Rock Tumbler Polish

We offer a variety of polishes for rock tumbling. Most people who have been tumbling for a while have found a personal favorite and use it for most of their work. Others like to experiment with different polishes, looking for a polish that will produce the highest possible luster on a stubborn material. Which one do we use? We use TXP aluminum oxide polish for almost all of our rotary and vibratory tumbler polishing. It produces a great polish and is a lot less expensive than tin or cerium oxide. We also use #61 Rapid Polish for some of our vibratory polishing and for polishing cabochons on a flat lap.

TXP Aluminum Oxide Rock Polish

This is our favorite polish!

TXP Polish

We use TXP Aluminum Oxide for almost all of our rotary and vibratory polishing. It produces a great polish and is a lot less expensive than tin or cerium oxide.

TXP rock tumbler polish is used for STEP 4 of the rotary tumbling process and the final step of vibratory polishing. This aluminum oxide polish puts a bright finish on agate, jasper, petrified wood and other commonly-tumbled materials. We use about two level tablespoons for each pound of rock in a rotary tumbler and about 1/2 level tablespoon for every pound of rock in a vibratory tumbler. TXP has a particle size distribution that centers around 3 microns. That is large enough to keep it out of the fractures in many tumbling roughs.

Caution: Do not dispose of used grit, polish or rock slurry down a drain.

Measuring Spoon - 1 Tablespoon

Stop using the measuring spoon from the kitchen to measure your grit and polish. We use a separate measuring spoon for each grit size and for each type of polish to avoid cross-contamination. We keep these spoons in the container with their respective grit or polish. It's really convenient to have a spoon in the container. No more hunting and washing measuring spoons!

#61 Rapid Polish

Recommended for Vibratory Tumblers

#61 Rapid Polish

#61 Rapid Polish is an alpha phase aluminum oxide with a particle size distribution that centers around 0.3 microns. It was developed for polishing jade by hand lapping or in vibratory tumblers. It was found to work so well on jade (a very tough stone to polish) that it was tried on other materials. It does a great job on agate, jasper, quartz, petrified wood and other materials in a vibratory tumbler. It is the polish included in our vibratory grit kit.

Caution: Do not dispose of used grit, polish or rock slurry down a drain.

Cerium Oxide Rock Polish

Cerium Oxide Polish

A favored polish for use on most types of natural and man-made glass.

Cerium oxide rock tumbler polish is used for STEP 4 of the rotary tumbling process and the final step of vibratory tumbling. Made into a slurry, it also works nicely on a felt-covered flat lap for polishing cabochons. This is optical-grade cerium oxide that produces a great polish. It is a polish of choice for agate, jasper, quartz, and petrified wood. It is a favored polish for obsidian, goldstone, and feldspar minerals (such as moonstone, labradorite, sunstone and amazonite).

Learn more about Cerium Oxide polish

Caution: Do not dispose of used grit, polish or slurry down a drain.

Tin Oxide Rock Polish

Tin Oxide Polish

A favorite polish used since the early days of rock tumbling.

Tin oxide polish is used for STEP 4 of the rotary rock tumbling process and the final step of vibratory polishing. It was a favorite polish during the early days of rock tumbling (1960s and 1970s). Lots of old timers still use it today. It does a great job on varieties of quartz, jasper, agate and petrified wood. It works exceptionally well on volcanic glass such as obsidian and on man-made glasses. Many people use tin oxide when polishing soft materials such as calcite, rhodochrosite and malachite on a flat lap.

Caution: Do not dispose of used grit, polish or rock slurry down a drain.

Titanium Oxide Rock Polish

Titanium Oxide
Polish

Titanium Oxide rock tumbler polish is used for STEP 4 of the rotary rock tumbling process. It works well on a variety of materials and isn't prohibitively expensive. This titanium oxide has a particle size range between 1 and 3 microns.

Caution: Do not dispose of used grit, polish or rock slurry down a drain.

