Rock Tumbling Dirt Road Finds - "Stage Four & Burnishing"
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ย. 2020
- Watch as I remove this batch of dirt road finds rocks from their final polish stage (stage four) in the rock tumbler and burnish them.
Follow me on Instagram @stuffoftheoutsides / stuffoftheoutsides - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Thank You Lance much appreciated. So, Lance just so you know Lance " YOU'RE THE BEST I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS MY FRIEND 👍❤️😃👋
Enjoyed your video. I’ve been tumbling rocks for about a year. Hauled about 20 tons of river rock on my driveway and it’s been a treasure trove for the tumblers. Early on I started adding borax to every stage. I think it keeps the grit in suspension better and helps the cutting process. I switched to vibratory tumblers for everything after the first stage. It cuts the polish time to about 1/3 of doing every in the rotary barrel. I do like you, between grit stages I do a brief tumble with borax only and it helps with the cleaning process. A 30-45 minute burnish stage after final polish leaves my rocks finished shiny like wet glass.
Those rocks are beautiful! Thanks for all the information also.
I usually use Ivory bar soap grated to burnish, but I have also used borax. But you are correct. Borax can be harsh to softer stones.
I also use the tumbler to gain the desired shapes for the rock than move them to a vibrating unit for next steps. I also remove the ceramic media prior to polishing stage and the burnish stage.
Great results! I got to find myself some nice dirt roads! I tend to leave my rocks to burnish betwee 12 and 24 hours, in Borax, but that's more because of my schedule than anything else. It's just easier for me to start it in the evening and stop it the next day. I also clean with Borax for at least an hour between after stages 2 and 3 to make sure the rocks and barrel are completley clean. Thanks!
Very nice video! The rocks sure look pretty! Thanks for sharing with us! 😊
Love your collection.
Nicely done Lance. Your video was most helpful.
They came out amazing and you gave such clear instructions. I am obsessed with my tumbler. So much so that I just ordered a second one which is a double tumbler. Being stuck inside, which is okay since I am a shut in anyways, having this hobby really keeps me happy. I can't wait to get my first completed rocks. I have been running my tumbler since I received it for Christmas but I keep starting new projects because I needed to purchase the other stuff for the forth cycle. I have everything on the way and am so excited. Your video gave me all the needed information I was trying to find again so I can have the best out come. Thank you! 😊😊😊
Well thanks! There's always plenty of room for experimentation!
@@LanceDean What experiments do you recommend?
@@KandiAnne84 just figuring out what methods work for you. There are different grits and polishes, different media (ceramic versus plastic), different ways to burnish (Borax versus Ivory soap shavings versus no burnishing), burnishing more, burnishing less, different lengths of tumbling times, all kinds of things to try.
@@LanceDean Oh 😳 wow! Thank you so much. I screenshot your reply. I do have Ivory soap and borax and just ordered more rocks and zinc oxide and a new brand of the grit also. I am excited to try new things and this was exactly the information I needed. 😊😊😊
Thanks 4 all the great advice. LOVE looking at your rocks
Interesting information on other people's technique's on different ways to tumble and also burnishing. I myself use a lorotone 33b,..it has run non stop 24hrs a day,7 days a week for 4 yrs straight now,with no problems. Simply said, it's the best tumbler made in the dual drum department. Now, a few things that caught my eyes and ears were, 1. In all my years tumbling I've been told not to use liquid soap,of ANY kind. It will ruin your drum and possibly your rocks. I've had many friends do it anyway, and had bad results. So I'll pass on the Dawn. 2. Burnishing has it's pros and cons. You have to be extremely discriminate on what you burnish. As you said, if you have ANY cracks/holes/ rough spots, these defaults in the stones will kill a while drum!..I recently tumbled some Botswana agates, and stage one lasted 3 weeks before I could move on. I'm pleased how you emphasize how important each stage is and making sure the stones are free and clear of any grit or pockets. I've ruined a few drums in my early months of tumbling by not being 100% on each stage. Burnishing between stages is totally not needed tho,..that would be a waste of time in my book,but that's my opinion. Some rocks don't need burnishing at all,..a little cerium oxcide tumble after stage 4 does the trick. Cerium oxcide is wicked high grade polish that puts a nice glassy shine on most anything, especially quartz and Jasper..I'm looking forward to seeing more of your videos and seeing what you do for steps...I appreciate it..nice rocks by the way!
Yeah, I'd stick with the Borax or shaved Ivory soap for burnishing. But I did use the blue liquid Dawn soap once and it did do an excellent job, but yes it contains chemicals that could mess up your batch and your drum. Thanks for watching! 👍
@@LanceDean it's funny how from South to North how ppl do things..but I tell you one thing,u got that plate of food right!!!
