That's a coincidence. The "Rocks in a Box" video I have scheduled for next week is amethyst, rose quartz, and citrine. Yours turned out really nice. That amethyst is a really dark one.
Love your rock tumbling videos !!I've Been tumbling rocks for about a yr an a half ,, Got started by watching your videos .Thank you for your time!!An insight to the not so complicated but required patience...
Excellent! Good luck with your tumbling. I was going to load up two tumblers today, but it is raining and I need to cut some of the rocks. Maybe tomorrow...
@@meMiner I have some large moss agates and extremely large blue sodolite can you recommend a good wet saw from harbor freight or home depot? Also the blade? Should it be diamond? Idk. Please help.
I am staring at the rest of the amethyst cluster and the empty barrel, thinking I would like to tumble it all but it seems a shame to round the points. I have a few clusters like that so will probably sacrifice one of of them soon
@@meMiner be careful she [ MRS. MINER ] dont hear you say that or she just might give you a 12lb. sledge hamer and a pile of boulders and tell you to get busy, ha ha ha just kidding, have a great weekend
Hells yeah! These are what I want my crystals to look like. Can't wait to try, but I gotta wait til I can buy a house and have a garage haha. Thanks for the straightforward video and also showing the crystals dry, most videos are not doing that.
You have the great Voice... you should be on FM RADIO. Good evening Rock hounders, my name is Meminer and today we are tumbling quartz!! The adventures will continue!!
I'm glad to see you active again. I, however have had a setback with my heart as well. I see the doctor Monday. My blood pressure is low around 89 over 49. I have zero energy. Hope yours is easing up. Love tumbling rocks. 👍
I was the opposite. My BP was high and I started to feel better once it got under control. Hope you get your's resolved. Maybe some pictures of nice rocks will get the heart pumping again? ;-)
Beautiful rocks, really glad you are tumbling again. Your rocks always look excellent, and I love your wit and humor. Especially loved the coffee video and the tumbler on the run. Take care and keep up the good work.
A great simple beautiful video. Love all that treasure. My husband just brought back a 60lb quarts Crystal cluster from Norland area. Looks beautiful beside our front door with the other large minerals.
I am obsessed with river rocks and crystals. Yours is my very first tumbling video, lol. It's fascinating and time-consuming, which I simply didn't know. Do you have a video that discusses the most cost-effective tumbler? Thank you, I enjoyed this very much!
I should do a video about tumblers and what I have learned. One good hint is try to buy used. All too often people get a good one and only use it once or twice. They stick it up for sale on.local Buy and Sell , Kijijji or Craigs List. The secret is to set a notification so you know when one gets posted and then jump on it. The way to know it was hardly used is it still has either some of the rocks or grit from the original kit. Only get one with a rubber barrel. The plastic barrels don't last.
Hey good to see ya again! Awesome stuff!!! My rock tumbler purchasing and such got put on hold for a while till some things get taken care of, but soon enough... still gotta learn how to find the right rocks and such though.
Hello buddy, Well once again you have done an outstanding job Greig. Any amethyst points in good order deserve better than tumbling, some look nice all rounded but I think they are damaged points from the outset. Why not split the family ones and do two things, tumble any not worthy of being called points and the good ones can be profiled into a conical point one end and a polished point on the other. They then have dual purpose, pendants and the mystical devining point things. Great seeing you looking so well, stay safe buddy, I missed my girl though, she ok.
Lovely. Thanks for setting this up and posting! I got some agates from Lake Superior and Huron beaches this past week. But they are mostly jelly bean size or smaller so don’t want to tumble them 😢. Did get a few larger pieces I may tumble or sand. Your videos really help.
meMiner I did. Until I threw out my back. No more carrying buckets - I’ll have to figure a way to drop finds over my shoulder into a backpack (without missing). I put small stones into a small cloth bag in my pocket. But the weather was great and it was about 20F cooler there than at home in Virginia. And I liked how the weather reports listed the temperature in both F and C. Gorgeous aspens and birch in the pretty woodlands, beautiful waters and beaches. Had some really great local perch fish and chips too. 😇
@@virginiarocks I should get a backpack for my dog Daisy. Only reason I have avoided it is she would probably go for a swim and have to walk back to shore underwater. I suspect I will have to carry my finds myself.
@@meMiner Thanks for replying! We watched an amethyst video you made where you talked about each step. I think we have it figured out. Our last batch of rocks didn’t turn out shiny, so we’ve been trying to figure out what went wrong. Waiting over a month for rocks to tumble is a long time for a 4 year old!
@@ricostnks Patience is a virtue when it comes to rock tumbling. Something relatively hard like amethyst (I think is 7 on Mohs), should probably be run in polish for 2 or more weeks. Be sure to clean between grits. Then burnish for 3+ hours, if not overnight. Let me know if your tumble works out
I didn't use ceramic buffer in my 1st time tumbling. That may explain why I ended up with pebbles. I also ran the polish stage for 7 days and not the 15 you did. Gonna have to give it another go. I have rose quartz, flourite and thulite. Don't know if I can put the thulite in with the others.
You can but have to be very careful when using a rotary tumbler. On my first attempt, I ended up with small pieces and a barrel full of thick clay after a week in coarse grit. Probably better to start with med. grit and have a peek every day. They turn out nice but are really easy to over tumble.
They turned out beautifully! Don't know if u use one but, I'm having a really hard time finding a Lot-O vibratory tumbler. Every place I call & online are sold out and don't have any Idea when they'll get them in. Any help finding one would be much appreciated!
