Rock Tumblers rock tumbler
Home Good Stuff Compare Tumblers Lortone Thumler's Rotary Vibratory Tumbling Supplies Gemstones Pretty Rocks Jewelry Kits Parts Questions?

 Home » Tumbler Rough » Beginner's Rough

Beginner's Mix Rock Tumbler Rough

Beginner's mix tumbling rough


$12.95 For
Two Pounds
(907 grams)


Ships right away!


Secure Credit Card Processing

Beginner's Mix Tumbling Rough



Our "Beginner's Mix" contains a blend of rock materials that are specially selected for tumbling success. This mix has been crushed and screened to have just the right particle sizes for a 3-pound tumbling barrel - such as the barrels of a Lortone 3A or 33B tumbler or the Thumler's A-R1 or A-R2. The pieces range in size from about 1/4" (6 mm) to 1 1/4" (31 mm) in diameter. You will not need to add ceramic media when tumbling this mix.

Just fill your tumbler barrel a little over 1/2 full with rough, add water and grit, and you are ready to tumble.

Each bag of this mix is different. You will likely find pieces of colorful agate, jasper, quartz and other interesting materials that tumble well together and accept a brilliant polish. If you order today and then again in a few weeks the material that you receive could be entirely different.

We recommend TXP polish - an aluminum oxide compound - for polishing agates, jaspers and quartz materials.

The mix in the picture above was photographed wet to show full color.


Polished beginners mix
The photo above shows a batch of Beginner's Mix that we tumbled. Here is what we did....

Step 1: We loaded a little less than four pounds of Beginner's Mix into the barrel of a Lortone QT6 tumbler with coarse 60/90 grit silicon carbide and the recommended amount of water. We then tumbled for seven days. At the end of seven days we cleaned the rocks and the barrel. The rocks were not rounded to our satisfaction so we tumbled seven more days in coarse grit, cleaned the rocks and did a third week in coarse to achieve the desired degree of rounding.

Step 2: We then loaded the Beginner's Mix into a single barrel Lot-O-Tumbler. We included some large ceramic cyllinders to bring the Lot-O-Tumbler barrel up to operating capacity. We then ran the Lot-O for 48 hours with 150/220 grit, rinsing and adding new grit after the first 24 hours.

Step 3: We then ran the Beginner's Mix and ceramic cylinders for 24 hours in the Lot-O-Tumbler with 500F grit prepolish. The rocks were now showing a slight gloss.

Step 4: The final step was 48 hours in the Lot-O-Tumbler with TXP aluminum oxide polish. We checked the rocks at the end of 24 hours and they had a bright polish but it wasn't mirror bright throughout. So we added one Lot-o-Tumbler cap full of water and allowed the tumbler to run another 24 hours. Wow! They came out great. Total processing time was one week and five days.

Customers also bought...
Large ceramic media Large Ceramic Media:
Large ceramic pellets work great as a filler and for delivering grit or polish to difficult-to-reach surfaces. More information...
$12.95
One Pound
(453 grams)

Small ceramic media Small Ceramic Media:
Small ceramic pellets work great when you need small material for better tumbling action or to deliver grit or polish to difficult-to-reach surfaces. More information...
$12.95
One Pound
(453 grams)

Plastic media Plastic Media:
Use plastic pellets to cushion fragile stones when tumbling in a rotary tumbler. More information...
$6.95 For
One Pound
(453 grams)

 
 Deal of the Day
Deal of the day
 Rock Tumblers
Rotary rock tumbler
Rotary Tumblers
Vibratory rock tumbler
Vibratory Tumblers
Compare rock tumblers
Compare Tumblers
Rock tumbler parts
Tumbler Parts
 Rock Tumbling Supplies
Tumbler rough
Tumbler Rough
Rock tumbler grig
Tumbler Grit
Rock tumbler polish
Tumbler Polish
Tumbling media
Tumbling Media
Jewelry supplies
Jewelry Supplies
Polished stones
Polished Stones
  Rock Tumbling Book
Rock tumbling guide   Learn About Rock Tumbling!

We recommend: Modern Rock Tumbling by Steve Hart. Education is the best way to improve your results.


  Tumbling Articles and Resources
  Tumbling Instructions
  Polished Stone Identification
History of rock tumbling   History of Rock Tumbling
  Ideas for Using Tumbled Stones
tumbled stone vase filler   Tumbled Stone Vase Filler
  Review: Lortone & Thumler's Tumblers
  How Long Does Tumbling Take?
  How Loud Are Tumblers?
  Lot-o-Tumbler Tips
  Tumbling Media Tips
  Tumbling Glass in a Rock Tumbler
  Printable Tumbling Instructions PDF
  Printable Stone Identification PDF
  Printable Tumbling Log
 Advertisements