I don't know about you guys, but I can't stop looking at my first few batches of tumbled rocks, but nothing like these gorgeous agates. Very nice work. Thanks for inspiring us all. Great video! Sad day about your tumbler barrel.
Good times right there! I needed some soap to wash off my agates grabbed a box of Borax, put some in & wow the shine! I put them on the bottom of my fish aquarium! Awesome way to view them! There like looking into a candy store window eh! Great job on the polishing!
Thanks a lot Mitch! I tried to get the Botswana agates as close to perfect as I could. Some still have flaws but I didn't want them to tumble away to nothing and I don't really have the time to grind down individual pits and cracks. Thanks for watching!
WOW! Love all of them. The blues and some greens in those, the mystery basalt nodules🤩, the ones with druzy, bots and quartz crystals, even the brown, tan and white ones are beautiful. All keepers! Thanks for sharing!✌😎
Wow, some very nice results! Thanks for providing the name of the supplier ( I will definitely check them out). Also, thanks for the "heads-up" a few days ago on "meMiner". I have checked his channel and he definitely has a lot of great videos!
@@moonstruck581 well I like it so much I don't see myself ever going back to a rotary tumbler except for stage 1. I'll be using the lot-o exclusively for stages 2-4. It's awesome. Highly recommend.
This is the BEST video yet! Thank you for sharing the process, I found it very interesting and relaxing. I enjoy your relaxed way of speaking; like were all sitting in your livingroom instead of ours! The unakite was gorgeous!! Botswana agates are now a new fave. I could have looked at the stones all day. I don't know what others see, but some of the rocks look like nebulas or galaxies, especially on the less banded sides. Two questions: do you have an Etsy ish site, and, what group was playing the guitar instumental? Wonderful job! Be safe, be well❤🇺🇸
Thanks sooooo much for all that positive feedback!!! Its great to hear that people like what we are doing! We don't have an etsy type store.........yet. a lot of people are asking so ill look into what it takes to set up and the time commitment needed. Not sure which song you are inquiring about but he music is listed in the description and its by order of appearance.
Aren't those Bots the coolest? You did a great job on them. The other rocks looked awesome too. What is that media that you use in the 120/220 stage? It looks like glass or something. I use the same ceramic media all the way through. I have never kept separate ceramics for each stage. That's important for plastic because it's' soft and grit gets embedded in it. Ceramic is very hard since it doesn't have holes in it, get can't really get trapped in it. You said that you have it separated because the it is ground the same amount as your rocks in each stage. Since mine go all the way through to the end, all of my ceramics end up polished as much as my rocks. So when I start over with 220 grit, I'm adding shiny, polished ceramics that aren't going to hurt the rocks. What you're doing sure isn't going to hurt, it's just a pain to separate the rocks from the ceramics and dry them off for storage. I also do my stages a little different. I do 220 for two days, 500 for three and then polish for two. It's all done in a week. Not that it matters that much since we both spend a ton of time in the first stage. Nice video. Good work with the before and after pictures. I have started doing that more in my videos. It's time consuming, but really shows how much the rocks change. Thanks for putting in the time.
Thanks Rob! The media in the 120/220 stage are glass beads. They have holes in them from being strung together so grit gets stuck in there which is why I use them for stage 2 only. Also, the reason I don't use my "good" ceramics in stage 2 is that I was noticing them getting worn down. Maybe its the quality of the ceramic...I don't know. Believe it or not but its hard to get cheap ceramic media here in Canada. So this is really just me trying to get prolonged use out of my good stuff and using crappy glass beads for the coarser stage. I have a lot of ceramic and porcelain tile scraps left over from my basement reno and I was thinking of trying to make my own media. Not sure if I want to invest the time in doing that though, but it's free and I could make a lot of it to last a lifetime probably. I run 3 days each stage because I actually noticed that when I have some larger rocks in the tumbler the tumbling action isn't as good so I keep them in longer. Not sure if that matters. This batch had the best shine I've ever gotten, even on our NS agates, so i'm going to use this as a baseline and try to shorten my stages closer to what you do to see if I lose any shine. I'll also try to eliminate the 1200 grit stage. I was actually only including that stage because I had a lot of the 1200 grit and was trying to get rid of it but now that I am using the vibrolap I use it for that as the 1200 grit stage with the vibrolap is important. Thanks again for all the tips. You have really been my go to resource for the Lot-o!
