WHY YOUR ROCKS WON'T POLISH - 4 main reasons for rock tumbler failure.
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- Опубликовано: 9 ноя 2022
- Are you failing to achieve a good polish in your rock tumbling?
These are the four main reason why I think many novice beginners fail at rock tumbling.
Spoiler alert, it's down to Borax and soap, choosing the wrong type of polishing powder, a failure at the first stage of tumbling and choosing the wrong stones to start with.
Check out my other rock tumbling videos here: • Rock Tumbling for begi...
Which polish is best for rock tumbling: • THE BIG ROCK TUMBLE PO...
How to use plastic beads (and why you should!): • Tumbling Rocks with Pl...
Testing for the hardness of rocks and pebbles: • Testing the hardness o... 
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I’ve just started rock tumbling recently and had good luck with my first batch. This video was very informative, so going forward I should be able to avoid big mistakes and improve the quality of finished stones. Thank you!
You are very welcome, thanks for watching and enjoy your tumbling!
Great breakdown. I agree that the first stage is where people mess up. Too impatient to put them back in and let them run longer.
Thank you, the first stage is the most important and the trickiest stage to explain! Cheers
I am still pretty new to the hobby of rock tumbling. I kept failing to get a successful tumble, over and over again. Until I watched your video!! Thank you so much for your advise!! I needed to tumble all my stones longer in stage 1. And I also purchased some tin oxide polish from the rock shed. Such simple changes! Thanks again!
Great job! Hope it works, I have said many times the other factor is the hardness of the rocks, if they are too soft nothing will make them polish! Best of luck.
Thank you for clarifying some of the issues I have been having. I appreciate your information. Many thanks ❤
You are so welcome
Hoping you are OK. Haven't seen you post in a while. Missing your content. Hope all is well and saying a prayer for you.
That is very kind of you I am very touched , I have had a few health issues in the past couple of years but i am well on the way back to health and am planning more videos very soon. Thank you again for your concern, Steve
Hi, thank you for the good advice! Your honesty is appreciated since I am very new in the tumbling process. We have been looking for "cool and beautiful rocks" for a long time, but only recently decided to tumble some of them. As a beginner, I have already encountered some common issues, like why my rocks are not becoming shinny. I am finishing the batches that I have started in the past 2 months and will leave them as they are. I just put in a new batch and will follow your methods. I can send you some pictures later!
I would love to see you progressing, my email is in my bio. Cheers!
Very good video as always. Thank very much sharing this video, have a wonderful day !!
Thank you! You too!
Excellent video as always. Thank you
My pleasure!
Thank you for the education on stones. I have been struggling for 2 months now. I'm going to try it your way and see if it works better. Thank you.
Best of luck!
Thank you for taking the time to explain this. I have now ordered new polish, this and one other of your videos was a tremendous help. I might have continued wasting my time for more weeks had l not come across this. All the best for 2023 - myself l plan to have (at long last) a shiny beach pebble:)
Glad it was helpful!
Very good video.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge in rock tumbling.
My biggest mistake is tumbling and polishing rocks that are too soft or porous. Now i know how to check them.
You are very welcome!
I am currently running my first ever batch of stones and I really wished I would have found you sooner. I've got answers to the specific questions I've had in under 20 minutes. I've got hours into watching videos and asking questions in comments with varying results and here's been this hidden gem all along. Thank you for giving me a channel I can binge watch and probably learn quite a bit more. I especially appreciate the tip of running a constant stage 1 and bringing in rocks as they become ready. I've been rock hounding kind of borderline obsessively for about a year and I've probably collected 200 lbs of locally gathered stones from a gravel and sand pit off the Louo and platte River Valley in East Central Nebraska US and this video has shown me what to not even waste time with. Only question I have remaining is what is the perfect batch size? Does more stones equal more time? And does batch size affect outcome? For example if I ran a stage 1 with a 3 lb tumbler and the subsequent stages with a 1 lb tumbler be any different than 1 lb / 3 lb for all stages?
No difference, each stages is a world of its own. as long as each the barrel is 3/4 full-ish . The main thing to watch for is only try really hard stones, softer stones do not polish well, id you mix hard and soft the hard ones damage the softer ones.
