Old disabled house bound dusty rusty rockhound here: What I love about these stones is the beauty on so many levels...the mathematics...the biology....the geological history! It's an physical manifestation of the wonders of Mother Earth.
I absolutely love seeing the individual progression of each stone. Thank you for taking the time to capture all these images. Also, I prefer the finish on these stones better than the highly polished stone. Thank you.
@@MichiganRocks So happy to have come across your, very clever, MICHIGAN ROCKS. Will you please share with me, what you believe to be the best investment for a tumbler, that I plan on utilizing all of my days. I have been collecting for decades, and at 57, I have the time to polish, and really treasure the process. It became overwhelming when I began to review and shop them, understandably, for I am a beginner. I intend on tumbling all sizes, shapes, and hardness of rocks and gemstones. Thank you, kindly, and I do hope this mail finds you and yours well. Hopefully, you are also, back to busy in your classrooms, too. Respectfully, Laura Che.
@@laurache1779 I retired last year, so today I spent the day on the beach. My new office is even better than my old classroom. I like Lortone rotary tumblers. I think the Lortone 33B is a good first tumbler. If you want something with larger barrels, consider the Lortone QT66 or QT12. If you want to speed up the last three stages from about a month to a week, the Lot-O vibratory tumbler is really good. I like to do the first stage in a rotary tumbler and do the last three stages in a vibratory tumbler. The Rock Shed usually has the best prices. Good tumblers have been hard to come by since COVID started though. I'd suggest sending them an email and asking to get on a wait list since everything will probably say that it's sold out. Sometimes he has a few things in stock, but they don't make it onto the website. rockshed.com
Wow! REALLY love the time-lapse technique. One can REALLY see the smoothing progression this way--it's a very successful technique! The corncob media certainly does the job tool Thank you for taking the time to make this video! We've all learned a lot from it.
Well hell's bells!!!..I've been told this whole time that it's not possible to tumble petoskey!..and it just so happens that Santa pre delivered a vibe tumbler under my tree already!..now I'm going to have to go through the scores of petoskey stones in the basement and select which get the business and which doesn't. You have saved me from 100's of hours of hand sanding my friend. Your video is very easy to understand and I think I will be successful my first attempt at it. Thanks for taking the extra time to make this!
I found about 50 Petoskey stones this weekend at our cabin. I have never tried to polish anything before but these seem like a fun project. Thank you for your video
I have a video on how to do them by hand too, if you don't have a tumbler. It was one of the first videos I made, so it's probably due for an update. th-cam.com/video/sjImNrwR9As/w-d-xo.html
Just got out my newly polished Petoskey stones. They’re beautiful. It wasn’t without trial and error. But I would’ve been lost without you. Thank you!!! ❤️
I bought a used vibrational tumbler. It broke immediately. Got it fixed. Bought shitty polish, turned my stones green. Took it back to a lower grit to get off the green. Bought the polish you recommended. Cliff notes, first batch finally came out great. I bought Lyman corn cob media, I’m not sure if that was a good idea, it may have their polish already in it?
I'm not sure about the Lyman corn cob. I got some from the Rock Shed and also bought a bag from Walmart in the pet department. Mine didn't have abrasives in it until I added some aluminum oxide. I think you probably learned a lot by making a few mistakes. I didn't figure this out by myself, but I did do some experimenting to get to where I am now. My first batches were not super successful.
Your videos have really inspired me. I bought both types of tumblers on ebay, and I'm going to tumble the Petoskey stones I've been collecting for years. Thank you!
Thank you so much for this video! I just got my first tumbler yesterday (lot o tumbler) and have buckets of Petoskeys. I can't wait to get going. I'll have to experiment with the first two stages to see if I can replicate what you've done on your rotary. Hand polish is not possible for me, so I'm really looking forward to this. Thank you for all of your detailed videos, it makes it a lot less intimidating!
The Lot-O tumbler is a great choice. I really love mine. You can get most rocks really shiny in just a week or so, but they won't change shape much. They'll be pretty much the same shape as they went in, but they'll be shiny. I have never tried to tumble Petoskeys in just a Lot-O, but I'm sure it's possible. Don't be afraid to experiment.
I really appreciate your silent slide shows! I like seeing the progress of the stones, and I truly appreciate that you aren't inflicting the generic tinkle-tunes on all of us.
You’ve sparked my interest again! I bought a rotary tumbler about 15 years ago, but with no good instruction, I gave up out of frustration. Having a family reunion this summer in the UP and I know we’ll be hunting for petoskey’s. Thanks for your excellent videos with clear instructions!
I don’t know of any places in the U.P. where you’re likely to find Petoskeys, but there are a lot of other great rocks up there that are easier to tumble. Either way, have fun!
@@Gum05 That's where I found them. That whole area has them I think. I found mine at the Mouth of the Two Hearted River and also at the Lake Superior State Forest Campground. th-cam.com/video/7xzNiQmKpEw/w-d-xo.html
Interesting progressions and amazing transformations. Loved that slideshow. Now I can better understand why you are so careful in selecting your petoskey keepers.
Thanks!!! Starting tumbling this year and hooked on the hobby. I was born near Ellsworth, MI... Petoskey stones are a part of my memory. My folks picked up a bunch of stones for me last time they visited up there. I know they're soft compared to other rocks so it's nice to know how to polish petoskeys!!!
This method is not easy and all the rocks will not turn out great, but it beats polishing by hand. You can also stop this process at any time and finish the rocks by hand with sandpaper if you prefer.
Wow, what a transformation! Fantastic presentation of Petoskey stone polishing. Corncob media is a new to me. So is polishing without water. Thank you for this great instructional video!
There's actually a dry polishing mix made by Diamond Pacific called Vibra-Dry. It's similar to what I'm using, but I don't know the exact ingredients. It's pretty expensive so I've never tried it.
@@MichiganRocks Hello! Can you use corn cob/dry media in a rotary tumbler for the 500 & polish stage? Have you tried it and if so how long per cycle? I have some Petoskey stones that are not showing any shine after 4 cycles (1 week per) in the rotary; course all the way through polish. I could use some guidance please! Thank you, Wes
@@wesleymaxwell111 I have never tried this in a rotary tumbler. If you try it and it works, please report back for other people who might have the same question.
Received a vibratory tumbler for Christmas so I hopped on to find this video and take some notes. I'm going to try this technique with some Petoskeys very soon. Thanks as always for your videos!
I just found my first,and almost all the markings were wore down,so thank you so much, your the only one I would trust with my Beautiful Stone in the end!Thank You so MUCH!😊
Rob! I met the guy who designed your rock tumbler cabinet at the Detroit Gem Show. I was there on Sunday, I missed you the day before on Saturday. I have been hand polishing my Petoskeys for the last few years but I think I might run some via this method here in the tumblers. Thank You 🙏
Chuck is a great guy. I’m glad you got to meet him. He and I learned this stuff together. We both got into it through our kids. He’s more skilled than I am though.
Loved the whole video, very informative, has me thinking. What a great idea with the slide show. It was so amazing to see a gray rock transform into something spectacular, the detail of the stone come through with each step, incredible. Great job
Those petasky rocks look lovely. The amazing patterns when they were polished. Was interesting to see the stages from rough to shiny. So good thank you Rob
You're welcome, Tony. If you're ever in Michigan, don't refer to them as Petoskey rocks. They're always called Petoskey stones. Just thought you should know.
