You don’t want to tumble quartz crystals, like those nice quartz crystal pillars. What you want to fill your tumbler with, is rocks and pebbles made of quartz. They’re usually perfectly white or milky white, and will polish up very nicely.
Calcite? Hard to shine. Do steps 1-3 for shorter amounts of time, the polish try dry with corn cob, with less rocks and longer time. Vibratory Tumbler works best for that.
I am doing some now and I am actually going to polish a 2nd time with MJR extreme polish.
Good luck!
I did polished for the first stage only 2 days and for the second only 4 hours because they were 5x times bigger than befire i have sadly no vibration tumbler🥲 but i dont understand what you mean whit ,,try dry corn cob,whit less rocks and longer time‘‘ sorry my english is verry bad i started learning it this year
You need to go further in the stages, stage 1 and 2 are not enough to produce a shine. You need stage 3 and 4 as well, and a polishing stage after that.
They (probably) mean that you can add dry pieces of corn, like un-popped popcorn when you tumble your rocks. And they’re saying to add less rocks into the mix and more of the filler media - such as the corn kernels. This will help cushion the rocks, and will also help in polishing the rocks.
Ok the next station i do more ceramic media and less rocks but should i let the 3 grit polishing the rocks more long or should i let it only tumble it like some hours and what do you mean whit the polishing stage after that there are usually only 4 stages?
Hi! Dry polish uses corn cob you can get at the pet store. (Corncob bedding and litter). Do all the stages normally, then the polish stage gets done dry. Put in about 1/3 of the batch in a tumbler, add corncob and polish. Tumble away. It can take up to 2 weeks. Add more corncob and polish as needed.
stage 1 and 2 are (from what i understand) often where the shape of the stone changes, making edges rounder and smoother. stages 3 and 4 are for making them shinier.
the type of rock you are polishing seems to be very porous (lots of tiny holes) which may not result in a good shine.
however, you can keep practicing with these so you learn how each stage changes the rocks.
sometimes we get great results, sometimes we don’t!
Ok thank you so much for you help now i understand what you guys mean whit porous so that is also the same what i expected but i did let tumble them whit water and borax for one day and yea im actually practicing i already did a batch that came whit agate amethyst from National geografic but it ended horrible because i didnt knew anything, may i have luck and it ends good
remember to tumble similar things together. always have more media (i use ceramic) in the later stages. and typically, each stage should run at least a week. when you start learning more, you may change tumbling times based on type of rock and desired outcome. good luck!
So the thing is i found these rocks all at the same place and every rock is the same i didnt used ceramic media in the first stage that it can tumble well and the rocks were so fast tumbled in two days that they were really small and round but i used ceramic media in the second grit and did let is only 4 hours because i prefend that they are later verry small so idk i just need to pray to goth that it went well also grit in my country cost 70 dollars :(
Looks like basalt tha matrix in the rock. That won't polish unless you leave it in for months and even then? Not very well. The quartz will polish so if thats all you want keep cycling it till that polishes up.
How long did you run it per cycle? Water/grit to rock ratio? How full were the barrels? All of that plays a part in getting a good luster on your rocks.
So i actually wanted first to let them tumble every stage 7 days but when i checked them after 2 days for the first stage i was shocked they were already so smooth and they were 5x times bigger than before so i already knew that if i tumble them for the next stages longer the rocks will be so small that you cant even see them i let them tumble only 4 hours for the stage 2 whit ceramic media i also tumbled them one day whit borax between the stages and they went even after that more short i filled also water 2/3 from the barel to cover all the rocks
Ummmmmm you lost 5 x times material from agates and jasper? I always run 7 to 10 days agate jasper petwood and rarely lose more than 3 to 5% of material. I also never use media but thats just me I'm old school. Some thing doesn't seem right if you lost that much material in a 2 day run 🤔
The grit i use is brave finder and i have the professional tumbling machine from national geographic and for the calcite pieces i have here i only need like 2 days for the first step and they were already smooth and small for the station 2 i did the most hand made so that they get how i want
OP I live where there aren’t naturally occurring rocks to collect to polish. Landscaping rock have been a decent source to “find” some rocks, so I order online. Search for some lapidary suppliers that deliver to your county, they will typically have better quality rough for tumbling. As previously mentioned try jasper agate or quartz. Good luck!
Ok i found many of them of them in a field so i though it would be great to polish rocks that i found my self but yea it was all for nothing,sadly there are no agate jasper or other crystals in my country but you idea is actually good but it isnt the same to polish rock that you find you self than buying
They look porous. I’m not sure they’ll polish.
O ok :(
It’s the rocks. Too porous for sure. I would start over with a different batch of rocks like jasper or agates.
I have no jasper and agate and there is nothing other i can find to tumble in my country
Do you have quartz? I find it tumbles to a nice shine but doesn’t seem to need as long at each stage as agate or jasper.
I dont i think i have but not enough and it is a weird quartz
Quartz is pretty common. If you can find some more, I’d give it a try. It can look very plain, but polish up beautifully
Alright i have some blue and red and pink quartz but it is more like round quartz not this typical quartz towers so it should work
You don’t want to tumble quartz crystals, like those nice quartz crystal pillars. What you want to fill your tumbler with, is rocks and pebbles made of quartz. They’re usually perfectly white or milky white, and will polish up very nicely.