@@thestonecraftingworkshop7490 thank you. I am learning quite a bit from watching your videos with a little trial and error along the way
What he said! I just started as well and this video is a life saver!❤️
Hello, I see you are fairly new to rock polishing. I just got my first tumbler, Lortone 33b. I also collect rocks in Nebraska. Do you belong to a rock hounding group? How do you get permission to rock hound at gravel pits? I'm concerned I will not be given permission. Thank you.
@@kathy-ro6es I am a member of the Loup Valley Gem & Mineral Society Inc. I find some of the best stones along the Loup and Platte rivers on public access areas. I know many sand/gravel pits don't allow you to be on the property due to MSHA (OSHA for pit mines) regulations. My job is in excavating and earth moving so I see lots of different areas but I also find lots of gems on a regular gravel road in the country. Right after a rain shower is the best hounding I've done. Otherwise if you have a specific location you want to go rock hounding that's private it's always best to get permission and certain state, historical or monument properties are illegal to take anything from so always check before hounding those areas. Always be respectful and tread lightly on public land and you should have no problem at all. Good luck and happy hunting there are some pretty amazing things you can find out here.
very beautiful stone carving friend.
Thank you! Cheers!
Very good informative video thanks I’m doing my very first batch ever right now
Have fun!
Tinnoxyde is good to polish stones under mohs hardnes 4, like fossils, some limestone types etc. aluminiumoxyde works good till hardnes7, silicon carbide special good with opals, crystals, agates for the 6 till 9 hardness.Thank you for your intresting videos, i always enjoy them! Greatings from europe
Thanks for the info!
I started using tin oxide after your other video. My polish has gotten much better. Thanks for all the tips.
Great to hear!
Thank you so much your video helped me very much.
Glad it helped!
Very helpful, thank you 😊
Glad it was helpful!
Love your video...I learned alot...now I need to find a different polishing compound...I've been using aluminum oxide for months and they are nice and smooth but no high gloss polish...I was about to give up until I found your video..thx again from the USA.
Glad it was helpful!
Hi Steve, thank you for all your videos - I've learned a lot. As far as living in the UK, which I do - can you tell me your favourite, most reliable rock tumbler. I like the look of the red one in your video - the double barrel. I have a National Geographic Professional and would like an additional tumbler. Thanks again!
The red one is called (for some reason) The LB15. I bought it on Ebay and it is probably the best one available in the UK. Best of luck!
A Big Thank You!
You're welcome!
Iv always fancied a go at rock tumbling. A really interesting video.Thank you..
go for it!
Loved the video good tips.
Glad it was helpful!
Informative thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Love your videos, just started out tumbling. Whats your thoughts on pumice as a polishing medium, as it comes with a lot of grit packs. Cheers
I have tried Pumice but with no success, it might be useful for some types of stone
I really like this video I’ve watched it like 5 times this year
Thank you so much!
I would be glad to purchase the zinc oxide you have because I do use it in lapidary polishing on certain gemstones
Thank you for the kind offer, however at some stage I am going to experiment with allowing the zinc oxide to tumble for much longer letting the mix (hopefully) get finer and finer. Cheers and good luck with the lapidary.
Good stuff. Thanks.
You are very welcome
good video thanks for the tips
Glad to help
if you all one type of stone at once does that make a difference?
🎉great info. Thanks
Glad it was helpful!
Hi Steve! Thanks for the great tips! I’ve been rock tumbling a while now and usually have fairly good results with my rocks, unless I make one of the mistakes that you have kindly shared, I’ve only ever used aluminum oxide as my polishing media so I’m excited to order the tin oxide and give it a whirl! I haven’t seen cesium oxide, but I have found cerium oxide, have you tried that? I’m in California, so I image there could be different types available oin different parts of the world.
Recently, I’ve tried polishing shells. Sometimes they turn out beautifully and sometimes I have a very difficult time getting them to take a nice polish. Usually, the narce will take a polish very well but the other surfaces of the shell just don’t. I’m thinking that your tip regarding the hardness this substances is probably the biggest variable that’s causing me to struggle with polishing the shell Any thoughts that might help?
Hi Beth, nice to hear from you. The polish is Cerium Oxide, probably me mumbling! I am sure you won't be disappointed with the tin oxide but curiously you might get better results with cerium on the shells as cerium is used as a glass polish and might be finer. I have never tried polishing shell but my guess would be it is a tad soft to tumble. I wonder if shells vary in hardness? you are doing well to get some to polish! Do you use plastic beads, if not I would definitely give them a try. Let me know how you get on, Best of luck!
