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Post by withapurposecreation on Aug 29, 2019 12:55:56 GMT -5
Hi everyone! My name is Bev and I’m new to the forum. I just started rock tumbling with my dad to make jewelry, and we are losing our minds (and patience).
We started this journey in May (and now we’re into August nearly September). We bought raw materials, such as tiger eye, blue tiger eye, moonstone, quartz, lapis lazuli, and Brazilian emerald. The first time we did the tumbling we did all the steps according to the grit instructions at 7-8 days each step, and the burnishing. When our stones came out they were so dull and absolutely no shine.
Fast forward. We bought 2 separate tumblers to divvy up the stones. We started back at step 1 because there was still raw material that needed to come off. We left them in the tumbler for a longer period. (We bought a different grit kit in hopes that it would have better result). We just wrapped up with the last step and the stones are STILL dull, no shine whatsoever. After each step we took a brush and cleaned them off individually to make sure all grit was off, and we even bought separate tumblers for just the last step so it wouldn’t contaminate.
Any help is welcome!!
(Also how can I attach a photo to show what I’m working with?)
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2019 13:03:46 GMT -5
What is your method for dividing the stones between the 2 tumblers?
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Post by aDave on Aug 29, 2019 13:22:03 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum.
What type of tumbler(s) do you own? Also please list the grit sizes that were used in each stage. I'll quickly tell you that 7-8 days in a stage is not near enough time for good results. I know, the manual said to run at that time frame, but rotary tumbler instructions are pretty lacking and don't reflect experience in the real world.
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Aug 29, 2019 13:56:02 GMT -5
Hi everyone! My name is Bev and I’m new to the forum. I just started rock tumbling with my dad to make jewelry, and we are losing our minds (and patience). We started this journey in May (and now we’re into August nearly September). We bought raw materials, such as tiger eye, blue tiger eye, moonstone, quartz, lapis lazuli, and Brazilian emerald. The first time we did the tumbling we did all the steps according to the grit instructions at 7-8 days each step, and the burnishing. When our stones came out they were so dull and absolutely no shine. Fast forward. We bought 2 separate tumblers to divvy up the stones. We started back at step 1 because there was still raw material that needed to come off. We left them in the tumbler for a longer period. (We bought a different grit kit in hopes that it would have better result). We just wrapped up with the last step and the stones are STILL dull, no shine whatsoever. After each step we took a brush and cleaned them off individually to make sure all grit was off, and we even bought separate tumblers for just the last step so it wouldn’t contaminate. Any help is welcome!! (Also how can I attach a photo to show what I’m working with?) I'm no tumbling expert by any stretch of the imagination. But I do know that one of the most common mistakes made for beginning tumblers is tumbling stones of mixed hardness's together. Stones tumbled together must be near the same MOHs hardness or you can't get a satisfactory polish. Tiger eye and quartz are probably close enough in harness to tumble together but moonstone, lapis lazuli, and Brazilian emerald are too soft to tumble with tiger eye and quartz. Plus emerald is fairly brittle so if you are tumbling them together then you may have chips of emerald coming off in the mid to later stages and scratching your other stones. Larry C. |
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Post by aDave on Aug 29, 2019 14:48:26 GMT -5
I'm no tumbling expert by any stretch of the imagination. But I do know that one of the most common mistakes made for beginning tumblers is tumbling stones of mixed hardness's together. Stones tumbled together must be near the same MOHs hardness or you can't get a satisfactory polish. Tiger eye and quartz are probably close enough in harness to tumble together but moonstone, lapis lazuli, and Brazilian emerald are too soft to tumble with tiger eye and quartz. Plus emerald is fairly brittle so if you are tumbling them together then you may have chips of emerald coming off in the mid to later stages and scratching your other stones. Larry C. Thanks for picking up the hardness issue. I'm not familiar with the emerald, but the lapis is going to be too soft which is going to make it difficult to get a polish on, even if run by itself. Moonstone should be ok, but it'll have to be watched. A good guideline is to stick to tumbling material where the difference(s) in hardness are no more than 1-1.5 on the Mohs scale. The moonstone is on the bottom edge of that difference (with the quartz and tiger eye), but the lapis pretty clearly outside that. |
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Post by stonemon on Aug 29, 2019 15:32:29 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum!
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harrym
having dreams about rocks
NH - The Granite State
Member since January 2019
Posts: 59 
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Post by harrym on Aug 29, 2019 17:37:12 GMT -5
We started this journey in May (and now we’re into August nearly September). We bought raw materials, such as tiger eye, blue tiger eye, moonstone, quartz, lapis lazuli, and Brazilian emerald. The first time we did the tumbling we did all the steps according to the grit instructions at 7-8 days each step, and the burnishing. What were the grit instructions? Let us know the exact recipe you used and maybe we can pinpoint the problem. I am relatively new myself having only started last January. My first few attempts also came out less than satisfactory and I also followed instructions that came with my Lortone machine and on rocktumbler.com. It was folks on this forum that pointed out my errors and now my batches come out with that wet glass look you are hoping for. Welcome to the forum and best of luck! |
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Post by MsAli on Aug 29, 2019 17:41:25 GMT -5
Hi Bev and welcome
Lots of really good help here.
