Rock Tumblers & Rock Polishing

Welcome! So you are interested in making tumble polished gemstones? That’s great! I would like to show you how easy it is to turn the rocks shown on the left side of the photo below into the tumbled gemstones shown on the right side of the photo. We will go step-by-step through the tumbling process using plenty of photos -- so that you will understand exactly how it is done.


The tumbling process is simple. You start with some broken rocks (as shown above) and place them into a tumbling barrel (like the black barrels in the photo below) with some abrasive grit and water. The barrel is then rotated over and over 24 hours a day on a rock tumbler that is powered by a small motor.


Rock Polishing Kit by Thumler's Tumblers.
Lortone and Chicago also make popular rock tumbler kits.

All of this tumbling wears the rough edges off of the stones and produces the rounded, smooth and shiny gemstones shown in the right side of the top photo above. Tumbling rocks is easy and fun. You can use the menus at the top and bottom of each page to progress through this lesson.

Rock Tumbler Menu	Rock Tumbler Welcome	Selecting a Tumbler	Rock Tumbling Supplies
	Tumbling Rough	Rock Tumbler Grit	Before You Begin
	Rock Tumbler Instructions	Rock Polishing Instructions	Tumbled Gemstone Tips