Thanks so much! Yes, love seeing how excited Bergen gets for each stage, and the process really teaches patience! We are working on another before and after video, but want to try the burnishing, so we’ll need to make a trip to the store first!
Here's some tips on how to get really great results out of your tumbler: 1. First step(coarse) should be done a lot of times in shots of 3 days. I have this very tumbler and I've seen that it has eaten all the grit after 3 days. So you should clean them up after three days and then put them back in with the coarse grit for another three days. Keep doing that until you're satisfied with the results. There should be no cracks or holes left in the rocks. 2. Use a lot more rocks. After running them in the coarse stage, you'll see that a lot of volume has gone down compared to what you had before. Fill up to 2/3 of the barrel. Since this barrel is 3inches tall, you should have 1inch of space in between the rocks and the lid. At all times. 3. Use ceramic media in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th stage. Just to fill up space. It will help the grit to go through all the nooks and crannies in the rocks. 4. Use a lot more grit. You should put about 3 tablespoons worth of grit in the barrel. (1tablespoon per pound of rocks) 5. Never use the foams that come with the kit. They don't work, and I've heard they even make the rocks less shiny than they already were. 6. Add a fifth stage which is for burnishing your rocks. You can also do this in between all the stages to make sure your rocks are completely clean. This stage only consists of putting in some borax or some ivory soap and running it for about 4 hours. It will help a lot with getting the rocks to shine. 7. Use all the same types of rocks. You can get some rocks from the rockshed.com and Kingsleynorth.com and they will tell you which rocks you got and their hardness scale. If you want to do it yourself, there's no problem. Although you'll need to test your rocks to see how hard they are. The full process should take you about a month and a half to finish.
Oh!! And i forgot.. You should get yourself some better polish. You can buy some packs of aluminum oxide polish at the two sites I gave you. Aluminum oxide is better than the Silicon Carbide grit National Geographic gives you with the kit. Silicon Carbide is more gritty and rough. So it will not polish the rocks well enough to get a good shine. Aluminum oxide is a bit gritty, but when it breaks down. It becomes softer and acts as a polish. Because the particles become round and smaller the more you tumble.
@@Felrock12 thank you so much for all this helpful information! So nice of you to pass all of this along. I will go over it all with my son, and we’ll try another around (taking a break right now because the noise in our small house was getting to us! 😆). I appreciate the tips on polishing them as he’s been a little disappointed with the shine results, and some other experts steered us away from using mineral oil. Again, thank you so much!
@@KateSpiller your welcome! Always glad to help. As this is a really fun hobby but the National Geographic instructions do disappoint. Although, the machine itself is great. If you're ever curious on how to get excellent results, you can go check out Michigan rocks video on how to do that with this tumbler. Here's the link: ruclips.net/video/CsTc1kXUuPo/видео.html
Thanks so much for watching! Please let me know if there are other types of rock tumbling videos that you would like to see-Bergen will be starting up some tumbling projects soon, so let us know if there is something specific!
Haha-yes! Garage is the perfect spot! Let me know if you guys give it a try! Bergen just put another round of rocks in the tumbler. This time, it’s rocks he’s collected over the years, so I’m very curious to see the result!
YES PLEASE make more videos! I loved seeing the excitement in your son's eyes. You had me at the edge of my seat everytime he opened up the tumbler. The rocks are so BEAUTIFUL! Most importantly, I loved the one on one mommy and son time. ❤💙
Thank you for your kind comment! 💗 Bergen just started another round of rocks in the tumbler yesterday (from his own collection). I’m super curious to see how they turn out!
Great job. Just remember the tumbler needs to be 2/3's full of rocks, then add your grit, then just enough water to come to the level ofvrocks, not over them. Before you do the last polish stage, be sure to burnish them. (Clean then well with soapy water). You ccan do it in the tumbler, too. Once burniished, all the residue and grit is off the rocks and makes a cleaner polish. (Under filling your tumbler can cause rocks to have too much room, causing cracking and shattering. Not enough room and they can't smooth down properly. )Kind of the dame with our clothes washee...the right amount makes a difference!😉💚👌🏼👍🏼 keep making videos cans having fun!
Good job Bergen! Very interesting. When metallurgical Enginners use big tumbling mills they are doing two things, both under the umbrella term “comminution”. 1st is attrition, similar to abrasion which is what you did. Abrasion with grit to wear down the rocks, eventually producing a polished surface. 2nd, with more energy you can break rocks and as part of comminution it is called grinding.
WOW! Thank you for sharing all that knowledge, Gpa E! B sure is looking forward to learning more from you when we visit in July! We have another round of rocks (ones that B had found over the years) going now, so we’ll be sure to share those when they are finished!
Thank you and your son for this video. I have learned a lot from both the video and the comments. 👍
Oh wow! The rocks are so pretty!
Yes! It’s amazing how they transform!
good job , its a fun hobby , glad to see kids wanting to get involved . subscribed
Thanks so much! Yes, love seeing how excited Bergen gets for each stage, and the process really teaches patience! We are working on another before and after video, but want to try the burnishing, so we’ll need to make a trip to the store first!
@@KateSpiller yes burnishing helps , i do it atleast over night , some people say as little as 30 minutes but it need more time than that
Here's some tips on how to get really great results out of your tumbler:
1. First step(coarse) should be done a lot of times in shots of 3 days. I have this very tumbler and I've seen that it has eaten all the grit after 3 days. So you should clean them up after three days and then put them back in with the coarse grit for another three days. Keep doing that until you're satisfied with the results. There should be no cracks or holes left in the rocks.
