Facts you should know about choosing a rock tumbler or polisher...

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FACETS
Gem & Mineral Gallery, LLC

Mailing Address:
PO Box 714
Newport, OR 97365

(541) 264-5908

Established 1987

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Choosing a Rock Tumbler...

Rock Tumbling is fun for the entire family and makes for an easy hobby. Think of how the ocean rolls rocks into cobbles or pebbles in the sand for decades, smoothing them much like a tumbler. Or how a craftsman would go about sanding imperfections out of a project with sandpaper. You would start with a coarse grade of sandpaper and switch to finer and finer abrasives until the surface becomes smooth. REMEMBER: When buying a rock tumbler, you get exactly what you pay for! A rock tumbler is a machine, not a toy and is intended for use by or under the supervision of an adult!

Today quality built tumblers are built with a sturdy base of all metal construction, lead free certified coatings and operate with a thick rubber barrel, which makes for a compatible operation with your normal home life! Designed to give you a smooth polished finish on rocks, glass, even metals! With our tumblers you simply add water and a specific recipe of silicon carbide grit as an abrasive to smooth and shape the stones with much faster results. Remember these rocks were created over millions of years so waiting 4 weeks is a snap!

Here at FACETS we have been personally involved in the industry for over 50 years and providing our clients with quality equipment and service since 1987. Our own lapidary workshop is running quality made rock tumblers daily 24/7 365 days a year, so we sell what we use, knowing from experience what works and what does NOT!

How to Choose a coin or rock tumbler: | Consider the warranty on that equipment | Rotary versus vibratory | or a Toy versus a tumbler built to last!

Misconceptions about rock polishing.

SIZE DOES MATTER
How to Choose a Tumbler...

Scroll down for - - >
facts on how to choose
a rock tumbler or
rock polisher...

Small Single
or Double Barrel Rock Tumblers

Medium size rock tumbler:

Larger Capacity Rock Tumblers

Suitable
Rock
to polish

Samples shown of our small size Tumbling Rock Mix - of Oregon agate, jasper and petrified wood cobbles suitable for 1-3 pound rock tumblers

Kit for Tumbling rocks

Barrel Size: By rule of thumb how to choose size of your tumbler ...If you think you'll want to tumble fairly large pieces of rock as large as a 3" baseball within a mixed load, you may want to consider one of our larger 6 pound model. On the other hand, if you feel that you won't be able to often fill (tumbler must contain the right amount of material to get a proper tumbling action) a larger barrel, you might want to look into a smaller 3 pound tumbler (which will be limited to items ¾ - 1 inch maximum in size) or a more useful size the 4½ pound tumbler for items up to 2½" inches (the size of a golf ball). Keeping in mind...For a good polish the barrel must be used, 2/3rds to ¾ths full with rocks.

Number of Barrels You may wish to consider the versatility of a multiple-barrel. Our 33B tumbler has many advantages, some of the advantages of more than one barrel is 1) Doing coarse grit in one while polishing in the other. 2) Being able to tumble rocks of different hardnesses at the same time; and 3) or having a barrel for each member of the family!

Barrel Construction: Today's durable tumblers are built of a sturdy base of all metal construction and operate with a thick rubber barrel, which makes for a compatible operation with your normal home life!

Misconceptions about polishing | Rotary versus vibratory | Consider the warranty on that equipment | or a Toy versus a tumbler built to last!
Choose a rock tumbler built to last now! | Return to TOP

The Buyer's Bible "Warranty: The most important part of any piece of machinery, unless you got a super buy and dont mind having to replace a part or two. There are several important things to think about when reading a warranty. The first one is its length. If it is 30 or even 90 days, you have to consider whether you will be able to give the machine a good work out in that period of time.

The second important consideration is where will the warranty be handled. Can you take it back to the place you bought it, or do you have to ship it somewhere, maybe even overseas, which might cost more than the machine? Does the warranty cover everything, or is it limited? Be sure to read the fine print, and dont assume that, because you bought a top-of-the line machine, the warranty doesnt matter.

Every manufacture sometimes turns out a dud. The difference is that Rolls and Rolex will make things all better pronto, while a used car dealer or a guy in the alley will undoubtedly be gone when you look to them for help. Do your homework, and you will be happy with your purchase for years to come."

Editors Note: This quote originally appeared as Shop Talk, by William A. Kappele in the July 2009 issue of Rock & Gem.

Misconception: "Turn your own ordinary looking dull rough rocks, pebbles into beautifully polished sparkling gemstones or jewels!"

Rocks are like people: some will take a polish and some will NOT, and therefor may be used as yard rock! Rock tumblers can only bring out the NATURAL beauty in rocks.

