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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jul 23, 2013 8:11:52 GMT -5
I thought I would share my process for getting 3 pounds of polished rocks every week. I really enjoy tumbling rocks but due to my impatience I needed to come up with a way to get more rocks completed in a shorter amount of time. To accomplish this I found the key to the whole thing was to have enough rocks rolling in stage one so that during my weekly cleanouts I could pull 3-4 pounds out that were pit free and flaw free to be set aside for stage two. So far I have found that having 20-30 pounds of rock in stage one at all times allows me to do this so I run a 12 pound Lortone and a homemade tumbler running as many as eight 3 pound Lortone barrels. The next step was to figure out how to process the rocks through the next 5 stages in a 7 day window. This is where the lot-o vibrating tumbler comes in handy. Here’s an example of stage 2-6 being done in 7 days. Saturday - 12:00pm put 3-4 pounds of rock in S/C 120/220 (two tablespoon / borax only with soft rocks) Sunday - 8:00pm clean out and switch to A/O 500 (1/2 teaspoon / one tablespoon borax and ceramics) Monday - 8:00pm clean out and switch to A/O 1000 (1/2 teaspoon / one tablespoon borax and ceramics) Tuesday Wednesday - 8:00 clean out and switch to A/O polish (1/2 teaspoon / one tablespoon borax and ceramics) Thursday Friday Saturday - 8:00am cleanout and switch to two tablespoons of borax and ceramics for burnish Saturday - 12:00pm rocks complete Now here comes that bad part. trying to figure out how much time and money is involved? Here are my rough weekly estimates. 3 hours labor per week for clean outs (minimum, I think I spend more then this) $6 per week in grits and polish $5 per week electricity for the tumblers The value of the rough rocks is hard to figure but even at $2.50 per pound that’s still about $10 per week So after looking at all of this I guess you could say I have about 3 hours labor and $20 out of pocket each week to get 3-4 pounds of nice shiny rocks. I almost forgot equipment costs. I got great deals on some of my stuff but if it were all purchased new the cost would be over $700 just for the tumblers so even if I have been tumbling for 2 years that’s still as much as $7.00 per week for the equipment. This is just an estimate and things vary each week but I think this paints a pretty good picture of what a week of rock tumbling looks like around my house right now. thanks for looking, Chuck
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Post by orrum on Jul 23, 2013 8:19:04 GMT -5
Wow thats a tight schedule Chuck!
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jul 23, 2013 8:29:09 GMT -5
Yeah Bill it is. I really should cut it in half soon but I thought I would post what I have been doing for the last 6 months to show it is possible but not easy. It takes a whole lot of rough rock, time and money Chuck
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Post by orrum on Jul 23, 2013 16:36:43 GMT -5
Chuck when u clesn out the final polish and put in the 2 tbsp of Borax to burnish how much water do you put in? How long do u run that burnish, is it the same for soft or hard rocks? Thanks, Bill
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jul 23, 2013 16:43:33 GMT -5
Bill, I treat my burnish stage just like all the other stages so wet rocks and then spray till I get the normal movement going. The only time I add a different amount of water is between each stage when I add a few drops of dawn dish soap and about a half of cup of water for 10 minutes to make the clean outs easier. I do that at every clean out at every stage.
Chuck
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2013 17:31:58 GMT -5
This is really nice.
Thanks Chuck!
I really should add, what have you done with 75# of finished tumbles? (25 weeks at 3# per week.)
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,158
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Post by jamesp on Jul 23, 2013 17:33:21 GMT -5
tumbling is not cheap. agates and hard stuff especially great article Chuck.
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Jul 23, 2013 23:10:36 GMT -5
Chuck and all,
Thanks for that interesting post. I have always wondered what is everyone else's reject rate at each stage. I rarely buy material and get my kick out of finding my own. That unfortunately means that I probably try more junk rock than others. But then I got thinking that while the experts maybe start with better stuff, they are probably more particular too on perfection. So maybe their reject rate is similar. My reject rates are about 10-15% after 1st rough tumble. Then maybe 2-5% for each stage afterward. So that would make somewhere about 20% overall reject rate from rough to finished. What are you all getting?
