#3 PHASE INDUSTRIAL ROCK TUBBLER PLUS#

When you finish the whole process, a good deal of the stones will have been ground away, leaving the barrel only about half full. You want to fill your tumbler about ¾ full. You will have nothing left if you tumble them.Īlso, mix the different sizes of stone. And be aware that some stones, like obsidian, are just too soft to tumble. If you are not familiar with this idea, be sure to look up what is the relative hardness of the stones you are tumbling. You need to choose rocks that are the same hardness for each batch that you do. That could be a mini catastrophe waiting to happen! How do I choose rocks to tumble? It should not be out of sight, out of mind. You should also consider if it is convenient for you to get to in order to tend to it. But soothing or not, we keep ours in the garage. If you followed our advice and got a tumbler with a rubber barrel, then it may actually produce a rather soothing white noise. We would suggest that you put the tumbler somewhere that won’t drive you to distraction. You can get one from us here, along with enough grit to get you through your first batch of stones. We would recommend that you get one that has a rubber barrel to cut down on the noise that is generated. They may be good for one or two batches of rock tumbling, and then you are out of luck. These are noisy, and often made of very inferior material that breaks easily. So with that in mind, and if you are one of those that wants to tumble rocks, here are some pointers for you! Get a good rock tumbler!ĭon’t spend your money on a tumbler from a craft store, or even one of those that you can find in a museum. It takes time, and many kids don’t want to wait 5-8 weeks for results! And there are tricks to getting it right, and often the instructions that come with your tumbler aren’t very clear about that. Many folks have tried it, and almost as many have quit. The more permanent solution is to tumble them yourself to get that glorious shine! The quickest solution to this is to give them a good coat of shellac or polyurethane that makes them appear to be polished. This is so often a disappointment to the kids, as they pick their samples with such care as to color, shape or size. And these rocks have been tumbled by the ocean, and are so shiny and smooth! At least, while they are still wet.īut as soon as they dry off, they are dull, not even beginning to exhibit the brilliance of when they were wet. We can find agates, lavas, serpentinite, quartzite, jasper, and so many others. There is a beach out on Whidbey Island (that’s in Puget Sound here in Washington state) that we love to take groups to in order to find the best assortment of stones and rocks for their collections or to study.

#3 PHASE INDUSTRIAL ROCK TUBBLER PLUS#

Want to get a great tumbler with grit for one complete tumbling, plus Rockman Pat’s secrets for tumbling? Click here!

3 phase industrial rock tubbler