Yes, grit matters but you don't need the expensive stuff that EVERY rockhounder is now using...The manufacturer's are making a fortune now that so many people are into rock tumbling...There are alternatives out there that work just as well for the first stages and the polish...Just gotta do your research and try it yourself.
I love the way they turned out. A tad shiny, but still natural looking. The texture is nice. Would look great decorating an indoor container garden or terrarium.
Michigan rocks actually did that. He had three barrels of the same rocks, one with no grit, one with sand, and one with SC 60/90 grit. He found that the sand did basically nothing, mainly because the sand is the same hardness as the rocks themselves so it broke down very fast. In nature there's a constant supply of new sand so that doesn't really matter there.
Honestly I prefer my rocks to retain more of their natural shape so this minimal smothing of the edges and natural shine is exactly what i want anyway. Sure, it'll take a while, but I can just biff em in the tumblr and leave it going without having to faff around with swapping to different grit levels which is a win in my book.
Thanks for uploading this today! My fiancé and I ordered our first rock tumbler last night. Super nervous and excited to start this new hobby! Ever been to haunted Buffalo lake in Buffalo MN? Gorgeous rocks all over the place and a cute tourist town. I’ve been walking the lake each morning lately. Love the content :D
I’d love to see another video with this no grit experiment! I don’t tumble often because I’m too impatient but I remember learning “Junk in, junk out” at some point in my research. Those were beautiful rocks and in a way I like the semi polished/ semi natural shape when they came out. But I agree they weren’t the best quality for tumbling. I think if you want smoother shapes coming out you might want to try smoother shapes going in. 👍🏻
Really interesting experiment. I'd love to see you put them back in the tumbler for a month, with stage one grit. That orange slurry was sludgy. I could try the same experiment, with my smooth beach stones.
Fun experiment! Perhaps adding some much smaller rocks in the batch would've produced smoother rocks. It wouldn't be as dramatic as grit or sand, but would still be fun to see. ROCK ON!! 😁👍🏻🪨⛏️
I like this look the best for my rocks. I guess what it boils down to is a matter of preference. I like the sorta polished but natural look still. I thi k they came out perfect. Thank you for the video. Your channel is helping me so much
Interesting experiment. Thanks. I tried doing a short cycle experiment (3 days per grit level) with the ocean tumbled rocks I find. Like you, the results were mixed. Most had a satin finish & there were more visible defects. I do however save a little money on ceramic media by tumbling my rocks with the small little quartz pebbles I find on the beach. They do a good job of getting in the nooks & crannies of the bigger rocks. When I'm done, not only are my big rocks beautiful, but I also end up with a bunch of little pearls; double bonus.
I’m interested in what they’d look like if they went straight from as they are now into polishing. While they are smoother but still actually shaped like rocks.
I just bought my first rock tumbler. My electric bill went from $88 to $135 in one month and I only used it 12 hours a day. I never run it at night, just in case there's an electrical fire. Imagine what the bill would have been if I ran it 24 hours a day. I wish there was a solar powered rock tumbler.
@@rosek.5531 I now have 2 tumblers A lortone and a thumler both run 2 lbs of rock each and run 24/7 in my shed. Cannot say I have noticed any real change in my electric bill. Still $35- $45/ month.
I don’t know if anyones mentioned this already but this still isn’t something to put down the sink, it would take a lot, the same as with the grit or clay water but it would do the same thing and eventually cause problems
I’ve got some petrified wood and I’m waiting to start Stage Three tomorrow when the stage three grit that I am out of comes in but they all look pretty damn good, so I’m debating on just polishing them for like nine days straight with the stage four polish grit. I’m worried that they are going to tumble all their shape and size away at this point. And I love a lot of character.
@@AgateAriel Yeah! Yea! You’re right!! I’m still i little bit of a rookie good reminder 🙌🏼 Also I’m finding that the grits grind down with the rocks so the effect/result for that particular grit only lasts so long if you don’t add more. But I’ll wait and do the 3rd stage LOL Thanks for being our rock consultant! I’m hooked it’s really fun.
