Hi,

I bought my first tumbler and waited with much anticipation as the rocks tumbled in the first run using course grit.  And here are my results for the 40 rocks I've been working on

- pic 1 are the white rocks before tumbling
- pic 2 are the dark rocks before
- and pic 3 are the results after 12 days tumbling.

I'll post stage 2, 3 and 4 pics as the develop.

cheers,
r

Hi,

Here's the rocks after 10 days of tumbling in fine grind...

cheers,
r

Here they are after 9 days of prepolish tumbling...

cheers,
r

Looking good!

This might work (trying to attach a PDF file).  It's someone's guide to tumbling obsidian, which seems to be among the most finicky rocks to tumble.
I use the same basic sequence of rotary tumble first, followed by final polish with a vibratory machine.  Borax seemed to help as in the guide.

I thought I also had a reference sheet on which "final polish" compounds (cerium or tin oxide etc.) to use for best result on various stones.  Can't find it at the moment but you might come across it on the internet.  Here's one reference but not the long list of rocks/compounds I have somewhere:  http://rocktumbler.com/questions/what-polish-should-i-use/

Hi,

I bought a Central Machinery 5 pound capacity vibratory tumbler.

I was a bit surprised that it called for dry material, but no matter I can try that - so I gathered my material and followed the directions as close as possible re-doing steps 2, 3 and 4.

Step 2 fine grinding for 10 days seemed to be an improvement - nice rounded smooth rocks.

Step 3 pre-polish for 10 days worked well and gave me high hopes I sorta knew what I was doing

So step 4 polishing had me pumped - I followed the directions to the letter and - visualizing a great final polish, I let it go undisturbed for 20 days!

And my final product came out looking just like POWDERED DO-NUTS!!!!

I surmise I put too much water in with my 2 sprays out of a water bottle.  Another possibility is the plastic tile separators I used plenty of for the final polish came from inside my cool house and they created moisture when I put them in the vibrator out in my hot tool shed.  Don't know - but now I have 4 pounds of smooth rocks covered in gummy white powdery polish.  Bummer

But - I know more now than before so, undeterred, I will continue on down the road of learning of how to produce a polished rock.   Maybe going back to step 1 in my wet tumbler will grind off the powder.  We'll see.

cheers,
r

Hey all,

I experimented a few months with my vibratory tumbler and it eventually vibrated it's lid off and had made a fine mess in my shed when I checked on it after a few days.  So I cleaned these rocks and went back to my rotary tumbler and tumbled for 2 months then polished for two months and am about ready to call this batch done.

It hasn't been easy - takes much more patience than I was born with - but it has been a meaningful learning experience that I will continue to pursue for the rest of my life.  I have much more respect for all rock polishers now - it is what I call painfully slow fun - and admire everyone who has done it.

Here's the results of my year's effort - and now on to the next batch and onward through the fog!

cheers,
r

Thanks Scott - yup they are all Mine Creek rocks - there's plenty of rocks in Mine creek to last me a lifetime of hunting and trying to improve on my tumbling and polishing capability adds to my fun!

cheers,
r