not enough rocks!! Now what?

[mom2olivia]

Hi,
It is Christmas morning and my daughter can't wait to start tumbling. I guess I should have read up more before today because the little 500ct packet of amethysts I bought to get her started doesn't even come close to filling 1/2 the barrel. I also see I need some plastic pellets. Can I use them to make up the difference in volume? I also don't understand what the ratio of rock to grit should be. It says to fill the barrel 1/2 to 3/4 full, but not how much of what. I also got packers of rubies and emeralds, can they all be tumbled together?
H-E-L-P!!!

[Cher]

Emeralds and rubies take forever and forever to get shaped up. What size of a barrel do you have, if it's a 3 pound barrel use 3 tablespoons of grit, let it roll for a week then check it to see if any is ready to move to the next stage. Most of the time it takes a lot longer than a week to get it ready. Pellets don't generally go in the coarse stage but the steps after can help fill the volume. Don't know where your at but if it's not snowing, go out and grab some driveway gravel. Or walk down a gravel road and pick up some different sized rocks to put in there.

[mom2olivia]

Thanks Cher! I can really use plain gravel?!? Does it need to be rough? I have some gravel from a fish tank that is larger than pea size, smooth but not polished. Would that work? We don't have much snow on the ground now, but it is supposed to start tomorrow. I am in Germany, about an hour south of Idar Oberstein. I am afraid I am very ignorant on this subject, my daughter is the rock hound, but she is too young ot do this on her own so it is up to me to learn the ropes :-)

[mom2olivia]

I finally figured it out. Yes, it is a 3 lb. barrel, so 3 tablespoons it is. Olivia is SO excited to start tumbling!! Many thanks for being on-line on Christmas Day!!

[Cher]

I suppose if all you can find is the aquarium gravel, that would work to bring your level up to where it should be. Try to do some checking online to see if there are any rock shops or anything like that over in your part of the world where you could order from. I believe there is one place called Manchester Minerals but am not sure. Post about it on the General forum (first one on the list) and you might find out quicker. We do have several members from overseas so someone might be able to help.

[phoenix1647]

and if all else fails...go to the nearest railroad and pick up some rocks there.
There used to be an old gravel pit near Frankfurt just a few miles from the old
Rhein-Nein Air Base on the Autobahn to Kaiserslautern. I do not know if it is still
there or not as it's been a lot of years since I was last in that area.
Ask some of the locals if they know of any gravel pits or any place where you might
get some rocks.

Pho

[phoenix1647]

also...you might just check out some of the parking lots on base/post. Get hubby to ask
someone from base/post maintenance about some gravel....or take a bag and go on a Volksmarch....pick up rocks along the way..I guess they still do the volksmarch stuff there.
You might ask about that at the post/base rec center.....they might be able to help ya there.

Pho

[mom2olivia]

All great ideas everybody, Thanks! We went ahead and used the gravel we had since it is dark and my daughter was DYING to put somthing in and fire up the tumbler. I'm thinking next week we will probably go up to Idar Oberstein and see what we find. There are old mines you can tour and take home what you mine :-) Her birthday is also in January so I may organize an expidition for that. She will be 8 next month, which I know is young for tumbling, but she loves rocks so much and we are in such a great location I had to get her started. I'm sure I will be a regular here and I look forward to getting to know everyone!

[mom2olivia]

Pho, it sounds like you have lived here yourself. Thanks for the ideas.

[phoenix1647]

I spent two tours of duty at Ramstein.....did a little traveling in Germany.
Eight years old is not too young to get started in a hobby such as this. And who knows,
it may even rub off on Mom and Dad too......

Pho

[joe]

Hi M2O, welcome to the group! It sounds like you're having fun. That's a good start.
Joe

[sandsman1]

8 is a perfect age to start your closer to the ground so you dont miss any good rocks hahaha the fish tank gravel will work fine as a filler -------- ohhh yea welcome and come back often and show us your finished stones,, but dont wait that long come and hang out with us this is a very nice buncha friends here and we can allways use another --- seeya ---sands

[mom2olivia]

Pho,
We are on our second tour here. Hubby was at Ramstein for 3 years and just started a new tour at Primasens, (yes, we still have a base there, LOL)

Joe,
Yes, we are having great fun. It may have been our imaginations, but when we checked our rocks today, they looked improved! Olivia could hardly contain her excitement. I also gave her a purple composition book today, to record everything we do :-)

Sands,
Thanks for the encouragement. She has been filling her pockets with rocks since she could pick them up so at least she now has something to do with them :-)

If anyone is interrested, we have a family web page with a few pics so you can meet my little rock hound
www.nailfamily.homepage.t-online.de/
Thanks for the warm welcome, I'm sure I will be here lots, Wendy

[joe]

Wow. You live by some awesome scenery! I like the ice caves and I'd love to see the castles. It looks like you have a good time on vacation!.

[Cher]

What a beatufiul scenic tour. I've never been to Germany but my brother spent two years at Bad Aibling when he was in the army.

[drupe]

Mom2olivia

One of the pitfalls of this hobby is we want things to move to fast. We want to put the rocks in
today and have beautiful gems tomorrow. Well it ain't gonna happen. If you already have patience, great if not develop it. This hobby loses more potential "Tumblers" for lack of patience than other reason.

Hope you and your daughter stick with it, its worth the time.

Pete

[mom2olivia]

Joe, yes the scenery here is unbelievable and we are trying to see as much of it as we can! Believe it or not, there are so many castles here we are totally sick of them. The Ice Caves, on the other hand, were awesome beyond belief. I wish I had better pictures of inside the caves. The hike through them was over 2 km and FREEZING!! I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures!

Cher, It is a shame you didn't get to visit your brother while her was stationed here. We have tried and tried to get more family and friends to visit, but hardly anyone has the time. It is such a wasted opportunity! Hopefully you will get the chance to visit some day, it is well worth the trip!

Time to go start shoveling snow................Wendy

[mom2olivia]

Pete,
Thanks for the heads up. I'm hoping this will help develop Olivia's patience as she is a pretty high speed kid. She knows her first batch of rocks may not be ready by her birthday end of next month. I'm also hoping the slow process will minimize the pounds of rocks we have to ship home in 3 years, LOL. I looked at both barrel and vibrating tumblers and decided to go with the slower method. I also know I will have to buy a new tumbler when we go back to the land of 110v current. If she has grown in the hobby, we will get a better and faster one then. I'm also hoping this we lead to good lessons in keeping records and notes in a fun way. She is in German public school at the moment, but when we move back to the States I plan to home school for a couple of years and get her caught up in English etc. so we will have a chance to really pour on the study of geology with a good foundation.

[krazydiamond]

I was very lucky to see some of the German countryside when i was still a young girl, my uncle and his family lived outside of Wurtzburg in a little village called Ilmspan. i spent a month and a half traveling around Europe (little hippie that i was). did some good camping in the south of Germany, saw Neuschwanstein and the Zugspitz, Oberammagau (sorry if i am butchering the spellings here). and drank beer in Munich..what a wild trip that was. young and no fear.

beautiful country, extraordinarily nice people, you are right, your relatives are passing up a prime opportunity for a great experience.

good luck with the tumbling, have patience....

KD

[mom2olivia]

Ah, yes, the very young drinking age. My 14 year old can drink wine and beer legally, (can't buy it until she is 16.) They can drink hard stuff at 16 and buy it at 18. Thank goodness she can't stand the stuff, LOL. However, they cannot drive until age 17 and it is very expensive to get a license, so most of the experimentation is out of their systems before they can drive.