To Cut or Not To Cut?

Hi Larry & welcome. I personally like to cut my stuff open if I feel that is has something better inside. Often there is good color or pattern buried in a rock that can't be reached by tumbling alone. I also like to cut them into small slabs & tumble them for jewelry as opposed to leaving them irregularly shaped. I don't think that you have anything to lose by cutting a few & seeing if it makes any difference for you. Also, lots of people break up their tumbling material, so have some fun & experiment with a few pieces!

It also would enable you to get the kind of shapes you may be wanting for a particular project, etc. If you don't have one, you may want to consider a Workforce tile saw at Home Depot (runs about $88). Have fun.

matt

If you break rocks cover them with an old towel or something. Flying rock splinters can be very hazardous. If you are collecting your own invest in an Estwing rock pick or hammer to chip away weathered coatings to see what lurks within.

One of the mysteries to me, to be honest, is why people tumble rocks in their "natural state", as if by default. Hanging around here, I've seen batch after batch of beautiful tumbled rocks, but it always leaves me wondering, "What the hell are they going to DO with a bunch of shiny rocks?"...

I can understand needing pretty polished rocks for a gem tree, or to fill a pretty crystal bowl for your coffee table, but polishing rocks just to "have" polished rocks seems sort of pointless to me. Most of the real pretty polished rocks that I see could have easily been cut and ground into a cab or cut into a preform within 5 minutes on a WF, and then tumbled into a gorgeous piece of jewelry, to be thoroughly enjoyed, and passed down as a family heirloom. On the other hand, non-rockers who inherit rock collections almost always just sell them for whatever they can get, usually not even knowing the value of what they have or appreciating the beauty.

Another way to look at it is SHARING. If you gave a good (non-rocker) friend a polished rock, chances are that they'd politely accept it, but barely ever give it a second thought. Now, if you had taken five minutes to trim it into a preform before you tumbled it, then made it into a simple piece of jewelry, that gift would mean a LOT more to your friend! They'd wear it, get compliments on it, start conversations with it, and (most importantly) think of you every time they wear it.

Thats my perspective too rollingstone. Tumbling is my hobby, not my full or part time job. I like before and after samples to show folks. I also love to see kids faces when you tell them to pick out three or four polished rocks they can have for their own. I've already ruined two hobbies by trying to make money off them and it finally sunk in.

Thanks for the tips. I just put my first batch into prepolish last night so I am really looking forward to a finished product.

As for what the point is... there is none really. I have no direction once I empty the barrel for the last time. At this point it is just to satisfy my fascination with rocks mainly. Plus, my daughter loves rocks and I'm sure she would love shiny ones even more.

I'm starting small then if I find I am absolutely addicted to it, I'll move up to getting a saw and making cabs and jewelry and such.

Wish you luck with your new found hobby. My part of the world is not great for rock hunting either. I remembered a post in here somewhere where a member found some great rocks at an aquarium shop. A couple days ago, I decided to go to an aquarium shop up the road. I got some absolutely beautiful rocks. One is so colorful, it does not look real, but it is. The store owner said he got them from out of Utah. I paid under a 1.00 a pound for the stuff.

Just a suggestion for you.