I need advise before I start my first batch...

Hello, I can answer some of your questions, but not all of them. I do not know what an MJR tumber is (?), vibratory or rotary. The instructions should be a general guide of what to do, but when it comes to how much time in each type of grit, let the rocks guide you. Are they the shape you want? The smoothness you want? Look at them under a magnifying glass after each grit--are the scratches from the previous grit gone? If not, run them another week (if rotary), then check again. In a rotary, I often go 3-6 weeks in the first stage, depending upon how hard the stones are and how rough they are.

It is better if all of the stones are *not* the same size--the load will tumble quicker. You can use all the same size but it often takes much longer to get your desired result.

Looking at your stones, I would begin with the usual first step for your tumbler, that is, 60/90 for a rotary, 120/220 for a vibratory. They have nice shape, but there are some flaws I would want to reduce. However, how "perfect" you want them is a matter of personal choice.

You have some nice ones there--they should do well!
Susan

I agree with Susan. Start with 60/90 to smooth out those pits. And maybe find one or two bigger rocks to help keep the load moving. And maybe a handful of smaller rocks to help carry grit between the stones you're actually trying to polish.

Hi and welcome,
First off I really don't think that you have Owyhee Picture Jasper or at least i've never seen any like yours.

(i may ramble a bit here)

It's hard to advise you weather or not to follow the tumbler mfg's instructions when we don't know what they are??

I am pretty sure that these tumblers are made by someone who is into tumbling,made their own tumbled and decided to sell them so ,,,,the instructions may be OK.

Something to think about is the configuration of your barrels compared to the barrels manufactured by most companies today.

Your barrels look like they are round inside and most of todays barrels are multi-sided.

This DOES NOT mean that your is no good but it does enter the tumbling "time" equation.

The same size round barrel will have to turn a bit faster then a multi-sided one.The reason being that it is round and the rocks will want to slide back down while it rotates.The multi-sided barrels turn slower because the sides are flat and act as "steps" to carry the rocks up the barrel as it rotates.
You can't see the inside of this barrel but it is the same configuration as the outside.



If in fact your barrels are round inside ,the time it will take to tumble rocks will be a bit longer for the above reason.

The "action" is much smoother and even today some people use multi-sided barrels for the grit stages and round barrels for the polishing just to get that smooth action.
Lets say the round barrels are more "forgiving".

It helps a LOT to understand what is actually going on inside the barrel and or what "should" be going on.

If you can picture a wave breaking just as it hits the shore,,,not a surfers wave but a nice gentle wave.
This is the action you want in your barrel.
Now picture that same wave but this time it somehow carried a big rock with it.The rock won't "curl" as nice as the rest of the wave but will fall prematurely and crash down.

We want the nice smooth wave action.

Listening to the barrel as it turns is a GREAT way to know whats going on in there.

If you hear a clunkity clunk sound something is wrong.In a lot of cases it is because there are too may big rocks and they are "falling" down into the bottom of the barrel.

What you want to hear is like you pouring a handful of small pebbles into the other hand.Swooshhhhhhh.Nice and smooth.

The way this is achieved is by loading the barrel properly.

Something that is V E R Y important is having AT LEAST 1/3 of the rocks in the barrel being small rocks.With your barrel size this means rocks about 1/2"-5/8".

The reason for this is called "surface contact".The more of it you have the faster and better your rocks will tumble.
If you have only big rocks their surfaces won't have very much contact as they go round and round.If you have the smaller rocks mixed in,they will create MUCH more surface contact,hence rubbing the grit/polish MUCH more efficiently up against the bigger rocks.

This holds true for all the stages but in the later stages a "cushion" type "filler" is used instead of smaller rocks.Not that you can't use the same smaller socks throughout the entire cycle but in "some" cases a cushion IS necessary,,,,,,later on that point.

First we have to get you started!!!!

The rock/grit/water ratio is very important.Too much or the lack of any or all will cause problems for you.

Unfortunately it's a hard thing to nail down and we can only suggest "how" you fill "your" barrel.

You will have to get the "feel' of what is needed for "your" equipment and only experience in using it will answer that question.

As you go along we can "coach" you through it because trying to tell you every little thing right now will only confuse you more at this point.

Lets get through a rough stage and them we'll go on.

Good Luck!

connrock

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