mom2tumblers
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2015
Posts: 3 
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Post by mom2tumblers on Dec 2, 2015 20:03:04 GMT -5
Hopefully I am posting this in the right place, I am new here, so please be patient if I don't use the correct terminology. My rock obsessed 7 year old son recently got a rebuilt rotary tumbler from a friend for his birthday. It has been my job to assist him in his process of learning how to get the best out of his rocks, so far I think we have done a pretty good job. We have been buying bulk rough stone mixes from places like the Rock Shed and Amazon. We don't know the names of all of the rocks, but it has been a lot of fun! We have even started exploring different areas around us to hunt for rocks, it has been a great family project.
The only problem I have had with the mixes is that it seems that there is a variety of hardness in the rocks we receive. About 2/3 of the rocks we have tumbled have come out really well with an amazing shine to them. The other 1/3 are beautiful when wet, but after they dry do not maintain the same appearance. I know this may be blasphemous, but is there any sort of spray or polish that can be added to rocks after the polishing process to help them maintain the "wet" look. I appreciate any information you are able to share!
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Post by Jugglerguy on Dec 2, 2015 20:10:02 GMT -5
You could try retumbling just the rocks that aren't shiny. They are probably softer rocks, and might do better separate from the harder rocks that took a shine.
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mom2tumblers
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2015
Posts: 3
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Post by mom2tumblers on Dec 2, 2015 21:23:09 GMT -5
I have considered an added stage of polish at the end for those rocks. But some of the rocks seem porous and I don't know that it would actually help? But I could be wrong, it may be worth at least trying an added extra polish phase at the end?
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Post by Jugglerguy on Dec 2, 2015 22:41:11 GMT -5
I'm not sure what you mean by an extra polish stage.
Could you post some pictures so we can see what you'd got?
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Post by 150FromFundy on Dec 3, 2015 16:31:48 GMT -5
One of the easiest ways to get a consistent shine on all the rocks in the barrel is to simply polish only one type of rock at a time. Mixed loads (assorted rocks) are always a challenge as the hardness of the individual rocks varies. However, when you are new, you want to tumble everything at once.
Many hard rocks with a hardness of 6 or 7 can be successfully tumbled together. The key is to not add any soft rocks to your barrel. A piece of glass has a hardness of 5.5. If a rock will scratch glass, the rock has to be harder than glass, so the rock likely has a hardness of 6 or 7. This is a simple way to separate soft rocks from hard rocks when you collect your rocks. Tumble the hard ones together.
Darryl.
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Dec 6, 2015 4:27:54 GMT -5
Not all rocks are suitable for tumble-polishing. Unless there is something really special to you about the rocks that won't take shine, I say toss them away and stick with rocks that will take a shine. Before throwing the dud rocks out, take a close look at them to try and understand why they won't take a shine (being too porous like you noted is a good reason) so you can avoid rocks like that in the future. Congrats -- you're learning already!!
-Don
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Tom
fully equipped rock polisher
My dad Tom suddenly passed away yesterday, Just wanted his "rock" family to know.
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,557
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Post by Tom on Dec 6, 2015 10:00:00 GMT -5
Welcome to the group:) Don is right, sometimes some types of rock just won't shine up. If you had a cabbing machine you could most likely get more shine to the rocks but that is an expensive move. The best advice is as others have stated, try and stick with rocks of the same approximate hardness for the best results. Using a spray or wax is somewhat blasphemous, but if you have a rock you really love you can use a wax on it to bring out the shine. Its your rock, but if for some reason you were to trade or sell it you should use full discloser. There are times IMHO that using a wax like Ren wax is the best way to protect a specimen. Others will disagree with me. This specimen has had a couple treatments of Ren wax.   |
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Post by Jugglerguy on Dec 6, 2015 10:43:36 GMT -5
I love that rock! I agree that with some rocks you don't have much choice. I've seen speculate hematite polyurathaned or epoxied that looked great that stuff is so crumbly that you can't do much else with it. Chuck made some nice epoxied pudding stone coasters too.
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Post by krazydiamond on Dec 6, 2015 17:37:30 GMT -5
I am agreeing with rollingstone, you are experiencing the learning curve we all go through in trying to achieve the ultimate polish on all the stones. put those not-so-shiny rocks into a jar for later use. You will get the hang of some of the softer stones and learn to recognize the just plain naughty rocks that will not shine in a tumbler. The totally failed rocks make great driveway filler or drainage rocks if you like houseplants. They also make great "filler" for some of those batches that you just need more to bring the barrel up to the required level. You never know, the second time around, they might be shinier.
Good Luck and Happy Tumbling!
KD
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Tom
fully equipped rock polisher
My dad Tom suddenly passed away yesterday, Just wanted his "rock" family to know.
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,557
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Post by Tom on Dec 6, 2015 20:53:57 GMT -5
Thanks Rob, it's my favourite and self hounded in SD this past summer
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