Wow, I love the progression photos you took. Brilliant! 23:39 would have been something I would have thrown back into the lake because it looked washed out. I didn't know a washed out Petoskey could look so good.
I made the slide show look like as dramatic of a change as I could. I did that by taking all the pictures dry. I could never pick Petoskey stones dry. That's why I always hunt them in the lake. Those rough rocks all look much better wet. When I took pictures for the slideshow, I shot each rock both wet and dry so that I could see the pattern on the rock well enough to match up the pictures.
I've shown you what needs to be changed, but I can't give you a really good explanation of why they are harder to polish. I do know that it's not just hardness that matters. For example, crumbly or brittle rocks don't typically tumble well either, no matter if they are hard or not.
Such a great tutorial, Rob! I belong to a couple FB rock groups. There are frequent questions about tumbling rocks vs. painting /spraying them with a shellac or plastic coating. One was from a mother of a 12 yr old boy who had just found a really nice Petoskey while camping, and wanted advice on preserving it. One person suggested Mod Podge (shudder!). I suggested they check out your YT vid on how to hand polish them. Given the young man’s age, and how his mom professed him to be a budding ‘rock hound’, I said it was well worth the time to find out how to do it ‘right’, that it would make her son that much more appreciative of his find, and would be proud of showing off his specimen, having put the time and effort into it, to make it the best it could be💁🏻♀️😀! Thank you for all of the time and effort you put into your productions!😍🙋🏻♀️👍🌈☀️
I appreciate you sharing my videos. I don’t spend much time on Facebook and then I feel like I’m spamming my own videos when I suggest them. I love when I see someone else suggesting my videos.
This is good to know. I threw my Petoskey Stone in my tumble and at the end of the week it was pretty smooth and the fossil design was gone. Lessons learned. Next time I'll watch your videos first!
Wow so amazing . I loved seeing the whole process. I was amazed at the difference in shine when they came out of the polish stage. They are very pretty, also my favorite stone is the one that was your favorite. The patterns in it reminded me of sea shells❤. 😍🥰😇💜💙💚👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thanks for taking the time to teach us! Been waiting ever so patiently for this particular video. I added a horn coral and a Charlevoix stone to the rotary to see how its gonna turn out in the end.
I hope it lived up to your expectations. Charlevoix stone and horn coral should work just fine with this method. I've done Charlevoix this way, but not horn coral.
I put those three together. The horn coral turns out really well too. If they aren't quite shiny enough I take them to my buffer and polish with a little ZAM
That was a fantastic demonstration that soft stones can in fact polish very nicely . And a very well played slide show. Beautifully done , simple isn't easy , you made it look easy.. Great tutorial Rob very informative. See you on the next one. Cheers
Hahaha. I didn’t catch the toothbrush antic until I watched again. Which brings up a memory of my sister using my mom’s toothbrush to clean her comb, when we were kids in the 60’s.
Thanks for sharing this awesome video. Perfect timing to see this. I’m currently waiting on another rock trade from Michigan and super excited to in getting some of those stones. I’m going to try this out 🤘😁🤙. The slide show at the end is 🔥🔥🔥
That was a great video, transformations at the end was really cool. Jealous of the set up you have👌. I need to upgrade & give some love to my polishing equipment/see up
Your explanations are very clear and easy to follow. And these stones are very beautiful! I wish I could find some for my collection. Maybe a trip to Lake Huron when it will be possible. Thank you so much!
I love the petoskey stones! Thank you for sharing how you do this. Can't wait until I get to go to your state next summer. There's so many awesome stones there. They sure are beautiful rocks!🌟
Where do you plan to go next summer? I'd love to get back to your state sometime. My wife will be retired next summer, so I hope I can talk her into more traveling. I love traveling, but she doesn't sleep well in hotels.
@@MichiganRocks I want to go to Duluth and upper Michigan. My mom never been to either. I hope you can talk your wife into traveling. Wyoming is a beautiful state. Not much to see in some parts of the state. Southern Wyoming is high desert plateau. I live in Buffalo Wyoming at the foot of the Big Horn mountains. Have you thought about a camper? Maybe she would like that better. Smaller ones wouldn't be to hard to tow.
@@wyomingadventures I have thought about a camper or a motor home, but I don't know if I'd enjoy hauling it around. I don't have a pickup and my two door Jeep won't haul anything but a small pop up. We will do some traveling, I'm just not sure how much. We took a two week trip when out kids were young the included Wyoming. We went to the Mount Rushmore area, Yellowstone/Grand Tetons, Glacier, and Banff. It was a great trip. I'd really like to go back to some of those places and many others as well.
I just saw you and Wildkyle picking these up. They are so pretty. I love looking for and collecting stones. But I live in Georgia and we don't have that here. Wish I could travel to Michigan. These Petoskey stones look like just like coral. I love it.
Nice work. One of my first tumble attempts was a batch of my grandfather's Petoskey stones, in a rotary, didn't research at all, and I succeeded in making them...smaller. Thanks for sharing.
Not an easy rock to tumble. Terrible rock to try first. It took me a long time to figure this out. It wasn't completely my idea, but I tweaked the recipe until I got it to work like this.
@@MichiganRocks with it being softer, do you think a little time with something like 1,000 aluminum oxide between the 500 aluminum oxide and the final polish would change the end result any?
Thanks for this video! I’ve only recently started tumbling rocks and was looking for a guide on petoskey stones since I ruined a couple of mine during my first attempt with them. I only have a rotary tumbler at the moment, but I will keep this video in mind for when I’m able to get a vibratory tumbler. Still might experiment with soley using the rotary, but I understand that might not go well since petoskeys are softer rocks. Thanks again!
If you try dry corn cob in your rotary, I'd let them go for a week instead of two days. I'm not sure if it will work or not, but that's what I'd do. You can also run the first two stages in your rotary and then finish them by hand with sand paper. Here's a video of how to do that: th-cam.com/video/IBRq7dPD0Lk/w-d-xo.html
@@MichiganRocks Appreciate it, thanks again! I think I’ll try the corn cob in the rotary to see if it will work at some point, and if not I’ll go with the sandpaper method.
@@HalesBabe1 unfortunately I don’t. I am at college at the moment and don’t have a good place to use the tumbler. I will try to check back in here when I finally do get around to it.
You have tought me so much about polishing rocks and what they are called. I have tumbled several batches now. Some I dont feel are as shiny as yours are but could be the kind of lighting. Still look nice though.
@@donnalantz7981 I think sometimes they almost look better in pictures. Sometimes they look better in real life though. Hard to compare your own rocks to someone else's pictures.
You just seem to have a higher shine then what I get i think. Maybe not. You do have better lighting and I think that adds to it. Next year I will have a better place to do my rocks in and with better lighting.
@@donnalantz7981 One of the first things I bought to help with TH-cam videos was a couple of pretty nice LED lights on stands. I use them all the time.
I like that method that you use to polish the Petoskey stones I've been experimenting with some that ain't real Greek in the tumbler but I could not get them polished so at the end I would polish them with zam and they would come out good I think I'm going to try your way with the last two stages I don't have a lotto vibratory Tumblr but I have one that I use for shell casings I think it would do the same I just got to get different media I like your channel and you have taught me a lot in tumbling and do experiments to make it better.
