Using a rock tumbler to turn rough stones into something polished and shiny is a long and satisfying process. Great results take time, but with the right equipment and polishing compounds you'll get great finished products. We cary some fantastic rotary rock tumblers and supplies to help you.
All of the Rock Tumblers that we carry have rubber drums. This means their quiet. Lots of toy rock tumblers have plastic drums that sound like your mixing cement. A rubber drum keeps things down to a nice white noise. Trust us, this helps with patience (remember how we said it's a long process?).
We also carry high quality silicone carbide grit and aluminum oxide polishing compounds. Our packages include additional course grit so that you can run through that cycle twice.
How to Tumble Rocks
There are some great instructional videos out there. We particularly like the Michigan Rocks YouTube channel. That said, it's not a complicated process:
Fill your drum 2/3 to 3/4 full with rough stones, fill the drum with water to the top of the rocks, and add polishing compound. Tumble the rocks for about a week, or until you can't feel any grit left in the water.
Thoroughly rinse the rocks and repeat. We like to tumble with corse grit for ~2 weeks, medium grit for ~1 week, fine grit for ~1 week, and polishing compound for ~1 week. This will vary depending on what you're polishing.
Don't pour the slurry down the drain, you'll need to pour it outside, or leave it until the water evaporates off and then throw out the residue. It's not toxic, but any residual abrasive can damage your plumbing.
Some rocks are softer (e.g. fluorite) and needs a different treatment. If you have any questions, let us know. We're always happy to share our recipes.
