agate, jasper, and chalcedony. Tin oxide is a traditional alternative that also performs well on quartz family material and some softer stones, and some tumblers prefer it for a slightly different final look. Aluminum oxide is a broad spectrum polish included in a lot of commercial tumbling kits and works acceptably across a wide range of material. Diamond polishing compound is the choice for harder or tougher material that resists the oxide polishes, jade being the classic example. If a batch is not reaching a full shine after a reasonable polish cycle, the polish choice is one of the first things worth reconsidering before assuming the stones themselves are the problem.