On 8 Jan 2004 19:51:27 -0800, (Kate) wrote:

there was an interesting thread on tumbling rocks several years ago
that gave me some ideas for my 9 yo daughter's rock tumbler, but
didn't answer my basic question. We've been tumbling the rocks for a
week as per the directions in the Thumbler's Tumbler, Model T, with
the coarse grit. The rocks were purchased from Eggers Lapidary in
Golden, and were a mix of various same hardness rocks, some sliced,
some part way toward becoming cabs. We planned to switch to fine grit
from coarse tonight, but some of them seem to need more tumbling- they
have matrix on them and some of the cut pieces haven't smoothed enough
on the random edges to be interesting. My daughter resisted adding
more time, but I talked her into one more day on the coarse. Will it
make much difference for rose quartz hardness rocks? Will fine grit
do much more or just smoothing? I hate to do what my father did when
I was a kid- grind and grind until there were holes in the tumbler and
the rocks were half gone- but I also don't really want to quit now if
a few days will give a much nicer finish.

do you think it's my imagination or does the process become quieter
over the course of a week as the major rough edges get knocked off?
When they're done, will my Dremel make holes for beading or do I have
to rely on cheap findings to glue on?

=====
Kate, http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~kolina/a...f-formula.html
Mom to Ursula (9!), Sage (6.5), Benno (3!!) Things perfected by
nature
are better than those finished by art. ~Cicero

Wowsers... hehehe
Here is a very good place to get your questions answered without me rambling for
a few hours.
http://www.promotega.org/ksu00006/tumbler.htm
Rule of thumb: If you like the way the rock looks after the first grit.. go to the next.
If not... tumble again. Many rocks require 2 weeks in the first grit, (60 - 90). Depending on
hardness. Softer stones will be just fine after 1 week. 7 days pretty much wipes out the grit and
you will have to change to new grit. Be sure there is no old grit mixed with the new.
Be sure ALL grit is removed from ALL the rocks and the barrle is spotless, before placing it in the new grits.
Just 1 piece of a courser grit can destroy the finish on ALL your rocks. That is why it's best to
sort through all your rocks and find any that have cracks or pits and save them for another tumble.
The most important step is the polishing step. It is absolutely MANDATORY that you tumble your rocks
in a CLEAN barrle with soap for at lease 2 hours, BEFORE you tumble them in the polish
If you don't do that step, your rocks will not polish to a glass like shine and you may even have
many deep scratchs in them. So... be SURE to tumble in IVORY soap before the last polishing step.
It is highly recommened that you soap tumble after each step to ensure yourself that all the previous grits
is gone. I rambled a lot here, but nothing to what it would have been.
Let me know if you have any other question if you can't find what you are looking for and
I will ramble on and take you through a complete tumble from start to finish.

Harry
My Ebay Auctions are at http://snipurl.com/3okw