I don't know anyplace selling new. Once in a while, one lightly used comes up at a good price. Best bet for those is get notifications from a sell site like Craigs List and Kijiji, so you can jump on it.
I need to get out collecting rocks. I was going to go tomorrow but the weekend forecast is rain. What do you call the first day of sunshine after 2 days of heavy rain? Monday. ;-)
@@meMiner I wish we'd get some Rain down here... it was 102 degrees "F" in the shade and in the Southern Mountains of New Mexico (Sacramento Mt's)... I left the Desert 45 Miles south of here bcuz it was 112 to 115+ every day all Summer long... I stay in my RV all Winter, too Cold out, then stay in my RV all Summer, too hot out.... No happy Medium...? Lol... =)
Quartz polishes well. Generally, you want various size rocks in a barrel. If the rock or rocks fit (3/4 full) then they will round and polish. However, if you have a large rock, it will take much longer. Generally, a 3 lb tumbler is most effective with rock 3/4 inch or smaller. Larger barrels can be effective for larger stones. Hope that helps.
Well that big hunk of Amethyst sure came out unusual. Certainly looks suitable for a Machismo person to dangle on a neck chain. Sorry, having another silly day. Stay well, safe.
I really struggled with the editing of this video. Something about it wasn't liked by iMovie which either crashed or failed to save. I rebuilt the video 3 times which drove me nuts. Ah well, it gives me the incentive to upgrade my computer and software. Thanks for the nice comment. Good luck with your projects if you get a tumbler
I have been trying to find an apropriate location to ask: I live in Minnesota, so not too far off the climate where you live... cold winters! I'm hoping to run a tumbler before Christmas time this year, but am not sure if I can run it in the garage (below freezing temps)... I"m also leery of running it in the house in the basement due to noise. Does adding the ceramic media help quiet the process? Have you run one out in the cold with a lightbulb for heat and a box etc as an enclosure to retain the heat?
Hi. Nice video. What day do you add the extra stones that didn't fit at first? I didn't think of that. I am on day five of the first stage and my very first try at tumbling. Thanks!
Generally, I overfill in stage 1 so there are enough stones in later stages (or I add tumbler media). Adding too much rock in stage 1 makes it take longer to round the rocks, so it isn't the best strategy sometimes. Works better on soft rocks
@@meMiner Right on. I think I know the claim you're talking about. I was hopeful you got it from Andy cuz that would mean that my best m8 Bobcat collected it. Nice stuff, whoever's claim it's from! Too bad it's fragile!
For sure it can happen. The easy answer is to have stage media (ie. only use your stage 2 media for stage 2 tumbles, etc). I normally only start to add media in stage 3 or 4 and at that stage is more a powder than a rough grit and it doesn't seem to penetrate the plastic or ceramic.
Beautiful, beautiful. I have a question, I bought a rock tumbler and put it together today. Put in my first set of rocks and the thing won't work. I tried and tried to get it to work, but I'm sending it back. It's from Harbor Freight. Anyway, I took out my rocks from the tumbler and put them in a glass canning jar. Will they be alright if I leave the grit in with them or should I dump it out and rinse them? I'm learning a lot from you, thank you.
Your rocks and grit will be fine there. What isn't the tumbler doing? Do you hear the motor? If you hear the motor but the shaft isn't turning, make sure you can turn it by hand and then look that the belt from the motor is installed. If you don't hear the motor, check your electrical connection and any switches. There are pretty simple devices and not much can go wrong, especially when new, except of course crap Chinese parts in some of the cheaper ones. ;-)
@@horselover1124 Only one shaft is motorized. The other spins freely. The motorized one should still spin if you grab it hard enough and turn it. If it doesn't, then look for an obstruction. Maybe they did something for shipping to stop it from turning? Or pop it out an put it back in place as it may not be set into the clips. I have never seen a Chicago tumbler, so am only guessing, but most rotary tumblers work the same.
@@horselover1124 I just looked at the manual. There is nothing there that explains to me your issue. I think what I would suggest is lose the belt to confirm the motor and shaft spin OK. If the shaft doesn't spin then remove and put it back, plus oil the bearings. Once you confirm both spin, put tighten the belt back up.
Can you tumble quartz rocks with quartz crystals in them??? I got some rocks with small quartz crystals inside them, and I am scared I'll ruin them if I try
I only tumble broken crystals to see if they can later be faceted (are clear without inclusions). I wouldn't tumble any crystals that might be damaged in the tumble
Nice isnt it how they come out. A lot different and so much prettier. I gave my granddaughter an Amethyst the size of half a football thats her favorite crystal some nice big ones to and some small but it was heavy
Over time, the grit and (if you buy them) rocks will cost more than the machine. One thought. If you cannot afford new, look around for a used one. I have done that a few times.
So do you keep all of your stones? Could this be a business? I'm in North Carolina and I'm a Geology undergraduate. I am excited to start going out rock hounding around. If I know myself I will fill up my apartment with rocks haha.
Hey I'm located in tweed ontario and was wondering if theres any tips you could give me on finding gold or really anything cool, just got into rock hounding
Ontario is a big place. Lots to find. Crystals and rocks are more plentiful than placer gold. If you google the name of the town where you are or will be, along with something like "mineral collecting", you will be surprised. If you are near Bancroft, try one of their tours put on by the Bancroft Chamber of Commerce. A day well spent and they visit some good locations
I could be wrong, but I don't think rose quartz comes as well-formed crystals. I think anything you see like that is either clear quartz that's been plated/chemically treated, or carved from 'massive' material. I *THINK!*
