Hey all,
How about we have a thread here for tumbling stones?
We have been doing some and it's great fun to see what comes out in the process.
How many of you have tumblers and how have your batches been turning out?
Everyone wants to hear/see.....
Here is a pic Fordtruckman sent over of he and his grandson's first batches.......Nice work guys......keep em' rollin'!
CP
Fantastic rocks guys! Keep up the good work.
We have been receiving alot of questions about tumbeling,
so I thought this link would help some.
It has all the steps and tips for tumbeling. Great referance!
It even has tips on gemstone tumbeling.
http://geology.com/rock-tumbler/rock-tumbler-instructions.shtml
Hi denise you ever think about using car tires for the drum it works really well. We use racing slicks or golf cart tires, they work best. Its pretty easy to build one out of them, you can use one tire for each grit. You just need to make a rack with rotating shafts. Tires last a long time and its a lot quieter.
Smoky
what a neat idea!
You mean something along these lines
http://www.acc.umu.se/~widmark/lwtrumle.html
Great idea Smoky, thanks!
I just picked up rock tumbler a couple weeks ago! I have my first load in right now. I bought a kit to get me started. The rocks supplied in the kit weren't enough for a load so I added stuff I've been picking up all over the place including right here in NY. Can't wait to see results! I'm hoping to get the grandkids interested. I'll be watching this area closely.
Thanx again CP's! You two are aces!
I was wondering about the difference in tumblers. I have a small 3lb. rotary tumbler but I am going to upgrade to something else as it doesn't seem to be doing
quite what I want. It could be me however, any tips would be appreciated.
I love the tumbler we have! We have a Lortone, 3 Lb. capacity twin barrels model.
Usually takes a week for each grit stage. What kind of tips are you looking for Jack?
Maybe we can help you out.
Here is a past webcam picture of some Colorado Amazonite we tumbled.
They polished out great!
I started a double batch Friday. Some assorted Agates in one, and Apache Tears in the other.
This batch will be done in May after all its grit stages. Always remember to keep the materials hardness the same in each drum, so it evenly works the stones to a better finish.
The tumbling has been coming along nicely. Just finished the pre polished stage.
After several rinsings, you can see there is still little bits of grit left on the wet stones (Apache Tears).
What I do to make sure not to grit contaminate after each stage, is tumble in fresh water for an hour,
dump.......then repeat till the stones are grit free. This works great, then your ready to move on to the next grit stage.
Your post reminded me Scott, that I forgot to put a picture in of the finished stones.
Picture shows dry polished Apache Tears.
I think they turned out pretty good. I was nervous at first because they say polishing Apache Tears is for the more advanced rock tumbler.
I have been giving them out to the adults, they seem to love them!
Good luck on your tumbling batch Scott, hope they turn out great!
We look forward to the pictures.
Here is a freshly tumbled batch of "Sweet Water Agates".........Who can tell me where these come from and why they are named that?
Hi Mrs. CP,
I think those dendritic agates are from Wyoming and get their name from the Sweetwater River that is nearby.
Do those fluoresce under UV?
ASTROBLEME
Good job ASTROBLEME , you nailed that one. Yes they do http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescence under UV (lime green). Want to see a pic?
Be happy to share a pic. Took a little bit to set up a light box and figure out the right camera settings to catch the colors but this pic did pretty well we thought.
In person there is alot more green color.
Looks like the last post was 2010... Well as a rock & roller myself I really love tumbling the local Minnesota Superior Agate (the apache tears & amazonite look fantasic)
Excellent Lake Superior Agates! I grew up in the U.P. (Ironwood) and did an awful lot of Agate hunting on the shores growing up. Great to see those, very beautiful collection.
My equipment.. I really like the Thumblers Tumblers as I have 2 of them. For smaller rocks I have a loretone tumbler. I replaced the white plastic lids with clear lexan glass so I can see the action of the rocks with grit. Nice to take a peek without opening the lid. :)
sweet setup EB! I've got a little HF double barrel one but do wish I had something bigger
Fantastic Agates! You did a great job tumbling them out. I also love how you added peaking windows to the tumblers, great idea!
"tumbler operator tears"...too funny!
Very nice! They look great. Now what kind of stones are they?
The stones he is talking about are Apache tears....an obsidian.
okay So I went back to 1 week of 600grit for a clean start. I cleaned everything (tumbler barrel/apache tears) with soap then tumbled in clean cold water for about 4-5 days with 2 water changes in between (just to be sure). When I dumped out the water it looked cleaner than previous water dumps, and the apache tears looked like that satin 600 grit look. Was what I expected. So I now I set up with alumina oxide (1000grit) for about a week and a half. Just cleaned them out and washed everything again like previous grit. I am still seeing those rough edges like it never polished. Not as satin looking as after 600grit but still not polished. is it normal to have to polish obsidian for more than 2 weeks?? They are currently in clean water again while I contemplate my next move. I will take them out and send you pics of the apache tears so you can see the issue I am having. I do not want to go to the next level (cirium oxide) until I figure this out. Any suggestions would be appreciated? I have never had such a difficult time with tumbling than with these Tumbler Tears! (im crying on the inside)
Update.. Okay had to take a break from the Apache Tears. I ran a new batch of agates through just so I could feel successful at tumbling again. :) Did some research and will start up again with them Apache tears. I think I may have figured out what I was doing wrong. Only time will tell ha! So in the mean time enjoy a few of these beauties from the leftover Glacial Sediment of Minnesota.
Those look great! The Apache tears will work on in time. Trial and error is one of the best ways to learn I think.
Beautiful colors!
You can fill up bags of Apache Tears when you come back out this way to practice on if you want hehe. I really love those agates.
Thanks Denise and so true.. good thing I have other rocks to keep that confidence up ha ha.
JB300.. for sure.. esp. if I find any big enough to hand polish and turn into a cool fortune teller ball or a cool Aztec weapon. Sorry I have a wild imagination. :^) for some reason that sounds easier than tumbling them ha ha. I really have a thing for them septarian nodules tho. Last time I didn't have room for the 3 basket ball sized ones we found. I want to change that this time. :^)
Finally some level of success! These Apache Tears are a true test of your patience. I truly felt like quitting a few times but the drive to not end in ultimate failure kept pushing me. They are not perfect but damn close compared to what I was producing early on in the polish process. I now know the errors of my way
Sorry for the terrible phone camera shot. (im still 3G and resisting lol)
Partial wet..
Beautiful! Those turned out great, good job!!
Another batch of superior agates.. :^)
Another "superior" batch of tumbled stones EchoBravo ......good job, those look great!
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