@@RockhoundingLife I know what you mean about wearing down media in 120/220. I just do it and try not to worry about it. A friend of mine doesn't use any media in 120/220. He fills the barrel with rocks, runs the 220 stage, and then removes some rocks to fit ceramics in for the 500 stage. Eventually he has enough rocks removed from 220 to move on together to 500. I completely agree with keeping the glass beads dedicated to 220 for the reasons you gave. I ran a 1000 stage in my Lot-O for years, but haven't noticed a difference at all when I removed it. By the time that 500 grit has run for three days, it's probably smaller than 1000. You haven't posted a vibrating flat lap video yet, have you? How's that going?
@@MichiganRocks Yeah i'm thinking your right and I probably won't notice a difference when eliminating the 1200 stage. I'll be trying it soon. No vibrolap video yet, but Part 1 is coming out next week. In short I picked the wrong rock to do the first test run on it. You'll see in the video as to why. It has been quite the process, hence why I have to break it into two videos. But I wanted the video to be about us trying something for the first time so you will get to see all my failures and successes as I figure it out. It was fun though and I can't wait to use it regularly with some other rocks I want to polish now that I have a better idea of what it takes to run it.
Thanks M!! I have a pretty good recipe/procedure that works really well. It took a few trial runs to fine tune but I think I have the vib tumbling down now. Can't wait to see yours.......hope your doing a video!!
Hello RL, Thanks for the great tutorial video and sharing the Botswana agates. So it is okay to keep the little imperfections in those, the cavities? I'm guessing there is not much you can do about them without destroying the whole stone.
It's personal preference when it comes to leaving cavities. Lots of factors come into play. If it's a deep one you'd have to grind the rock pretty small to get it.
@@RockhoundingLife ok thank you. I left you a comment on my other comment. Hoping and on stand by for much needed help and advice. I’m new to tumbling. I just took my rocks out of the tumbler and they were on the polishing stage. I need to know what I need to get to make these beautiful rocks shine. Thanks so much!
For those who don't realize the difference, when he does step 3 & 4 and uses 1/2 a teaspoon of aluminum oxide, in a rotary tumbler that would have been 5 to 6 tablespoons, 30 to 36 times the amount needed with the vibratory. Boy do I need to get me one of those.
I just love your video :). I just managed to put my hands on Botswana agates' nodules (2 to 4 inches). It seems that you tumbled whole nodules. Did you keep them whole or did you cut them before tumbling them. I am scared to end up with shiny duds or minuscule beauties. Can you advise me on the best way for the best result ?
@@RockhoundingLife you could even cut a piece of plastic from like a butter tub and flex seal the crack and the cover with the plastic and flex seal...I have had to fix several spots but mine is the rubber seal
It looks like your Lot-O needs tuned. (The dowel rod needs to be moved closer to the barrels). I own a single barrel and double barrel Lot-O, and they both needed tuned as they never worked properly as tuned from the factory. The Lot-O should tumble the rocks fast right from the start. If tuned properly, it will quickly spin a barrel full of dry rocks. Also, you only need just enough water to get the grit to stick to the rocks. This will speed things up dramatically, although you will have to add water more often. I just wet the rocks in the barrel, drain all the water off, and start them that way. In other words, the rocks are just barely wet, with no standing water in the bottom of the barrel. Just my 2 cents based on lots of experience with the Lot-O tumblers. There are no doubt more than one way to do things, but you should do some research on the tuning issue, and consider at least trying it with very little water to see how you like the results. Thanks for the video!
