Anybody do it? I have fond memories of one of my great uncles who always brought a box of polished rocks to family reunions when I was a kid. We all got to pick out one rock each year. I bought a tumbler but not having much luck getting a good polish on them. What media should I use and how do you get the final polish on them. What I've been using does a good job of getting them smooth I just don't get a good final polish.

rock polishng

Guy goes through the entire process.

Got one for my grandson when he was four or five years old. We set it up in the garage. His bedroom is directly above the garage. During the night he thought he was hearing a voice talking to him. He went downstairs to his parent's room and told his mom (a doctor) that he was hearing voices in his head. She took him back upstairs and put him to bed. The same thing happened the next night and the third night. Mom to dad that kid might be borderline mental illness.

The problem was diagnosed after a few days. The kid is normal and is now 15.

Those tumblers need to be located where their noise will not disturb your sleep.

There's a fella that posts pics of rocks he finds along the great lakes that he
Polishes up. Hope he sees this and helps ya out.

Sorry I can't remember his handle.

Dry corn cob grit works well.........but you probably don't have access to anything like that ....

I used about 4 grades of carborundum in a water slurry.

My Granddaughter uses all four steps of grit from Polly Plastics ,then gos to a Borax / water mix and ceramic filler media all fit in just barely moving for the extra fifth step , about 4 to 5 big table spoon fulls of borax ,for about 4-6 hrs they look like glazed candy. i guess its trial and error.

Dry corn cob grit works well.........but you probably don't have access to anything like that .... [/quote]




I might know a guy!

Thank you for the link Drifter. I'll check it out when I have time.

I have tumbled 10s of thousands of rocks. What exactly are you doing? What type of tumbler are you using? Are you getting every single rock perfectly clean between stages?

Also, I invite you to join us at RTH. We are family there just like here.

https://andy321.proboards.com/

Mark, I bought a national geographic tumbler and just used the grit that comes with it and followed the instructions. After a little more research I tried some cerium oxide which didn't seem to do much. Yes I'm cleaning everything very well using a small brush to scrub the rocks and the tub. Thank you for the link. It looks like a great resource.

Currently have 4 rotary tumblers rolling rocks, got back into it with plans to get a vibratory tumbler when I can.
For media I use 30/60 silicon carbide for first stage, takes the rough edges off and semi smoothes the rocks. 120/220 silicon carbide for second stage, continues to smooth the rocks and takes out large gouges, 500 grit aluminum oxide for 3rd stage , begins the polishing process continuing to smooth the rocks and removes scratches from courses grit used in stage 1 & 2. Stage 4 is 1000 grit aluminum oxide for final mirror quality finished shine..
Depending on how perfect you want your finished product entire rotary tumbling process could take a couple months from start to finish. Plan on a minimum of at least a week per stage for less than perfect results, depending on the hardness of rocks you are working with.

I understand a vibratory tumblers produce a finished product in weeks verses months with a rotary tumblers and now with in excess of 200 pounds of rocks to clean and tumble With current equipment will be kept busy all winter in spare ? time

I believe, from seeing pictures of Mark's finished rocks any advice he gives will be what I'd take

Don't buy another Nat Geo. You and your time are worth more than that.

Jingles. If you get the vibe, don't use anything courser than 120 in it. Anything courser will eat up your bowl fast. Imagine if you tossed a bucket of honey comb in the pig pen...

The vibe is on the wish list (medium back burner) along with the 12 pound barrel, as grit is eating up the extra. Those Lot-O's are a bit on the spendy side.