Those brass tumblers are not designed for the weight of rocks, but with corn cob and just a few rocks, I think it should work fine. I'm glad you're experimenting. I think that's when I learn the most because I have to put some thought into what I'm doing and then I get feedback from the results of my experiment. At first, I just followed directions and didn't always understand why I was doing what I was doing.
Здравствуйте!) Спасибо за интересное видео) Все камни очень красивые. Больше понравились те, которые после галтовки, у них просматривается структура и поэтому они кажутся более "живыми". Камень, отполированный шкуркой, тоже интересный, большой плюс для меня то, что внизу видно, как он выглядел до обработки. Удачи Вам и здоровья)!
Спасибо. Это окаменелости кораллов возрастом 350 миллионов лет, называемые гексагонариями. Их еще называют «камнями Петоски». Это государственный камень Мичигана.
Они мне очень нравятся) Понимаю, почему они признаны, как государственные камни Мичигана)... У нас я не видела таких, хотя часто собираю камни... В прошлое лето я нашла один камень с двумя небольшими следами окаменелостей типа древних губок. Но этот камень никому, кроме меня, не интересен)
Very cool. I will have to look into using this - and look into walnut shells - I have bags of them as they are also used for kitty litter. Glad I got a Lot-o (just need to finish setting it up). Off to read up on media! Thanks for the excellent video and slideshow.
@@MichiganRocks I just think it is kind of cool that you can use pet supplies for some polishing. I am reading that walnut shells are used for “blasting” to remove paint and coatings, and to tumble brass, other metals - as well as polishing. Corn cob can also be used to clean and polish brass in tumblers. Walnut shells are harder.
Hello MR, excellent video. I'm going to give it a go, but will have to wait a bit. I'm glad to know the ones with deep pits will smooth out, I wasn't going to do anything with those. Mine are much larger. I am anxious to get them going. Thanks so much for making this video!
I did 24 hours both of step one and step 2 in the Lot-o-tumbler, but my rocks still don't show the pattern dry as much as yours do. They look amazing under water. I'm not sure where I went wrong. Do you have a digital media presence outside of TH-cam where people can ask you questions? You're my internet MVP at the moment 😏
You can ask questions right here. I try my best to respond to all comments in some way. Did you start your rocks in a rotary tumbler? You only mentioned steps one and two in the Lot-O. My first two steps are in a rotary tumbler, and the third and fourth steps are in the Lot-O. It's important to have them looking pretty good before the corn cob steps start. If you did do the first two steps in a rotary, I'm not sure what the problem would be. These were better than average rocks that I tumbled in this video. If you've watched my beach videos, you'll know that I'm pretty picky about what I take home. Poor quality rocks are never going to turn out as nice as really good rocks. Let me know a little more about what you did, and I'll try to help you troubleshoot. Oh, I just thought of one more thing. Are you using 500 grit aluminum oxide? I haven't tried this with 500 silicon carbide because I never use 500 silicon carbide.
Thank you so much. I do not have a rotary tumbler, and I only got this guy for Christmas. I did the following: Step 1: 1 teaspoon 120-220 and ceramics for 24 hours. Burnished with Dawn and Borax. Step 2: .5 teaspoon 500 aluminum oxide with ceramics for 24 hours Step 3: I'm on this now...
@@staceyjamison6680 That explains why you're getting different results. You did something completely different than what I showed in the video. Rotary tumblers work different and have different results compared to vibratory tumblers. A rotary tumbler is much better at shaping a rock and removing holes. That's why I used a rotary tumbler for the first two steps. Even if the rocks were nice rounded rocks without holes right off the beach, I would at least run them for 24 hours in a rotary with 220 grit. Then, when I used my Lot-O, I used dry corn cob, not ceramic media. It's a completely different process than what you did. You're using a method that I would use for much harder rocks. Petoskey Stones are very soft compared to most other rocks and they require much different methods of tumbling. It's not a great rock to start with because it's a very difficult rock to do in a tumbler. I do think you could have success tumbling them as a first rock, but you'd have to do exactly what I show in the video.
Down here in Arkansas we have these same stones, brought in by glacial floods all the way from up your way, but they look different due to now being silicified and oxidized, turning their color to generally yellowish to orangish. They have the exact same patterns, but due to the silicification you can get a very high polish in a tumbler with them being run with local agates, chert, etc. Quite interesting!
I don't think they'd be the same rocks as our Petoskey Stones, but maybe a different kind of coral. Sometimes I find really white ones here that have been more silicified and they're hard like agates. They tend to have a lot of little voids in them and don't usually turn out great in the tumbler, even if they shine up. I'd love to see a picture of what you find in Arkansas. Do you know where I could find one? Have you posted pictures on Facebook or something? Is there a name I could search the Internet for?
So I learned a few things! Petoskey stones are actually 340 million years old Devonian Hexagonaria colony coral.. I found some in a road cut and a friend slab cut it.. I treaded a slab for uperlight
@@MichiganRocks the chunk I found has host rock...lol the sedimentary layers around it. And it's the size of a cantaloupe some is very crumbly but the section that can be slabbed is the size of a grapefruit.
Im gonna have to buy some of those to add to my fossil collection..it shouldnt be to difficult for me to find some online since they are the Michigan state rock and they seem to be everywhere up there..oh and some yooperites..just cause they are so farout !! Loved your video always so informitive and consice..and the slideshow was really cool..i dig the before and after timelaspe it really gives me great understanding of the steps involved and how the rocks change texture..thanks for shareing..have a better one !!😁
They're fossilized coral, so sea anemone might be the closest. That Culture Club song just came up in a discussion a couple weeks ago. I was tumbling carnelian. Someone mentioned the song "Karma Carnelian".
"Bob the big orange bowl" reminds me of my cousins wedding in Grand Rapids. My brother and I are both from Pittsburgh PA and we were up in Grand Rapids for my cousins wedding. Pittsburgh is a considerably larger city than Grand Rapids (about 3x more people, larger downtown area) so we were worried there wouldn't be "anything to do" after the wedding. We were picturing a small podunk town so we were pleasantly surprised when we saw "downtown" from our hotel. We looked on Google and it pointed us to "The BOB" (Big Old Building) in downtown Grand Rapids, which at the time was a sort of nightclub where all of Grand Rapids finest young ladies were dancing. It was funny to us because the club was so small and felt more like a house party in someone's home than a true nightclub. But regardless we had a great night. I suppose for the Grand Rapids cool kids it was quite the "big deal" at the time. We had a nice time dancing with a few pretty young Michiganders and I left with a positive impression of Grand Rapids as a nice town/small city. It's hard to put into words, on one hand it does have some of the trappings of city life, a downtown area, multiple bars and things to do, access to hospitals, theatre, culture etc... but none of the woes of massive cities like sprawling ghettos, insane traffic, danger of being mugged, or high crime/murder rate. It honestly looks like a nice place to have a family! Sorry for the long stupid story... I just had a nice flashback when you mentioned the "Big Orange Bowl" and it called up an old "Michigan Memory". I loved boating on the great lakes with my family who live up thataways. (Grand Rapids & Fenton/Holly areas)
I have only been to Grand Rapids a few times. It's funny how different our views on it are. I'm from Alpena, population about 10,000. You have to drive two hours from here to get to a bigger city. I was raised on an inland lake about 20 miles from here. Other than four years in college in Ann Arbor, I've always lived here. A couple years ago, my wife and I went to Grand Rapids and were planning to go to a restaurant downtown. There must have been some event that night because there were a lot of people on the streets and we couldn't find a parking lot. We took a couple laps around a few blocks and then just drove out of town to a nearby very small town and ended up at a nice little brewery. To us, that's a very big city and kind of scary to drive in. I understand that it's not really a big city, but it is to us. I'm much more comfortable on a two track in my Jeep than driving in heavy traffic.
