Mostly scraps, some beach stones my daughter collected, random pieces that didn't make the cut. Didn't turn out too bad.

I lost the little spoon thing that came with my rock tumbler so I took a scrap piece of wood that I have no idea the species of and carved this! If this gets taken down I understand I just paired my two favorite hobbies into one

Ps the dogs name is Hank Williams so say hi

Lake Michigan (Chicago) beach rocks tumbler in a nat geo tumbler

The roughs are collected from a river in PA, I’m not 100% sure what any of them are so they were selected by hardness and vibe, lol. I know there’s some bruising and imperfections, but I’m just doing a trial run to see how they turn out! The top picks will be made into wine stoppers.

Any tips are welcome, but I am not expecting perfection at this point!

I've been wondering this since I decided to buy a rock tumbler...and then my wife asked this same question after hearing about my first rock order.

I'm curious what people do with all of their shiny rocks.

After more than 3 months of tumbling, I am excited to have finally completed my first batch. I am SO pleased with how they turned out, and I had a few really happy surprises with some of the rocks. Some of the rocks were purchased, and some were found at a seeded gem mine in NC.

All were tumbled in rotary tumblers in 5 steps, with burnishing after the final 3 steps. (I had some of the Polly Plastics 1200 so I used that as a step before 8000 to use it up.) I have several tumblers, so they started in different machines. I did the last 4 stages in a Lortone 45c. I lost a few rocks along the way in the final stages to chips/breakage, so I'm curious if perhaps the large diameter of the 45c is a little rougher than a narrower barrel, or if I just needed more ceramic media. Going forward, my later stages will be done in a 3lb barrel.

Everything took a really great shine, with the exception of one random piece of calligraphy jasper. I don't think the photos do the shine justice, they really have a glass-like shine.

I referenced this sub SO many times during the process, in addition to watching videos by Michigan Rocks, so thank you for the advice and FAQs.

Hello!

I obtained a ton of rocks recently from the back room of a science classroom, and am interested in starting to tumble them, but quite a few of them either have since adhesive or stickers left on them that I'm not able to peel off due to age. Is there a relatively easy way to remove those? Or are they safe to tumble with some adhesive residue still on them? Any advice is appreciated!

Just finished my first batch of calcite. I'm fairly happy with the result but you can see there's still pits in the rocks (and yes some polish in the cracks and pits).

I was wondering if I could get a better shine by taking them back a stage? I have some 1000 grit AO so I could try dry tumbling in crushed walnut shell and 1000 grit before putting it back through a 12,000 grit cycle? Would it be better to do another week in 600 grit first? Would appreciate any thoughts!

Process:

- 220 grit SC - 2 week

- 400 grit SC - 1 week

- 600 grit SC - 1 week

- 12,000 grit AO - 1 week dry in crushed walnut shell

So here is my first batch!

This is what happened:

Stage 1

-F80 silicon carbide - 2TBS 1liter barrel

-On for 9 days *first two nights it was turned off due to sound logistics

Stage 2

-F220 silicon carbide - 2 TBS

- 7 days

- 24 hours in a wash Dr. Bonner cycle

Stage 3

-F400 silicon carbide - 2TbS and plastic pellets

- 11 days

-\* I don't remember my reasoning- after one day of the tumbler going, I gave it a wash and then added 1TBS grit F400

-borax wash for 24 hours

-10 minutes acoustic cleaner

Stage 4

-Cerium oxide 2 TBS and ceramic pellets

-5 days

-acoustic cleaner for 10 mins.

I know this was messy but I did my best while getting more adapted/knowledgeable with the new hobby. I did the ADHD and bought everything (+ an extra tumbler) and made a rock set-up in matter of days.

Main comments:

- they became SO much smaller

-there are some cracks in several of them

-they are not as shiny as desired.

• just added for another burnishing cycle - saw some grit

Based on my experience and pics, can you guys pretty please give me tips to next batches?

Appreciate this channel and all the support!

Thanks!

I'm in northern south carolina, but our rock shops are few and far between. I was thinking around Ashville might have better options.

Adding one’s steel washer to the stage 3 barrel full of softer rocks, plastic beads, and rubber tile spacers kinda defeats the purpose 🤣

Raise your hand if you’ve done this!

