New Hobby

[Hodrod]

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.

Very, very nice.....you've got some very nice stones to show for your vacation and new hobby....congrats

 

[yukonjack]

I’ll try to answer the questions with a little more detail.
The suggestion to let the dog pee on the monkey grass to kill it is good but takes too long. Shovel works best to just dig it out.
polishing from raw to finished takes 4-5 steps.
I’m using a commercial grit from Amazon. There are 4 grades. Coarse, medium, fine and polish.
The tumbler has 3 speeds. Coarse grit mixed with water goes 6-7 days at high speed or until the rocks are rounded on the corners and relatively smooth like one would see with a river rock.
Medium grit at medium speed for 5-7 days. they should be really smooth upon completion.
Fine grit at the slowest speed, also mixed with water takes another 5-6 days. The polishing grit mixed with water tumbles on slow for 6-7 days or until they are shiny.
If a really high polish is wanted like I did, there are some foam pellets impregnated with something like jewelers rouge for a 5th step at low speed for as long as one wants to tumble them.
So it pretty well takes a month to complete the process.

The Rock Shed has a much better price on tumbling grit. I’ve been buying from them for about 5 years now. If you ever head towards Duncan there is a big, old fashioned rock shop in Comanche on Highway 81. It’s worth the drive. They have a Facebook page under Mine Shaft Rocks and Minerals. Open Thursday thru Sunday. The owner, Wes Rightmire, has been helping me learn how to more accurately identify different types of hard rock gold and silver ore.

https://therockshed.com/index.html
https://therockshed.com/grit.html

 

[dennishoddy]

The Rock Shed has a much better price on tumbling grit. I’ve been buying from them for about 5 years now. If you ever head towards Duncan there is a big, old fashioned rock shop in Comanche on Highway 81. It’s worth the drive. They have a Facebook page under Mine Shaft Rocks and Minerals. Open Thursday thru Sunday. The owner, Wes Rightmire, has been helping me learn how to more accurately identify different types of hard rock gold and silver ore.

https://therockshed.com/grit.html

Thanks for the heads up!
I'll see what it costs to get it shipped from them if they do mail order. Don't get to the Duncan area much. Probably been 20 years since going to visit the Haliburton facility there.

 

[yukonjack]

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

To add a little to Dennis’s reply Rocktumbler.com has spot on instructions for the beginner.

https://rocktumbler.com/tips/rock-tumbler-instructions/

 

[dennishoddy]

To add a little to Dennis’s reply Rocktumbler.com has spot on instructions for the beginner.

https://rocktumbler.com/tips/rock-tumbler-instructions/

A beginner I am, so I'll check that out as well.

 

[yukonjack]

Thanks for the heads up!
I'll see what it costs to get it shipped from them if they do mail order. Don't get to the Duncan area much. Probably been 20 years since going to visit the Haliburton facility there.

They do a lot of mail order.