This guide will tell you everything you need to know about rock tumbling so you can find the best one for you and your personal use.
Faux Sea Glass: If you have ever been walking the beach and found a piece of sea glass you know how beautiful it can be. Sea glass was made when someone, a long time ago, tossed something glass into the ocean, and over the years of it rolling around in the sand and…
While I know a lot of you come here for art and creative inspiration, I have a some hobbies behind the scenes that I thought might be fun to share with you once in a while! One of my all time favorite hobbies is "rockhounding". Rockhounding is hunting for minerals, rocks, semi-precious gems, petrified wood and fossils. Living on the Oregon Coast, there are all kinds of places to go where there are exposed beds of agates and stones and I will spend HOURS crawling around on the beach looking for jasper, moonstones and agates. While my favorite part of the process is the hunt, this summer I've really enjoyed my rock tumbler! A tumbler makes it possible to smooth and polish those rocks over time. We have a the Lortone Model 3A rock tumbler and a rock tumbler grit kit. After I've spent time hunting for rocks, I spend just as much time sorting and trying to identity a lot of those rocks. This is actually one of Lucy's favorite things to do! We try to sort everything either by color or by the type of rock. Then we select a mixture of of different sizes of rocks that will get tumbled. Next we fill the tumbling barrel about half way full. The next step is to add a coarse grit and water to the tumbling barrel. Grit is silicone carbide abrasive that is added to the tumbling process. The rocks roll around in the tumbler in the grit and water and over time, the grit shapes, smooths and polishes the rocks. There are four stages of grit- Course grit which does the rough shaping of the rock Medium grit removes scratches and produces a smooth surface Pre-polish smooths the rock even more Polish shines those rocks Rock shops typically sell all four levels of grit. We tumbled the first grit for about a week or so. The result was rocks that were quite a bit smoother. After the first tumble is finished, it is really important empty the barrel, wash the rocks and the barrel and then start the next stage. The tumbled three more times for about one week with each grit and it ends up REALLY smoothing those rocks! But they are not yet polished. The last stage (4th stage) is to tumble those rocks with the polish- aluminum oxide for another week. The result is AMAZING! Beautiful smooth and shiny rocks!! The entire rock tumbling process takes about 4 weeks and it is SO hard to wait during that time! But the end result is so worth it.
I am on the mailing list for a teacher supply store. I visited the store last year for "dabbers" that Batman was using in pre-s...
These easy homemade DIY Rock Tumbler Plans are a creative way to offer your rock polishing services at home with minimal effort.
If preserving the health and shine of your rocks is important to you, then you have probably heard of a rock tumbler. Rock lovers who care about how their rocks
Calling all rock tumblers! Do you feel like you are throwing away perfectly good grit? The price of everything is rising, and tumbling grit is ...
Here's an easy way to make rocks shiny! The best part is that you do not need to wait weeks for the tumbling process. That's right, no rock tumbler
Building rock tumblers is a project that can help children understand the geological process of the tumbling and smoothing of rocks in water bodies. A homemade rock tumbler is also a creative way of making polished rocks and stones for adornments. Read on to know how to build one at home.
This guide will tell you everything you need to know about rock tumbling so you can find the best one for you and your personal use.
Yes, you can 100% make sea glass in a rock tumbler. It's super easy, and it comes out straight-up looking like sea glass. Here's how to do it.
Polished rocks aren't the only thing that's left over after tumbling a batch of rocks. How are you supposed to dispose of the sludge after your
Looking for the best rock tumbler grit? Here you can find everything you need to know. How does rock tumbler grit work, which is the best and where to find it.
DIY Rock Tumbler: My wife recently started making beads and other things from polymer clay, and wasn't getting quite the finish she wanted using sandpaper. It turns out that even children's toy rock tumblers are relatively expensive and the professional models …
Discover how to polish rocks to a wet and shiny finish without a tumbler with our expert tips. Learn the best methods for a lasting shine, from emery cloth sanding to resin-based polishes, and choose the right rocks for the job.
It's possible to make your own rock tumbling grit substitute. You may need to experiment to find just the right mix. Here's a few ideas to get you started.
Turn rough rocks into smooth, polished gems! Just place the rocks and polishing grit in the tumbler, add water and set the built-in timer…then observe science in action. Kit comes complete with 1/2 pound of raw stones, 4 bags of polishing grit and 5 jewelry settings. Plus, you get an activity guide with step-by-step instructions and a booklet with fun facts about geology and different types of stones! Rock tumbler measures 6"w x 8 1/4"d x 6 1/2"h and plugs into the wall.