I use the Borax after I saw your videos. My rock are awesome but I use it every stage. Actually you're instructions are awesome but you leave space for experimention.
Borax is a magical tool in rock tumbling. Since this video, I've started also using 1 tablespoon of Borax per 3 pounds of rated barrel capacity IN with my grit and polish to help thicken up slurry as well. It's great for both cleaning and thickening!
Borax during every grit is a major game changer when cleaning between grits
Thank you, you have all the right info, this helps out this novice💖🙏💯
They turned out so amazing looking. I really enjoyed the video ! Keep Rocking :)
Thank you!
Thank you for the squeeze tip. I always have trouble getting that darn thing out. Lol
Nice!
From west central West Virginia, near the Ohio River, thanks for the heads up, Sir!
I gotta say I tumbled my first rocks with nothing but Ajax and it took about 4 weeks, the ran just water about 2 weeks but they actually looked better than the next batch I did and ordered grits and polish for.. lol I was just trying out the tumbler and decided to try ajax cause I had it available.. I may just go back to that if I can't figure out these grits! lol on the plus side, my rocks smelled fresh n clean too and ajax is cheap! :)
Beautiful thank you for sharing
Side of the road! Not bad, not bad at all 😁. And inspiring to me because I have a similar situation in terms of finding rocks, though in my case it’s because I live in a city, but I bet even though we don’t have so many dirt or gravel roads, we probably have plenty of places where gravel can be found if I keep my eyes peeled!
Have you thought about putting a diamond blade on your angle grinder and shaping your rocks that have issues that could cause you problems at some point? Also I feel having 1 barrel for each stage and only using that barrel for that stage can save you the stress of worrying about if you got every piece of grit out each time you need to change stages. At that point you only need focus on cleaning the rocks. Love the road finds. In most areas they can be nice.y our area is very very. I can imagine the rock quarries that they came from
Thanks for the info, 30 minute burnish time sounds better than the 4 day burnishing time my harbor freight instructions say :)
They look great
Nice rocks man, if u ask me thay look well worth the month of tumbling.
I love the rocks I love rocks you’re doing good I will make more myself
Hey there Lance Dean, wow! you have some awesome dirt roads, very cool finds and great results! I have been doing a 24-hour bubble bath (Borax) between each stage and then a borax burnish at the end, my last couple of loads though I ended up doing a final borax run, then an Ivory soap 24-hour burnish on top of that, do I need to go to burnishers anonymous? LOL. I thought they did look shinier, but that may be because I wanted them to, a sort of optical placebo effect. We need to find a rock tumbler who works at a place with high tech optical equipment.
I just burnished my agates for about a day or two. I used a tablespoon of $1 store dish washing liquid and a teaspoon of Lemi shine. They look pretty dull. I use the same HF tumblers. Any suggestions how to get a shine? I used MJ tumblers 4 stage grits. I even tumbled over a month in the coarse stage and kept changing out my coarse grit. My black plastic tumbler knobs are completely smooth now and work off after tumbling. The tumbler was brand new before I started. I wonder if HF sells replacement knobs?
I didn’t now borax is magic! Thank you so much!
Well, Borax is most definitely not magic. It just helps clean things up before you start over. 😉
Enjoyed your video! Just now getting into tumbling, have a Lortone 33b and working on my 1st batch, please advise on finding rocks to tumble at a reasonable price. I have quite a few from around my local area, but I’d like to try rocks from all over, if there not too expensive!
There are rock swap groups on Facebook. You can swap or just buy rocks from others that way. I've also had great success with the rough rocks I've purchased online from TheRockShed.com at reasonable pricing. Thanks for watching!
@@LanceDean The Rock Shed has very competitive prices.
Hi Lance I've just found your channel I love watching Rock Tumbling Videos. I've got The National Geographic Hobby Rock Tumbler. Which is still in the box i haven't had time to do any Rock Tumbling due to some Health Medical Issues. Lance how long do you Tumble you're Stones?
You'll want to always use that National Geographic on the slowest speed. Usually 7 to 10 days per stage, repeating the first stage (clean out, refill, and repeat) until the rocks are shaped and as "clean" looking as you prefer before moving on to the second stage. It's very, very rare for just one round of first stage to be enough. Good luck!
What do you do with the rocks when you are done? Do you have a big display? I’m wondering about ways I can use the rocks or display once I’ve done multiple batches.
Right now most are in big glass pickle jars. I'm learning how to wire wrap sorta. You can buy lamps that have huge glass fillable bases, that's a neat idea, too.
Newbie at Tock tumbling and I really enjoyed the very thorough information you shared. Thanks.