Hey thanks for the comment and I appreciate the feedback. I've only bee using the lot-o for 8 months so any advice is good advice for me. The weights on either side of the the dowels are lined up as they say they should be and i can't seem to push the dowels any closer to the barrel. The only time I notice that they aren't turning fast is in stage two 120/220 Silicon Carbide grit. Other stages with Aluminum Oxide seem to move pretty good from the start. I typically wash the rocks off in a bucket and just place them in the lot-o barrel. I don;t poor any water in the barrel. I only spray the rocks a bit once the grit is added. I can't complain about the shine i'm getting as it is outstanding but I don;t want to run the machine into the ground so i'll check the set-up again before my next run. Thanks again for the comment and for watching!
So beautiful, God is a wonderful artist, and I love before and after, thank you so much, for your hard work tumbling them.
Our pleasure! Thanks for watching!
When the rocks look that good polished you never get bored of looking at them... Truly beautiful 👍💕
Thanks Marie! I agree!
I think there is a beautiful soul living inside every stone,which is amazing 🥰
I totally agree!
I don't know about you guys, but I can't stop looking at my first few batches of tumbled rocks, but nothing like these gorgeous agates. Very nice work. Thanks for inspiring us all. Great video! Sad day about your tumbler barrel.
Tumbling rocks gets addictive for awhile and then it gets tiring....but then gets addictive again!
@@RockhoundingLife That's good to know. I just ran out of grit, so good time to clean my tumbler and take a short break.
After all them days and hours they turned out absolutely beautiful !! Some things are worth waiting for !! Enjoyed Watching :)
Patience is a virtue!!
Good times right there! I needed some soap to wash off my agates grabbed a box of Borax, put some in & wow the shine! I put them on the bottom of my fish aquarium! Awesome way to view them! There like looking into a candy store window eh! Great job on the polishing!
That's a great idea! I always struggle with what to do with the rocks after I tumble them.
Hey I'm your new friend on IG! were new at tumbling. Dang the lines on that black n white agate!!! 🥰🥰🥰
Hey there!! Thanks for joining us on RUclips!!
Insane banding on these beauties! What a work of art, every one. Great job tumbling them too, you really couldn't have done a better job!
Thanks a lot Mitch! I tried to get the Botswana agates as close to perfect as I could. Some still have flaws but I didn't want them to tumble away to nothing and I don't really have the time to grind down individual pits and cracks. Thanks for watching!
Oh my gosh, stunning!
Thanks Angela!! You'll have to come out with us this spring! Maybe then Lisa will come too!
@@RockhoundingLife haha! I keep thinking its time to get her on camera! We absolutely should!
Gosh. Those little agates have stunning detail ! Thanks so much for the helpful tutorial !
Thanks so much! 😊
22:45 is my Favorite! It’s so unique I love all its different colors, && those bands are stunning.
That one had a bit of everything! Fortification banding, eye banding and some cool colors, Blue bit of pink.
Yes ! It’s sooo pretty you did an amazing job!! They’re all so pretty tho hard to make a choice lol.
Awesome transformations! There could be some life applications here. 😁
🙏🙌
Beautiful, beautiful. All I need to say.. Havagudun bud.
Thanks! 🙏
Whooohoooo! New video and I am here...
🙌🙌
Oh,Botswana agates are soooo beautiful,and my favorite!!!
They are really cool!! Great details!
WOW! Love all of them. The blues and some greens in those, the mystery basalt nodules🤩, the ones with druzy, bots and quartz crystals, even the brown, tan and white ones are beautiful. All keepers! Thanks for sharing!✌😎
Thank you 🤗
Great break down on the step by step on the polishing Thanks.
Thanks Leland!! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for watching!
WOW.....JUST WOW! Love the before and after shots! Great video!
Thanks Connie! Glad you liked it!
