Rock Polishing.

[timn8er]

Several years ago I found this rock. I thought the zebra pattern it has was cool & held onto it. Recently I acquired a Dremel Tool that I used to detail some slides & barrels. I was reading where you can use the Dremel to polish stone & I was wondering if any Forum members have done something like that. Or is the tumbler method a better way to go? Any thoughts would be appreciated! I think this rock would look good polished.

 

[Rule3]

I would not think it could be done with a rotary tool.
When the kids were little we had one of those rock tumbling kits, It was one step up from a toy but it worked. Put the water and abrasive grit in it and it churns for DAYS!, Really annoying sound but it worked. The stones were more rounded than yours to begin with and smaller but they came out well for making little girl jewelry and stuff.

Had a neighbor that did it as a hobby and went to all the craft show selling really nice stuff.

I would get a inexpensive rock kit, the stone looks nice but hard to tell without seeing it what kind or hardness it is,

 

[USAF385]

I remember putting rocks in old plastic jars with a screw on lid, filling the jar with sand, small pebbles, slightly larger pebbles, and water. I'd shake that thing for weeks! It worked pretty well.

 

[rburg]

Not all rocks can be polished. It looks like sandstone in the picture. You won't get a good polish on it no matter how hard you try.

Yes, Dremel tools can polish if you don't mind buying sanding disks. The drill is to use fairly coarse grit until you've at least got it smooth. Then use progressively finer grits to get a polish. If you want to get an idea how it will look eventually, smear some water on it. Good luck

 

[carpriver]

One of the young men that worked for me in the Air Force removed some government equipment from the base ended up polishing rocks... maybe it was breaking rocks.

 

[Realzebub45]

Stainless Tumbling Media | Thumler's Tumbler High Speed Model B

I use their Tumbler to clean my brass. Friggin works beautifully with the 5# bag of SS media. I believe they were originally called rock polishers and the instructions come with all this info about rocks, NOT brass cases.

A little much perhaps for 1 rock, but then you could use it to reload.

 

[Stevens]

Depending on the hardness of the rock and how polished you want it can take a long, long, time using a tumbler
Steve W

 

[1morethan8]

It looks good natural!

I think it would be to soft to give a good shine?

 

[Rule3]

Good points about maybe being to soft. Try putting some mineral oil on it (baby oil) it may give it a shine. They use it on clay items.

 

[Sven]

I thought it looked like sandstone, too. In general, the softer a rock, the less likely it will polish up. With a vibrating polisher, you are going to need quite a bit of rock to fill it up. Then several different grades (course to fine) of polishing media, generally used with a bit of water. It's the action of the rocks working against each other, along with the media that does the polishing -- much like polishing/cleaning brass. Change out the media (wash off the rocks) every 24 hours and move to the next finer grade. After several days you should have some nicely polished rocks. Caution: softer rocks can get polished away to nothing.

Everything takes practice. I gave my wife a glass jar filled with polished Lake Superior agates. Some turned out real nice, others I kinda goofed on. But when they're in a big jar -- who's to know?

 

[1morethan8]

Yep... looks like one of them sedimentary rocks to me.
I guess it was left over when we had an ocean in the middle of our country... heck, if I lived back then I would be sitting on beach front property here in East Tennessee!

 

[timn8er]

Thanks everybody for the info.