This video was so helpful! Thank you! I just finished my first batch and it was a fail! 😢 I used mainly obsidian and only 5 of the rocks polished well, all the others have a white film on them even after burnishing. Is there any way to fix them!?
Ok, I am not familiar with polishing true obsidian but as I understand it Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass. Glass is pretty soft compared to Agate type stones and I would guess this is the root of your problem. I would try re-polishing - starting with 400 grit then 600 then perhaps 1200, then polish with Cerium Oxide. Use plastic beads throughout. I must stress I have not done this but it may be worth a try. As far as i know we do not have obsidian available in the UK. Best of luck, let me know how you get on even if it fails! (ps I have polished glass but I cannot remember how i did it. cheers.
question what grit tin oxide? loved your video
Hi, I dont know what grit. suppiers are very few and far between here in UK it is just sold as tin oxide or "Pote Malasia".
Any suggestions as to what to do with the finished stones. Can you make something using them
I make pendants and key rings, earrings etc and sell them at charity events etc. . I also have mine on display around my conservatory in clear plastic bowls and jars, makes a great talking point. Or at least I did, when a new grandchild came along we had to put them out of reach. The kids love playing with the incidently so when the youngest one is no longer eating everything we will put them back. cheers.
My first attempt at polishing failed, but that was because of cheap polish (pretty sure it was low grade aluminum oxide) that was included with the new tumbler.... polished again with tin oxide and the results were much, much better.
So pleased you found this useful.
Thanks. Thoughts on poly plastics aluminum oxide 1200? I’m about to try it for the first time and researched it as good quality. used ceramic media in stave three but need to switch to plastic beads now. live and learn.
Hi, not sure about the 1200 polish 1200 is not fine enough, if you don't get a good polish it is probably the reason. i did a video here ruclips.net/video/Px9D0V5QLwQ/видео.html a big polish test you might find useful.
Best of luck and enjoy your tumbling!
I had some good results with it on some beach Jasper but I’ve been struggling ever since. I’m going to be trying the tin oxide next.
Do you think it would be a good idea to add some diatomaceous earth with the grits in stages 1-3?
Cheers
Not really. At best this is a soft slightly abrasive natural stone material similar to Pumice powder. You are adding all the abrasives you need if you are following the right method and using beads. It may thicken up the mix if you are not using soap or plastic beads but not at the polishing stage as it might be coarser than your polish. However if you do try it let us know why you think it might be useful and how you get on. Cheers!
Where is the best place in the UK to get tin oxide to polish, in fact to buy all grits, in your opinion? Great video by the way.
I get my Tin Oxide here www.stonetools.co.uk/chemicals/polishing-powders
It is called Pote Malaysia here. It is expensive and you can only buy a whole kilo but it will last for years of tumbling. And I get my aluninium oxide grits here www.thepolishingshop.co.uk/abrasives/abrasive-powder-grit/aluminium-oxide-abrasive-grit Best of luck!
Hi where do you buy your tin oxide or cerium oxide polish in the UK.
Tin oxide by the KILO www.stonetools.co.uk/polishing-powder-marble-pote-malaysia
Tin Oxide in smaller quantities and Cerium Oxide (Auerpol) www.ctmpotterssupplies.co.uk/polishingpowders.html -
(nearly as good as tin oxide but is cheaper and you can buy smaller amounts.)
Hope this helps!
Hello. My husband and l love your videos. We are new to rock tumbling and would like to know which beach you collect your stones from please. Regards Gwen and John Marmo
Hordle cliff near milford on sea, best of luck!