Great video, really enjoyed watching 😊👍
Oh no I'm so sorry about your tumbler, but you know, you were ready for an upgrade, anyway, so congrats on your new tumbler!
I'm still going to try to fix it. We've had the 10lb tumbler for awhile.
Cool video, thanks for sharing 👍
🤙
Great video!! You may have shown this old dog a new trick or two.😎
😀🤙🙌
Absolutely awesome stuff guys ⛏️😁👍
Thanks!!🤙
They are all so beautiful! Now I really need to get a tumbler!
Its an awesome hobby!!
Well done,looks amazing!!!
Thank you! Cheers!
wow so beautiful Jason!
Thanks!!
Absolutely beautiful! Wow!
Thank you! It was a great batch.
Wow what beautiful pieces
Thank you!!
Daaaaaamn! These rocks 🪨 tuned into gems 💎
Need to buy this machine asap...
🤔🤔🤔
Why Shein doesn't sell rock tumblers?
Wow, some very nice results! Thanks for providing the name of the supplier ( I will definitely check them out). Also, thanks for the "heads-up" a few days ago on "meMiner". I have checked his channel and he definitely has a lot of great videos!
No problem! meMiner has over 500 videos I think! Good if you need some binge watching material!
WONDERFUL! I LOVED THEM ALL
Thanks Andrea!!!
Shazam! Beautiful shine!
Thanks!
I want to get a Lot O Tumbler what do you think so far of how it works?
@@moonstruck581 well I like it so much I don't see myself ever going back to a rotary tumbler except for stage 1. I'll be using the lot-o exclusively for stages 2-4.
It's awesome. Highly recommend.
Wow you can’t beat that will have to save up for that, and a flat lap etc.😍
This is the BEST video yet! Thank you for sharing the process, I found it very interesting and relaxing. I enjoy your relaxed way of speaking; like were all sitting in your livingroom instead of ours! The unakite was gorgeous!! Botswana agates are now a new fave. I could have looked at the stones all day. I don't know what others see, but some of the rocks look like nebulas or galaxies, especially on the less banded sides. Two questions: do you have an Etsy ish site, and, what group was playing the guitar instumental? Wonderful job! Be safe, be well❤🇺🇸
Thanks sooooo much for all that positive feedback!!! Its great to hear that people like what we are doing!
We don't have an etsy type store.........yet. a lot of people are asking so ill look into what it takes to set up and the time commitment needed.
Not sure which song you are inquiring about but he music is listed in the description and its by order of appearance.
Aren't those Bots the coolest? You did a great job on them. The other rocks looked awesome too.
What is that media that you use in the 120/220 stage? It looks like glass or something. I use the same ceramic media all the way through. I have never kept separate ceramics for each stage. That's important for plastic because it's' soft and grit gets embedded in it. Ceramic is very hard since it doesn't have holes in it, get can't really get trapped in it. You said that you have it separated because the it is ground the same amount as your rocks in each stage. Since mine go all the way through to the end, all of my ceramics end up polished as much as my rocks. So when I start over with 220 grit, I'm adding shiny, polished ceramics that aren't going to hurt the rocks. What you're doing sure isn't going to hurt, it's just a pain to separate the rocks from the ceramics and dry them off for storage.
I also do my stages a little different. I do 220 for two days, 500 for three and then polish for two. It's all done in a week. Not that it matters that much since we both spend a ton of time in the first stage.
Nice video. Good work with the before and after pictures. I have started doing that more in my videos. It's time consuming, but really shows how much the rocks change. Thanks for putting in the time.
Thanks Rob!
