I know we all look for Yellow gold, but part of the prospector in me looks at all the "pretty" rocks, My question is .... With out a tumbler, is there a way to "shine" rocks? any help would be helpful.... Thanks
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Hey I need help to identify what this stone is. I thought it was Blue Quartz. It is more of a Teal Color. I tossed it into the rock tumbler with only Blue and Green Quartz. After the first grit of 60/90 it has lost half its size. Before it went in it was larger than the quarter, and now you can see it is smaller then the dime. When held to a light it gives a silver shine. I don't want to lose anymore of the stone, but would like to get it polished. However, quartz is eating it up. Help!
We bought a tumbler, However my husband is too impatiant. So, he bought me a grinder (ME A GRINDER). Guess who is useing it? Brad found he likes to grind stones, and make a mess, now that we have some nicely rounded we are going to try them in the tumbler and see what happens.
Tim G said:
I no what you are saying I have a bunch of rocks that I think are just great someday I will get a tumbler so I can smoth them and polish them
If I remember right if you want to keep the edges on your stones use a vibrating tumbler not a wheel tumbler. There should be lots of web sites on it.
Kathy c in ky
I have talked to a few rock polishers and they said they have put them in tumbler, but just on final polish. I am really happy with the sandpaper finish. I do use Zam while buffing, it's a buffing compound, comes in a stick.
Kim said:
We do have a few Petoskey's and some other fosiled stones. These are not good to put in the tumbler? Can I just omit the fist grind, and put them stright to the second grind, and then though the polish? We have some obsidian as well, I thought I would just put them stright in to the pre polish, then to the polish and finish with a burnish. is that suggestable?
Laura said:
Do you know what kind of stones you are grinding? You don't want to put soft stones like Petoskey's in a tumbler, they will shrink to nothing. I have a bench buffing wheel that I use to put a final shine on Petoskey's. I have to use sand paper starting with 100 grit working up to 900 grit before buffing. I have not tried this on other types of stone yet. Maybe if you can find some very fine sandpaper for your dremel you will get the finish you want. I am actually using my lathe with a 4" sanding pad in the chuck. I can change the paper easily moving up the grits. I am sure you can get the same effect with the dremel. I have found that the harder rocks tend to come out of the tumbler with a better shine than the softer stones. I guess it's like wood, the harder wood the nicer the finish. Laura
Kim said:
We bought a dremel, I have started to grind and shape some stones. the polishing kit I bought with the dremel, is not puting a shine on the rocks, would a buffing wheel be any diffrent (other than size). Ok, Brad just got me a rock tumbler, can I put the shaped stones in the tumbler, with out it changing the shape?
We do have a few Petoskey's and some other fosiled stones. These are not good to put in the tumbler? Can I just omit the fist grind, and put them stright to the second grind, and then though the polish?
We have some obsidian as well, I thought I would just put them stright in to the pre polish, then to the polish and finish with a burnish. is that suggestable?
Laura said:
Do you know what kind of stones you are grinding? You don't want to put soft stones like Petoskey's in a tumbler, they will shrink to nothing. I have a bench buffing wheel that I use to put a final shine on Petoskey's. I have to use sand paper starting with 100 grit working up to 900 grit before buffing. I have not tried this on other types of stone yet. Maybe if you can find some very fine sandpaper for your dremel you will get the finish you want. I am actually using my lathe with a 4" sanding pad in the chuck. I can change the paper easily moving up the grits. I am sure you can get the same effect with the dremel. I have found that the harder rocks tend to come out of the tumbler with a better shine than the softer stones. I guess it's like wood, the harder wood the nicer the finish. Laura
Kim said:
We bought a dremel, I have started to grind and shape some stones. the polishing kit I bought with the dremel, is not puting a shine on the rocks, would a buffing wheel be any diffrent (other than size). Ok, Brad just got me a rock tumbler, can I put the shaped stones in the tumbler, with out it changing the shape?
The stones I'm doing are mostly quartz, and agate. I tried to shape feldspare but found that it was too soft of a stone. I have some moonstone that I would like shaped and polished as well, but since it is a soft stone I worry the dremel will ruin the stone, and it may fall apart in the tumbler, any Ideas?
Do you know what kind of stones you are grinding? You don't want to put soft stones like Petoskey's in a tumbler, they will shrink to nothing. I have a bench buffing wheel that I use to put a final shine on Petoskey's. I have to use sand paper starting with 100 grit working up to 900 grit before buffing. I have not tried this on other types of stone yet. Maybe if you can find some very fine sandpaper for your dremel you will get the finish you want.
I am actually using my lathe with a 4" sanding pad in the chuck. I can change the paper easily moving up the grits. I am sure you can get the same effect with the dremel.
I have found that the harder rocks tend to come out of the tumbler with a better shine than the softer stones. I guess it's like wood, the harder wood the nicer the finish. Laura
Kim said:
We bought a dremel, I have started to grind and shape some stones. the polishing kit I bought with the dremel, is not puting a shine on the rocks, would a buffing wheel be any diffrent (other than size). Ok, Brad just got me a rock tumbler, can I put the shaped stones in the tumbler, with out it changing the shape?
With our tumbler we got the plastic pellets, would that work as a "buffer," I would hate to round my Hard edges that I have worked so hard to put on the stones.
Do you know of any other way, by reading I found that you should use the rubber tips to buff, and shine, I tryed this and all I got were rubber marks on the stones. I worked hard shapeing these stones and would be mad if I lost all that hard work.
the tumbler will round out sharp edges and points some. There is a buffing compound that you can use in the tumbler that will polish them, but again, anytime you put rocks in a tumbler it will change the shape some. I have heard that some use tiny styrofoam pellets to cusion the stones. I have never tried it myself though.
Kim said:
We bought a dremel, I have started to grind and shape some stones. the polishing kit I bought with the dremel, is not puting a shine on the rocks, would a buffing wheel be any diffrent (other than size). Ok, Brad just got me a rock tumbler, can I put the shaped stones in the tumbler, with out it changing the shape?
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Tim G said:
Kathy c in ky
Kim said:
We have some obsidian as well, I thought I would just put them stright in to the pre polish, then to the polish and finish with a burnish. is that suggestable?
Laura said:
I am actually using my lathe with a 4" sanding pad in the chuck. I can change the paper easily moving up the grits. I am sure you can get the same effect with the dremel.
I have found that the harder rocks tend to come out of the tumbler with a better shine than the softer stones. I guess it's like wood, the harder wood the nicer the finish. Laura
Kim said:
Do you know of any other way, by reading I found that you should use the rubber tips to buff, and shine, I tryed this and all I got were rubber marks on the stones. I worked hard shapeing these stones and would be mad if I lost all that hard work.
Kim said:
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