Tumbling emerald, rubies or sapphires will NOT yield sparkling faceted gemstones that you would find in fine jewelry! The quality that you have been sold will most likely tumble to yield - AQUARIUM GRAVEL! Emeralds, rubies or sapphires sold on the market at low prices are unlikely the quality of stones or diamonds that would be faceted by a professional, not tumbled to look like the stones you see in a fine jewelry salon! We feel the people selling this material to someone who has never tumbled before are taking advantage of the naive shopper! Starting out you are NOT going to start with such exotic gem materials such as emeralds, malachite, or rhodochrosite.

You MUST start with good material to get good results...Look for interesting rocks, those with nice color or interesting patterns. Mixing gravel or rough fractured, hammer broken material with comparatively smooth beach cobbles or preformed materials will complicate the operation!

Don't bother to tumble dry porious road gravel or rocks with pits. Grit will lodge in the pits, and contaminate the entire load from one step to the next. (You MUST clean the grit out of those pits between each step therefore you will improve your collecting skills very quickly!) These rocks may however be used as decorative yard rock, but not tumbling material.

Only tumble compatible rocks of the same hardness starting out with (i.e. agate, jasper and petrified wood), equal roughness and in a variety of sizes.

Rotary versus vibratory | or a Toy versus a tumbler built to last!
Choose a rock tumbler built to last now! | Return to TOP

Remember: A rock tumbler is a machine (with moving parts) not a toy and is intended for use by or under the supervision of an adult! Lortone rock tumblers are made in the U.S. with coatings made in the U.S. certified to be lead free. Not to be confused with a toy possibly recalled from China! However if you choose a TOY STORE plastic rock tumbler or polisher (no we do NOT carry these) here are a few words of wisdom from people who have tried them:

"I don't know of a professional that would knowingly buy a tool of plastic to do professional work."

"Deceptively marketed as heavy duty."

"Find a clean remote area with a properly wired outlet where the constant rumbling won't disturb others"

"The constant droning, crunching sound filters up two floors of our house (it's in the basement)."

"Sealing the tumbler with Vaseline and placing it in a cooler to cut down on the noise."

You got exactly what you paid for! Sold with 10 extra belts(?) and "designed to run for days at a time", with ONLY a 30 day satisfaction guarantee!

"Next time I will buy a professional rock tumbler!"

Misconceptions about polishing    |    Rotary versus vibratory
Choose a rock tumbler built to last now!   |    Consider the warranty on that equipment    |    Return to TOP

Rotary versus vibratory each machine will deburr, finish and burnish as well as many other applications, however:

"Rotary Tumbling is far superior to vibratory for edge finishing/radiusing round, flat or washer-like objects, also producing superior bright burnishing on smooth piece parts or for finishing parts that stack or stick together in a vibratory machine." As quoted from Raytech Industries, makers of both styles of tumblers

"DO NOT cover the Ultra Vibe Tumbler unit with anything to dampen noise as this may block air flow and cause the motor to overheat, or possibly create a fire hazard... Place your tumbler where it will not be in the way because tumbling takes a number of days of continuous operation and there is a constant sound of rolling rocks...For the longer runs, a splash of water should be added every 45 minutes to 1 hour to restore the action as the water will evaporate and the slurry will build up as the work is being done causing the cyclonic action to begin to slow." Taken from Ultra Vibe Tumbler Instructions, from Tru Square.

These days a durable rotary rock tumbler (NOT the TOY plastic barrel) is much quieter than a vibratory tumbler. As for finish from a vibratory tumbler, it does not round or shape the stones vibratory tumblers are used for the finishing of cabs or "preformed rocks" but not rough jagged rocks! ."As quoted from Tru Square, makers of both styles of tumblers.

Because of the design of the vibratory tumblers (like a bunt cake pan/jello mold) bowl, limits the size of the rocks to be tumbled or (the jar/bag design) you can fit through the 2¼" opening. For the same price you could buy a larger rotary tumbler and polish larger material!

The vibratory tumbler needs to be checked every 12 hours, for water and new grit to be added, requiring more attention than the rotary tumbler.

Today's quality rotary rock tumblers that have a thick rubber barrel or rubber lined barrel make a soothing rhythmic rolling sound much like the pebbles in the surf at the beach. Today many of our clients use these rotary rock tumblers while they are on the road in their RV or have them in a spare bedroom when they live in an apartment and there is no problem disturbing them or their neighbors.

Misconceptions about polishing    |    Rotary versus vibratory    |    or a Toy versus a tumbler built to last!
Choose a rock tumbler built to last now!   |    Return to TOP

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