Are you saying Barnish, Bernish, Vernish or Varnish?
ive used 20 mule and also ivory soap i grate... for me and maybe its the water in my area. the ivory disolves better
I've heard the Ivory soap gives amazing results.
What are your final polishing steps? I ran steps 1,2,3 & 4 (1200 grit) for 1 week each, rocks are not shiny. Do you recommend 8000 or 14000 grit? And burnishing with soap or borax? thanks!!!
My final polish doesn't have a number, it's the aluminum oxide final polish from The Rock Shed. Sorry, I just don't know.
Any advice for a newbie? I’ve run through 4 stages at seven days each. They didn’t turn out shiny and I think the ivory soap at the end made it worse. I’m using various stones (a few Petoskey) and I have no idea what I’m doing wrong. Been using poly plastic media and ceramic pellets. I really appreciate it!
Sounds like you're tumbling softer rocks. When you get softer stones (like Mohs hardness of 6 and less) getting a shine is difficult. Petoskey won't shine using normal rock tumbling methods as it's too soft as well. The Michigan Rocks channel has a good video on Petoskey polishing using corn cob media.
You can cheat by spraying your stones with a clear acrylic polish.
Iam at end of stage three pre polish I noticed when I cleaned them they aren't showing any shine. Do I barnish before the final polish
You can, some people do. I usually don't, I just clean well. A shine usually won't appear until you're done with final polish.
You burnish after stage 4. and they wont shine after stage 3 they will just have a dull luster still. thats normal.
Do you have any information on your bigger rock tumbler that's in the background?
I'm not sure which one you may be referring to. In this video I think I had a pair of Lortone 45C rotaries and my Lortone 33B rotary. Since this was made (I think) I've added on a Lortone QT12 rotary, too.
nice
Hello, we no longer find borax in my home... what can I replace it with if possible? THANKS
Many people use a shaved bar of plain Ivory soap. Just plain Ivory bar soap. Not a different soap, not a detergent or harsher soap.
Ok je connaissais pas, un savon ivory ? Merci beaucoup 😊
Are all those stones from just two drum loads?
Yes, two 3 pound capacity barrels.
Need information
Can You Please tell me What is The Best Rock Tumbler to purchase?
The "best" would be one that fills your needs and size requirements. If you're a beginner, I'd recommend a Lortone 3A or 33B. The 3A is a single drum, the 33B is a dual drum. They will handle rocks up to golfball size easily. If you tumble larger rocks, look at a Lortone 45C. If you tumble a lot of rocks and big rocks, look into a Lortone QT12 or QT66. Many people also use a Thumlers brand tumbler, they are supposed to be good quality. Lortone and Thumlers are USA products with replacement parts easily available and high resale value.
Lortone for sure. Don’t bother with the National Geographic ones they are trouble.
If you tumble a rock with crystals in a vug, does it wear down the crystals?
In my experience, yes, some, but it also kind of brings out they way they look. I've never tried it, but some people say filling the vugs with hot glue before tumbling preserves them - just remove the hot glue at the end.
@@LanceDean brilliant idea..glad I saw this♡
What did u use for polishing
I've been using The Rock Shed's micro alumina final polish.
what speed did you put it on?
Lortone tumblers don't have speeds. If your tumbler does have speeds, the slowest speed is recommended to avoid bruising and chipping. National Geographic tumblers turn too fast even on their slowest speed.
what speed you put it on with the borax in it only sorry?
Lortones don't have speeds.
@@LanceDean okay just want to know mine does left it on 1
@@LanceDean thank you for getting back with me i have been watching your videos I do like them..
@@FreddieArriola if your tumbler has speeds, I'd suggest always using the lowest speed except maybe for first stage rough rocks.
Tiger eye and tiger iron sodalite onyx .
Nice stones. Where's that road?
There are gravel roads everywhere around here. I've had better luck on less traveled roads that have had less work done to them over the years.
@@LanceDean I was blessed to be just down the road from a 50 mile stretch of a normally dry desert river bed in New Mexico. The sandhills leading down to the riverbed are so saturated with quartz, jasper, agate and petrified wood, that I used to fill 16 4 gallon milk crates in a single day.
truthful looks an awful lot like the stones you get from the rock shed , if you have stones like this on your roads i want to know where you live because this is way better than what i have seen in any state and i have been through a lot of them
@@donwonn5383 East-Central Mississippi. I'm sure the gravel was brought here from nearby riverbeds. And thank you! What you see are rocks I found from HOURS of looking, and even then I pick through my finds for the more interesting ones to tumble first.
@@LanceDean I have some of these I found near the road but they already smooth and shiny they look all like your stones after you cleaned
So no water on burnish cycle?
