So as a kid, I remember my parents giving my brother and I rock polishing kit for Christmas one year. I recall that we attempted to polish rocks with it a few times, but I don’t recall that we had much success, probably due to the lack of patience.
We spent the 4th of July holiday this year in the Rockies and one of the festivals we attended there was a rock gem event where the kids could pan for gem stones. It was a set up whereby the kids panned in dirty muddy water and there were a variety of natural gemstones, fossils, arrowheads, shark teeth, geodes, etc. that they ended up with. They were very excited. They ended up with about 4-5 pounds of rocks.
So after we got home, I decided they might have more fun seeing these gemstones, polished, so I did a little research and ordered a simple Lortone 3lb barrel tumbler and a set of various grits and ceramic fillers to begin their tumbling experience.
We set up the first round of rocks in the tumbler last night, put it in the garage and let her rip!
I guess in about 4-5 weeks, we’ll see what we got.
Hope it works for you, I’ve always wanted to myself.
How loud is it? Asking because the only time we tried using a tumbler (30+ years ago) the damn thing was louder than a hammer factory. It was a small, supposedly “quiet” tumbler but you could hear it half a block away.
The model my brother and I had when we were kids was also loud. It had a plastic barrel.
The model I purchased has a rubber barrel, which makes it significantly quieter, as well as the motor itself is very quiet. It has a slight hum, which is why we put it in the garage.
Played around with them, never really got results that were especially satisfying. (Although now that I think about it I think I have some turritella agate that isn’t half bad.)
I begged for a rock tumbler one year when I was a kid. This was the early 70s. I was always rock hunting. We have some beautiful Lake Superior agates around here. I could even identify most of the rocks I found. That Christmas a rock tumbler was under the tree! I was so excited. My dad helped me set it up (I think it even came with some unpolished rocks like agates.) and we plugged it in. Then I waited and waited… I’m sure I thought it was going to be just a couple of hours and I would have some beautifully polished stones. Nope. It was weeks and weeks of that thing rumbling down in the basement. It worked great, but who knows what I thought it was going to be. I now had a handful of polished rocks. Now what? I think I only used it once or twice. I’m guessing my parents would have had to order (by mail in those days) more supplies so I could use it again and they apparently weren’t too motivated. It’s probably still in my mom’s basement.
yeah, I got one when I was like 9 or 10 years old. I remember the included pack of stones had one that was a pale translucent green, kind of like jade. I thought “this one ought to look really neat!” ended up getting “polished” down to the size of a grain of rice.
I got one for Christmas. I used it once and polished the rocks that came with the kit. My dad had some small black rocks he included in the barrel.
I set it up in my dad’s workshop, a separate building. I followed the directions and washed the rocks and changed the grit on schedule. I don’t remember now how long it took. It must have been two or three weeks.
Getting rid of the used grit/water was a pain. I remember using a funnel to pour it into a empty 2 liter soda bottle. The bottle went in the trash.
They came out pretty nice. I have no idea what ever happened to those rocks. They went into a drawer 40 years ago.
I never had another bag of rocks that needed polishing. You can’t just do a few.
Check the rocks after tumbling with the course grit. Look for any imperfections. You may need to wait a few more days before changing to the next grit.
I followed the instructions and some of my rocks had areas that were still a bit rough. I didn’t understand then that the other grits wouldn’t grind that off.
My grandfather sent me one as a gift when I was a kid, along with a bag of unpolished stones, mostly agate I think. I polished all the rocks that came with the kit and got a bunch of pretty polished stones. Cool! But now what? I went around collecting other rocks to polish, but you don’t exactly find gemstones just lying around on the ground (and not being a geologist I didn’t know where to look for them). So I mostly just ended up with common quartz and even a few pieces of crushed granite from a gravel parking lot that I threw in just to see what would happen. Those came out okay but not as cool as the fist batch of stones that came with the kit. Although polished granite was actually nicer than I expected (this was before granite countertops were all the rage). And I pretty much lost interest in it after that. Also I think at that point I was running low on some of the types of grit (The kit was obviously used and none of the containers of grit were full when I got it. I don’t know if Grandpa picked it up at a garage sale or something or if it had been his that he no longer used. I had the impression at the time that the rocks that came with it were actually ones that Grandpa had collected himself, which would point to the latter). This was the days before the internet, so obtaining more grit meant going to a specialized hobby shop, which meant I’d have to get Mom to make a special trip to take me there, which never happened…
Actually years later my Boy Scout troop took a trip to one of those places where you can pan for gemstones like the OP mentioned. I don’t know why I never bothered polishing those. Probably by that point the rock tumbler was hidden away on a high shelf and I had completely forgotten about it. That and my lack of grit mentioned in the previous paragraph.
We did the whole rock polishing thing when the kids were little. The two biggest detractors were the lengthy time to completion, and the stupendous shrinkage of the rocks.
Now that we live out in the middle of nowhere, and our nowhere is down the highway from the Petrified Forest, our 36-acre “yard” had many interesting rocks, including petrified wood. The grandkids would probably enjoy seeing their collected rocks all polished and pretty.
I also have a Lortone tumbler. It is awesome, the rubber barrels make it very quiet. I think its great results are due to the grit powders that they supply. If you are patient and follow the progression through the grits, there are amazing results. Ours can hold three barrels in-line, so we can have multiple stages of grits tumbling simultaneously to give us an “ooh-ahh” surprise every week or so instead of every month or so.
Some tips we’ve found…
Some rocks just get cloudy and refuse to ever polish to a shine. Don’t waste your time with these or assume the polisher isn’t working.
Some rocks and particularly gems are quite soft, and melt away into nothing under the heavier grits. Do test runs with your crappier samples before throwing the nice stuff in.
Avoid anything with cavities, pits, sharp edges, or flat faces. These are stubborn due to the general physics of needing rocks banging into other rocks consistently.
I’m sure I thought it was going to be just a couple of hours and I would have some beautifully polished stones. Nope. It was weeks and weeks of that thing rumbling down in the basement. It worked great, but who knows what I thought it was going to be. I now had a handful of polished rocks. Now what? I think I only used it once or twice. I’m guessing my parents would have had to order (by mail in those days) more supplies so I could use it again and they apparently weren’t too motivated. It’s probably still in my mom’s basement.