Post by waterboysh on Apr 29, 2021 9:52:15 GMT -5
I've seen this forum mentioned several times on the rock tumbling subreddit, so thought I would come check it out. I'm new to this hobby. I started with a Lortone 33B in March and managed to find a a Lortone QT6 earlier this month. I got my supplies from The Rock Shed, which included 10lb of 60/90, plus 2 lbs of 120/220, 500, and polish and some ceramic tumbling media. I also ordered some of the "rough tumbling mix" so I've got a big variety of rocks currently tumbling away. I got the mixed rough primarily to use for learning before focusing on specific types of rocks.
Before I ordered anything I did a lot of research. I especially found the Youtube channel Michigan Rocks to be extremely helpful. I've been keeping a Google Sheet documenting my results and only pulling rocks out of stage 1 that I think are ready to move to stage 2. I started on March 12th, and still don't have any rocks that have made it through the polish stage yet, though it's looking like I should have my first completed batch in roughly 3 weeks after 71 days. In the 33B, I've currently got 1 barrel running 120/220 and one running 500 pre-polish.
I started rock tumbling because I collected rocks as a kid. When I moved off to college, I got rid of all my rocks. Now, 15 years later, I'm hoping to get my kids interested. The 19 month old is to little. She just wants to eat the rocks. After coming out of stage 1, they apparently look to much like candy to resist. But my older toddler will be turning 4 next month (in fact, our first batch of completed rocks should be ready the weekend of his birthday) and he has shown a lot of interest in collecting rocks. I'll have to get some pictures posted of him with his favorites so far. He has had a blast helping me each week with emptying and refilling the barrels. He even helps go through the rocks and says "oh, this one has a rough spot so it needs to go back in." and he gets really excited when we find a smooth one. He's really excited for shiny rocks. I placed a second order with The Rock Shed for some more course grit and some rocks to tumble when we run out of the mixed rough. When it arrived, the grit was on top, and he got super excited and said, "Daddy! It's more grit!" and then ran off going, "Mommy! Mommy! Daddy got more grit!"
Before I ordered anything I did a lot of research. I especially found the Youtube channel Michigan Rocks to be extremely helpful. I've been keeping a Google Sheet documenting my results and only pulling rocks out of stage 1 that I think are ready to move to stage 2. I started on March 12th, and still don't have any rocks that have made it through the polish stage yet, though it's looking like I should have my first completed batch in roughly 3 weeks after 71 days. In the 33B, I've currently got 1 barrel running 120/220 and one running 500 pre-polish.
I started rock tumbling because I collected rocks as a kid. When I moved off to college, I got rid of all my rocks. Now, 15 years later, I'm hoping to get my kids interested. The 19 month old is to little. She just wants to eat the rocks. After coming out of stage 1, they apparently look to much like candy to resist. But my older toddler will be turning 4 next month (in fact, our first batch of completed rocks should be ready the weekend of his birthday) and he has shown a lot of interest in collecting rocks. I'll have to get some pictures posted of him with his favorites so far. He has had a blast helping me each week with emptying and refilling the barrels. He even helps go through the rocks and says "oh, this one has a rough spot so it needs to go back in." and he gets really excited when we find a smooth one. He's really excited for shiny rocks. I placed a second order with The Rock Shed for some more course grit and some rocks to tumble when we run out of the mixed rough. When it arrived, the grit was on top, and he got super excited and said, "Daddy! It's more grit!" and then ran off going, "Mommy! Mommy! Daddy got more grit!"