New Hobby

[dennishoddy]

Always been a bit of a rock hound, picking up odd rocks and artifacts.
Bought a rock tumbler after picking up rocks all over the NW on this summers trip in the RV.
Takes pretty much a month to get the final product from the rough stones, going through 5 steps from coarse to very fine abrasive compounds.

Rough stones:

Finished product:

Second load is in the tumbler. The rocks lose about 1/2 their original size during the polishing process.

 

[DavidMcmillan]

And now, what are the plans for the polished stones? Lots of potential. Looks like you are about to create a masterpiece!

 

[kirk1978]

Oh wow, those turned out awesome.

 

[dennishoddy]

Wife wants a rock garden along the front porch that used to contain monkey grass. Basically was a great hunting area for local snakes.
I have it all down to a paver stone outer with all the monkey grass removed, dirt added and landscaping cloth down.
We will be touring the OKC area rock dealers tomorrow looking for big river rock to put in there. We can buy the smaller river rock at Lowes locally but want the softball size preferably.
As a center piece we are looking for a big 3-5' tall piece of lava rock that will be made into a fountain by drilling from the bottom to the top. Around the fountain, will be polished rock like in the pic within a border.
Gonna take a long time to get that much polished, but it's a hobby and doesn't require a lot of work other than changing out the abrasive material, and hitting the start button. 6-7 days of tumbling per stage.

 

[DavidMcmillan]

That sounds great! Looking forward to all the pics!

 

[chuter]

Wow! Never really looked into rock polishing, that's amazing.

 

[GnometownHero]

A friend of mine bought land near the La Garita cauldera in Saguache county Colorado. He found an area that every shovel dug is full of garnets.

 

[Louro]

COOL, A friend of mine in AK has this hobby. He had some interesting looking rocks. He cut them grind them and made trinkets for sale.

 

[SlugSlinger]

How long were the rocks in the tumbler to get that much of a polish?

Always been a bit of a rock hound, picking up odd rocks and artifacts.
Bought a rock tumbler after picking up rocks all over the NW on this summers trip in the RV.
Takes pretty much a month to get the final product from the rough stones, going through 5 steps from coarse to very fine abrasive compounds.

Rough stones:

View attachment 229381

Finished product:

View attachment 229382
Second load is in the tumbler. The rocks lose about 1/2 their original size during the polishing process.

 

[druryj]

Very cool @dennishoddy! Minnick Materials on Council, south of 10th street, probably has what you want in terms of rocks.