So I found what I was sure it was a lake Superior agate on the beach of Superior last year, I couldn't see any bands but it had a telltale pit and was hard and waxy looking. So I put it in the tumbler with some other agate from Brazil and Madagascar and it turned out to be a water lever agate. The first 2 picks are the lake Superior agate and then some other cool ones from this batch.

Very nice.

They sure look nice all polished up like that.

I like them their pretty..I pick them up when ever I see them but never polished any.


Mac

Nice. Tell me about the tumbler and how you use it, please.

Don’t want to insinuate or insult but there’s money in them rocks! My buddy sells his custom scaled pocket knives for 2-400$ or more, he also sells sliced and polished window hangers for a pretty chunk of change. He’s recently gotten into faceting.
Nice work!

X2

I use a rotary tumbler with a 15 lb capacity for a couple weeks with 60/90 grit and water and also some small ceramic pieces for filler. The idea it to create a slurry with the grit and material that is removed from the rocks as they are smoothed and shaped rubbing against each other and the smaller ceramic media. There is no set time, if they are not shaped the way you want run them longer.

Then they go to a vibratory tumbler like you would use for brass only one made for rocks that has a thicker tougher bowl. If the rock was a water washed beach find that is already smooth and rounded it can start with this step. These vibratory tumblers are faster and can do what a rotary can do in a couple days. But you can't use the coarse 60/90 grit in them because it will eat up the barrel. So it's very important to wash all the grit off the rocks, even using a scrub brush to get it all off. Because it will cause scratches if it is carried over. I use a hose ouside with a spray nozzle over a big stainless screen that sits in a 5 gallon bucket. Do not put the slurry and grit down a drain, it will harden like concrete.

The first grit stage in the vibratory is 120/220 and you add 8oz of grit in my size an 18 pound capacity and water with your rocks and ceramic media. The rocks and media should roll from the outside in as it runs. Add some water a little at a time. When it builds a slurry it gets thicker and quits moving right so I have an empty squirt bottle with water to add just enough to get things moving right. You keep the lid on except to check it. When you are happy and ready for the next step, put a couple squirts of dawn in and some extra water for an hour or two and it helps with the cleaning for the next step.

Clean evrything well and then it's 500 grit pre polish, clean and repeat with the very fine aluminum oxide 1000 grit polish and you are done!

I have found that the grit gets stuck in the surface of the vibratory barrels and it's hard to get it clean without carry over so someone on a rock forum suggested have a barrel for each stage and that makes it easier. But more of an expense for your equipment. It's fun and really cool to see an ugly rock transform into a really pretty piece.

Try and stay with rocks that are all the same hardness on the mohs scale of mineral hardness because if you put soft rocks with hard ones you will never get a shine on the softer ones, they will be scratched by the hard ones. Agate is harder than woodpecker lips, the only thing harder is diamonds. It's fun learning new things, enjoy!!

If I may ask, what is the cost for a set up like yours?

Here is a place I buy some stuff from, all the tumblers are out of stock but you can look around at the different sizes and models prices. Lots of people must have taken this up when stuck at home. I have an 18 pound vibe and a 15 pound rotary. There are rock forums with plans to build tumblers out of big PVC pipe. I guess I spent maybe 500 to get set up. But you could go smaller and cheaper for sure.

http://www.therockshed.com/

Very Nice!

Thank you!

Not a pretty rock but I think I dug up Alabama.