@@MichiganRocks Well... from experience, don't go to Detroit then. 🤣🤣 20X larger than Grand Rapids but none of the positives. Although like yourself, my BEST memories from Michigan were always more rural wilderness areas, and on the various shores of the Great Lakes and little "off the beaten path" areas. Sleeping Bear Dunes was cool. Mackinack Island, kayaking in lake Huron. It is certainly a beautiful state.
You put a lot of time into this video taking a picture of every rock at every stage !!! My daughter just finished a batch of Petoskeys using your method. I’m not sure what amounts of polish and grit she used at each stage. Her pictures looked really nice but I haven’t seen them in person yet. Do you think that running them longer in the first stage would remove some of those dead eyes or are they pretty much the same way all through the stone ? Thanks for thanks for posting this very informative video !!!
I think the dead eyes vary. Some go deep and others not as deep. The more you grind away, the less rock you have left when you're done. I'd tell her to play around with a few and get the feel for it.
Old disabled house bound dusty rusty rockhound here: What I love about these stones is the beauty on so many levels...the mathematics...the biology....the geological history! It's an physical manifestation of the wonders of Mother Earth.
Yep, there's a lot of interesting stuff to love here.
This was very helpful. I bought a tumbler to polish Petoskey stones and then someone told me that you can't polish them in a tumbler. Thank you!
It's very difficult to tumble Petoskey Stones. I was told it was impossible too.
I have a vibratory and several large petoskey stones. Going to try the vibratory to knock em down to a more manageable size. Fingers crossed. 😊
I have to say that is one of the best tutorials I have ever seen on how to polish petoskey stones! Great job, Rob!!
Thanks Paul. I was happy with the way it turned out. Maybe a little long, I'm still working on that.
That was a lot of work setting up the slide show, but it really helps us to understand the stages. Thanks, Rob!
It was pretty time consuming, but I was happy with how it turned out.
Yes, a great video!!! I'll watch it again when I get home and start stumbling!
I absolutely love seeing the individual progression of each stone. Thank you for taking the time to capture all these images. Also, I prefer the finish on these stones better than the highly polished stone. Thank you.
I like them both ways. I was pleased with how the slideshow turned out. It's fun to watch them shine up in just a few seconds.
@@MichiganRocks So happy to have come across your, very clever, MICHIGAN ROCKS. Will you please share with me, what you believe to be the best investment for a tumbler, that I plan on utilizing all of my days. I have been collecting for decades, and at 57, I have the time to polish, and really treasure the process.
It became overwhelming when I began to review and shop them, understandably, for I am a beginner. I intend on tumbling all sizes, shapes, and hardness of rocks and gemstones. Thank you, kindly, and I do hope this mail finds you and yours well. Hopefully, you are also, back to busy in your classrooms, too. Respectfully, Laura Che.
@@laurache1779 I retired last year, so today I spent the day on the beach. My new office is even better than my old classroom.
I like Lortone rotary tumblers. I think the Lortone 33B is a good first tumbler. If you want something with larger barrels, consider the Lortone QT66 or QT12.
If you want to speed up the last three stages from about a month to a week, the Lot-O vibratory tumbler is really good. I like to do the first stage in a rotary tumbler and do the last three stages in a vibratory tumbler.
The Rock Shed usually has the best prices. Good tumblers have been hard to come by since COVID started though. I'd suggest sending them an email and asking to get on a wait list since everything will probably say that it's sold out. Sometimes he has a few things in stock, but they don't make it onto the website. rockshed.com
Wow! REALLY love the time-lapse technique. One can REALLY see the smoothing progression this way--it's a very successful technique! The corncob media certainly does the job tool Thank you for taking the time to make this video! We've all learned a lot from it.
Thanks Sally. I was pretty happy with how that slideshow turned out. It showed exactly what I wanted it to.
Well hell's bells!!!..I've been told this whole time that it's not possible to tumble petoskey!..and it just so happens that Santa pre delivered a vibe tumbler under my tree already!..now I'm going to have to go through the scores of petoskey stones in the basement and select which get the business and which doesn't. You have saved me from 100's of hours of hand sanding my friend. Your video is very easy to understand and I think I will be successful my first attempt at it. Thanks for taking the extra time to make this!
I was told that too. Heck, I told other people that because I believed it. Now you know better. Good luck with yours!
@@MichiganRocks learning new tricks is always fun,..I'll post my Petoskey when there finished, probably after the new year.. merry Christmas bud
@@manisteerocks7092 Merry Christmas, Wil.
Dude...your beauty progression of the stones footage is fabulous
Thanks Diane. I was pretty happy with the way that turned out.
I spent many an hour in the summer if 2019 sitting on the front porch hand polishing Petoskey Stones. What an amazing fossil!
That's why I can't stop picking them up! I'm glad you understand me.
I found about 50 Petoskey stones this weekend at our cabin. I have never tried to polish anything before but these seem like a fun project. Thank you for your video
I have a video on how to do them by hand too, if you don't have a tumbler. It was one of the first videos I made, so it's probably due for an update.
th-cam.com/video/sjImNrwR9As/w-d-xo.html
Just got out my newly polished Petoskey stones. They’re beautiful. It wasn’t without trial and error. But I would’ve been lost without you. Thank you!!! ❤️
I bought a used vibrational tumbler. It broke immediately. Got it fixed. Bought shitty polish, turned my stones green. Took it back to a lower grit to get off the green. Bought the polish you recommended. Cliff notes, first batch finally came out great. I bought Lyman corn cob media, I’m not sure if that was a good idea, it may have their polish already in it?
I'm not sure about the Lyman corn cob. I got some from the Rock Shed and also bought a bag from Walmart in the pet department. Mine didn't have abrasives in it until I added some aluminum oxide.
I think you probably learned a lot by making a few mistakes. I didn't figure this out by myself, but I did do some experimenting to get to where I am now. My first batches were not super successful.
Your videos have really inspired me. I bought both types of tumblers on ebay, and I'm going to tumble the Petoskey stones I've been collecting for years. Thank you!
Your'e welcome and good luck!
Thank you so much for this video! I just got my first tumbler yesterday (lot o tumbler) and have buckets of Petoskeys. I can't wait to get going. I'll have to experiment with the first two stages to see if I can replicate what you've done on your rotary. Hand polish is not possible for me, so I'm really looking forward to this. Thank you for all of your detailed videos, it makes it a lot less intimidating!
The Lot-O tumbler is a great choice. I really love mine. You can get most rocks really shiny in just a week or so, but they won't change shape much. They'll be pretty much the same shape as they went in, but they'll be shiny. I have never tried to tumble Petoskeys in just a Lot-O, but I'm sure it's possible. Don't be afraid to experiment.