Always have water in there. Yes, there's water in with the Borax on the burnishing. 👍
I realize I was adding water to the barrel as I went along, you can see about 4:50 where I added water. I was trying to keep everything wet before burnishing. When I put the Borax in, the water was already in the barrel to a good level.
@@LanceDean thank you! I should have had my coffee before watching too! I have been using diatomaceous earth, I'm going to try the borax since I have it, not getting quite as much shine as I would like!
@@mnm806 no problem! I am not one who believes burnishing is a miracle worker. The result of burnishing this way, in my opinion, is no different that if you took each individual rock and washed it by hand with soap, scrubbed it with a soft nylon brush, and dried and buffed with a soft cloth. Burnishing doesn't change or add to what you've accomplished in the tumbling cycles, it just helps clean up the mess. Most of what I'm trying to accomplish is the cleaning my barrel and ceramic media, along with knocking out most of the scrubbing and buffing on individual rocks. I read somewhere that if you can take a rock out of final polish, clean it well and buff it with your denim jeans pants leg, and it looks no different, burnishing won't help. It's just a way to mass clean up. Do some experimenting and happy tumbling!
@@LanceDean Thanks! I read the same... I've thought about hand polishing, maybe just my favorite pieces!
using a metal strainer could easily scratch your stones
Could? Yes. Easily? No. I've tested this out all year and have yet to find any "scratches". I do have a plastic strainer that I will use if what I'm cleaning is something expensive or unusual. But I have yet to have any problem with my metal strainer. 🤷♂️
@@LanceDean right on
sehen gut aus
So it’s the borax that give it the shiny look? If so that’s gonna save me probably hundreds of dollars every year!
Nah, Borax doesn't add shine. It just helps clean the rocks, barrel, and filler media.
@@LanceDean oh. What gave it that shine then?
@@thepotentialcandy the tumbling process - using good grits and polishes, cleaning things well between stages, tumbling close in hardness rocks together, filling the barrel correctly, adding the correct amount of water, moving out of the first stage only when it's time, that's what gives the shine. The Borax (or Ivory) only cleans off grit or polish residue, it doesn't add anything to the rocks.
And the blue rocks? The purple looking one? How are you just picking around them!
I say the same things when I watch other videos! 🤣 I will say that often rocks appear a different way on video than in person.
Nvm u said it
I'm brand new to tumbling. What is the advantage to using ceramic media vs just having extra little rocks to add?
In a rotary tumbler, it is best to do as you say when you start out a new batch, have the barrel 2/3 to 3/4 full of rocks of varying sizes. The ceramic (or worn pea gravel, or glass beads, or dang plastic) comes into play as you progress forward in the following stages to make up for that loss in volume.
@@LanceDean thanks for the reply.
That water has running from the begining. Hundreds of gallons going down. Can you do it different?
How to buy boraxx
Borax is widely available in the US in the laundry detergent aisle in most markets. I believe it's not available in many other countries due to restrictions. You can buy plain Ivory soap bars and shave them down to use instead of Borax.
Nice work is it windy in your house or do your hands allways shake that much im sorry I just had to say it
The democrats used a 2000 mule team with pretty rough and ugly results
😂
I usually use Ivory bar soap grated to burnish, but I have also used borax. But you are correct. Borax can be harsh to softer stones.
I also use the tumbler to gain the desired shapes for the rock than move them to a vibrating unit for next steps. I also remove the ceramic media prior to polishing stage and the burnish stage.
I just burnished my agates for about a day or two. I used a tablespoon of $1 store dish washing liquid and a teaspoon of Lemi shine. They look pretty dull. I use the same HF tumblers. Any suggestions how to get a shine? I used MJ tumblers 4 stage grits. I even tumbled over a month in the coarse stage and kept changing out my coarse grit. My black plastic tumbler knobs are completely smooth now and work off after tumbling. The tumbler was brand new before I started. I wonder if HF sells replacement knobs?
Harbor Freight sells no replacement parts for the Chicago Electric tumblers other than belts. That's why I buy Lortone, made in the USA and can replace every little part if needed. As far as the use of dish soap, long term use of liquid dish soap is supposed to break down the rubber of your tumbling barrel. I try to only use liquid dish soap outside of the tumbling barrel for cleaning. I don't know about MJ grit. I use grit and polish from The Rock Shed. Were you tumbling a mixture of soft and hard rocks?
I usually use Ivory bar soap grated to burnish, but I have also used borax. But you are correct. Borax can be harsh to softer stones.
I also use the tumbler to gain the desired shapes for the rock than move them to a vibrating unit for next steps. I also remove the ceramic media prior to polishing stage and the burnish stage.
I keep the ceramic in the Lot-O all the time it's running no matter what the stage.