How to Use a Rock Tumbler and the 4 Steps of Grit and Polish

My son wanted a rock tumbler for his birthday. It took quite a bit of research on what to do. He wanted to share back with everyone the easy steps so anyone can do it.

Supplies

• Rock Tumbler
• stones
• you can purchase from craft stores
• or try some fun rocks you find like chunks of quartz
• water
• 4 grits
• Step 1 60 grit
• Step 2 220 grit
• Step 3 500 grit
• step 4 1200 grit (POLISH)
• Strainer
• lots of patience

Step 1: Selecting the Best Rocks

When picking Rocks for you tumbler, you want to find ones that have a similar hardness. You don want rocks like sand stone, or ones that will fall apart easily. I used part of a bag that i got from the store and some i found on hikes and in the driveway. I like the ones that are kind of clear, like quartz. They seem to polish really nice.

Step 2: Tumbling the Rocks - REPEAT 4 TIMES

You will repeat this process 4 times, just going from step 1 course grit through step 4 polish polish. The grits are listed in the supplies

1. Fill the rock tumbler about 3/4 full of rocks
2. Put in 2 tablespoons of grit for each pound of rock. (since this whole tumble process is repeated 4 times, change from course step 1 grit to each finer grit ending on step 4 polish).
3. Fill with water so it fills just above the rocks
4. Secure the lid making sure the gaskets are clean and tight
5. Let tumble for 6-10 days per grit. You can likely change this, but this is what we did and it seemed to work. Its probably good to set a calendar reminder... we forgot one of the times and let it run a couple weeks.
6. Rinse the rocks cleaning the grit. We used a colander and the garden faucet. IMPORTANT: Do not do this indoors... it will clog your sink drains with cement like ick.
7. REPEAT for each grit

Step 3: Enjoy the Rocks

We learned a lot what rocks we liked better and are looking forward to the next batch.