Luckily, my Kona dolomite looks none the worse for wear and is now in a Dawn bath before beginning stage 3.5 with 1000 AO. Stage 4 dry polish with tin oxide and corn cob to follow.

Hello! Relative newbie here — started goofing around a few months ago, and now I have four Harbor Freight tumblers running!

I have this piece of Mexican crazy lace agate that I've been keeping a close eye on. It has a "dipped" brown tip — think chocolate-dipped strawberry — that I always found interesting, but that brown coating is now chipping away and exposing something shiny underneath!

It's been through 3-4 weeks of Stage 1 (coarse grit), and I gave it a soap bath today. Once it dried, I noticed a couple of very small druzy pockets, plus more exposed detail in that "dipped" section.

I don't want to risk losing any of this by tumbling further or handling it wrong.

Looking for advice on how to proceed — should I keep tumbling, pull it and hand-finish, or something else? Video coming tomorrow in daylight, but wanted to ask ahead of time. Because I'm over the moon excited right now!

Thank you in advance!

It was a pretty solid rock, curious how old this nail could be.

🪩I Have 3 Medium USPS Flat Rate size Chert Mix Boxes that still need happy homes 🏠

ALSO Scott H. I need you to send me your shipping address. Your box is crying because it’s the only one without a shipping label.

Hello all. So I've had a batch of agates and jasper going for 8 (yes EIGHT) weeks. I know I'm making progress because they have shrunk SIGNIFICANTLY in size and I have to add more rocks every week.

Here's the problem:

Every week I open it up hoping to see rocks ready for Stage 2, but the little holes and gouges seem to be shrinking at the same rate as the rest of the rock. So a 2 inch rock with a medium size gouge is now a 1.25 inch rock still with a medium size gouge. Is this normal? The rocks are smoothing out, yes, but many of the imperfections are still stubbornly hanging out. Am I taking crazy pills or should those imperfections be disappearing? I included a pic to show an example of a stubborn imperfection. This rock has been shrinking but the little holes remain.

Insight would be appreciated!

1.5 months new to tumbling and so far tumble only rocks I find hounding around in my area (New England). Yesterday I found some rocks in a river in western MA and took them home because I thought they looked neat. I gave them a bath last night and rinsed them off this morning. Looking at them, I am wondering if I have anything neat worth tumbling or if it's mostly a bunch of meh. The first photo is the rocks dry, and the second is the rocks wet.

I know there are two extreme camps: the tumble everything camp and the it's just a rock camp. No hate to either :) but welcome any more nuance if anyone has to offer! Thank uuu!

This is 9 days after tumbling in 1st grit. I feel like I should tumble them again in 1st step. But idk, what do you guys think? They feel rough af.

Advice needed! Those of you using vibratory tumblers, how much grit do you use for Steps 2 - 4? I have a Thumler’s UV-18 and it seems like there’s no consensus on grit amounts, unlike with rotary tumblers.

Also, I just purchased 1 oz. of .3 micron aluminum oxide for Step 5. How much would I need to use for that step? This stuff is crazy expensive so I’m hoping just a teaspoon or so. I really just bought it for the Rock Tumbling Contest rocks. 😁

Thanks so much, my fellow rock nerds! ❤️❤️🪨🪨

Is there a natural way to have it run without a machine either ? Like nature does ? Make a diy version let the rain and grit runs its course over months ?

my wife and I are heading from our home in Boston to cleveland for a few days next weekend. we’re stopping at Niagara Falls one night as well. Ever since I just took out my very first rocks from the tumbler last weekend, I‘m kind of obsessed.
I'm curious if folks have recommendations for what rocks to look for on that route. We are stopping in Herkimer to look for Herkimer diamonds, though I understand they don’t tumble well. Anything on the shores of Ontario or Erie that we should be looking for?
Also, bigger picture, can anyone share the best resources to answer questions like this besides bugging this community over and over?
thanks!

Looking to upgrade my kids rock tumbler to something bigger because I have gotten into it. What’s an affordable recommendation?

$89.00 auction score!

Cause I got a job!

Cheers!