The media in the 120/220 stage are glass beads. They have holes in them from being strung together so grit gets stuck in there which is why I use them for stage 2 only. Also, the reason I don't use my "good" ceramics in stage 2 is that I was noticing them getting worn down. Maybe its the quality of the ceramic...I don't know. Believe it or not but its hard to get cheap ceramic media here in Canada. So this is really just me trying to get prolonged use out of my good stuff and using crappy glass beads for the coarser stage. I have a lot of ceramic and porcelain tile scraps left over from my basement reno and I was thinking of trying to make my own media. Not sure if I want to invest the time in doing that though, but it's free and I could make a lot of it to last a lifetime probably.
I run 3 days each stage because I actually noticed that when I have some larger rocks in the tumbler the tumbling action isn't as good so I keep them in longer. Not sure if that matters. This batch had the best shine I've ever gotten, even on our NS agates, so i'm going to use this as a baseline and try to shorten my stages closer to what you do to see if I lose any shine. I'll also try to eliminate the 1200 grit stage. I was actually only including that stage because I had a lot of the 1200 grit and was trying to get rid of it but now that I am using the vibrolap I use it for that as the 1200 grit stage with the vibrolap is important.
Thanks again for all the tips. You have really been my go to resource for the Lot-o!
@@RockhoundingLife I know what you mean about wearing down media in 120/220. I just do it and try not to worry about it. A friend of mine doesn't use any media in 120/220. He fills the barrel with rocks, runs the 220 stage, and then removes some rocks to fit ceramics in for the 500 stage. Eventually he has enough rocks removed from 220 to move on together to 500. I completely agree with keeping the glass beads dedicated to 220 for the reasons you gave.
I ran a 1000 stage in my Lot-O for years, but haven't noticed a difference at all when I removed it. By the time that 500 grit has run for three days, it's probably smaller than 1000.
You haven't posted a vibrating flat lap video yet, have you? How's that going?
@@MichiganRocks Yeah i'm thinking your right and I probably won't notice a difference when eliminating the 1200 stage. I'll be trying it soon.
No vibrolap video yet, but Part 1 is coming out next week. In short I picked the wrong rock to do the first test run on it. You'll see in the video as to why. It has been quite the process, hence why I have to break it into two videos. But I wanted the video to be about us trying something for the first time so you will get to see all my failures and successes as I figure it out.
It was fun though and I can't wait to use it regularly with some other rocks I want to polish now that I have a better idea of what it takes to run it.
@@RockhoundingLife That's great, I look forward to it. Seeing you mess up might help others avoid the same mistakes. Sounds like a good video.
Well everyone will have plenty of opportunity to learn from my mistakes in this video!!
Absolutely stunning shine. Hoping mine turn out as good in the new vibe. Starting pre-polish tomorrow😎
Thanks M!! I have a pretty good recipe/procedure that works really well. It took a few trial runs to fine tune but I think I have the vib tumbling down now. Can't wait to see yours.......hope your doing a video!!
LOVE IT!!!
🙌
Absolutely gorgeous! Those Botswana agates are my favorite! Do you ever sale any of your polished rocks?
No not yet. Maybe someday when my wife gets sick of them around the house!
very pretty rocks sir
Thank you kindly
Hello RL, Thanks for the great tutorial video and sharing the Botswana agates. So it is okay to keep the little imperfections in those, the cavities? I'm guessing there is not much you can do about them without destroying the whole stone.
It's personal preference when it comes to leaving cavities. Lots of factors come into play. If it's a deep one you'd have to grind the rock pretty small to get it.
I will probably leave them when I get that chance. Thanks.
Where do you buy your grit at? Great video. Beautiful agates :)
I buy our grit from Kingsley North. They have an online store.
@@RockhoundingLife ok thank you. I left you a comment on my other comment. Hoping and on stand by for much needed help and advice. I’m new to tumbling. I just took my rocks out of the tumbler and they were on the polishing stage. I need to know what I need to get to make these beautiful rocks shine. Thanks so much!
For those who don't realize the difference, when he does step 3 & 4 and uses 1/2 a teaspoon of aluminum oxide, in a rotary tumbler that would have been 5 to 6 tablespoons, 30 to 36 times the amount needed with the vibratory. Boy do I need to get me one of those.