Thank you I'm a lapidariest and started tumbling rocks after Christmas when my wife got me a professional grade rotary tumbler. For my use it is so I can see clearly the insides of the stones and flaws and cracks without using immersion solutions and it's easier to mark without the solution also the solution is toxic if you need higher refractive index and very expensive it also tends to break the stones in places that would end up cracking or chipping when faceting the stones. So one thing that completely took me by shock was the polishing grits that came with the machine was only 1500grit in lapidary a prepolish is 3000grit and polish starts at 14,400grit and really minimum 25k- 100kgrits and for extremely fine polishing 200kgrit polish so please explain why such lower grits and what is a good grit to give a polish that is going to give the best look into the stone I'm not looking for perfect just so that it's clear enough that when dry I can see inside the center and see what the best gem I can cut and polish from those pieces I'm not using expensive rough but lower quality I'm not going to be using rough that starts at $100ct also what range of hardness would you mix I know it's best to results is to use the same hardness of materials but is it ok to use a six and seven or five to seven or just a six to 6.5
Hi, when you are talking lapidary on gemstones you are going way beyond my knowledge zone, you will know more on this subject than I ever will. I will say that gemstones generally are much harder than rocks and require a much higher polish, this might account for the need for much finer abrasives. Sorry I can't be of more help.
@@thestonecraftingworkshop7490 thank you good luck with the tumbling. If you need source for up to 200k grit aluminum tin or cerium oxide have a great source very hard to find in that fine of grits. Also huckleberry Garnet mine family owned website is easy to fine just lookup huckleberry Garnet mine and for $55 you get I don't remember oz but it is old stock from mine 2b and is all full in tact unsorted 12 or 24 sided crystals still covered in dirt from mine and one in ten have turned out to have a star from my purchases they have a new dig and not in seam form for less but I receive on average 12 to 15 3/4 to 2 in average over 1.25in size and even the ones that crumble and turn duds still you end up with nice size beautiful all color shift garnets tumbling them is a perfect way to make nice spheres that you have high chance of getting a star in a few I ordered a batch I will be trying and don't use the acid cleaning method it's messy and since it contains iron they are ten times more likely to fall apart but many amazing gems I have cut from them and several stars plus good people tell them David from Vandenberg says hi if you do contact them and honestly even without a star a single stone pays for the batch
@@thestonecraftingworkshop7490 remember they are all rocks crystal or mineral until cut and polished then they are gemstones so a garden rock can be a gem and if you cut one of your stones before or after polishing in two you made it a gemstone
My grandson recently got me into rock collecting and after discovering how beautiful agate is. Im hooked. I think I have ruined my agate they are a lot smaller and they look terrible after tumbling. Is agate too soft
Agate is one of the hardest rocks. Try the scratch test, use a craft knife and try to put a scratch in the rock. if it scratches it is not agate , if it scratches easily they are too soft to polish. Don't give up it is a fascinating hobby.
I found a bunch of fire opal in Washington. Amd i mean a bunch. I threw a few lbs in the tumbler and just cannot get the final polish im looking for. I can by hand. But not yet in the tumbler. Im using a cheap Amazon mix that looks to be from china. The opal was so soft i only did the first step for a day and a half and it was already smooth.
Any advice? Should i go to the lapidary store in town for a better batch of grit?
Or is this hopeless with opal being so soft?
Thanks if anyone has any ideas.
I have no experience of opal, as it is soft it will be tricky to get a polish. The grit kits from amazon seem to use a Aluminium oxide polish that is way too coarse as a polish. I would try cerium or tin oxide or try to get a very very fine ao powder from a rock tumbling shop. Cheers!
Do you only use the plastic beads for the final polishing stage? Or are there different beads for different stages? Good video- thanks you
ruclips.net/video/Mq32zfIChHU/видео.html I think this should explain it all, best of luck
They are to cushion the rocks so they arnt crashing together in the polish stage. In the first and 2nd strange you want them to grind down so you don’t you media on those stages
9:55 what is the grit level of your tin or cerium oxide polish? 😊
Here in the uk it is hard to establish grit sizes, these are simply sold as tin or cerium oxide with no additional info.
It's odd that all the comments seem to be referring to rock tumbling and not drilling agate. Well, my comment will address agate drilling. Thank you for showing the best way to drill very hard stones. I just got a real drill press (was using a Dremel but gave up) and I want to try this. But I do have some questions regarding the water sprayer. What do you do with all the water you're spraying on the drill? Do you have a bath tub underneath the drill press? Are you draining the water into the back yard somehow? Would it be sufficient to just slowly drip water onto the drill so you don't have to deal with that much water? Again, thank you for your drilling demonstration.
I find that you do need a steady stream of water when drilling (rather than drips), however I ram a plug into the end of the water nozzle and drill the plug with a tiny drill, this way I get a tiny but constant needle jet. My water runs out to a tub behind the workshop. Drips work fine when dremel carving though.
