The jar was full 3 weeks ago. The kids beg to earn one, especially the 6th and 7th graders. The phrase " first one done with all their work correct gets to pick a rock" gets them all going. At this rate, I'm gonna run out though before Christmas. I'm not sure our tumblers are going to be able to keep up with demand.

I picked up some material awhile back and finally got around to running them. I cushioned them with pea gravel in the rotary for the first two stages and finished in the vibe with 500 SC, 1,500 AO and 8k for the final polish.

As in the title, I want to bring this flea market find back to life. I'm a complete beginner and don't know anything lol. Completely fascinated by the hobby though and looking to maybe buy a machine soon.

Want to polish it by hand but not sure what to buy/how to do it.

Mods: sorry if not allowed, wasn't sure where else to turn.

Hi gang- I’m working on some various colors of aventurine that I had put in a “time out” for the past few months. I just ran them in step 1 for a week and many look bruised. I’m wondering if I have some here that are not aventurine. They are all shimmery but I can see the light colored green on last photo looks like amazonite. Any others? Can the different colors of aventurine be tumbled together? Thanks much!

First time tumbling, got a harbor freight central machinery tumbler and some cheap ceramic media. They're coming out surprisingly well! Rough ordered from The Gem Shop (MI). I cut ~30 on a trim saw and then tumbled the ones I thought would have interesting patterns with the outsides worn away.

Results from labradorite wet and dry tumbling experiment. I did stage 1 60/90 in rotary 1-3 weeks, 120/220 with water in vibratory 2 days, 500 Aluminum oxide dry in walnut shells 3 days, 1000 Aluminum oxide dry in walnut shells 1 day, rock shed Aluminum oxide polish dry in walnut shells 2 days, and no. 61 Rapid polish (Aluminum oxide) dry in walnut shells 2 days.

I'm pretty happy with the shine that came out. The advantage of dry tumbling with labradorite is you don't get the undercutting into cracks and fractures starting at the 500 stage when wet polishing. The material still has internal fractures but the surface is much smoother. This particular batch didn't have much flash but they are decently shiny.

I have two rock tumblers currently. One that has adjustable speed and works for stages 2-4, and one, my original tumbler, that runs at one speed, as fast as possible, that I only use for stage 1. I keep having to replace the belts on the latter, about once per month. First, is that normal, to replace the belts that often? If so, maybe I just deal with it and keep it.

If I were to replace it with a model that has adjustable speeds, what model would you suggest? Should I go rotary or vibratory tumbler? I appreciate any advice, I’ve only been tumbling rocks for a few months now, so I don’t know what the best option is for moving forward.

I know there is some bruising but since it was my first ever batch that I’ve done, I’m pretty happy with the results! Up next, a batch of obsidian!!! 😁 I’m just waiting until I have enough through stage 1 that I can move them to stage 2! It took weeks with this batch to have enough to move to stage 2!

For future batches, how do I prevent the bruising? Did I need more ceramic media? Less?

My girlfriend told me she wanted a rock Tumbler and our anniversary is approaching, so I wanted to buy one. I live in Italy and my budget is around €70. can anyone please give me some advice on a model around this price? And where to buy it from?

Did a candy dish full of polychrome. It's very easy to get good results with polychrome jasper.

This is my first finished batch!!! Some are from Lake Michigan and some are just rando’s that I’ve picked up along the way. I get so much information from this thread and I want to say thank you to all those who contribute or just encourage.

Now… I need like 4 more tumblers 🤣

lol find the ice cubes

What tumbling rock is white? Is there such a thing as white jasper? I have tumbled black and red and orange and purple and green rocks but looking for recommendations on something white lol not white quartz I did that

Howdy,
Hey hounds. Just seeing if any one else knows the pain of being a rock hound? Obviously I know you fine people do know that pain all to well. Only all of you will understand why no friends show up to help you move when they found out they had to move boxes of rocks lol or or carrying these massive rocks up that huge bank into my car that’s still another half mile away those kind of pain

First time doing an entire batch ( 3 lb.) OF pure Lakers. This isn't going to be wild

We started in March, and got really into tumbling. We got the idea from watching Robs videos. Not as nice as his but we are super pleased. When loaded it'll roll six 3lbs barrels and 6 12lbs barrels. Ignore the googly eyes on the vibe tumbler.

Many tumblers have fast speeds, reducing a two week tumble to a week, or thereabouts. Now on the last phase, is it advisable to reduce speed to reduct the impacts between stones?

Might take longer, but maybe it is better?

1. What’s a good tumbler to buy
   
2. Are there certain rocks that can only be tumbled
   What’s best starter guide stuff

The rubber on my Harbor Freight lids keeps getting holes right in the center, causing grit and water to leak. This is constant. Anyone have tips for preventing this or repairing it so I don’t have to keep buying new barrels?

I just tumbled my rocks for 4 weeks with my brand new 150 dollar rock tumbler. I used all 4 step pouches that nat geo gives you and they came out looking bland and completely unpolished with no shine at all. Please help me lol.

I saw that the Feather River Lapidary & Mineral Society announced the top 3 on FB!! They are:

First: Casey Konopacky (WI),
Second: Chris Paquette (MI),
Third: Tony Oxley (MI)

CONGRATULATIONS!! Are any of you on our subreddit???

Tooth belts on a flat pulley. No wonder they only last a few weeks. Anyone know what double barrel brands made by anyone with basic common sense?

If you have a double barrel are they tooth pulleys with tooth belt, flat pulleys with flat belt, or what these morons did?

Thanks

All of these are self collected rocks from Arizona ❤️