Updated Tumbling Recipes
Here are two updated rock tumbling recipes for your rotary rock tumbler—one for hard rocks and another for soft rocks & glass. Try them, you’ll like them!
General review of how to charge your barrel--At the beginning of every week, you charge your barrel by (1) adding the wet rocks by filling the washed & cleaned barrel to the 75% full mark when the lid is in place--use ceramic shapes to get the fill-level perfect (if you have brittle rocks & glass, be sure to start with 20-25% ceramic shapes when charging for week #1), (2) adding the clean powder (4 Tablespoons for a 3-Lb barrel), (3) adding water to about 1/16-inch below the leveled rocks/ceramic shapes, (4) installing the lid and putting 1 drop of oil on each shaft bearing, and (5) starting your machine and letting it run for the proper amount of time (usually one full week).
General review of the cleanup process--At the end of your run time, turn off the motor and (1) remove the barrel from the tumbler base, remove the lid, and pour the contents into a plastic collander which you're holding above a 5-gallon paint bucket (let all the slurry filter through the collander into the bucket, and you will have just your rocks and the ceramic shapes in the collander), then (2) continue to hold the collander over the bucket and rinse your rocks/shapes by flooding them with water from the hose (make sure 95-100 % of the slurry is now in the bucket). The clean rocks/shapes in the collander can now be inspected prior to charging your barrel for the next week. Let the water in your rinse barrel evaporate and when dry, deposit the "cake" of spent slurry into a plastic bag and toss it into your garbage can--never let kids or pets play with--or in--the spent slurry
Updated Hard Rock Recipe (for rocks harder than Mohs 6.5)
Stage 1 (80 Grit Silicon Carbide) to be 4 to 6 weeks. Clean up after each week of running. You may leave Stage 1 when you decide your rocks are round enough—there should be no rough edges, sharp corners or scratches.
Stage 2 (220-grit Silicon Carbide) to be 1-2 weeks. Clean up after each week of running. This stage merely "erases" the scratches left over from Stage 1. Move on when the larger scratches disappear.
Stage 3 (600-grit Silicon Carbide) to be 1 week. This stage merely "erases" the scratches left over by Stage 2. Perform a really thorough wash-up at the end of this week. Consider this a pre-polish stage.
Stage 4A (Cerium Oxide Rock Polish to be 2 weeks straight. After charging your barrel, let this Stage run for two weeks, continuously, without stopping. Perform another really thorough wash-up at the end of the week.
Stage 4B (Tin Oxide Rock Polish to be 2 weeks straight. As in Stage 4-A, after charging your barrel, let this Stage 4-B run for two weeks, continuously, without stopping. Perform a regular wash up and let your rocks dry. Your rocks should now be highly polished and they do not need any other treatment (no burnishing required). Return your ceramic shapes to their original container so they can be reused many times.
Updated Soft Rock Recipe (for rocks softer than Mohs 5.5)
Stage 1 (80 Grit Silicon Carbide) to be 2 to 4 weeks. Don’t forget to start with 20-25% of the ceramic shapes. Clean up after each week of running. You may leave Stage 1 when you decide your rocks are round enough—there should be no rough edges, sharp corners or scratches.
Stage 2 (220-grit Silicon Carbide) to be 1 week. Clean up after one week of running. This stage merely "erases" the scratches left over from Stage 1. Move on when the larger scratches disappear.
Stage 3 (600-grit Silicon Carbide) to be 1 week. This stage merely "erases" the scratches left over by Stage 2.
Stage 4 (1000-grit Silicon Carbide) to be 1 week. This stage merely "erases" the scratches left over by Stage 3. Perform a really thorough wash-up at the end of this week. Consider this a pre-polish stage.
Stage 5A (Cerium Oxide Rock Polish to be 2 weeks straight. After charging your barrel, let this Stage run for two weeks, continuously, without stopping. Perform another really thorough wash-up at the end of the week.
Stage 5B (Tin Oxide Rock Polish to be 2 weeks straight. As in Stage 5A, after charging your barrel, let this Stage 5B run for two weeks, continuously, without stopping. Perform a regular wash up and let your rocks dry. Your rocks should now be highly polished and they do not need any other treatment (no burnishing required). Return your ceramic shapes to their original container so they can be reused many times.
We at Little Red Store would love to hear how these new recipes work for you!