Purchasing Hot Stones

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Erica Olson on December 13, 2009 at 9:27pm

Basalt is a type of igneous rock. I have no idea what "seastones" are, or what they are supposed to be. Basalt has a specific composition (although there are a few different types). From what I've seen from doing a quick search on Google, the only place advertising seastones for sale indicate that they are indeed basalt stones. Ergo, there's no difference.

Permalink Reply by Paula Hulen, CMT on December 14, 2009 at 8:38am

Kerry,
I was going to go out to the Sacramento River here in Northern California to "harvest" stones, but I ended up buying them online as the river right now is too high and I wanted to start offering Hot Stone Therapy to my clients in this cold weather.
There was a lady who was selling stones that she harvested from the beaches in New England online a few years ago.
It is important to season your stones after cleaning them. I really thought that they would be less expensive than the $80 I spent at Massage Warehouse. I looked at Home Depot and Lowe's landscape sections as sometimes they have river rock, but their stock was nonexistent. A landscape supply company may let you pick through their stones to find the best ones, that would be the least expensive way to go if you do not have a natural source. I personally like the basalt stones for heat and the marble stones for cold. That's my two cents worth for today....

Permalink Reply by Jenny Ray on December 14, 2009 at 6:48pm

You need to check with local authorities before harvesting on any public lands...some are protected under the Bureau of Land Management 'mining claim' laws...others are considered government property if they are in a national park, still others may be 'protected' for what ever the heck they can think of to write you a ticket...!! YIKES!!
I have had a couple challenges on gathering trips, but play the 'Indian Card' and get by with it...if you don't have a card as a Native American you might want to check first, just in case...private land is best...or coveralls with lots of pockets on a weekday when no one is around!!...The beaches of Lake Superior were great fun this fall and quite productive gathering...The Oregon coast (a favorite is Bandon Bay...but highly protected!)...Any river (Columbia is good) near ancient volcanoes....is best if it is a fast current and sandy beach...
Basalt is a volcanic stone that can be in a variety of colors, the most common is very dark blue/black with reds and greens next in line. They all have a heavy iron content hence they heat quicker and hold the heat best.Never heard of Seastones, although if you buy stones from a landscape place they import a lot of basalt from Mexico that is called Mexican Beach Pebble (no matter what size the stone, it is called 'pebble'...and yes many will let you hand pick especially in trade for a gift certificate for a session)
The thing about seasoning has been tempered a bit..(pun intended)....in the old ways we always thought of them like a cast iron skillet and 'seasoned' them with heat and oil before we used them...this helped to seal the stone for smoothness since we didn't have modern tumblers to polish the surface.....then the new information about sanitation came into play so we no longer season the stones..now days we try to purchase tumbled basalt for the professional setting, but I still use stones collected by my father, grandmother and great aunties...
Even though the marble is lovely for cold and I use lots of it...long before it was available we used the basalt for cold...it was simply chilled in a river or a snow bank and worked perfectly...
Agate and other glass like stones (such as obsidian and thunder eggs) will get hotter than the water they are in,... so be careful when removing them from the heating unit, they also take longer to dissipate the heat, so check on your own wrist before applying to a client.... Hematite and Pyrite also get very hot very quick and hold the heat a long time....Jade is remarkable for heating evenly, holding the temperature a long time and is rich and smooth to use, but best of all it can also be frozen for cold stone use...most of these stones must be purchased. If you are interested in finding them Google TIR stone supply, Dessert Stone People or www.SacredStoneMedicine.com where you can ask questions on the 'contact us page' and get specific web addresses....
You always need to remember if you plan to be professional and you want to offer the best, don't short change yourself on quality. The best hand harvested ones will not quite meet the standards of the commercially tumbled stones...I have been at this for over 40 years and have stones from all over the world...in the US I only buy from Dessert Stone People and TIR...in Japan from LaStone Therapy Japan....
Happy Stone Walking,
Jenny

Permalink Reply by Kerry Tierney on December 15, 2009 at 6:21am

Hi Jenny,

Thank you so much for your wonderful insight - that is all fantastic information and I am so glad I put it out there - I truly appreciate your reply and will check out those websites. Thank you again!!!!!! Kerry

Jenny Ray said:

