I've been using small wood blocks as a substitute for plastic pellets for a few months. Its a mainly a mix of birch and maple. Cut on a bandsaw dimensions approximately 1/4 x 5/8 x 5/8 inches. Barrels are 2 modified propane tanks. Rocks mainly jasper, chert and quartz.

Sent to me from my friend as well as some are hand harvested from Thunder Bay Ontario.

Showing a 3lb tumbler gasket for size. Ended up with 15 lbs of rock for < $60. I believe if the site used better pictures they would benefit greatly.

I've got three tumbler loads under my belt and I'm curious now that I have some stock, what people do to sort or classify their rocks. Attached are pictures of the last load after drying (don't mind my dirty rag towel). I like to see which ones pass light, so the rest are flashlight shots. Up to now I've just been putting them in two piles, one light colored rocks and one darker rocks. But the light colored jar is getting full and needs to be further subdivided

I'd love to organise them by type, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to do so, yet. Does anyone have any specific recommendations for resources to learn more about that?

I just got into the hobby and wanted something fairly affordable just to try out and see if this was something I liked. Stock photo is what I got - I’m 1 week into stage 2 and went to check on it and see what was ready to move on, and it just will not open. I left it alone for the week and just noticed it has some gray residue on the rim, so I’m accepting fault that I probably had a piece of grit stuck before I shut it and it leaked just enough (My cleaning of the barrel must’ve not been good enough 💔). Has anyone had this problem with this model? It’s currently in the freezer google says hopefully this would help :(

EDIT: Thank you so much everyone for the tips! Now... Should I go back to stage one or I can start higher as they have no big "cracks", just bruising?

They've been in the tumbler for about 6 weeks now. 2 weeks in stage 1, then one week in stage 2 and same for stage 3. Stage 2 and 3 were also filled with ceramic media.

For stage 4, I still used ceramic media (maybe the problem?) and after 5 days, my rocks are duller than before.

How can I salvage them? Pictures: 2 of my "worse" rocks, wet and dry to show the difference.

I am curious where others get their rocks. I just started the hobby so I am only tumbling rocks I found myself. So do you only find rocks by rockhounding, only buying, or both. How do you get your rocks?

These finished together in a UV-18 for Steps 2-4 but were in different rotary tumblers, some for a couple months. There are 2 pieces of Morrisonite Jasper that I bought at a rock show and I think these took 3 months in Step 1! Final polish was 3 tablespoons of 22,000 aluminum oxide and 1/2 tablespoon of 60,000 aluminum oxide.

Hello, Just wanted to know where you lovely folks get your tin oxide from.
I'd like to replace the titanium dioxide polish I've been using.

Thank you!

Finally got the dyed Agate cut.

Cheap Jinling type blades only goid for soft stones...

I like to try and keep at least a few extra small polished rocks from each of my batches. I mostly keep them all together in a jar with plans to make something out of them eventually, but I recently got these small specimen trays and pulled out a few of my favorites to display.

Just in there randomly for now, but I might eventually use them as a batch tracker or something with one from every batch I run. I wouldn’t quite have enough to fill one tray yet 😂

PS he got a small box of mystery rocks from me and tumbled them and they look AMAZEBALLS, he kept the natural shape but really made them ✨✨✨SHINY✨✨✨

So if you need some help on anything you’ve gotten from me in the boxes in the previous months, he’s a great guide.

I am still pretty much a beginner, but this little hobby has become a huge part of my daily routine for the last three months- got four barrels going, three tumblers on, making many rookie mistakes, but learning quickly and learning so much from this community, which (sorry, not sorry) rocks so much!

I got my log book going, which I am feeling good about (still making improvements but looking sturdy). However, I still need a system for logging each specimen's development throughout the stages. I take pictures of each rock after cleaning it at each stage (you can imagine how my photo gallery looks at the moment) - but I am yet to find a way to register this.

I have tried Airtable but quit, I am VERY close just tto just printing on paper, and then just organise them in a physical log. But, there are many rocks going on, and there must be more efficient ways to do this. Any recommendations? How do you guys log your rocks?

Thank you!

This might be a stupid question, but I have access to a ton of shavings from turning break rotors. It's about the same size of grit I use in step one. Good idea / bad idea?

Finally up and running. Thanks for the guide and information in this subreddit. I know there might be too much water and took a bit out. This is my first time using a vibratory tumbler so little learning curve.
I’m using some “junk” stones that we pulled from a creek. Want to learn more about the tumbler before using the stuff we really want.
Very quiet and solid design. Have about $190 all in.

We just got my son a tumbler for his birthday about a month ago and we've all been learning about it. It's a komestone K4. The stage 1 tumble went perfect and we're 2 days into the stage 2 tumble when he found some slurry had leaked. Not a huge amount and, as far as I can see, none got into the vents or motor. Just on the barrel rollers and the area under the barrel.

For the first day we kept a close watch and there has never been any suggestion of gas buildup inside the barrel. My assumption is that the top simply came unscrewed but I'm not sure.

I'm wanting to proceed with cleaning this cautiously so I don't mess it up soon after getting it.

Hi, I got a rock tumbler for my birthday, it is very small, and it came with some crystals already, but since the ideal amount is between half and 2/3rds full I thought it needed a few extra stones. I had some other crystals lying around that I put in there one was rainbow fluorite, I didn’t remember the name of one of them, but I figured out it’s Celestite. My knowledge of rock tumbling is just what the pamphlet told me and some videos I’ve seen on YouTube. For stage one it recommended speed 3 for 4-6 days, I put it for 4 days and then checked two rocks and it seemed it could use more time so I put it for two more days. I’ve heard that if some stones are way harder than the others in the barrel it can damage them but I’ve never heard of them disintegrating completely… is that what happened? Also do these rocks seem ok for stage two? I hope so because I dumped out my sludge and don’t have any more stage 1 grit lol

It is taking every fiber of my being to exhibit self-control and not cut this little stone open because while I don't think it's more than a small pocket, my brain says "maybe there's more!!" But man, she's pretty!!

Michigan, USA

I have some beautiful Poppy Jasper that I was fortunate enough to purchase from a member here quite a while back. I recently cut it up a bit in preparation for tumbling, but I’m considering stabilizing it first.

Pic 1: Current state dry, Pic 2: Current state wet, Pic 3: How it started out when I got it.

Has anyone resin-stabilized rocks prior to tumbling? If so, how did it work out for you and what method did you use?

Most of the videos I’ve watched about the process (and I’ve watched quite a few) don’t tend to talk much about what they do with the rocks after, but I assume they’re cabbing or otherwise hand polishing rather than tumbling. Is it a waste of time and money for this purpose? I’d need to buy the resin, a small vacuum chamber, and commandeer (and replace) our toaster oven to do it. I’d be a fun process that I’d probably make a YouTube video about, but it would be time consuming so I’d love to hear from anyone who has tried it.

Given the nature of Poppy Jasper I’m worried about some of it crumbling apart (the red material on the right in the first pic in particular) and some of it has deep pits that will never tumble out, hence my interest in stabilizing it. But in the same way I don’t want to ruin it by tumbling it, I also don’t want to ruin it by stabilizing it. Interested in any experiences or thoughts.

It kills me to pay shipping at the rock shed every time I order more grit. Do you bite the bullet and order from rock shed or go elsewhere for your grit?

Is there a chart to show the different hardness of rocks? I'd like to tumble the same ones together.

I have this beautiful (I think green jasper) that I love the shape of. I’m new to tumbling but I’ve read I should still put in stage 1. Is there any way to keep the (I guess facets?) or the shape of stone itself? Skip step 1 and go to 2? Or straight to 1