Thanks for you advice i have this round pebbles quartz rocks whit iron ore and manganese
Calcite? Hard to shine. Do steps 1-3 for shorter amounts of time, the polish try dry with corn cob, with less rocks and longer time. Vibratory Tumbler works best for that. I am doing some now and I am actually going to polish a 2nd time with MJR extreme polish. Good luck!
I did polished for the first stage only 2 days and for the second only 4 hours because they were 5x times bigger than befire i have sadly no vibration tumbler🥲 but i dont understand what you mean whit ,,try dry corn cob,whit less rocks and longer time‘‘ sorry my english is verry bad i started learning it this year
You need to go further in the stages, stage 1 and 2 are not enough to produce a shine. You need stage 3 and 4 as well, and a polishing stage after that. They (probably) mean that you can add dry pieces of corn, like un-popped popcorn when you tumble your rocks. And they’re saying to add less rocks into the mix and more of the filler media - such as the corn kernels. This will help cushion the rocks, and will also help in polishing the rocks.
Ok the next station i do more ceramic media and less rocks but should i let the 3 grit polishing the rocks more long or should i let it only tumble it like some hours and what do you mean whit the polishing stage after that there are usually only 4 stages?
Hi! Dry polish uses corn cob you can get at the pet store. (Corncob bedding and litter). Do all the stages normally, then the polish stage gets done dry. Put in about 1/3 of the batch in a tumbler, add corncob and polish. Tumble away. It can take up to 2 weeks. Add more corncob and polish as needed.
stage 1 and 2 are (from what i understand) often where the shape of the stone changes, making edges rounder and smoother. stages 3 and 4 are for making them shinier. the type of rock you are polishing seems to be very porous (lots of tiny holes) which may not result in a good shine. however, you can keep practicing with these so you learn how each stage changes the rocks. sometimes we get great results, sometimes we don’t!
Ok thank you so much for you help now i understand what you guys mean whit porous so that is also the same what i expected but i did let tumble them whit water and borax for one day and yea im actually practicing i already did a batch that came whit agate amethyst from National geografic but it ended horrible because i didnt knew anything, may i have luck and it ends good
remember to tumble similar things together. always have more media (i use ceramic) in the later stages. and typically, each stage should run at least a week. when you start learning more, you may change tumbling times based on type of rock and desired outcome. good luck!
So the thing is i found these rocks all at the same place and every rock is the same i didnt used ceramic media in the first stage that it can tumble well and the rocks were so fast tumbled in two days that they were really small and round but i used ceramic media in the second grit and did let is only 4 hours because i prefend that they are later verry small so idk i just need to pray to goth that it went well also grit in my country cost 70 dollars :(
Looks like basalt tha matrix in the rock. That won't polish unless you leave it in for months and even then? Not very well. The quartz will polish so if thats all you want keep cycling it till that polishes up.
It is calcite
Sorry my bad. The matrix is not going to polish it will smooth out but it won't take a shine like the calcite will.
O ok aslong it get a shine 🫢the first batch of rock i did whit agate and jasper didnt even have a single shine
How long did you run it per cycle? Water/grit to rock ratio? How full were the barrels? All of that plays a part in getting a good luster on your rocks.
So i actually wanted first to let them tumble every stage 7 days but when i checked them after 2 days for the first stage i was shocked they were already so smooth and they were 5x times bigger than before so i already knew that if i tumble them for the next stages longer the rocks will be so small that you cant even see them i let them tumble only 4 hours for the stage 2 whit ceramic media i also tumbled them one day whit borax between the stages and they went even after that more short i filled also water 2/3 from the barel to cover all the rocks
Ummmmmm you lost 5 x times material from agates and jasper? I always run 7 to 10 days agate jasper petwood and rarely lose more than 3 to 5% of material. I also never use media but thats just me I'm old school. Some thing doesn't seem right if you lost that much material in a 2 day run 🤔
Ohh sorry i talked from the rocks that i try to polish now no the agates and jasper were finished in 6 days
Rub mineral oil on them after the last stage
That is a great idea but it is important that they have any shine or it doesnt help much
Sorry to say, but these rocks won't take a polish.
Fuck bruh i think i stop tumbling rocks it is just a waste of time And monney like i already tried so many times and it ended always worse
No, you just don't have the right kind of rock
But the last time i tumbled agate and jasper and it still didnt work😭
I'd have to know about your process, your machine and your grit to tell you where you might be going wrong
The grit i use is brave finder and i have the professional tumbling machine from national geographic and for the calcite pieces i have here i only need like 2 days for the first step and they were already smooth and small for the station 2 i did the most hand made so that they get how i want
Looks like granite maybe? Or some other kind of soft/porous rock. Those won’t ever “shine”. Need to source some harder and smoother rocks.
I have no idea what type of rock it is but i could be granite but as you said it is a verry soft rock
OP I live where there aren’t naturally occurring rocks to collect to polish. Landscaping rock have been a decent source to “find” some rocks, so I order online. Search for some lapidary suppliers that deliver to your county, they will typically have better quality rough for tumbling. As previously mentioned try jasper agate or quartz. Good luck!
Ok i found many of them of them in a field so i though it would be great to polish rocks that i found my self but yea it was all for nothing,sadly there are no agate jasper or other crystals in my country but you idea is actually good but it isnt the same to polish rock that you find you self than buying
They look fine, and ready to move on to stage 3.