Loved the slide show..Some were gorgeous in the middle stages....they seemed frosty and then sparkly...and finally clear and shiny.
The slideshow was my favorite part too. It took a little effort on my part, but was worth it because it turned out just like I was hoping it would.
I really appreciate your silent slide shows! I like seeing the progress of the stones, and I truly appreciate that you aren't inflicting the generic tinkle-tunes on all of us.
I kind of hate that music, so I find it hard to use. I'm glad you don't mind silence.
@@MichiganRocks silence lets me think my own thoughts. Admittedly mostly along the lines of "ooh pretty!" but still important.
You’ve sparked my interest again! I bought a rotary tumbler about 15 years ago, but with no good instruction, I gave up out of frustration.
Having a family reunion this summer in the UP and I know we’ll be hunting for petoskey’s. Thanks for your excellent videos with clear instructions!
I don’t know of any places in the U.P. where you’re likely to find Petoskeys, but there are a lot of other great rocks up there that are easier to tumble. Either way, have fun!
@@MichiganRocks Any suggestion’s for rocks? My brother wants to find those Yooperlites. We’ll be by Grand Marais and Crisp Point.
@@Gum05 That's where I found them. That whole area has them I think. I found mine at the Mouth of the Two Hearted River and also at the Lake Superior State Forest Campground. th-cam.com/video/7xzNiQmKpEw/w-d-xo.html
@@MichiganRocks Excellent! Thank you!
Interesting progressions and amazing transformations. Loved that slideshow. Now I can better understand why you are so careful in selecting your petoskey keepers.
Thanks. I really enjoyed the slideshow too. Although I see them all along the way, it's still cool too see the pictures back to back.
Thanks!!! Starting tumbling this year and hooked on the hobby. I was born near Ellsworth, MI... Petoskey stones are a part of my memory. My folks picked up a bunch of stones for me last time they visited up there. I know they're soft compared to other rocks so it's nice to know how to polish petoskeys!!!
This method is not easy and all the rocks will not turn out great, but it beats polishing by hand. You can also stop this process at any time and finish the rocks by hand with sandpaper if you prefer.
They are so pretty. I really prefer the texture of the finish on the tumbled ones. Makes it more unique to the stone.
I like them this way and polished. They're different, but I like both. I was really happy with how these turned out.
The slide show was fabulous. I know you spent quite a lot of time on it. Thank you for the step by step process.
I've really enjoyed binge watching all your videos. I've collected Petoskey stones all my life and never knew what to do with them. Thank you!
You're welcome! I'm glad you're finding them helpful.
You can really tell the difference in the stages. They sure do pop at the end. Came out awesome. Was fun to watch. Great video
Petoskey stones change more than a lot of rocks when polished. I love to watch the transformation.
LOL, "used to use my wife's toothbrush, but she didn't like that". Love your sense of humor, Rob.
Too bad my wife doesn't have a sense of humor about her toothbrush.
Best. Slideshow. Ever.
Thank you for taking the time to do that with these particular stones - it was awesome!!!
You're welcome, Holly. That slideshow took some time, but I really like how it turned out too.
Wow, what a transformation! Fantastic presentation of Petoskey stone polishing. Corncob media is a new to me. So is polishing without water. Thank you for this great instructional video!
There's actually a dry polishing mix made by Diamond Pacific called Vibra-Dry. It's similar to what I'm using, but I don't know the exact ingredients. It's pretty expensive so I've never tried it.
@@MichiganRocks I've got a lot to learn about tumbling with my Lot-O! Oh, and I found a supplier, Arrowhead Lapidary Supplies, that has the barrels.
@@MichiganRocks Hello! Can you use corn cob/dry media in a rotary tumbler for the 500 & polish stage? Have you tried it and if so how long per cycle? I have some Petoskey stones that are not showing any shine after 4 cycles (1 week per) in the rotary; course all the way through polish.
I could use some guidance please!
Thank you,
Wes
@@wesleymaxwell111 I have never tried this in a rotary tumbler. If you try it and it works, please report back for other people who might have the same question.
Thanks for the slide show! Great to see the different stages of progress. You really are a good teacher! Thank you!
You're welcome. That slide show was a lot of work, but I thought it turned out pretty good.
Fantastic! I really liked the slide show. It was very informative. Pictures tell a great story!
Glad you liked it!
Yes!! I love how informative you are this will help me significantly!!
That was the plan. Glad it worked.
Received a vibratory tumbler for Christmas so I hopped on to find this video and take some notes. I'm going to try this technique with some Petoskeys very soon. Thanks as always for your videos!
Good luck!
I just found my first,and almost all the markings were wore down,so thank you so much, your the only one I would trust with my Beautiful Stone in the end!Thank You so MUCH!😊
You're welcome!
Those turned out really nice. I love when they end up looking like a turtle shell. Thanks for sharing
That's why I use them as turtle shells. th-cam.com/video/DIOBskqTRDc/w-d-xo.html
Rob! I met the guy who designed your rock tumbler cabinet at the Detroit Gem Show. I was there on Sunday, I missed you the day before on Saturday. I have been hand polishing my Petoskeys for the last few years but I think I might run some via this method here in the tumblers. Thank You 🙏
Chuck is a great guy. I’m glad you got to meet him. He and I learned this stuff together. We both got into it through our kids. He’s more skilled than I am though.
Loved the whole video, very informative, has me thinking. What a great idea with the slide show. It was so amazing to see a gray rock transform into something spectacular, the detail of the stone come through with each step, incredible. Great job
Thanks Chris. I was really happy with the way the slideshow turned out. I think that transformation is what keeps me doin g this.
Those petasky rocks look lovely. The amazing patterns when they were polished. Was interesting to see the stages from rough to shiny. So good thank you Rob
You're welcome, Tony. If you're ever in Michigan, don't refer to them as Petoskey rocks. They're always called Petoskey stones. Just thought you should know.
@@MichiganRocks oh thank you Rob, yes I should of known. I wish one day to come there. It's a beautiful country
@@tonywild1963 No reason to know that if you didn't live here. That's why I said something.
Wow, I love the progression photos you took. Brilliant! 23:39 would have been something I would have thrown back into the lake because it looked washed out. I didn't know a washed out Petoskey could look so good.
I made the slide show look like as dramatic of a change as I could. I did that by taking all the pictures dry. I could never pick Petoskey stones dry. That's why I always hunt them in the lake. Those rough rocks all look much better wet. When I took pictures for the slideshow, I shot each rock both wet and dry so that I could see the pattern on the rock well enough to match up the pictures.
Fantastic instructions and attention to detail on the slideshow.
I've heard it said a few times that softer stones/gems (Mohs
I've shown you what needs to be changed, but I can't give you a really good explanation of why they are harder to polish. I do know that it's not just hardness that matters. For example, crumbly or brittle rocks don't typically tumble well either, no matter if they are hard or not.
