May 2016 Program Information


May 2016 Program

Jack Glenn presented an interesting program called “Rock Tumbling: Good/Fast/Cheap - Pick Any Two”.

Jack gave many helpful hints for those who wish to attempt rock tumbling – Clean! Be patient! Clean again! Wait patiently! Take notes. Clean. Wait. . . . .

Seriously, there are many factors to take into account, but Jack took us through step-by-step and demonstrated the use of his tumbling equipment.

The process includes shaping, grinding, polishing &burnishing. Some needs are:
  • rocks
  • abrasive
  • medium
  • rotational, mechanical vibratory, or an electromagnetic vibratory tumbler

Jack used a combination of these and included dry and wet medium types.

The grit will even wear out the equipment if not used properly.

Due to the high noise level, an outside area may be used for the process, if care is taken not to let the equipment run when the temperature gets below freezing.

The entire process may take a few months, so kudos to Jack for his patience and for sharing his learning experiences with us.

And he gave door prizes, which included a starter tumbler set won by Leo. Thank you, Jack!

There’s a gallery of pictures of the “finished products” from the stones that were ‘almost done’ during the demonstration of the tumbling equipment to be viewed here.

If you would like to review the presentation slides, they are linked here.


Pasted Graphic 8