I'm jealous of your petrified wood! I did a video similar to what you want to do. It's not quite the same, but I've taken really smooth beach rocks straight to stage 4 polish and the results were amazing, if not just as good as doing all stages for rough rocks. Have fun and WOOD ON!! 😁👍🏻🪵⛏️
I was thinking of using river sand as a grit. I am using small round pebbles in place of ceramic media to fill the barrel to 3/4 full. I don't have any supplies local to me so I'm thinking of using natural "grit" and then ordering the polish.
I do my 1st rough tumble with like a 5th of the recommended grit. The slurry comes out after a week looking almost the same as with a full batch of grit. I then grind them to a better shape on a flat lap and put them back in the tumbler. Saves a good 3 weeks of rough tumbling and tons of grit when dealing with gnarly/ sharp/weird rocks
Love the way they came out. Still with some personality. I'm wondering, since grit is so expensive...can it be reused? Seems like such a waste, maybe send it through a cheesecloth or some other fabric?
I tumble fist sized and larger rocks in a 25 lb tumbler. I got tired of my smaller rocks in with them being chipped and fractured. So my solution is everyday I walk my dog down a gravel road and pick up BB sized up to quarter sized Chert, Jasper and Quartz, any rock near a 7 on the Mohs hardness scale. Most of the rocks have sharp edges from being fractured by vehicles and graders. They can be used over and over until they disappear. The main goal in the first stage is to scratch your rocks. I usually tumble for 21 days
I always tumble mine 4 days with borax before I start the process just something I learned from a old timer it helps you should try it nice experiment I wonder how they'd look after 30 days?
Just out of curiosity, could children's play sand be used for a stage one grit? Or perhaps course builder's sand for stage one grit and fine children's play sand for stage two? Sand is more akin to natural tumbling in a river or on a seashore.
Is it about the high polish glazed finish or simply about the Matt finish, I go for carector,and all those intricate patterns and designs, How about making beautiful moulded pathways, Simply use a mould fixture in your stone pour a clear resin,it makes for a beautiful finish in the garden,around fish pounds,,Ah imagination let it run, You can even make table coasters,artistic furniture table tops,resin bathroom floored,,with all your most beautiful rocks,,what a finish to any home,bathroom,hallway,even resin wall clocks all from your rocks and resin. Let your imagination become creative.
I will say this is weird because I have done this and I did it on and off for 8 months. And it was… I got them smooth! They didn’t polish that well they were like a pre polish. Later I put them in with polish to fill us a different batch and they turned out well
I would love to see you just put them back in the tumbler and let them go. Check on them every couple months and see what happens! Maybe a year of water only tumbling will get you something unique.
@@AgateAriel I just came back and rewatched this. One really neat experiment would be to do this but add in polish. I wonder if you could get an even more rough/polished look.
I always wondered if I just spun then for a long time what would happen. And i was thinking beach sand because its prevalent and free. For at least the first tumble . Then polish after.
Tried it. It didn't work. I Tumble softer rocks with no grit. I'll add less rocks with more media. I've had some interesting results. For translucent pieces, it's great for removing the weathered white hazy layer while keeping it as close to natural as possible
Mr. Michigan Rocks did a pretty thorough video on sand as grit. Pretty interesting. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rk1DEqyH8Pc.html Never seen anyone tumble with just water and rock dust so thank you. They look very nice and since I saw this, I think I'll give it a shot with some of the rocks that seem too small to survive the grit process. Hate to have them just disappear, usually I crush them for inlays but maybe this could be a another option. Thanks again!
I think they turned out nice! Super beautiful rocks! I just got a super clear and dark Smokey Quartz tower. You can put it up to your eye at night and see through it. It's so amazing and fascinating! I think your experiment was a pass!
I don’t think it was a great job I would not do that! I have started rocks in grit for sand blasting grit and regular fine sand for a gamble it worked great with both but ran first tumble 14 days
Michigan Rocks has a video where he tries silicon carbide grit, sand, and nothing. He got the same shininess from just water, while the sand did very little. Most sand is mainly quartz so it might work on soft rocks, but for rocks of similar hardness it has little effect.