You need to check with local authorities before harvesting on any public lands...some are protected under the Bureau of Land Management 'mining claim' laws...others are considered government property if they are in a national park, still others may be 'protected' for what ever the heck they can think of to write you a ticket...!! YIKES!!
I have had a couple challenges on gathering trips, but play the 'Indian Card' and get by with it...if you don't have a card as a Native American you might want to check first, just in case...private land is best...or coveralls with lots of pockets on a weekday when no one is around!!...The beaches of Lake Superior were great fun this fall and quite productive gathering...The Oregon coast (a favorite is Bandon Bay...but highly protected!)...Any river (Columbia is good) near ancient volcanoes....is best if it is a fast current and sandy beach...
Basalt is a volcanic stone that can be in a variety of colors, the most common is very dark blue/black with reds and greens next in line. They all have a heavy iron content hence they heat quicker and hold the heat best.Never heard of Seastones, although if you buy stones from a landscape place they import a lot of basalt from Mexico that is called Mexican Beach Pebble (no matter what size the stone, it is called 'pebble'...and yes many will let you hand pick especially in trade for a gift certificate for a session)
The thing about seasoning has been tempered a bit..(pun intended)....in the old ways we always thought of them like a cast iron skillet and 'seasoned' them with heat and oil before we used them...this helped to seal the stone for smoothness since we didn't have modern tumblers to polish the surface.....then the new information about sanitation came into play so we no longer season the stones..now days we try to purchase tumbled basalt for the professional setting, but I still use stones collected by my father, grandmother and great aunties...
Even though the marble is lovely for cold and I use lots of it...long before it was available we used the basalt for cold...it was simply chilled in a river or a snow bank and worked perfectly...
Agate and other glass like stones (such as obsidian and thunder eggs) will get hotter than the water they are in,... so be careful when removing them from the heating unit, they also take longer to dissipate the heat, so check on your own wrist before applying to a client.... Hematite and Pyrite also get very hot very quick and hold the heat a long time....Jade is remarkable for heating evenly, holding the temperature a long time and is rich and smooth to use, but best of all it can also be frozen for cold stone use...most of these stones must be purchased. If you are interested in finding them Google TIR stone supply, Dessert Stone People or www.SacredStoneMedicine.com where you can ask questions on the 'contact us page' and get specific web addresses....
You always need to remember if you plan to be professional and you want to offer the best, don't short change yourself on quality. The best hand harvested ones will not quite meet the standards of the commercially tumbled stones...I have been at this for over 40 years and have stones from all over the world...in the US I only buy from Dessert Stone People and TIR...in Japan from LaStone Therapy Japan....
Happy Stone Walking,
Jenny

Permalink Reply by Kerry Tierney on December 15, 2009 at 6:22am

Hi Erica, Thanks so much for your reply. Kerry

Erica Olson said:

Basalt is a type of igneous rock. I have no idea what "seastones" are, or what they are supposed to be. Basalt has a specific composition (although there are a few different types). From what I've seen from doing a quick search on Google, the only place advertising seastones for sale indicate that they are indeed basalt stones. Ergo, there's no difference.

Permalink Reply by Kerry Tierney on December 15, 2009 at 6:23am

Hi Paula,

Thanks so much for your info. Kerry

Paula Hulen, CMT said:

Kerry,
I was going to go out to the Sacramento River here in Northern California to "harvest" stones, but I ended up buying them online as the river right now is too high and I wanted to start offering Hot Stone Therapy to my clients in this cold weather.
There was a lady who was selling stones that she harvested from the beaches in New England online a few years ago.
It is important to season your stones after cleaning them. I really thought that they would be less expensive than the $80 I spent at Massage Warehouse. I looked at Home Depot and Lowe's landscape sections as sometimes they have river rock, but their stock was nonexistent. A landscape supply company may let you pick through their stones to find the best ones, that would be the least expensive way to go if you do not have a natural source. I personally like the basalt stones for heat and the marble stones for cold. That's my two cents worth for today....

Permalink Reply by Steve - Maryland L.M.T. on January 1, 2010 at 1:26pm

Jenny Ray said:

Agate and other glass like stones (such as obsidian and thunder eggs) will get hotter than the water they are in,... so be careful when removing them from the heating unit, they also take longer to dissipate the heat, so check on your own wrist before applying to a client....

I usually use four pairs of stones during a massage, and I end up using the same stones several times. My heater is set at a temperature that is higher than I can use on my client so it re-heats the stones fairly quickly, but not so hot that I can't reach into the water. I keep a bowl with cool water beside the heater and dunk the stones for four or five seconds to cool them. I also have a towel handy to dry the stones before using.

Permalink Reply by Steve - Maryland L.M.T. on January 1, 2010 at 1:39pm

I bought my first set of stones from a massage supply catalog. The 40 stones cost $99.

I got my second and third sets of stones when I installed a rock garden in my office.

I used 900 lbs. of Mexican River Pebbles in the garden, which are naturally-polished basalt stones. I paid $30 per 70 lb. bag (which is about 5 gallons) from a supplier of landscaping stones. As I was putting the stones in place I pulled out ones that looked like they would work well for massage -- the right size, smooth surface, no cracks, etc. Except for a couple of larger (6 inch) stones that I use on the abdomen or lumbar area, I looked for pairs of stones that were similar in size, shape and thickness.

By the way, the plants in the garden are real.

Permalink Reply by Jenny Ray on January 1, 2010 at 2:17pm

Good for you!!....This is exactly what the stone companies are doing...they purchase about 12 yards (one dump truck) at a time and this is about 10 tons of stone, then they bulk tumble and hand sort...the shipping, manual labor, import tax (if they had to come from Mexico...Baja generally), or just transportation if from Southern California (in CA stone harvesting is limited to those who have mining claims staked on the stones)...so $30 per 70# is a bargain!!...
These are high quality basalt and will only improve with use. We should all request our local landscapers carry this product so we can always have an abundance for our students!!
When I taught at the Hilton Hotel Spa in Cabo San Lucas a few years back we had an interpretation problem so I arrived to find tiny toe stones ready for class...we harvested from the fountain and the flower beds which worked perfectly!!...
Jenny Ray