Tripoli (Rottenstone)

Tripoli
also known as
"Rottenstone"

Tripoli is used in rock tumbling when a satin or matte finish is desired. It is used immediately after medium grit. Tripoli is also used as a pre-polish after grinding in medium grit silicon carbide. It is inexpensive. It is a residual material produced by weathering of certain siliceous limestones.

Tripoli is known as "rottenstone" in the woodworking community. Woodworkers use a tripoli slurry on a soft cloth to lightly smooth out irregularities on varnished surfaces.

Caution: Do not dispose of used grit, polish or rock slurry down a drain.

Red Rouge

Red Rouge is used for cleaning brass cartridge casings. (We don't know anybody who uses it on rocks!) A small amount of red rouge is added to corn cob or crushed walnut shell tumbling media. It serves as a mild abrasive to help clean the brass.

Caution: Do not dispose of used grit, polish or rock slurry down a drain.

Ultra Fine Rock Tumbler Grit (1000 Mesh Silicon Carbide)

1000 Grit
Pre-Polish

Some people use 1000 mesh grit as an intermediate step between the Fine Grit and Polishing steps. We don't do that step in our everyday tumbling because we are quite happy with the results that we achieve without it. It is a matter of preference and/or economics. However, if we wanted to produce the ultimate, best-possible polish, we would probably do a one-week pre-polishing step using two tablespoons of 1000 grit for each pound of material in the barrel.

Caution: Do not dispose of used grit, polish or rock slurry down a drain.

Rotary Grit Kits

Four-Step Rock Tumbler Grit Kits for Rotary Tumblers

Four Step Grit Kit

Save $49.96!

Buying a large grit kit will save you $49.96 over the cost of buying five standard grit kits. Save $14.97 over the cost of buying the grits and polish separately. Your shipping costs will also be lower. In our opinion, this is the best deal on our website!

Here are all of the grits and polish that you need to process rocks in a rotary tumbler. Includes coarse (60/90), medium (150/220) and fine (500F) silicon carbide grit and TXP aluminum oxide rock polish.

Large Grit Kits

contain 5 pounds of coarse, medium and fine grit plus 2.5 pounds of TXP polish. Double bagged within corrugated boxes.

Standard Grit Kits

have 1 pound of coarse, medium and fine grit plus 8 ounces of TXP polish. This is enough supplies to tumble up to four three-pound barrels of rocks.

Caution: Do not dispose of used grit, polish or rock slurry down a drain.

Single-Use Rock Tumbler Grit Kits for 3lb Tumbler Barrels

Here are all of the grits and polish that you need to process ONE barrel of rocks in a small rotary tumbler. Just open the bag and dump it in the barrel. The perfect amount of grit for barrels of the Lortone 3A and 33B tumblers and the Thumler's A-R1 and A-R2 tumblers. We include 2 bags of coarse grit in case you want to run the coarse grit step twice. We usually repeat the coarse grit step because we like tumbled stones that are a bit more rounded.

Caution: Do not dispose of used grit, polish or rock slurry down a drain.

Rock Tumbler Polish

TXP Aluminum Oxide Rock Polish

TXP Polish

Measuring Spoon - 1 Tablespoon

#61 Rapid Polish

#61 Rapid Polish

Cerium Oxide Rock Polish

Cerium Oxide Polish

Tin Oxide Rock Polish

Tin Oxide Polish

Titanium Oxide Rock Polish

Titanium Oxide Polish

Tripoli (Rottenstone)

Tripoli also known as"Rottenstone"

Red Rouge

Red Rouge

Ultra Fine Rock Tumbler Grit (1000 Mesh Silicon Carbide)

1000 GritPre-Polish

Four-Step Rock Tumbler Grit Kits for Rotary Tumblers

Four Step Grit Kit

Single-Use Rock Tumbler Grit Kits for 3lb Tumbler Barrels

Titanium Oxide
Polish

Tripoli
also known as
"Rottenstone"

1000 Grit
Pre-Polish