A hello and some initial thoughts / questions

[sift]

Hi all, I'm new. I've been wanting to get into tumbling for a while but have been too tight to buy a tumbler until now. I'm in my 50s and live in the South of the UK. I'm a dog walker so get to traverse lots of tracks, which often reveal some interesting stones. Well, relatively interesting for the South of England.

I've just completed my first stage 1 tumble in a Nat Geo tumbler. 3 days on speed 3 has dramatically reduced the 465g / 1lb of rocks supplied with the tumbler. If only I had read that filling the barrel a bit more would be beneficial before I started. Oh well 

So, now that I find myself with 265g of rocks instead of 465g, I have questions, if I may:

• What do people do with the rock chippings and pieces, left from tumbling, which are far too small to do anything with (I.e. < 4mm)? Is it ok to chuck them back in the barrel for added bulk for the next stage 1 tumble? Should they be removed for later stages or can I just leave them and not worry?
• Next time I'll put 2lbs / 930g of rocks in for a stage 1 tumble and then consolidate that with the stage 1 tumble I completed above. That should give me approximately 2lbs 3oz or 1000g for stage 2. What bulking media is best to use for each stage, should I need to top up the barrel?
  
• Finally, where do people in the UK buy their grit and media from please?

Looking forward to sharing some pics and thoughts in the future. All the best,
Sift.

[titaniumkid]

Hi there. I'm from Aus, so I can't help regarding where to buy supplies in the UK.

With very small rock chips, if they are quite round and smooth (and not liable to crack), I'd add them to the next stage to help with tumbling/cushioning the rocks. If they are pretty or interesting, I would take them out and keep them as is (not sure what to do with them yet, but I like small rocks), and if they aren't pretty I'd save them and add them to the rocks the next time I do a stage 1 coarse tumble because they will help with grinding down other rocks.

If you have enough rocks, you don't really need to use anything else to bulk up early stages (unless you are working with something prone to breaking/bruising). In later stages (particularly polish) when you don't want the rocks to bash around so much, you can use ceramic media (though you want this to have been run through 220 grit for a bit first to round off its edges). Some people also use plastic beads (but you need to use fresh beads for each stage, because they get contaminated and can transfer grit) and small rocks/pebbles, aquarium gravel, etc.

You might already know, but if you are using the rocks and grits that come with the Nat Geo tumblers, the rocks have great variety but some don't shine well, which is absolutely fine, but might be disappointing for anyone expecting all their rocks to gleam. Also, their polish doesn't make rocks shiny (it is a good pre-polish step, though, so don't chuck it). You might also need to buy decent polish. I use tin oxide (it's expensive but it came with the set I bought), but aluminium oxide is very popular and much cheaper, and I'm sure if you have questions about that people here will be able to provide good info.

Hope this helps. There are really great tumbling people here who will have better advice than me, and it's worth following. You can also search the forum too.

[vegasjames]

Welcome to the forum.

That much loss in just 3 day sounds like the rocks were relatively soft to begin with.

I use the chips from breaking up the rocks as fill, and they polish as well. Then I can use the polished chips for crafts.

[Tommy]

Hi sift and welcome to the forum!

[johnthor1963]

Welcome from Indiana.

[chris1956]

Welcome from Missouri, USA.   Here is a link for a recent thread on grit in the UK.  Sounds like all options are expensive unfortunately.


forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/105156/alternative-grits-tumbling

[saaz]

Welcome! I don't have a Nat Geo, but I've read you should always run them on the slowest speed, and even that is too fast. I wonder if you had it on the highest speed? I think generally people do not go by weight, but volume. 2/3 to 3/4 full.

I intentionally try to add small rocks in hopes that it improves contact and grinding, so yeah leave them in. Like titaniumkid said, pull out any that look interesting. I add them to a load that's ready to proceed to polish.
I've even poured out the tiny 1-2 mm bits in my rinse screen, and put them straight in the polish stage by themselves. I plan to send them to a friend who raises succulents, so he can have some shiny bits in his pots.

[pebblesky]

Welcome! I usually leave these small chips in stage 1 unless they qualify as fillers for the next stages (round shape and pit free)