Tumbling and polishing rocks is a hobby for any age.  You can get as serious as you want with this hobby, or you can do it just for fun.  Some people get way into rock tumbling, and they write notes about what worked and what didn’t work.  I personally do rock tumbling just for fun.  It also helps me do something more with all those rocks I already collected.  One of the best things about tumbling rocks is getting to see the change in the rocks after each of the four stages of the process.  This activity also helps you and your kids work on your patience because it’s not a quick process.

 

 

Materials needed to tumble and polish rocks

• rock tumbling machine
• grit   
• rocks
• ceramic media   
  
• Borox
• Distilled water 
• strainer
• bowl or bucket

Rock Tumbling Machine

The rock tumbling machines can range in quality.  I started with a Dan and Darci rotary rock tumbler kit (paid link) as a present from my kids.  It came with a book to help me start and a few rocks as well as all the grit I would need and a strainer.  This rock tumbler was great for just starting out to see if I liked rock tumbling.  The tumbling machine lasted me a few years of continuous rock tumbling, before it gave out and didn’t work anymore.  It also had different settings.  I could pick between three different speeds to tumble my rocks.  It also let me set the number of days I wanted to tumble the rocks.  This feature is nice in case you forget about the tumbler running, because it stops running when it reaches the number of days you chose on the settings.  I recommend this tumbler for people just starting out because it includes everything you need, and it actually lasted awhile.

Now I use a Central Machine dual barrel rotary rock tumbler that I bought at Harbor Freight.  This allows me to tumble over twice as many rocks than before.   So far, I haven’t had a problem with this tumbler.

Grit and Polish

The grit is an important part in tumbling and polishing rocks.  A different grit is used for each stage of tumbling.

Stage 1: 60-90 Grit

Stage 2: 120-220 Grit

Stage 3 or the pre-polish stage: 500 Aluminum Oxide Grit

Stage 4 or the polish stage: Aluminum Oxide Polish

You can use the grit and polish that comes with your kit if you buy one, but if you are getting more grit, I recommend buying it from The Rock Shed.  You need to make sure you get the grit and polish for the type of tumbler you have, either a rotary tumbler or a vibratory tumbler.  This grit and polish were recommended to me by someone who is very serious about tumbling rocks.  I tried it out, and I could see the difference between what I was using and this new grit and polish.

Ceramic Media

Ceramic media is also something I would use, but it’s not absolutely necessary.  The purpose is to help cushion the rocks, so they don’t slam into each other and cause cracks.  If your barrel is full enough you don’t need to add them.  As the rocks wear down from each stage they go through, they no longer fill the barrel up as much.  This then means you need to add the media to the barrel or more rocks that are at the same stage of the process.  I only use the ceramic media.  I read that it is better than plastic media because you can use it at any stage of the process and use as many as you want without complications.  Too many plastic media cause poor quality finishing in your rocks.

Distilled Water

Distilled water is recommended if you have a lot of lime in your water like I do.  Lime can be really hard on things.

Borax

Borax is needed at the very end of the last stage to wash the rocks in the tumbler.  You can also use it after each stage to make sure all the grit is off the rocks and the barrel is clean before starting a new stage of tumbling.  Borax can be found at most stores such as Target or Walmart by the other laundry detergent or on Amazon.

Strainer

A strainer is needed to separate the water and grit solution from the rocks after each stage of tumbling.  I would use an old one that is dedicated to just this activity.   If you buy a kit to start tumbling it might just come with a strainer.

Bowl or Bucket

An old bowl or bucket needs to be used to dump the water and grit solution into after each stage.  You DON’T want to dump the mixture down the drain in your house.  It will damage your plumbing.  This should get dumped outside.  The old bowl or bucket could be a repurposed bowl or bucket such as an ice cream bucket or cool whip bowl.

Rocks

Rocks are a main ingredient in rock tumbling.  The rocks can be ones you found or ones you bought.  See my blog post on rock collecting to get some ideas for collecting your own.  The important part is the rocks are ones that you like, and they are not rocks that fall apart easily.  Limestone and Sandstone rocks are going to wear away to nothing during the tumbling process.  You want to use harder rocks such as types of quartz or jasper.  If you don’t know what type of rocks, you have; just tumble them anyway if you like them.   It can be a fun experiment to see which rocks work better.  Don’t let not knowing your rocks and their hardness get in the way of you enjoying this fun hobby.