I didn’t even open my rock tumbler last week. The last time I opened my lortone rock tumblers was week #7. Yes, I skipped by week #8. I thought about taking the rocks out but said… I’ll wait. Late this afternoon, I finally got around to opening my three barrels.
Week #9, Stage #1. Tumbled rocks just rinsed.
This is my six-pound barrel containing agates, tiger eye, and obsidian. I rinsed the rocks thoroughly and placed them back into the barrel with water, where they’ll tumble for about a day. I didn’t even add my teaspoon of borax. I will most likely add that tomorrow. As I rinsed the rocks today, I noticed several appear ready to move on to stage #2, and I could have already started stage #2.
Rose Quartz – Week #2
The majority of the rocks have been tumbling for nine weeks. However, the rose quartz rocks are new. This is their second week of being tumbled.
Today, I finally removed my rocks from their respective barrels, where they had been tumbling in water/borax for almost five days Week 6 – Checking on tumbled rocks, Stage #1. I wasn’t in a hurry to remove them from the barrels. Since I was busy with other tasks, I let them stay in their barrels, knowing that when I was ready for them, I would remove them and move some of them onto Stage #2 and place the bul back into Stage #1.
Tumbled rocks ready for Stage #2
These are the rocks ready for Stage #2. I had a lot more than this; however, my brother and nephew were visiting today, and my nephew loves rocks as much as I do. I told him to choose whatever rocks he wanted.
My nephew chose a few rocks
He chose the rocks in the above picture. He added a few rough rocks also! My nephew looks forward to seeing them finish tumbling since he wants to see how glossy they will become.
The rest of the rocks went back to Stage #1, and
I even added new rocks to Stage #1,
as shown in my 1.5-pound barrels.
I’m looking forward to that also, but I am in no rush when they’re done, they’re done. Based on the high sheen we already see with many rocks, only in Stage #1, I imagine they will be gorgeous.
Last evening, I removed my tumbled rocks from Stage #1.
Freshly rinsed tumbled agates – Stage #1
I rinsed them thoroughly in my five-gallon bucket, checked each one to see if they were smooth enough to move on to Stage #2, or would they be placed back into Stage #1 after going through their rinse cycle.
Rocks ready for Stage #2
Several are ready for Stage #2. The above photo shows a few of them.
After rinsing the Stage #1 grit of the rocks, I placed them back in their respective barrels. I filled each barrel with enough water to cover the rocks and added one teaspoon of borax powder. From my research, numerous rock tumblers recommend rinsing their stones after each stage. This helps remove the grit that might get into cracks or crevices on the rocks. I’ve been letting my rinse cycles run for at least one day, the longest being a little over four days.
Last evening, I removed my tumbled rocks from their three barrels . I had been tumbling them in water for about two days, and then I decided to rinse and add more water and a teaspoon of borax. I was in no rush to put them back in Stage #1.
Lots of agates!
Results? I’m starting to see a sheen on some of the rocks, even when they’re dry!
Tigers Eye
How wonderful is that? I looked at every rock and determined that around eight stones were ready to move to Stage #2. They are perfect. They have no nicks, so I’ve set them aside in their own container, and there they will stay until I start Stage #2.
Most of the rocks featured here are Bahia agates, which have been in my rock tumbler for a month.
Say hello to Tiger’s Eye; they’ve been tumbling for over a week.
They look much different than when I added them to the rock tumbler last week.
Tiger’s Eye happens to be one of my favorite stones. Although it’s only been a week, they’ve already started to change in appearance, and that shimmer that I love to see in Tiger’s Eye has made an appearance.
The majority of these rocks will be going right back to Stage #1. There are still a lot of imperfections that I could feel as I ran my fingers over each rock; only about four rocks will be set aside and waiting for others to join them in Stage #2, and I’m perfectly fine with that.
New to Rock Tumbling
I’m new to rock tumbling, although not rock gathering, which I’d occasionally do when I found a rock of particular interest. At the time, I did not know they had a name for that (rock-hounding). All I knew was that I enjoyed collecting them and would likely tumble rocks someday. That someday happened last month when I finally purchased my rock tumblers. I did a lot of research, especially fond of Michigan Rocks YouTube videos that equipped me with a lot of knowledge about how to tumble rocks successfully. What I appreciated about Rock, aka Michigan Rocks, is that his videos are thorough. He’s genuinely passionate about rock tumbling, and I consumed many of his videos. I left with a deeper understanding of rock tumbling. The common pitfalls plaguing those new to rock tumbling and the knowledge that it might take months to get shiny rocks through tumbling. It’s a process. Since I’m a process crafter, I wasn’t deterred by this. No, it intrigued me even more.
Choosing the suitable tumbler for me
On the rock tumbling forums I frequented, Lortone was often referred to as the ‘ultimate tumbler’ by loyalists to the brand, and after more research, I decided that would also be my brand of choice. And that’s where it got interesting. Who knew that a Lortone rock tumbrel or any other quality tumbler was in such high demand? Attempting to find a Lortone rock tumbler proved to be a challenge. Everywhere I looked online, they were sold out. It wasn’t until I saw a post on the Reddit Rock Tumbling forum that I got lucky. According to a post, the author urged people to check out Jerry’s Rock and Gem’s. I snapped up a Lortone 3 – 1.5 rock tumbler for myself. A few days later, I was on the Lortone website, and you wouldn’t know they had the Lortone qt66 in stock. I snagged one of those, also. For vibratory tumblers (used by some for Stage #2 – Stage #4), I was interested in the Lot-O-Tumbler; however, I started hearing rumblings that the newer tumblers did not appear to have the same quality as the older tumblers. Because of that, I researched more and ultimately purchased the Mini Sonic 4 vibratory tumbler made by Diamond Pacific, and just like the Lortone tumblers, I found the popular vibratory tumblers hard to find.
Moving forward
Eventually, I believe I’ll purchase additional machines for cutting; however, for now, I am content and am simply enjoying the tumbling experience.
