Can you tumble rocks from the internet for profit?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 มี.ค. 2023
- I purchased some fire quartz from rockshed.com, and try to see if I can tumble them as a beginner tumbler. Then, if I can tumble them, can the costs be low enough that I can resell them? Or cheap enough that they'd be economical keepers? I explain the process and the numbers.
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Love the sound of them polished
hehe. The soft clatter or the clink of coins?
That was interesting to hear the totals of bought rocks. If you found them they technically would not be free either. Gas to get to the beach and your time spent collecting them. I have a ton of polished rocks that I found and yes the cost of my gasoline is what raises my total per rock cost quite a bit. I think your rocks turned out nice. Thanks for sharing all this, enjoyed watching 😊
Oh, to have the luxury of living on rock giving beach, right? This little hobby can be costly.
There was grit in the cracks. First stage is critical... They needed to be tumbled longer to get rid of the cracks, pit marks, etc. And keep repeating the process till gone then move on to step 2 & so on. Caring in your work & taking the the extra time will show. Your customers will notice too & they will tell other people & will keep coming back.! Keep up the good work 👏.
This was definitely a learning batch for me. Now, if I notice I missed a crack I make sure to at least brush it out if I'm not going to start it back at step 1. Thanks for watching, and extra thanks for the encouragement.
enjoyed the video
Thanks!
Cool!
Thanks!
Use carbide-tipped tile nippers, and eye protection, to get the cracks out, and remove the knife edges. Quartz can be a bit tender, compared to agate, so listen to the sound. Loud = damaged rocks. Use smalls for cushioning, or overfill the barrel a bit.
Thanks for the tile nippers tip. I've never heard of that one. But, I have learned that cushioning softer rocks is important.
May I give a helpful bit of advice. It is not a good idea to wash off the grit in any sink in the house because the spent grit and the powdered rock will clog drains in a really bad way. I use 5 gallon buckets in my garage to do the washing and the spent grit just goes out into the garden. You have some good looking stones there. Keep after it and good luck!
You're totally right. One glance at the bottom of my bucket and nothing goes down the drain. Thanks for the compliments!
@@kengensjewelry
Güzel taşlar var bende işinize yararlı?
@@Ismail-dd7oi If Google Translate is correct, then yes! I love beautiful stones.
@@kengensjewelry
I'm telling you, I also have beautiful colored stones. Is there any place you know where I can evaluate the stones I have? Or are you interested in the stones are also available in crown types.. can you help with this?
@@Ismail-dd7oi All I do to find a value of a stone is to put it out for my customers at a price I'd like to receive and see if they buy. If not, I drop to the minimum price I need. Stones with crowns are a lot easier for working into jewelry, for sure. Are you trying to sell stones?
This was an interesting video. Did you also keep track of your electricity use, to power the rock tumbler? Mine runs at about 25w per hour for a 3lb tumbler
Unfortunately I didn't, because I didn't have a reliable way to measure it. I have noticed that with 3+ tumblers going my electric bill seems to go up maybe $5/mo.
What was your weight loss from raw through polish?
You need to see how much product you are losing as you go along. To make sure that you're not over tumbling and grinding away profits and comparing different sources to see if one vendor has cheaper, and softer, stones than the other.
Oh, I meant to include that in the video, but I don't know if I mentioned the finished weight. I started at exactly 5 pounds and ended at 3.5.
You are wasting a lot water, everytime you check the stones after tumbling, you kept the water running. Save water. Conserve water, Save life's
And people can't hear as well. :) I realized how much water I was using, too, after watching my videos and have made adjustments. Thanks for watching.
@@kengensjewelry 👍
Ok Karen
Why would anyone buy rocks though?
People love them! A lot of people just like having rocks around the house and are willing to pay a buck or two to have them already polished. Parents love them because I put some out for less than a dollar or x/$1 and they can get their kids something at the craft show without having to break the bank.