Such a great tutorial, Rob! I belong to a couple FB rock groups. There are frequent questions about tumbling rocks vs. painting /spraying them with a shellac or plastic coating. One was from a mother of a 12 yr old boy who had just found a really nice Petoskey while camping, and wanted advice on preserving it. One person suggested Mod Podge (shudder!). I suggested they check out your YT vid on how to hand polish them. Given the young man’s age, and how his mom professed him to be a budding ‘rock hound’, I said it was well worth the time to find out how to do it ‘right’, that it would make her son that much more appreciative of his find, and would be proud of showing off his specimen, having put the time and effort into it, to make it the best it could be💁🏻♀️😀! Thank you for all of the time and effort you put into your productions!😍🙋🏻♀️👍🌈☀️
I appreciate you sharing my videos. I don’t spend much time on Facebook and then I feel like I’m spamming my own videos when I suggest them. I love when I see someone else suggesting my videos.
I appreciate how chill you are. Also very nice finished product. Nice work!
Thanks!
This is good to know. I threw my Petoskey Stone in my tumble and at the end of the week it was pretty smooth and the fossil design was gone. Lessons learned. Next time I'll watch your videos first!
Wow so amazing . I loved seeing the whole process. I was amazed at the difference in shine when they came out of the polish stage. They are very pretty, also my favorite stone is the one that was your favorite. The patterns in it reminded me of sea shells❤. 😍🥰😇💜💙💚👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
These rocks really change a lot from how I find them to how they look polished. Fun, fun, fun!
@@MichiganRocks Yes very fun .😍🥰😇❤
Well, mounting my vibratory tumbler to the cement block did the trick. It functions beautifully. Thanks for the help.
That’s a pretty important thing to do.
Beautiful job 👏 I loved seeing the progress slides. The first bowl was Bob. I feel the blue bowl should have a name🙂
Bbb is harder to pronounce.
Those really turned out nice! Your tumbler system is awesome!
Thanks. Are you going to give it a try?
@@MichiganRocks I would like to, but on a smaller scale
Excellent video. Very informative and well-constructed as well as great editing. So good!!
Thanks!
Very interesting how the visualization of the white lines are clarified by the polishing process. They resemble a blanket stitch!
I don't know what a blanket stitch is, so I'll take your word for that.
These stones are so beautiful polished!
That's why I keep picking them up.
Thanks for taking the time to teach us! Been waiting ever so patiently for this particular video. I added a horn coral and a Charlevoix stone to the rotary to see how its gonna turn out in the end.
I hope it lived up to your expectations. Charlevoix stone and horn coral should work just fine with this method. I've done Charlevoix this way, but not horn coral.
I put those three together. The horn coral turns out really well too. If they aren't quite shiny enough I take them to my buffer and polish with a little ZAM
@@cndegg You've gotta love Zam.
That was a fantastic demonstration that soft stones can in fact polish very nicely . And a very well played slide show. Beautifully done , simple isn't easy , you made it look easy.. Great tutorial Rob very informative. See you on the next one. Cheers
These are a challenge for sure, but they can come out very nice.
Thank you for this video! I had heard that any and all Petoskey stones had to be hand polished. I'm so happy that this is not so.
I used to believe that too. It's definitely not the case.
Absolutely use the tumbler, and get almost the same look. The slide show was very awesome! Thank you for sharing!
I was pretty happy with how the slideshow turned out.
Hahaha. I didn’t catch the toothbrush antic until I watched again. Which brings up a memory of my sister using my mom’s toothbrush to clean her comb, when we were kids in the 60’s.
Smart sister. Who wants to use their own comb for that?
Thanks for sharing this awesome video. Perfect timing to see this. I’m currently waiting on another rock trade from Michigan and super excited to in getting some of those stones. I’m going to try this out 🤘😁🤙. The slide show at the end is 🔥🔥🔥
Good luck! They're really soft, which makes tumbling difficult, but you can also hand sand them if you want to.
I bet you are!
@@manisteerocks7092 yep if USPS will ever deliver it
Great video. Mucho thanks!!! ( I found a large P. Stone, and it is fantastic!) Showed it to my 2nd grade students, and they were enthralled!
Polish it up and they might like it even more.
Excellent info, thanks for taking the time to make this video. This will save me a lot of time.
You're welcome. I hope it works well for you.
Thank you! I’ve got a bunch I’ve wanted to polish but it takes so much time and effort by hand! I will try your method!
Good luck! The quality of the rock matters a lot, so don't expect miracles to happen.
Hi im Rebecca from the uk x i love watching your videos. Thank you. I look after my mum and dont get out much x
I'm glad you're enjoying them!
Great job on the slideshow at the end! I appreciate all the effort. Thanks Rob!
You’re welcome, Spencer!
That was a great video, transformations at the end was really cool. Jealous of the set up you have👌. I need to upgrade & give some love to my polishing equipment/see up
I worked my way up to this set up over several years. My tumbling equipment was purchased new, but most everything else was used.
This is really helpful. I have a lot of Petoskey stones I like but don't have the time to hand polish. Thank you!
You're welcome!
Your explanations are very clear and easy to follow. And these stones are very beautiful! I wish I could find some for my collection. Maybe a trip to Lake Huron when it will be possible. Thank you so much!
I think you'd enjoy looking for them. There are a lot in Lake Michigan too.
I love the petoskey stones! Thank you for sharing how you do this. Can't wait until I get to go to your state next summer. There's so many awesome stones there. They sure are beautiful rocks!🌟
Where do you plan to go next summer? I'd love to get back to your state sometime. My wife will be retired next summer, so I hope I can talk her into more traveling. I love traveling, but she doesn't sleep well in hotels.
@@MichiganRocks I want to go to Duluth and upper Michigan. My mom never been to either. I hope you can talk your wife into traveling. Wyoming is a beautiful state. Not much to see in some parts of the state. Southern Wyoming is high desert plateau. I live in Buffalo Wyoming at the foot of the Big Horn mountains. Have you thought about a camper? Maybe she would like that better. Smaller ones wouldn't be to hard to tow.
@@wyomingadventures I have thought about a camper or a motor home, but I don't know if I'd enjoy hauling it around. I don't have a pickup and my two door Jeep won't haul anything but a small pop up.
We will do some traveling, I'm just not sure how much. We took a two week trip when out kids were young the included Wyoming. We went to the Mount Rushmore area, Yellowstone/Grand Tetons, Glacier, and Banff. It was a great trip. I'd really like to go back to some of those places and many others as well.
I just saw you and Wildkyle picking these up. They are so pretty. I love looking for and collecting stones. But I live in Georgia and we don't have that here. Wish I could travel to Michigan. These Petoskey stones look like just like coral. I love it.
They are our state stone, and one of my favorites to find and to work with.
Thank you, it is amazing to see the patterns and cell walls come out with the process. Beautiful!
That’s why I love these so much.
Nice work. One of my first tumble attempts was a batch of my grandfather's Petoskey stones, in a rotary, didn't research at all, and I succeeded in making them...smaller. Thanks for sharing.
Not an easy rock to tumble. Terrible rock to try first. It took me a long time to figure this out. It wasn't completely my idea, but I tweaked the recipe until I got it to work like this.
@@MichiganRocks with it being softer, do you think a little time with something like 1,000 aluminum oxide between the 500 aluminum oxide and the final polish would change the end result any?
@@LanceDean I tried that and didn't notice a difference, so I eliminated that step.
