How to Use a Rock Tumbler and the 4 Steps of Grit and Polish
by David Yakos in Living > Toys & Games
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How to Use a Rock Tumbler and the 4 Steps of Grit and Polish
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My son wanted a rock tumbler for his birthday. It took quite a bit of research on what to do. He wanted to share back with everyone the easy steps so anyone can do it.
Supplies
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- Rock Tumbler
- stones
- you can purchase from craft stores
- or try some fun rocks you find like chunks of quartz
- water
- 4 grits
- Step 1 60 grit
- Step 2 220 grit
- Step 3 500 grit
- step 4 1200 grit (POLISH)
- Strainer
- lots of patience
Selecting the Best Rocks
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When picking Rocks for you tumbler, you want to find ones that have a similar hardness. You don want rocks like sand stone, or ones that will fall apart easily. I used part of a bag that i got from the store and some i found on hikes and in the driveway. I like the ones that are kind of clear, like quartz. They seem to polish really nice.
Tumbling the Rocks - REPEAT 4 TIMES
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You will repeat this process 4 times, just going from step 1 course grit through step 4 polish polish. The grits are listed in the supplies
- Fill the rock tumbler about 3/4 full of rocks
- Put in 2 tablespoons of grit for each pound of rock. (since this whole tumble process is repeated 4 times, change from course step 1 grit to each finer grit ending on step 4 polish).
- Fill with water so it fills just above the rocks
- Secure the lid making sure the gaskets are clean and tight
- Let tumble for 6-10 days per grit. You can likely change this, but this is what we did and it seemed to work. Its probably good to set a calendar reminder... we forgot one of the times and let it run a couple weeks.
- Rinse the rocks cleaning the grit. We used a colander and the garden faucet. IMPORTANT: Do not do this indoors... it will clog your sink drains with cement like ick.
- REPEAT for each grit
Enjoy the Rocks
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We learned a lot what rocks we liked better and are looking forward to the next batch.