Using a rock tumbler is a fun way to create your own beautiful, smooth stones. Stones can be tumbled to use just on their own or they can be used in a wide variety of crafts ranging from jewelry making to mosaics and more. Tumbling stones in a rock tumbler brings out the natural color and beauty of the stone, intensifying the color and make patterns more apparent. While rock tumbling doesn’t provide instant gratification since it can take a long as 4-6 weeks to tumble stones, the results are worth waiting for and it can be like discovering hidden treasure when you remove the stones from the rock tumbler and see how beautiful they have become. Here are some tips on what you should look for in a good rock tumbler as well as how to go about using one.
If you are just getting started with rock tumbling and only plan to tumble rocks occasionally you can pick up a decent quality rock tumbler at a toy or hobby store for relatively little money. While these types of tumblers limit the size of stones you can tumble as well as how many stones you can tumble at once, they are a nice way to ease into rock tumbling and with proper care can last for years.
If you plan to do more rock tumbling or would like to tumble larger rocks or more rocks at a time, you may want to look for a more professional model of rock tumbler. Heavier duty rock tumblers can be purchased either at rock shops or online and are rated according to how many pounds of rocks they can tumble. The larger size rock tumbler you purchase the higher the price will be, so you need to find a good balance between how much you can afford to spend and how much tumbling you hope to do. Do not attempt to overload the barrel of the tumbler that you do get since it can wear on the motor or cause the belts to break.
Rock tumblers typically either are vibrating tumblers or polish the stones by rotating them. For the most part vibrating rock tumblers work more quickly to polish the stones, although they can be more expensive. While a rotary tumbler may take as long as 4 weeks or more to tumble stones, vibrating tumblers can often get the job done in two weeks or less. If you need to tumble a lot of rocks or produce large volumes of polished stones it may be worthwhile for you to invest in a more expensive vibrating tumbler.
Once you have purchased your rock tumbler you will also need to buy grit for it in order to polish the stones. Grit ranges anywhere from very coarse to ultra fine – often times even being in powder form for doing a final polish to give the stones shine. To tumble rocks you typically start with a coarse grit which will help to round and smooth the rocks and then work your way down to finer grits over time to begin polishing the surface of the rocks and adding shine. Different types of stone require different grits for tumbling, so you may want to ask someone at your local rock shop for advice when buying grit to make sure you are getting the right type for the stones you plan to polish.
Always clean your rock tumbler thoroughly when you are done using it and store it in a safe place when it is not in use. Don’t ever dump the slurry (the leftover goop from tumbling) down the drain since it can cause plumbing problems or clog your pipes.