2. Use a lot more rocks. After running them in the coarse stage, you'll see that a lot of volume has gone down compared to what you had before. Fill up to 2/3 of the barrel. Since this barrel is 3inches tall, you should have 1inch of space in between the rocks and the lid. At all times.
3. Use ceramic media in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th stage. Just to fill up space. It will help the grit to go through all the nooks and crannies in the rocks.
4. Use a lot more grit. You should put about 3 tablespoons worth of grit in the barrel. (1tablespoon per pound of rocks)
5. Never use the foams that come with the kit. They don't work, and I've heard they even make the rocks less shiny than they already were.
6. Add a fifth stage which is for burnishing your rocks. You can also do this in between all the stages to make sure your rocks are completely clean. This stage only consists of putting in some borax or some ivory soap and running it for about 4 hours. It will help a lot with getting the rocks to shine.
7. Use all the same types of rocks. You can get some rocks from the rockshed.com and Kingsleynorth.com and they will tell you which rocks you got and their hardness scale. If you want to do it yourself, there's no problem. Although you'll need to test your rocks to see how hard they are.
The full process should take you about a month and a half to finish.
Oh!! And i forgot..
You should get yourself some better polish. You can buy some packs of aluminum oxide polish at the two sites I gave you. Aluminum oxide is better than the Silicon Carbide grit National Geographic gives you with the kit.
Silicon Carbide is more gritty and rough. So it will not polish the rocks well enough to get a good shine.
Aluminum oxide is a bit gritty, but when it breaks down. It becomes softer and acts as a polish. Because the particles become round and smaller the more you tumble.
@@Felrock12 thank you so much for all this helpful information! So nice of you to pass all of this along. I will go over it all with my son, and we’ll try another around (taking a break right now because the noise in our small house was getting to us! 😆). I appreciate the tips on polishing them as he’s been a little disappointed with the shine results, and some other experts steered us away from using mineral oil. Again, thank you so much!
@@KateSpiller your welcome! Always glad to help. As this is a really fun hobby but the National Geographic instructions do disappoint. Although, the machine itself is great.
If you're ever curious on how to get excellent results, you can go check out Michigan rocks video on how to do that with this tumbler.
Here's the link:
ruclips.net/video/CsTc1kXUuPo/видео.html
Very kewl, well done you guys "Rock"
Thanks so much! He’s back to tumbling after a few months break.
Cool stuff!😇
Thanks so much for watching! Please let me know if there are other types of rock tumbling videos that you would like to see-Bergen will be starting up some tumbling projects soon, so let us know if there is something specific!
I have to do this with my youngest son... But that tumbler is definitely going in the garage lol... Really cool video 😊🌿
Haha-yes! Garage is the perfect spot! Let me know if you guys give it a try! Bergen just put another round of rocks in the tumbler. This time, it’s rocks he’s collected over the years, so I’m very curious to see the result!
YES PLEASE make more videos! I loved seeing the excitement in your son's eyes. You had me at the edge of my seat everytime he opened up the tumbler. The rocks are so BEAUTIFUL! Most importantly, I loved the one on one mommy and son time. ❤💙
Thank you for your kind comment! 💗 Bergen just started another round of rocks in the tumbler yesterday (from his own collection). I’m super curious to see how they turn out!
Great job. Just remember the tumbler needs to be 2/3's full of rocks, then add your grit, then just enough water to come to the level ofvrocks, not over them.
Before you do the last polish stage, be sure to burnish them. (Clean then well with soapy water). You ccan do it in the tumbler, too. Once burniished, all the residue and grit is off the rocks and makes a cleaner polish.
(Under filling your tumbler can cause rocks to have too much room, causing cracking and shattering. Not enough room and they can't smooth down properly. )Kind of the dame with our clothes washee...the right amount makes a difference!😉💚👌🏼👍🏼 keep making videos cans having fun!
Thank you thank you thank you! Really appreciate these rock tumbling tips, and encouragement! I will pass them along to Bergen!! 💗💗
Good job Bergen! Very interesting. When metallurgical Enginners use big tumbling mills they are doing two things, both under the umbrella term “comminution”.
1st is attrition, similar to abrasion which is what you did. Abrasion with grit to wear down the rocks, eventually producing a polished surface.
2nd, with more energy you can break rocks and as part of comminution it is called grinding.
WOW! Thank you for sharing all that knowledge, Gpa E! B sure is looking forward to learning more from you when we visit in July! We have another round of rocks (ones that B had found over the years) going now, so we’ll be sure to share those when they are finished!
Can they still be sent off to be cut for jewelry?
I’m not sure about that! We haven’t tried making jewelry yet.
Are these powders you use chemical?
I'm not an expert on that--sorry! But you can find info here: rocktumbler.com/grit.shtml
@@KateSpiller thank you
Nice video.👍
Thanks so much! Do you have a rock tumbler?
@@KateSpiller, no. I don't have one. And it is difficult to to get it my country.
@@ngobithe oh man, I’m sorry!
@@KateSpiller ,
Where do you think, I ça order it ?
Where I can order it ?
Do not put sludge down the drain. It will clog and mess up your pipes.
Oh yes! Thank you. I mentioned in the video this right after we made the mistake. 🙈