How do you remove stubborn grit that doesnt want to come off of your rocks? Can you soak them in borax to get it off?
I wash mine under a hose using the jet setting that most garden roses have, this might help ruclips.net/video/P8Gd-gFKhZI/видео.htmlsi=5PNjfWIvE5XU4BZK
My kids gave me a rock tumbler floor my birthday which contained the rocks and four packets. They became snotty but didn’t end up with a shine. I followed the guide lines on the insert. The last section was to do them in food grade oil. We had a tumbler when I was little and the rocks came out shiny. Definitely not rule one, as the rocks were provided. Which role did I break? Please help. Sharon
The instructions supplied with many tumblers are often wrong, written by sales staff, the rocks supplied are often mixed hardnesses and that does not help. Oil should not be needed. I can only suggest you look through more video tutorials, there are plenty on my channel and others. Rock tumbling is a great hobby but it can take a few attempt to get the process right. Best of luck!
Hello, I have a question: I use the rocks almost exclusively on the sea beach, and therefore they are already partially worked and rounded, could I just use the last two steps with 500 grit and aluminum oxide?
I doubt if that would be enough unless they are very very smooth. If they are very smooth you could try 220, 500, polish. Or 80, 500 - polish. This might help ruclips.net/video/s8dwEq8Yg7g/видео.html
Best of luck
thanks
Will more videos come out?
Hi, more in the pipeline,planning Cheers
what exactly are the plastic beads called or what is the brand.
I usually look for Poly pellets
How much cerium oxide do you use to polish? 1 tablespoon or two? In your polishing comparison vid you use two and this one you say you use 1. Thank you 😊. Great videos by the way.
Hi, I now only use one tablespoon. It seems to work ok. All the best
Can i use tin oxide for amber. Cause it not hard stone
I don't know, I have never worked with Amber. If it is a softer stone then it probably will not polish by tumbling, at least not easily.
i've been doing this since 1980 and i would say the reasons your stones are not what you expect would be quality of stones remember quality in quality out or you used to much water or not enough you have misused your grit remember proper grit size for what you want to accomplish over filled barrel also a problem and finally patience dont move rocks to next grit if they are not ready
I agree but would put it simpler, hard stones polish - softer stones don't. thank you for the interesting comments.
I just started tumbling. Another youtuber said that after each phase, you should drain the tumbler, clean off the rocks and add 1and 1/2 tablespoons of Borax. Then add water and tumble everything for about 10minutes. What's your feelings on that? Thanks in advance.
Sounds like total Borax overkill to me! I don't use borax at all now (only plastic beads) and would certainly not go to these extremes to wash each load between stages. I simply hose each batch thoroughly hose out the barrel and get on. There is a great deal of cobblers spoken on RUclips about rock tumbling. I get great results every time doing it the simple way. I will say this, it will not do any harm so if it makes you feel better carry on! Cheers.
@@thestonecraftingworkshop7490 Thanks!
The Stone Crafting WorkShop how long youve been Rock Tumbling Rocks & Stones? I've got The National Geographic Rock Tumbler I haven't been able to use my Rock Tumbler yet lol 😞😞😞 So, You know anything about Borax I'm afraid of Borax myself.
5 years, and I never use Borax any longer , I use plastic beads and small pea shingle instead of ceramic media. Good luck with your tumbling!
so 1200 grit is too coarse?
It is too coarse to use as a polish.
Mostly because they're too soft or they're not in there long enough or they're too hard
Never come across stones too hard!
@@thestonecraftingworkshop7490 I meant to say that the ones that are hard should stay in longer than the 'softer' ones.
Tap the rock with your hammer. A higher pitched "tink" means it will probably tumble. A more thumpy thuddy means it probably wont
This will work but takes greater experience, cheers!
You got it all wrong lol nobody mixes soap in with the grit. People put soap in after all of the stages are already complete. This helps get all the leftover grit off the rocks
Many tumbler videos on youtube recommend using soap with the grit.
Looking at those gorgeous rocks, sure doesn't look like anything is wrong!
Please everyone stop using plastic beads for rock tumbling. We live in an era where micro plastics are killing us all. Using plastic to rock tumble is just creating more faster on purpose.
This is a valid point of view, though the amounts used by rock tumbling is tiny compared even to regular household use of plastic bags etc. It is something we should all think about.