mikeyo30
off to a rocking start
Member since March 2017
Posts: 1
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Post by mikeyo30 on Mar 11, 2017 13:12:02 GMT -5
Hello,.. I'm Michael from Jersey.
QUESTION: This is my very first time trying to Tumble "Stones".,
I have an assortment of "rocks" from quartz crystals, petrified wood rock, garnets, river stones, etc, etc.
Can I TUMBLE then all together? I mean,..is it OK to mix different types of stones together at once?
I thank you very much for any information that you could provide me ( and my 11y.o. Daughter,..lol)
Michael.. (mikeyo30)
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Post by Pat on Mar 11, 2017 13:17:34 GMT -5
I don't tumble rocks, but you came to the right place. Lots of experts here.
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Post by wigglinrocks on Mar 11, 2017 14:02:20 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum . This probably isn't expert advise , but I say run it all together . The softer stones will grind faster and might not take the polish like the harder ones . If you are not the best at rock id , like me , at least it gives you an idea what rocks work and the ones to leave in the river . Just starting out , we put everything in the tumbler , but now we have learned to be a little more selective . Give it a go and have fun .
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,709
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Post by Fossilman on Mar 11, 2017 14:22:21 GMT -5
I would sort the softer material from the harder material,it usually will get beat up in the 1st and 2nd stages of tumbling...........You can tumble petwood,agate and quartz together,also most jaspers...... I always roll the softer material by themselves............My way,my opinion of course..... Plus welcome to the board and enjoy..............
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huskeric
spending too much on rocks
Member since May 2016
Posts: 353
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Post by huskeric on Mar 11, 2017 21:42:11 GMT -5
I think it depends on your goals. If your end game is perfect stones, there are many more wrong ways than right, and precision is key. My takeaways from a year of polishing are really about learning by failure, not being afraid of failure (they're rocks after all), embracing failure, enjoying failure, and then patience, patience and patience.
If you REALLY screw them up, the worst outcome is that you'll have to do them again. Especially with your daughter in the mix, just try stuff and really make her a part of the process. Ask her what SHE thinks you should try, and then take her advice and celebrate the outcome. And if you have to, go buy some polished rocks and swap them into the barrel while she's sleeping! ;-) (Don't really do that)
The first stage or two, you can put just about anything with anything and you'll be fine unless it's really soft material. Best advice I've gotten is that the first 10 or so times you're so tempted to move them to the next stage, don't. 90% of the success/failure of the final product is giving the first stage long enough to do its thing.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Mar 11, 2017 22:33:08 GMT -5
huskeric - that's some good veteran caliber advice. I'll second everything you said. Chuck
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metalsmith
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 1,537
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Post by metalsmith on Mar 12, 2017 3:51:44 GMT -5
Tumble them all together. Periodically (say every day) open the can and take a look. The soft stones will lose their edges and points quicker. Then you can pull them out when they're still round and you can still id the harder rocks. So you can use the tumbling process to work out which rocks will be ok run together Good luck!
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osuguy0301
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 203
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Post by osuguy0301 on Mar 12, 2017 6:32:52 GMT -5
I am by no means an expert but I tumble a good amount of batches with kids. I try to separate my stones so that they are close to the same hardness on the Mohs hardness scale. Kids don't care about the hardness scale and want to put in what they want. Softer stones are often "prettier" stones in rough form and they want to tumble them. I let them throw in whatever they want but explain that it might be a good bit smaller when it comes out. Softer stones will round more quickly if put in with quartz, pet wood, and agates. They are typically ready after 1 week, where those other stones will take 3+ weeks to be ready to go to stage 2. Like huskeric said, trial and error is your friend. I say throw them all in, let them run for a week, and check the progress. All stones will not be ready at the same time, so you should be pulling rocks that are rounded to your liking during your clean outs and adding in new rocks to bring the volume back up. Once you have enough rounded rocks to fill a barrel, then you move to stage 2. The ones that aren't ready for stage 2, save in a bucket until you run stage 1 again. Good luck, Jake
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,559
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Post by jamesp on Mar 12, 2017 7:13:49 GMT -5
Yep, chunk em in for a week and see what happens. Quartz, pet wood and garnet should do fine together. Misc. river stones ? Best to post photos of them here and get some identification attempts. Quartz river stones fine, sandstone, granite, others probably a waste. Cherts and agates are fine.
Many will help w/identification if photos are legible.
Welcome to forum.
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