The Big Fun Tumbling Contest!!!

Sorry i have not posted any photos , but i have them running . A lot of nice material .
I think i have picked out my best ten pieces .

I'm doing fine although I'm probably in over my head since I've never finished a batch yet. I have 2lbs. ready for step 2 once a barrel becomes available next week. I'm taking pictures so once I figure out how to post them here I will. Probably need one of my kids to show me.

Just got home from Panama. Had a couple days of urgent things I had to take care of first, so I couldn't get right to the rocks (sad). But yesterday I washed them and sorted through them. I had enough fairly small ones that I could start the small tumbler last night. Yah, back rolling again! There are a lot that need to be broken/cut to smaller size before they can start. Hope to fire up the saw today if weather holds. I will try to remember to take "before" pictures of the most promising ones and then maybe post pictures as the process goes along.

Quite a large variety of material. Thanks again Roy and John. About 1/4 was "blah" and these will end up in the rockpile of doom.



Most promising so far are the Wild Horse(sp?) picture jaspers (I broke open one already that has a real nice pattern), an interesting black&brown&red agate, a tiny piece of Bruneau jasper, and most especially 2 pieces of jasper that look a lot like Biggs jasper:





There was a bluish Botswana agate in the mix, but darn if it doesn't have a large void through it. I will try to cut the void out. In searching through the box of rocks, there was one other unusual piece. It leaves a red streak and is attracted to a magnet. Not sure if this is ready for the vibe tumbler or came from one?


Most of the pieces needs to be worked on with hammer or saw to get rid of bad material or sharp corners, etc. before they start tumbling. Since I am starting late I want to speed things up by prep work. Sorry to be starting late, but I will now join and and post pics as I go. Anyone else following individual rocks with a picture history? I find the transformational process the most fascinating aspect of rock tumbling.

Hi Rob,

yeah, behind but not down. I think I have enough time yet, given that I have the vibe waiting and ready!

update: I got to send much of the day behind the saw and I got the big ones cut and shaped. Some nice stuff in them. That last rock under the "wing-nut rough" turned out to be a kind of tiffany-stone-like jasper with green gel instead of purple. I hope it is solid enough to tumble as it has cool pattern inside. All are happily tumbling away now. I only got about 3-1/2 lbs of keeper material, but I was pretty picky about what I kept for tumbling.

Now the wait, ha.

Sorry....no pics this week. Sounds like a couple of you are ahead of me. After this week I have 1lb. 9oz. ready for the next step. Still have 2 6# barrels running but they both have a lot of filler material. I've been using some junk quartzite, common quartz/agate pebbles and some "lapidary grade" limestone as filler and smalls. I probably could have taken some more out, just too darn picky for my own taste sometimes.

Next week I plan on separating out the competition material from the filler. The pieces that are close to ready will all go together and should fit in a single 6# barrel. Some will be done I think and ready for step 2. The rest I plan on cutting on the tile saw along cracks or to take out pits and such that are still left. Dress up the cut edges and add them back in the following week. Temperatures are supposed to be in the 70's, good cutting weather.

From there I'll run everything up to the last two weeks, filling as needed. By then I should have enough material ready for a vibe batch. Only my second run ever in a vibe. Looking forward to it. I don't have my top 10 picked out just yet. The 10 I like most or turn out best I'll chose at the end.

Something I found interesting and encouraging....I weigh all my rock going in and coming out each week. I'm near the end of my supply of 60/90 grit but have plenty of 80 grit. The agate barrel got 60/90 last week and the jasper barrel got 80. Both had identical weights going in and were filled with similar sizes and species of grit carriers. The amount of mass lost was nearly identical, within 1/8 of an ounce. Interesting as I expected the 60/90 to be more aggressive. Encouraging because I have only one more charge of 60/90 left.

Best of luck all and keep on rollin' them stones.

Just moved all of ours to polish over the weekend. might check it and recharge next weekend.

I have a proposal.
As well as a "Top 10" competition, we should also have "Best Single Specimen". Gives everyone another chance to be a winner. What do y'all think?

Ken: thanks, I always like the underdogs too. The rocks are talking to me from inside the barrel like a siren call.

Who and where do I send the photos of the finished rocks?? Thanks Mike

Mine will be out of tumbler on Friday or Saturday.