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Post by connrock on Jul 24, 2013 6:42:45 GMT -5
Chuck, I can appreciate how much time,money and work you're involved in right now. I was still working and had two 15lb,two 6lb,one 4lb,one 3lb,three 1-1/2lb rotary and 2 Lot-O vibes going 24/7/365! I bought 60/90 in 50lb lots and occasionally bought 50lbs of 220 graded grit.I went through a lot of 60/90 but the following stages didn't take much grit/polish in the Lot-O. I had to buy all my rough and that part of it hurt my pocket book the most. I'd venture a guess that I polished a ton to a ton-1/2 of rocks and maybe even more. I strived for quality and the thing I hated the most was checking each and every rock after polish to make certain it was top quality.The bigger to mid size rocks aren't bad to check but those small ones,,,,about the size of my pinky fingernail,,,were a bummer and there's way more of them then the bigger ones in a single load!
Changing loads,rinsing,washing,grading the rocks and starting over again takes a lot of time and when you still have a real day job it's pretty hard to get it all done after work. I never figured out what it all cost me but now you've done that and I cans see where I spent a lot of money through the years,,,,,money well spent too. I haven't even turned on a tumbler in a year now,other then to de-bur and polish metal in my Lot-O's,but who knows,,,some day I may crank up a few tumblers and start to polish rocks again? connrock
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Post by connrock on Jul 24, 2013 6:47:45 GMT -5
Mark, I don't know what my percentage of discards was but it was pretty low. If I had a rock that wasn't worth anything I broke it up and used it as "filler" in the 1/3 small rock part of a load. I tried to get everything I could out of my rocks and I kept them going until some were grains of polished sand. connrock
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Jul 24, 2013 12:02:05 GMT -5
Mark, I kept them going until some were grains of polished sand. connrock LOL
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billg22
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2011
Posts: 451
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Post by billg22 on Jul 24, 2013 12:22:00 GMT -5
I just let my tumblers work all week and spend a few hours on the weekend recharging and starting new loads. That night while watching TV I'll go through the "take" and choose the ones for display and the others go to the 2nd's or garden. And it starts all over again. I'm so hooked on the hobby, I don't want to know how much I spend.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2013 12:30:28 GMT -5
I'm so hooked on the hobby, I don't want to know how much I spend. Well said friend. Well said.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jul 24, 2013 12:48:38 GMT -5
X2 - well said! my goal here was really to find a break even point when selling mixed rock by the pound. There really is no "labor" involved its more like therapy really. It's funny to think back just two years ago when if someone showed me a piece of snowflake obsidian I would not have known what it was. I blame my son for getting a plastic barrel toy tumbler at a garage sale for $5.
chuck
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Jul 24, 2013 14:06:58 GMT -5
I never heard that excuse before. That would be reversed from the norm. Good tactic.
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herchenx
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Member since January 2012
Posts: 3,360
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Post by herchenx on Jul 24, 2013 18:25:03 GMT -5
Nice breakdown. I am tumbling a much higher percentage of self-collected material now than I was last year. I easily have enough for the rest of the year, so my cost is all electric and grit. Using the vibe i really spend most on 60/90 and 46/70, I need to see how much I'm going through, I bought large volumes early this year and have only finished about 50# this year.
To Scott's question (understanding it was directed at Chuck), I give it all away besides about 10# I've set aside as my collection. Elementary school, kids of friends and my kids friends, church, the rock club all give me more than enough opportunity to give it away and feel great about it.
What I need to factor in also is gas. For the 200 or so pounds of tumbling stuff I've collected so far this year I've probably spent $500 in gas! My V10 shows no mercy at the pump...
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snuffy
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2009
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Post by snuffy on Jul 24, 2013 19:55:09 GMT -5
I probably use 50-100 lbs 60/90 in a year.I buy 5 lbs each of 1000 and ao polish,lasts well over a year.The only grits I use.Ijust flat enjoy tumbling,got so much equipment,dont want to stop.Its costly,but not nearly as much as drinking,which I did before tumbling!
snuffy
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jul 24, 2013 20:10:22 GMT -5
must be some weird rock karma going on. I typed this thread yesterday just for fun and today I got a message on etsy that somone wanted a price for 15 pounds of tumbled mixed rock. my largest sale previously was 10 pounds on etsy but It was for a charity event so I gave them a real good deal.
chuck
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Jul 26, 2013 12:29:23 GMT -5
Nice breakdown. For the 200 or so pounds of tumbling stuff I've collected so far this year I've probably spent $500 in gas! Memories with your family = priceless
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herchenx
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Member since January 2012
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Post by herchenx on Jul 26, 2013 17:26:27 GMT -5
Nice breakdown. For the 200 or so pounds of tumbling stuff I've collected so far this year I've probably spent $500 in gas! Memories with your family = priceless double true
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