This guide will tell you everything you need to know about rock tumbling so you can find the best one for you and your personal use.
Discover how to polish rocks to a wet and shiny finish without a tumbler with our expert tips. Learn the best methods for a lasting shine, from emery cloth sanding to resin-based polishes, and choose the right rocks for the job.
Discover how to polish rocks to a wet and shiny finish without a tumbler with our expert tips. Learn the best methods for a lasting shine, from emery cloth sanding to resin-based polishes, and choose the right rocks for the job.
Rock tumbling is a great hobby for people of all ages. If you are a rock collector, this article will show you how to use a rock tumbler.
Rock tumbling is a great hobby for people of all ages. If you are a rock collector, this article will show you how to use a rock tumbler.
Rock tumbling is a great hobby for people of all ages. If you are a rock collector, this article will show you how to use a rock tumbler.
This guide will tell you everything you need to know about rock tumbling so you can find the best one for you and your personal use.
I've been saving up to buy a rock tumbler for my rockhounding, but to date I've managed to save almost nothing. Growing impatient, I decided to build one for myself. As far as I can tell, a tumbler is just a canister that rotates with rock and grit inside. How hard can that be? I've managed to begin construction on one for less than $20. They typically cost around $150. Mine has the advantage of being a bit of home schooling in the subject of mechanical engineering for my kids. The tumbler design is simple. An electric motor will turn a shaft which will rotate a coffee can mounted on furniture wheels. The motor's speed will be controlled by a light switch dimmer. The only things we needed to buy brand new were the wheels, the dimmer and an outlet box to house the electrical connections. Total cost: about $12. For the motor, I went to a thrift store and scrounged around until I found an old Black&Decker corded drill. Cost: about $4. Perfect! We sawed the handle off of the drill since we no longer needed the trigger and the handle got in the way. Our tumbler throttle. The drill taken completely apart. It was filthy inside and needed a good cleaning. Mounted on furniture wheels, the weight of the can is taken off of the drive shaft. Once I had figured out how to open it, I had my son take it apart. At this juncture in the project, I hit upon a real brain wave. Household electronics can be picked up at estate sales and thrift stores for next to nothing. Most people are afraid to take their appliances and tools apart because they don't know what's in there and they're afraid they'll never get them back together. I want my kids to grow up without that fear. I'm going to start buying these and handing them to my son to be totally dismantled and reconstructed after he does his best at explaining how they work. If they never work again after dismantling, the cost will be trivial compared to the education and confidence he will gain. As my daughter grows older, I'll do the same for her. My kids aren't home schooled, but modern schools miss parts of their education like this. Not many kids take shop classes any more. Enough about home schooling. Back to the project. My biggest technical hurdle was the drive shaft. I don't know how to weld and I couldn't figure out how to connect the coffee can to the shaft. Finding the drill was a stroke of luck in more ways than one. While at Home Depot looking for the wheels and the dimmer, I came across a turnbuckle. That solved all my problems. By using a spade bit in the drill, I could put the spade portion of the bit into the turnbuckle after having drilled the turnbuckle through the coffee can. Voila! I had the connection between the motor and the can. The turnbuckle assembled on the can. The spadebit fits perfectly into the turnbuckle. The full assembly of the can. It will later be mounted on a 3/4" plywood base. We're at a standstill right now because the drill needs a couple of pieces. A pair of connectors inside the drill had worn out. I'll be hitting the local DeWalt repair place for the parts tomorrow. I'm sure they'll think me quite mad. That just adds to the fun! Update: The HCCRT Mark I is done. See the results and definition of the acronym at this post, complete with YouTube video. For more educational posts, visit the Carnival of Home Schooling. For more posts on saving money, please stop by the Festival of Frugality.
No Tumbler Polished Rocks DIY I love rocks! Whenever I hike or go to the beach, my bag or tote gets filled with stunning rocks. I lov...
Building rock tumblers is a project that can help children understand the geological process of the tumbling and smoothing of rocks in water bodies. A homemade rock tumbler is also a creative way of making polished rocks and stones for adornments. Read on to know how to build one at home.
You don't need a rock tumbler to create beautiful polished gems and stones. Here is how you can grind, sand and polish them yourself easily.
Here's an easy way to make rocks shiny! The best part is that you do not need to wait weeks for the tumbling process. That's right, no rock tumbler
