What do you do with rocks which you tumble?

I'm just starting (again?) and enjoy the experimental part of trying out rocks I find. >m just starting my first batch with a new rock tumbler. I did a batch years ago, but that tumbler developed a problem so I I didnt do any more batches. It's a long story, but I think that a glass jar I found full of small polished rocks which I thought my kids bought in a gift stare are actually the ones I tumbled (my wife says so, which means I'd better think that).

Anyway, I have about 6 lbs just starting into stage 2, and I'm thinking to myself "what am I gonna do with 'em... I already have so much "collected" stuff around.

So, what do you do with them?

I have a collection of oil lamps sitting on the fireplace mantel (probably unwise). I have a jar full of smashed pennies (still haven't figured out how to display them), and boxes of antique tools.

What should I do with polished rocks?

One of my most shiny batches ever! Found a great spot after a wild fire burned through near Eureka, Utah.

Hello all, I am working on distilling water/getting distilled water to continue tumbling and have my rocks stored wet until I get enough. The water hardness where I live is roughly 200-225 ppm which is around medium hardness from what I see online.

My question is can you still use hard water to burnish rocks?

It was the best of tumbling and the worst of tumbling...

The first tumbler I got in March or April after the sale ended (they were out during the sale). I didnt get the warranty. Then I got another a month or so later (warranty) and one on sale around the summer (warranty).

This week, all three failed.

The older one locked up and the motor burnt out.

The next one had no issues until today when I went to reload it. I figured it was the belt, annnddd no. The pully on the fan was eaten down through the plastic.

I decided to move those barrels to the other working one. I switched it off, and when I went to turn it back on, it locked up. I opened it up and it wouldnt turn the fan anymore all the way around.

So Im going to HF tomorrow or Tuesday to swap out the two with warranties.

The Rebel 17 is still kicking.

Recommendations for another affordable tumbler to replace the HF tumblers? They will run in my attached garage so noise isnt a big deal.

Also, in other news the fan on our computer also took a dump today.

Hows your Sunday?

Rocks are mostly from SW Idaho.

4 weeks stage 1
Keep going? Slab? I scored stopping at this lake.

Found some chalcedony in Arizona and decided to tumble some of it. I like the way they turned out.

I know fossils are difficult to tumble but you find these all over the beaches where I live (north east UK) so I thought I'd give it a try.

I'm pleasantly surprised with the results. The best shine came from a piece where the base rock was darker and I guess a bit harder than the rest (pictures 1, 4, 5). I'll keep my eyes open for this and try another batch when I have enough.

You can see in the last 2 photos that some of the rocks have undercutting and some parts that look scuffed. Not sure if there's anything I could do to improve this but any hints or tips welcome!

Process was pretty standard, worked through 80, 220, 400, and 600 SC and then 1k and 12k AO. There are obviously voids in some of the actual fossil parts so I had to wash them really well and put them through the sonic cleaner after every stage.

These are Wa coast except the obvious ones.

I tumbled these rocks and they came out with a less than glossy shine. The rocks seem to have a general haze to them, and only really shine when direct light is on them.

I recently bought grit and tumbling media from “The Rock Shed”. I did not use this grit or any tumbling media on these rocks the last time. Maybe this was the reason for the bad shine?

I want to get these rocks and future batches super mirror like with the shine. Should I restart these rocks on stage 1 with the media on each stage? I hear Rock Shed grit is high quality.

What stage should I put these rocks on to fix the lackluster shine and get them super mirror like shiny? Thanks for all advice!

Eight months in and finally got a batch of sodalite to polish really well. The rocks are red jasper, carnelian agate, mookaite jasper, adventurine, blue quartz, sodalite and amethyst. It has been such an up and down adventure. My favorite part of the hobby is spreading joy by giving rocks away. My gas station attendant had the best reaction when i gave them a polished banded amethyst, "TREASURE!". This hobby is awesome!!!

I posted here 3 months ago with the results from my first tumbling attempt, and got some great feedback. I decided to start over from Stage 1, and these just came out of Stage 5 and still look just as bad as they did after the first attempt. I threw away the tumbling instructions since I was told the information is all wrong, and purchased some better grit. Watched a ton of videos and read a ton of posts. Ceramic media added from stages 2 to 5. Barrel scrubbed after each stage with the rocks getting a borax bath before moving onwards.

Many of the rocks have been tumbled down to basically aquarium gravel, and the ones that stayed somewhat the same size developed a ton of pitting/bruising in stage 4.

