Start rock tumbling
Rough rocks, grit and water turn in a small barrel for a few weeks, and come out smooth and glassy. Start your first batch this weekend. Here's the video that hooks everyone, and everything you need for your first polished stones.
Space neededA shelf in the garage
First projectA polished batch in about a month
Skill levelEasy, but slow
Good forRock hounds, beach walkers, kids with an adult
The video that hooks everyone
Can you tumble random rocks?
A rock hound picks one plain stone out of a pile of mixed gravel and asks whether any rock can be tumbled into something shiny. Press play and see why it hooks people.
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Tool list
What you need to start
Everything you need for your first project, and nothing you don't. A small tumbler and a grit set make batch after batch.
Starter kit
01Rotary tumbler, one barrelA small motor turns a rubber barrel on two rollers, day and night.
02Rough rock, agate and jasperHard rocks that tumble well. Buy enough to fill the barrel two-thirds.
03Grit set, four stagesCoarse, medium, pre-polish and polish. One set does several batches.
04Ceramic filler mediaSmall ceramic pieces that cushion the rocks and fill out a short load.
05Kitchen scaleWeighs rock so you add the right amount of grit.
06Two plastic bucketsOne for rinsing, one to let the dirty slurry settle.
07A strainer, for rocks onlyCatches rocks while you rinse. Never use it for food again.
08Old toothbrushScrubs grit out of cracks between stages.
09Dust maskFor pouring dry grit and handling dried slurry.
10Notebook and labelsWrite the stage and start date for every run.
The manual tells you what to look for when you buy each one.
- 1Mixing hard and soft rocksSoft rocks wear away while hard ones are still rough. Tumble rocks of about the same hardness together.
- 2Carrying grit into the next stageOne grain of coarse grit scratches a polished stone. Scrub the rocks and the barrel clean between every stage.
- 3Pouring slurry down the drainGrit sludge settles in pipes and hardens. Let it settle in a bucket and put the sludge in the trash.
