In August 2020 I was presented with the opportunity to move\ntemporarily from New York to a cabin in the mountains of North Georgia. While\nvery reluctant to leave New York, under the COVID limitations, and my work\nbeing 100% online, I thought why not accept this once in a lifetime\nopportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We drove to Georgia with a stop first in Chester,\nMassachusetts where I had the chance to rockhound near the old emery mines of\nChester. That is the topic of another writing. Then, we got to North Georgia,\nand I was in rockhound paradise. I wasted little time to start hiking,\nexploring, and rockhounding along the Blue Ridge Mountains outside of\nCleveland, Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Georgia State Mineral is Quartz, and there is plenty of\nit around. The cabin is also situated near a stream, full of rocks and stones,\nand possibly artifacts too. So, for weeks I was rockhounding and collecting\nfine quartz specimens, and panning for gold and gemstones in the creek. It was\na great way to spend each weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then I suffered some pain one day, and went to the doctor\nwho informed me that I had a hernia and it required surgery! After repeated,\n\u201cyou\u2019ve got to be kidding me, I accepted the planned surgery, and also started\nto plan on what I would do while recovering indoors, resting and relaxing. That\nis when I thought why not try rock tumbling? I have a creek nearby, a lifetime\nsupply of rocks and stones, so while I can not be our working on my mineral\ncollection, let some work be done FOR ME, by a new rock tumbler!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, I started to shop around, and researched and read\nreviews of various tumblers. There are two types of tumblers, the small kiddy\nones and then the larger PVC Piping for the Barrel industrial types. There is a\nprice difference between them of course, but the time is the same. If you have\na small rock tumbler, or a large rock tumbler, each project takes a month. So,\nmy thinking was, I have a lifetime supply of rocks right now, and I would like\nto try larger rocks, around size of my fist, so I will opt for the larger\ntumbler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I ordered one large tumbler off the internet that is very\npopular on eBay, Amazon, and other online marketplaces. I was large, with a 20 lb.\nbarrel. It arrived however, and it requires assembly. The problem with this\none, and I would guess this is not uncommon, is that each piece must fit\ntogether PERFECTLY and EXACTLY right. On mine there was a steel peg that was\njust a few millimeters too long and it would not allow the motor to attached\nstraight. I did not have a metal saw and would not want to pretend I could fix\nit either. The problem, I believe, with this popular large rock tumbler is\nthat, since you have to construct it yourself, each piece must for perfectly\ntogether, and if it does not, you do not have any spare or extra parts. So, I\ncan not recommend the large tumblers that require self-assembly. Even if all\nthe pieces did fit, I am not sure I trust myself to know what needs to be fully\ntightened, what needs to be lubricated, and what to expect for maintenance. I\nreturned that tumbler for a refund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next tumbler I bought was from a small business that\nmostly sells through their website. I was also a 20 lb. barrel, so suitable for\nlarger stones. When it arrived, I was delighted to see if consisted of a base\nwith the motor in place, and the base had two horizontal rods that would\nrotate. Then it had a large 20 lb. barrel made of steel with a lid. That was\nit! You fill the barrel with stones,\nwater, and the grit, secure the lid, place it on the rods and plug it in. The\nrods start working and the barrel starts rolling. The tumbler also had explicit\ndirections on the manual, and written on the tumbler itself. It does require\nlubrication every single day, and the bolts need to be tightened monthly. That\nhas proven very easy to accommodate. Once a day I check on it, unplug it, add\nthe lubrication, and then plug it back in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the stones I have chosen, it\u2019s been a mixture of quartz\nand schist from the creek, and I am tumbling stones 2-3 inches across. You\nchange the grit every 7 days, for a total of 4 weeks. Each stage has finer and\nfiner grit to achieve a polished look. I have been delighted to see the stones\nat every stage. Probably the first stage completion, the rough grit to bring\nout the potential of what looked otherwise like very uninteresting rocks, was\nthe most exciting. The quartz is looking brilliant too. This is also a\nfantastic way to improve, polish, and have fun with the minerals you collect\nthat are not natural display specimens. If something had a fine point, or was a\nbeautiful crystal, or mixture of minerals on matrix, I would clean it to\ndisplay it. But every other sort of interesting rock you pick up, that is not\nso interesting when you get home and clean up your loot, are PERFECT for rock\ntumbling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I write this, I am just beginning stage 4, week 4, the\npolishing stage. Below are photos of how it started, and how this rock tumbling\nproject is coming along. I am also in week 4 of recovery from my hernia\nsurgery, and hopeful to be more active in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have the place for a rock tumbler, they can be noisy,\nand the time to check on it once a day, and also keep it running 24 hours a\nday, it\u2019s a great complement to your rockhounding hobby. If you have rocks from\npast excursions, that are not on display, tumble them! If you have stones that\nare not as shiny or pretty as you wish, tumble them! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love rock tumbling, and even when I am better, I plan to\nkeep tumbling various stones from my collection, and consider how much you can\ntumble during the winter months, when you are not going out anyway!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If anyone has specific questions about the rock tumblers I\ntested and researched, or the tumbler I use, please contact me through \u201cContact\nUs\u201d on www.americangeode.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nI have been posting videos of the rockhounding adventures in Georgia, and the discoveries can be found by searching in YouTube for \u201cCrystal Discovery at NEW and UNUSUAL North Georgia Site.\u201d<\/h1>\n\n\n\n