My son and I collect rocks, we have buckets and buckets of them and we would like to polish them. I'll admit I know absolutely nothing about polishing rocks, any advice would be greatly appreciated. We have some beautiful rocks that we've picked up in southern Missouri and I think they would look even better all cleaned up and shiny. Thanx in advance for any advice!
There are several ways to polish Mineral Specimens. Smaller pieces can be Tumble Polished , in a standard Rock Tumbler ( available on eBay somewhere ) , so many pieces can be done at one time. Larger stones can be polished by hand , using several products , Soft stones can be polished with Brasso and a rag , or you can use a Hand held Grinder ( use caution here ) with a Cloth Buffing wheel and Serium Oxide ( hobby shops have this ) I suggest that you look to see if there is a GEM or ROCK CLUB in your area , and contact them.. They have the Know how and the equipment to help you get started , and it is fun hanging around real people / vs / Computer. If you would like more detailed information , just write me with size , type and basic condition of the Mineral you would like to polish , and I will see if I can help. ROCK ON
yes be careful. I cant even tell you how many times I have had rocks or tool bits or BOTH go flying across the room and barely miss someone's head or the window LOL
Polishing rocks is not complicated process, but ones needs some rather expensive equipment. The best thing to do is to find a rockhound or lapidary club to join. That way you can get access to the machines and instruction from other club memebers. Its a great hobby!
G WIZ you crazy ding-a-ling! Polishing rock is simpler than baking cookies. Just get a tumbler.Richardson Rock Ranch sell them and so does alot of people.You must be a blonde...its really simple! !But not cheap.
Ok, I have to tell you that a place called http://www.harborfreight.com/ sells on eBay AND has their own web site that includes tumblers, vibratory machines, wet grinders, wet cutters, diamond blades, dremel attechments, and grits for the tumblers at a fraction of the cost of lap machine sellers. Also check my feed back and you will find some fine providers of lap material and tools. You GO GIRL, I'm glad I'm not the only woman with rocks in her sink and her head! Love rocks! come on lets get more people addicted, why should we be the only ones? WARNING rocks are addictive! Yes, we must make jewelry to sell them to 'the others' but really, we want to KEEP THEM ALL!
Jimney Christmas! give me a second, some of my faves haven't left me feed back I'm messaging them! or check my feed back left for others. Can't blame them with the new changes to feedback for sellers. But for grit/polish stuff I like http://myworld.ebay.com/tarbucky super fast shipping and good price, learned about them from another rock hound seller black bird jewelry, great guy, rock addict too.
Thanks, 'Light in NM!' you are so very kind! And Blackbird Jewelry - a good customer. I thank him again for referring me to you. In answer to your question, as beginners you should definitely start with a tumbler. You need to understand the basic process before you jump into more difficult and more expensive equipment. And, if you are patient you'll find everything you need on eBay. I have an 18" Highland Park (best ever made, I think) rock saw that I got on eBay for only $900 about five years ago. I drove from Denver to St. George Utah and the seller drove from LA to St. George - we met at Burger King, loaded the saw into my truck and then we each turned around and headed back to where we came from (a little rock hunting along the way of course). Back to tumblers: Lortones are great and reliable. The Thumler's smallest and the harbor freight - watch them close - you want to make sure it has a good motor - sometimes they burn out. I've always used Thumler's because that's what 'Grandma always had' but I always have to replace the little belts and the clip pins - I'd go with a Lortone, something with two barrels. You see, you start with a coarse grit and run it until your stones are perfect. Sometimes that could be six or even eight weeks! Each week you want to check and pull out the perfect stones and then add more rough ones to keep the level at 3/4 full (and add a little more grit, don't dump out the old). When you have enough for a 3/4 barrel for the next stage, medium grit, if you have a two barrel set up you can get going on the medium and let the coarse continue to run. It only takes a few more weeks to go through the remaining stages of the medium, fine, pre-polish, polish, and all the time you're still tumbling coarse ... make sense I hope? also ALWAYS take notes. It's different for everyone. Depends on the rocks, even the water. You need to follow the basics but create your own process. "Light" is right - you can get Harbor Freight on eBay - also the other brands. Just don't get the tiniest one - those are mostly for kids who'll lost interest in a short time so it doesn't matter (I guess) if the motors burn out. My favorites use the 3 lb barrels - not too small, not too large. Eventually you might want to get a big 12 lb tumbler for your coarse run and a double for the others, hee hee - you're going to have a blast! OH, don't pour the stuff down the drain! always empty outside in a hole - sometimes it'll harden and then you can throw it away with the trash. If you go to places like Bob's Rock Shop on the internet, you'll even find out about recycling your used grit - too much work for me! also - here's a tip - no matter what you hear or read from other grit sellers, the grit does not wear out or round down. It always breaks to another sharp edge (look at it under a microscope) - that's why you don't want to dump your first grit, just add to it every week or two. The coarse will be working on the coarse rock but the old grit is only finer and is still working. Tarbucky
Rock polishing is actually pretty easy. I had never polished rocks until my mother-in-law gave me a rock tumbler. The directions with the tumbler were very easy to follow. If you buy a tumbler, make sure it has directions. I have a Lortone QT12, it has one 12-pound rock polishing barrel.
Check your local phone book for a lapidary shop. They'll be able to help you.
It's a four-step process that takes about 4 weeks (1 week per step). The first step is a coarse grind, which rounds off the rough edges. The second step is a finer grind, which further smooths the stones. Third step is pre-polish, and finally the fourth step is polish, which makes stones look the same dry as when they're wet. You can find rock polishers on ebay for $50 - $150. Among other things, the price varies by the size of the rock polisher. A polisher that does 6 pounds of rocks is small, 15 pounds is on the large side. You will lose about 20 percent in size during the grinding, so very small stones aren't recommended. I've found that a variety of sizes 3/4 to 2 inches in the tumbler works best.
Gook luck. Once you get started polishing you'll be hooked!
Like light_in_NM said go to HarborFreightusa.com and sign up for the newsletter, they have a double drum rotary tumbler on sale for $34.99 until July 21, lot # 90979. It comes with instructions and grits, polish everything you need to get started. I would pay the five bucks extra for the two year replacment warranty just incase. Care to trade some of your rocks for some from So. Cal.?
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