Thanks for this video! I’ve only recently started tumbling rocks and was looking for a guide on petoskey stones since I ruined a couple of mine during my first attempt with them. I only have a rotary tumbler at the moment, but I will keep this video in mind for when I’m able to get a vibratory tumbler. Still might experiment with soley using the rotary, but I understand that might not go well since petoskeys are softer rocks. Thanks again!
If you try dry corn cob in your rotary, I'd let them go for a week instead of two days. I'm not sure if it will work or not, but that's what I'd do. You can also run the first two stages in your rotary and then finish them by hand with sand paper. Here's a video of how to do that: th-cam.com/video/IBRq7dPD0Lk/w-d-xo.html
@@MichiganRocks Appreciate it, thanks again! I think I’ll try the corn cob in the rotary to see if it will work at some point, and if not I’ll go with the sandpaper method.
@@halfshadows6187 checking in after a year - do you have an update on how it went with using dry corn cob in your rotary?
@@HalesBabe1 unfortunately I don’t. I am at college at the moment and don’t have a good place to use the tumbler. I will try to check back in here when I finally do get around to it.
Cool! Thank you for all your videos this year. You made this year much more bearable. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!
Making videos has given me something to do to stay sane too. I guess it worked out well for both of us. Merry Christmas!
@@MichiganRocks thank you 😁
Thats cool. I love both ways myself. Now I have to go get corncob and try that. Thanks for teaching us something new. We'll at least me.
That was the plan. I like teaching. I'm glad you liked it.
You have tought me so much about polishing rocks and what they are called. I have tumbled several batches now. Some I dont feel are as shiny as yours are but could be the kind of lighting. Still look nice though.
@@donnalantz7981 I think sometimes they almost look better in pictures. Sometimes they look better in real life though. Hard to compare your own rocks to someone else's pictures.
You just seem to have a higher shine then what I get i think. Maybe not. You do have better lighting and I think that adds to it. Next year I will have a better place to do my rocks in and with better lighting.
@@donnalantz7981 One of the first things I bought to help with TH-cam videos was a couple of pretty nice LED lights on stands. I use them all the time.
Thank you for doing this it’s very helpful for someone just starting out
You're welcome, I'm glad I can help.
I like that method that you use to polish the Petoskey stones I've been experimenting with some that ain't real Greek in the tumbler but I could not get them polished so at the end I would polish them with zam and they would come out good I think I'm going to try your way with the last two stages I don't have a lotto vibratory Tumblr but I have one that I use for shell casings I think it would do the same I just got to get different media I like your channel and you have taught me a lot in tumbling and do experiments to make it better.
Those brass tumblers are not designed for the weight of rocks, but with corn cob and just a few rocks, I think it should work fine. I'm glad you're experimenting. I think that's when I learn the most because I have to put some thought into what I'm doing and then I get feedback from the results of my experiment. At first, I just followed directions and didn't always understand why I was doing what I was doing.
Здравствуйте!)
Спасибо за интересное видео)
Все камни очень красивые. Больше понравились те, которые после галтовки, у них просматривается структура и поэтому они кажутся более "живыми".
Камень, отполированный шкуркой, тоже интересный, большой плюс для меня то, что внизу видно, как он выглядел до обработки.
Удачи Вам и здоровья)!
Спасибо. Это окаменелости кораллов возрастом 350 миллионов лет, называемые гексагонариями. Их еще называют «камнями Петоски». Это государственный камень Мичигана.
Они мне очень нравятся) Понимаю, почему они признаны, как государственные камни Мичигана)...
У нас я не видела таких, хотя часто собираю камни...
В прошлое лето я нашла один камень с двумя небольшими следами окаменелостей типа древних губок. Но этот камень никому, кроме меня, не интересен)
Very cool. I will have to look into using this - and look into walnut shells - I have bags of them as they are also used for kitty litter. Glad I got a Lot-o (just need to finish setting it up). Off to read up on media! Thanks for the excellent video and slideshow.
I use corncob, not walnut shells. Walnut shells might work, I just haven’t used them.
@@MichiganRocks I just think it is kind of cool that you can use pet supplies for some polishing. I am reading that walnut shells are used for “blasting” to remove paint and coatings, and to tumble brass, other metals - as well as polishing. Corn cob can also be used to clean and polish brass in tumblers. Walnut shells are harder.
@@virginiarocks Walnut might work fine too. I have thought about trying it, but never have.
@@MichiganRocks I’ll report as soon as I find out. I might have some rather poor Petoskey stones I found last summer to test with.
Beautifully done. Thank you for all your hard work.
Thanks and you're welcome.
Great rocks and tutorial on petoskeys. We have a bunch to do yet!;! Merry Christmas!!!
Thanks! Merry Christmas to you too!
Hello MR, excellent video. I'm going to give it a go, but will have to wait a bit. I'm glad to know the ones with deep pits will smooth out, I wasn't going to do anything with those. Mine are much larger. I am anxious to get them going. Thanks so much for making this video!
You can also just tumble through 220 grit and then hand polish from there.
Really like these rocks. They turned out great 👍
Thanks!
Nice recipe. They look great! TFS 💖🦅🦅
You're welcome!
As always enjoy your videos, and very helpful. Going to try some corn cob polish myself, thank you for the tips. You pave the way for us.
I'm glad to help.
I did 24 hours both of step one and step 2 in the Lot-o-tumbler, but my rocks still don't show the pattern dry as much as yours do. They look amazing under water. I'm not sure where I went wrong. Do you have a digital media presence outside of TH-cam where people can ask you questions? You're my internet MVP at the moment 😏
You can ask questions right here. I try my best to respond to all comments in some way.
Did you start your rocks in a rotary tumbler? You only mentioned steps one and two in the Lot-O. My first two steps are in a rotary tumbler, and the third and fourth steps are in the Lot-O. It's important to have them looking pretty good before the corn cob steps start.
If you did do the first two steps in a rotary, I'm not sure what the problem would be. These were better than average rocks that I tumbled in this video. If you've watched my beach videos, you'll know that I'm pretty picky about what I take home. Poor quality rocks are never going to turn out as nice as really good rocks.
Let me know a little more about what you did, and I'll try to help you troubleshoot.
Oh, I just thought of one more thing. Are you using 500 grit aluminum oxide? I haven't tried this with 500 silicon carbide because I never use 500 silicon carbide.
Thank you so much. I do not have a rotary tumbler, and I only got this guy for Christmas. I did the following:
Step 1: 1 teaspoon 120-220 and ceramics for 24 hours. Burnished with Dawn and Borax.
Step 2: .5 teaspoon 500 aluminum oxide with ceramics for 24 hours
Step 3: I'm on this now...
@@staceyjamison6680 That explains why you're getting different results. You did something completely different than what I showed in the video.
Rotary tumblers work different and have different results compared to vibratory tumblers. A rotary tumbler is much better at shaping a rock and removing holes. That's why I used a rotary tumbler for the first two steps. Even if the rocks were nice rounded rocks without holes right off the beach, I would at least run them for 24 hours in a rotary with 220 grit.
Then, when I used my Lot-O, I used dry corn cob, not ceramic media. It's a completely different process than what you did. You're using a method that I would use for much harder rocks. Petoskey Stones are very soft compared to most other rocks and they require much different methods of tumbling. It's not a great rock to start with because it's a very difficult rock to do in a tumbler. I do think you could have success tumbling them as a first rock, but you'd have to do exactly what I show in the video.