They are just a better option all around in my opinion. Better shine. Less time, less grit, less money!!
What do you do with all those rocks? (Just curious). I am one that is obsessive about hobbies. I am picturing streams with 57% better flow.
The rocks we tumble are usually put in a container and stored away....or gifted to friends and family.
I just love your video :). I just managed to put my hands on Botswana agates' nodules (2 to 4 inches). It seems that you tumbled whole nodules. Did you keep them whole or did you cut them before tumbling them. I am scared to end up with shiny duds or minuscule beauties. Can you advise me on the best way for the best result ?
I bought the tumbling grade material from Kinsley North but I did cut a couple of the bigger ones before I put them into the tumbler.
@@RockhoundingLife Thank you very much.
Love your tumbling vids...Bro
Thanks a lot! I really appreciate that!
Flex seal works..u could try mighty putty then flex seal over it. My tumbler has a rubber seal, rips easily and flex seal fixes it
I'm going to try that!!
@@RockhoundingLife you could even cut a piece of plastic from like a butter tub and flex seal the crack and the cover with the plastic and flex seal...I have had to fix several spots but mine is the rubber seal
@@katecarpenter7366 interesting......you're full of good ideas! Keep em coming!!
Wow, they came out gorgeous. Sorry about your little tumbler though.
Thanks! I'm going to try and fix it. Fingers crossed!
So where do you buy your grit and rough rocks from ?
Kingsley North
That's interesting, you have better shine after 500 than I have after 1200 Al2O3 grit 🤔
I find the key is to thoroughly rinse and burnish between each stage.
Shoe goo will do the job just fine. I'm 6 or 7 weeks in with it and no signs of wear.
صديقى العزيز كم سعر الجرام لهذه الأحجار الجميله من فضلك
It looks like your Lot-O needs tuned. (The dowel rod needs to be moved closer to the barrels). I own a single barrel and double barrel Lot-O, and they both needed tuned as they never worked properly as tuned from the factory. The Lot-O should tumble the rocks fast right from the start. If tuned properly, it will quickly spin a barrel full of dry rocks. Also, you only need just enough water to get the grit to stick to the rocks. This will speed things up dramatically, although you will have to add water more often. I just wet the rocks in the barrel, drain all the water off, and start them that way. In other words, the rocks are just barely wet, with no standing water in the bottom of the barrel. Just my 2 cents based on lots of experience with the Lot-O tumblers. There are no doubt more than one way to do things, but you should do some research on the tuning issue, and consider at least trying it with very little water to see how you like the results. Thanks for the video!
Hey thanks for the comment and I appreciate the feedback. I've only bee using the lot-o for 8 months so any advice is good advice for me. The weights on either side of the the dowels are lined up as they say they should be and i can't seem to push the dowels any closer to the barrel. The only time I notice that they aren't turning fast is in stage two 120/220 Silicon Carbide grit. Other stages with Aluminum Oxide seem to move pretty good from the start. I typically wash the rocks off in a bucket and just place them in the lot-o barrel. I don;t poor any water in the barrel. I only spray the rocks a bit once the grit is added. I can't complain about the shine i'm getting as it is outstanding but I don;t want to run the machine into the ground so i'll check the set-up again before my next run. Thanks again for the comment and for watching!
and filming them too
👍
Try a gutter sealer, it might work, it os not expensive tr it god bless and stay in good health
I'll look into that thanks!!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
🙏
👍👍
That little tumbler is hauling ass lol
❤️❤️❤️💎💎
hi from brezil beautyfui agates on jaspe
like
Greetings! Thanks!
hello
Hey! 🖐
Contact the company they may have a top,
I think i'm going to take it as an opportunity to upgrade to something bigger and made of rubber instead of plastic.
Oh,no ! Try to add layer of hot glue on broken plastic!!!
I'm going to try flex seal.