Anyone here know anything about rock tumbling? I'm kinda

My girlfriend does it.

Do you like rock hunting?
Do you plan on buying bulk rocks?
What will you do with the shiny rocks when done?
Do you like hobbies that take about 20 minutes of work a week?
Do you have somewhere to put the rock tumbler so you don't have to hear it run 24/7?

sounds like faggot stuff

>>988089

check out this namefag from /b/

>>988046
I know nothing about rock tumbling, but a tumbler would be easy to make I would think

>>988049
I live in the desert so it's not hard to find good rocks. In fact I live next to a giant mountain thats literally a slab of stone where you can still see the layers of rock across it.

Maybe. Depends how it goes. I was gonna try some fossils in it first, see how they look. Those fossilized nautilus shells.

Depends. Maybe give them to people, maybe keep them, maybe make them into stuff. Depends on the result.

Considering I'm in med school, it's about all the hobby time I get these days.

Garage, which is on the other side of the house to where I usually am. Hopefully good enough.

>>988136
>I live in the desert so it's not hard to find good rocks. In fact I live next to a giant mountain thats literally a slab of stone where you can still see the layers of rock across it.

Only certain rocks (hard ones) tumble well.

>Maybe. Depends how it goes. I was gonna try some fossils in it first, see how they look. Those fossilized nautilus shells.

You don't generally tumble fossils. The grit will ruin them.

>Depends. Maybe give them to people, maybe keep them, maybe make them into stuff. Depends on the result.

They add up really quick.

>Considering I'm in med school, it's about all the hobby time I get these days.

Spot on then.

>Garage, which is on the other side of the house to where I usually am. Hopefully good enough.

Should work well enough.

File: Ammonite-Cleoniceras-Polished-Opal-EA4803-Fossil-Shell-Cretaceous.jpg (35KB, 400x300px) Image search: [Google]

35KB, 400x300px

>>988138
I've seen some polished fossil shells. This is what I was talking about.

Any idea what to look for in good rocks?

Or anything about the gear?

>>988146
That wasn't polished in a tumbler.

>>988250
Done by hand I assume?

How about this: you guys think 20 bucks is a reasonable price to pay for a book to get more info?

>>988146
>Any idea what to look for in good rocks?

The nice thing about rock tumbling is that someone has done all of the work for you before. It's been a hobby for a LONG time. There aren't any new types of rocks around. So look up what types of rocks are available in your area. Soft rocks don't polish, they just break down.

>Or anything about the gear?
The gear is also pretty straight forward. To start off I'd say just buy one of those simple plastic tumblers made for kids. You can get them for like $25. If you like the hobby and want to do bigger batches, you can buy or make a bigger tumbler.

>>988254
>How about this: you guys think 20 bucks is a reasonable price to pay for a book to get more info?

You can get all the info for free online on tumbling and rock hound forums.

>>988447
Thanks.

>>988046
Op, My younger brother did rock tumbling with my dad for a couple years.

I think the simplest way is to buy a mini rock tumbler and a few bags of rocks. I think the total for them was around... 30 bucks. It took the machine about a day, and to me it seemed like it did a lot of rocks. They came out really nice. If you still like it, you can throw pretty much any kind of rock into it, so you could start experimenting with different rocks from your area.

If you like the results, you can buy bigger ones that can do more quantities.

If you have any specific questions that haven't been answered I can ask them.

>sorry for the bad formatting

>>988447
>>988476

The one that my dad and brother got for 25 bucks was actually a metal one. I can't find the url anymore, but if you search a little bit you can probably find something similar.

I havea rock related question

What do you call the leftover grindings/grounds from rock cutters that are too small to be useful for polished stones?

I am tryingto get a hold of some malachite for smelting, and i know people make beads and shit out of it (expensive) and also fine powder for pigment (expensive). I want to get it in between these two stages