I'm doing the corn cob media now with the 500 grit. I think it'll be a while until I can get a rotary tumbler. :-(
@@staceyjamison6680 Let me know how it goes.
Down here in Arkansas we have these same stones, brought in by glacial floods all the way from up your way, but they look different due to now being silicified and oxidized, turning their color to generally yellowish to orangish. They have the exact same patterns, but due to the silicification you can get a very high polish in a tumbler with them being run with local agates, chert, etc. Quite interesting!
I don't think they'd be the same rocks as our Petoskey Stones, but maybe a different kind of coral. Sometimes I find really white ones here that have been more silicified and they're hard like agates. They tend to have a lot of little voids in them and don't usually turn out great in the tumbler, even if they shine up.
I'd love to see a picture of what you find in Arkansas. Do you know where I could find one? Have you posted pictures on Facebook or something? Is there a name I could search the Internet for?
Love the video! Very informative, have a bunch of petoskys, looking forward to tumbling mine!
Very very cool project!!! Thanks for sharing!
You're welcome. I had fun making this one.
That is one great tutorial! Thank you Rob!
You're welcome, Melinda!
So I learned a few things! Petoskey stones are actually 340 million years old Devonian Hexagonaria colony coral..
I found some in a road cut and a friend slab cut it.. I treaded a slab for uperlight
Yep, that's what Petoskey Stone is. Nice find on one big enough to slab. I have trouble finding them big enough and shaped right to clamp in my vice.
@@MichiganRocks the chunk I found has host rock...lol the sedimentary layers around it. And it's the size of a cantaloupe some is very crumbly but the section that can be slabbed is the size of a grapefruit.
@@rebeccaofsunnybrookefarm8469 That should be enough to get some nice slabs from.
Awesome video Rob. I really loved the slide show ☺️
Thanks, Jesper.
Hello Rob. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome job and great informational video.
Thanks!
Im gonna have to buy some of those to add to my fossil collection..it shouldnt be to difficult for me to find some online since they are the Michigan state rock and they seem to be everywhere up there..oh and some yooperites..just cause they are so farout !! Loved your video always so informitive and consice..and the slideshow was really cool..i dig the before and after timelaspe it really gives me great understanding of the steps involved and how the rocks change texture..thanks for shareing..have a better one !!😁
Petoskey stones are pretty common so they shouldn't be too hard to find. It's important to look them over and make sure they're of decent quality.
@@MichiganRocks thanks..from watching your videos i have a understanding of what quality should be
Oh I do so enjoy sending this out when I run across someone saying “no you can’t tumble Petoskeys”
In Rob I trust
It's difficult to do them well, but it is possible.
Those look really cool. They remind me of a wasp nest, or bird’s eye maple, or maybe sea anemone.
“I’ll tumble for ya!” (Boy George)
They're fossilized coral, so sea anemone might be the closest. That Culture Club song just came up in a discussion a couple weeks ago. I was tumbling carnelian. Someone mentioned the song "Karma Carnelian".
Beautiful piece!
They turned out So beautiful
Thanks, Mayra!
"Bob the big orange bowl" reminds me of my cousins wedding in Grand Rapids. My brother and I are both from Pittsburgh PA and we were up in Grand Rapids for my cousins wedding. Pittsburgh is a considerably larger city than Grand Rapids (about 3x more people, larger downtown area) so we were worried there wouldn't be "anything to do" after the wedding. We were picturing a small podunk town so we were pleasantly surprised when we saw "downtown" from our hotel. We looked on Google and it pointed us to "The BOB" (Big Old Building) in downtown Grand Rapids, which at the time was a sort of nightclub where all of Grand Rapids finest young ladies were dancing. It was funny to us because the club was so small and felt more like a house party in someone's home than a true nightclub. But regardless we had a great night. I suppose for the Grand Rapids cool kids it was quite the "big deal" at the time. We had a nice time dancing with a few pretty young Michiganders and I left with a positive impression of Grand Rapids as a nice town/small city. It's hard to put into words, on one hand it does have some of the trappings of city life, a downtown area, multiple bars and things to do, access to hospitals, theatre, culture etc... but none of the woes of massive cities like sprawling ghettos, insane traffic, danger of being mugged, or high crime/murder rate. It honestly looks like a nice place to have a family! Sorry for the long stupid story... I just had a nice flashback when you mentioned the "Big Orange Bowl" and it called up an old "Michigan Memory". I loved boating on the great lakes with my family who live up thataways. (Grand Rapids & Fenton/Holly areas)
I have only been to Grand Rapids a few times. It's funny how different our views on it are. I'm from Alpena, population about 10,000. You have to drive two hours from here to get to a bigger city. I was raised on an inland lake about 20 miles from here. Other than four years in college in Ann Arbor, I've always lived here.
A couple years ago, my wife and I went to Grand Rapids and were planning to go to a restaurant downtown. There must have been some event that night because there were a lot of people on the streets and we couldn't find a parking lot. We took a couple laps around a few blocks and then just drove out of town to a nearby very small town and ended up at a nice little brewery. To us, that's a very big city and kind of scary to drive in. I understand that it's not really a big city, but it is to us. I'm much more comfortable on a two track in my Jeep than driving in heavy traffic.
@@MichiganRocks Well... from experience, don't go to Detroit then. 🤣🤣 20X larger than Grand Rapids but none of the positives. Although like yourself, my BEST memories from Michigan were always more rural wilderness areas, and on the various shores of the Great Lakes and little "off the beaten path" areas. Sleeping Bear Dunes was cool. Mackinack Island, kayaking in lake Huron. It is certainly a beautiful state.
@@ralphralpherson9441 My daughter lives near Detroit. I don't like it down there much. Way too busy.
You put a lot of time into this video taking a picture of every rock at every stage !!! My daughter just finished a batch of Petoskeys using your method. I’m not sure what amounts of polish and grit she used at each stage. Her pictures looked really nice but I haven’t seen them in person yet. Do you think that running them longer in the first stage would remove some of those dead eyes or are they pretty much the same way all through the stone ? Thanks for thanks for posting this very informative video !!!
I think the dead eyes vary. Some go deep and others not as deep. The more you grind away, the less rock you have left when you're done. I'd tell her to play around with a few and get the feel for it.
Good job. Im going to to this after all the stones i have thrown away in Mich. I have had diamond too from a shore.
Good luck with your project. I hope they turn out great for you.
Thank you for this! This is super helpful. We love your videos!
You're welcome, now go polish a Petoskey Stone!
Awesome job, thanks for sharing!
You're welcome!
They Look good. I'll probably never get a chance to tumble Petoskey stones because there aren't many in Iowa lol. Nice job
Yeah, this is more of a Michigander video.
@@MichiganRocks but we do have plenty of corn cobs here lol
Wow what a difference when tumbled 😲❤
Yep, I love that transformation.
I have a made from afossil rock my daughter got me when she lived in Petosky,,one of my favorite places along with charlivoix
Petoskeys are my favorite, but Charlevoix stones are really nice too.
Might want to try a 50/50 mix of corn cob and fine walnut shell. Does a fabulous job polishing brass which is rather soft (as a metal that is).
Yeah, that would be interesting to try. I should also try just straight walnut while I'm at it. s
Fantastic Job