How to Use a Rock Tumbler

Mother Nature washes rocks and shells in the sand and ocean water until they are beautiful, smooth stones. You can do the same thing in less time with your own rock tumbler. Be patient - it can take four to six weeks to polish rough stones.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Old Toothbrushes
• Colanders
• Measuring Cups
• Measuring cups

1. Select stones that are the correct size to fit your tumbler. See the user's manual for the stone sizes you can use.

2. Use your coarse grit for the first tumbler to remove the harder, jagged edges of the rough stones. This step could take up to seven days.

3. Rinse the slurry from the barrel and rocks using a plastic colander outside or over a large bucket - not down the drain.

4. Add the medium grit according to the tumbler's instructions. This step averages about three to four days depending on the amount of agate you wish to remove.

5. Clean the slurry from the rocks and your tumbler's barrel, and add the fine grit. Tumbling at this stage usually only takes about 24 hours.

6. Remove the slurry from the rocks and barrel, and rinse with water until clean. You may need to clean some crevices in the rocks with an old toothbrush to remove all the grit.

7. Add the polishing material to the tumbler, and polish the rocks. Each polishing material takes a different amount of time to tumble, so be sure to follow the manufacturer's instructions.

8. Remove the finished rocks and clean them.

9. Clean all the equipment thoroughly before storing.

Tips & Warnings

• Always clean the barrel and rocks between steps. You can use an old toothbrush to clean the crevices in your stones after each step.
• After you master using your tumbler, you can venture into other materials such as metals, glass, old jewelry or silverware for some unique pieces of jewelry.
• Do not pour the slurry down household drains.