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Post by Pat on Aug 29, 2019 18:02:04 GMT -5
Tumbling pros are on this forum! Not me —- not a tumbler
You’ve come to the right place.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Aug 29, 2019 19:35:21 GMT -5
Welcome from Northern Arizona!
You'll get tons of help with your tumbling issues here. Answer any questions people ask as thoroughly as you can. The more information you provide to our tumbling pros here, the better they can hone in on what you should be doing differently.
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hh5
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2012
Posts: 136
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Post by hh5 on Aug 29, 2019 19:38:53 GMT -5
New to tumbling also, love these kind of threads because of how much info is given.
Will just keep reading and learning. The mixed hardness issue got me for a while too.
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gatorflash1
spending too much on rocks
Active in Delaware Mineralogical Society, Cabchon Grinding and Polishing, 2 Thumlers B's and a UV-18
Member since October 2018
Posts: 375
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Post by gatorflash1 on Aug 30, 2019 13:50:45 GMT -5
Hi - Welcome to the party. If I may toss out a suggestion, check out good websites like this one and find other good sources of info about beginning tumbling. There are some very good books around that go into tumbling at great depth covering the different types of tumbler, grits & polishes, different types of rocks, etc. Unfortunately there is no one best way to tumble stones. It is the variety of ways that makes it fun for me, and hopefully you as well. Best of luck and keep us in the loop. rocktumbler.com/ |
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julieooly
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2018
Posts: 721 
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Post by julieooly on Aug 30, 2019 14:16:23 GMT -5
You've come to the right place!! Welcome from North of Atlanta. I've got a mix of Lortone 33-B's that are all offline right now because I'm so consumed with my cabbing & rock buying addictions. Tumbling is like a gateway hobby to cabbing, totally addictive once you figure it out too. You've come to the right place for professional advice, there's some really talented rock peeps here on RTH. Word of warning, these hobbies can get pricey super quick. Best bit of tumbling advice for anyone is to never, ever pour your slurry down any inside drains. Looks like you've already got a couple of forum moderators on this thread, they can help you find the instructions for uploading pictures (don't give up if at first you don't succeed!) and all kinds of awesome places out here for learning and friendship. Julie  |
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Post by aDave on Aug 30, 2019 17:12:42 GMT -5
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Wooferhound
Cave Dweller
Lortone QT66 and 3A
Member since December 2016
Posts: 1,432
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Post by Wooferhound on Aug 30, 2019 22:11:31 GMT -5
When I started rock tumbling 2.5 years ago, I had problems getting past a Hazy Shine. Advice on this forum led me to longer Stage 1 tumbles, and the generous use of Plastic Beads in the 600 Grit Stage and beyond into all the polish stages.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,718
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Post by Fossilman on Sept 1, 2019 8:54:23 GMT -5
Looks like your questions were answered and now you can try to figure out what went wrong.... Also YouTube has great videos to help you visualize the world of tumbling..
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,613
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Post by RWA3006 on Sept 2, 2019 18:56:14 GMT -5
Don't be surprised if the harder stones you mentioned require multiple stage 1 cycles. I never allow myself to move the stones into successive grits until I'm totally satisfied with the previous or current stage I'm on. Most of my stones spend more time tumbling in stage 1 than all the other stages combined.
Once I near completion of stage 1 I start paying a lot of attention to adding filler such as plastice beads, ceramic pieces, kitty litter, newspaper, etc. in order to cushion the stones so they don't get chipped or bruised as much in the rotary tumbler.
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JR8675309
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since August 2019
Posts: 807
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Post by JR8675309 on Sept 3, 2019 7:55:53 GMT -5
Don't be surprised if the harder stones you mentioned require multiple stage 1 cycles. I never allow myself to move the stones into successive grits until I'm totally satisfied with the previous or current stage I'm on. Most of my stones spend more time tumbling in stage 1 than all the other stages combined. Once I near completion of stage 1 I start paying a lot of attention to adding filler such as plastice beads, ceramic pieces, kitty litter, newspaper, etc. in order to cushion the stones so they don't get chipped or bruised as much in the rotary tumbler. I’d like to hear more about the kitty litter and newspaper if you would. I’ve never heard of that. |
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,613
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Post by RWA3006 on Sept 3, 2019 9:04:10 GMT -5
Don't be surprised if the harder stones you mentioned require multiple stage 1 cycles. I never allow myself to move the stones into successive grits until I'm totally satisfied with the previous or current stage I'm on. Most of my stones spend more time tumbling in stage 1 than all the other stages combined. Once I near completion of stage 1 I start paying a lot of attention to adding filler such as plastice beads, ceramic pieces, kitty litter, newspaper, etc. in order to cushion the stones so they don't get chipped or bruised as much in the rotary tumbler. I’d like to hear more about the kitty litter and newspaper if you would. I’ve never heard of that. The kitty litter is just clay which forms a cushiony slurry that holds the grit in suspension and cushions the rocks falling upon each other in the rotary barrel. Newspaper does similar. I find newspaper to be particularly helpful tumbling obsidian which chips and bruises easily. The newspaper quickly breaks down into a pulp. Trial and error dictates how much to use. I also use plastic beads in addition to cushion obsidian. |
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Post by TheRock on Sept 7, 2019 2:50:55 GMT -5
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