Dear Tumblers,
Thank you so much for the great advice and positive criticism!
Colorado- Thank you for the welcome. I want everyone to have
fun too. I'm just have a sensitive heart. I think I will be fine.
Hi Tennessee! I live in Arizona FYI did you know
that tumbleweeds so associated with the desert southwest are
likely from Russia (Russian thistle)? But I digress.
The concept is that The Aurora Library (after my first granddaughter
Aurora) is an educational library so I have all kinds of unusual things in
the library including, flash cards, educational placemats, home-made
keepsakes, kits for everything from crystal growing to a kit to make
a motor/generator. It has a treasure chest full of wonderful precious
things like a 4.5 billion year old meteorite.
The Aurora Library also has a plasma sphere, a radiometer, chess
sets, a model of DNA, a "perpetual motion machine," a bobble head
of Einstein modified with a chalkboard explaining what E=MC2 means,
a family tree, a levitating and rotating globe, a grow-your-own butterfly
kit, a "Dump Trump" pink pussycat hat, fun bookends, and artwork
demonstrating various styles, educational games and globes. It also
contains posters of human anatomy, the tree of life, mammals etc.
A beginners shell collection, rock collection, and of course there are
the books...
Three bookshelves (getting a 4th) of Board books, lots of picture books,
chapter books, how to read books in growing difficulty, novels, and
several books I am writing myself including my autobiography, a book
on wisdom, a book on the timeline from the big bang to the future from
a Christian world view (mine), a book on how to learn chess the easy way,
and a children's book about the animals that live in the desert southwest.
It is part of my legacy.
Yes Fantastic5 the minimal instructions that came with the National Geographic
Rock Tumbler says, "Tip #4- Adding a small bit of mineral oil to your finished
stones will help give them a nice shiny look." So much for the National Geographic.
Because it is for the library I'm not going to buy more equipment but I will want
to try a very wide variety of rocks to make a collection of stones mounted on a
board so that it is unfinished with lots of places open and named to encourage the
kids to tumble and finish it.
Trust me I know about addiction even though I don't have an addictive personality.
Chess, Acnos (look it up, a really fun free game) and television are the things I
became addicted to. I have broken the chess and Acnos habit but I still enjoy the
"What-stupid-thing-did-Trump-do-today Game."
Gmitch, Thanks for the advice! I'm like you was, a total newbie. "placed it on a high shelf...
never to be touched again." That hurts just to hear!
I'm hoping that the tumbler will teach my descendants patience as well as about rocks.
I got the Jasper Mix and the Gemstone Mix from N.G. so I put some of both in
my first tumble.
Is it okay to mix them like that or should I tumble each mix separately? Is each mix about the
same hardness or do they mix them up?
It says to tumble the first stage for 3-5 days and later it says, "The longer the better." So I
set it for 5 days. I still have 3 days left.
So now I know there is a Madagascar Mix. How many mixes are there? What are they called?
How many different kind of stones do you gentlemen/ladies have in your collections?
I promise to get Mohs savvy. When
I make the display board I will put the Mohs number next to the name along with other information
probably like where it is from. Has anyone seen a very nice display board that I can cheat off of ?
(or be inspired from? )
PeachFront- Thanks for the advice! Agates...Is there an Agate Mix?
GrunpyBill- What was wrong with your third stage that you had to start over? That is great
that you get your grandkids to get stones for you. I'm in Arizona and my granddaughters are
in Minnesota. You gave me the idea for them to collect rocks and maybe their mother will mail
a few to me. (We are somewhat estranged.) Thanks for the advice. Has someone written better
instructions for a beginner than the one that comes with the Nat. Geo. Tumbler?
youp50- "Stop, Quit, Go Back!" that's a joke right? I will buy more stones, but I promise
I will not buy any more tumblers. (I hope.) There are other things I need to get for the library
like another shelf.
Very funny joke about the FedEx guy!
Is there a master list somewhere of all the rocks that I should or can be tumbled?
Is there a master list of mixes and companies to buy from?
Thanks everyone for your help and wise advice.
Grandpa Patrick