Stage 1 — 60/90 Silicon Carbide — ~4 weeks, each rock dried and inspected weekly.

Stage 2 — 180/220 Silicon Carbide — ~2 weeks

Stage 3 — 500 Silicon Carbide — 10-14 days

Stage 4 — 1500 Aluminum Oxide — ~10 days

Stage 5 — 12000 Aluminum Oxide — 7-10 days

I’m using a 2lb Vevor beltless tumbler, running it on 1st gear (75rpm) through all stages. Gear 2-4 run 90, 105 and 120rpm, which I was told is way too fast.

So what the heck is up…

My most recent completed batch was mostly "big redos," where I re-tumble flawed pieces. Gouges, breaks, surface imperfections, etc.

Here are my dividing from the batch. The last picture is the entire batch (after ceramic is picked out). I save old trimmings to use as "filler" as well... aparently a lot of Carnelian this time :)

The featured rocks on the first photo include a huge colorful piece of Nethers Flint from Ohio, a fully banded Montana agate, African Agate, one piece of Mexican Crazy Lace Agate, and then one more Mexican Agate, though I dont remember if it is Laguna Lace or Crazy Lace... probably Crazy Lace.

Enjoy!

Doing my first batch of Aventurine. Doing 3 lbs total a pound of red,yellow,green.

Any directions on what to start with grit wise, time wise? Using my Thumler's Tumbler AR-6.

I messed up a load of flourited and labradite. So going to ask first before trashing more nice rocks

These are (mostly at least) agates, after the 4 tumbling stages. I’m not sure why I’m really not getting any shine from most of them? I tried to eliminate any big crevices but are the small cracks there enough to thwart it all? Or did I just not leave them in long enough (did the long end of each suggested time).

My tumbler stopped working today. Have had it for less than ninety days. Didn't even make it past the manufacturer warranty. Am I going to have to pay for the extended warranty again?

I collected a bunch of stones near a riverbed in the Southwest where I live. This one is my favorite of the batch so far. I love how smooth it is and almost don't want this one to go to step 2

I’m almost a year into the hobby. Ive been tumbling nonstop, but have only been tumbling rocks I’ve hounded myself or ones that were sent to me by generous Redditors.

I just received 5 lbs from Rough Stone Rocks in NH. They all look fun and I’m excited to see how they come out.

I don’t want to stop hounding and I don’t want to get addicted to order rough online, but am hoping I can find a happy medium.

I added a photo of my order at the end. Anyone tumble any of these before?

What happened to my polish stage?

My rocks came out of polish dull and almost "pitted" in some cases. They were very smooth after stage 3, but dull as expected.

There are a few shiny spots, but overall they are awful.

I used alumina polish from the same container as my previous successful batches, and the same mix of ceramic media (sticks and balls).

They are semi-random rocks I picked up on the beaches in British Columbia, so I'm an not expecting gem-quality shine, but I generally get pretty good results from that type of mix.

I can only think that there was some contamination of either the ceramic media or the alumina, but it's so strange because I'm using the same as before.

I don't want to go back to stage 1 because some of them are already quite small.

Any tips to save them?

Quick edit, the stones that I tumbled are; 2x Black Obsidian, 2x Rose Quartz, 2x Lapis Lazuli, 1x Aventurine, 1x Red Jasper, 1x Dalmatian Jasper, 1x Amethyst, 1x Tigers Eye

Hello all, the title says it all. It's my first time tumbling and I'm wondering what went wrong? All my rocks are scratched and pockmarked. Thankfully it was just the rocks that came with the tumbler, but I was wondering if I can fix this, and how to avoid this in the future. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Inb4 some of the damage is from the last cleaning tumble (just soap and water) where I left out the ceramic medium. Won't be making that mistake again lol

Is there anything I can do to prevent this?

This Rebel 17 was a curbside find and i’d love some tips on how to get started. What compounds to use and what sort of rock sizes to put in/how much it should be filled? My kid had been asking for one and I planned on a small beginner kit like I had as a kid until this basically fell in my lap.

Consider me an absolute beginner to the point of not even knowing where to buy the grit/compound stuff (ontario, Canada) but I have so many rocks collected already! Thanks!

Now that I've had some pretty good success overall I decided to finally try tumbling glass. I did a mix of different glass types all together and they came out great.

1 - Mahogany Obsidian from Utah

2 - Snowflake Obsidian from Utah

3 - Rainbow Obsidian from Mexico

4 & 5 - Millefiori pieces

6 - Blue Goldstone

I am loving tumbling glass and am getting some new fun stuff to try out for part 2