To Tumble,or not to Tumble...that is the question......

[#1]

I love my Thumbler Tumbler. It's a small investment to put into your business for a very visible difference in your jewelery. The practice of tumbling jewelry is known as "burnishing" your metal.It is perfect finishing touch for Silver,Silver fill,Gold,Gold Fill,Copper,Brass or Stainless Steel.----Correct me if a left a burnish-friendly metal out.-No plated metals or craft wire can be tumbled.
Burnishing your finished jewelry pieces makes the metal nice in hard,smooths out all rough edges and really makes it shine like casted metals.
I purchased my single barrel tumbler for $89(but I see them even cheaper now)and $30 for the Stainless Steel Mixed Shot to put inside.The "shot" is what actually smooths out the rough edges and does the burnishing.

---There are some stones that you don't want to tumble so be careful and watch the Moh's Hardness.For example;
Malachite- http://www.etsy.com/listing/83045767/30x20mm-malachite-cabochon?ref=pr_shop
Azurite- http://www.etsy.com/listing/82920528/29x17mm-azurite-intarsia-cabochon

These are beautiful (and really cool) stones but 3.5 Mohs Hardness... so no Burnishing for them.

Now I have heard that you can't burnish Drusy Pieces,but I do. Dyed Drusy not the Titanium plated.I could see how tumbling might ruin those that are plated.I put my dyed drusy in for just 1hr verses the normal 2 hours I do with most other pieces.I will put my Cubic Zircon and Agate pieces in the tumbler for 2-4 hrs....which might be overkill,but they are tough stones and come out as shiny and unscratched as ever when tumbled.
If you use one of the burnish friendly metals I mentioned and don't tumble your jewelry...Why not?? Give it a try,you will be so glad you did.It makes a HUGE difference.

[Former_Member]

You will love it,best investment a wire wrapper can make. Just be careful of the materials you tumble.No plated metals,clays or stones with low mohs hardness,like 3 or 4. And do be sure to buy a separate barrel to polish your stones in,that grit polish will ruin your metals.

[Former_Member]

I use my tumbler a great deal. It makes everything shiny and ear wires don't have the rough ends after being tumbled. I tumble some stones, but I never tumble them for more than half an hour. I know there are some stones that do well in a tumbler and others should not be tumbled. I once had a list. If I find it I will post it.

[Former_Member]

Wow-I never would have thought to try tumbling pieces with stones.

Has anyone had any issues with glass or resin in the tumbler?

[JewelryByGaladryl]

Never used resin in my tumbler but glass swarovski crystals,I tumble the "normal and AB" ones for max 1 hour (attached to an oxidized silver bracelet or sth. like that), but swarovski has got teardrops which have a special coating on the backside, they are tricky, learnt that the hard way.

Yesterday I received two spare tumble barrels for my tumbler. I will use my old one for copper, the others for oxidized silver and the last one for 999 silver and shiny 925 silver. Each of them will have separate shots as well.

I once first used copper items in a barrel and afterwards silver with the same shot, the stuff became golden and it was very difficult to get it back to silver.

My tumbler is something I can't do without anymore :)

[RichKnobSales]

My dichroic glass pendants tumble just fine. Coral is a disaster! On several levels, wish it was not the screaming red glory that it is!

As mentioned, don't tumble anything with the shot that is "soft", and if you have ANY doubt but want to try anyway (hindsight is a great teacher), do set a timer on it.

The shot "hardens" the metal like hammering. Make sure it's STAINLESS STEEL for this purpose. Drain & rinse your barrel every time. I like to just empty mine in to a colander & rinse under the faucet then pick out my items.

[Former_Member]

I started a thread here that lists a bunch of commonly used stones and there MOHs Hardness,reference to it when you are choosing which pieces can be tumbled ;-)

http://www.etsy.com/teams/10722/wire-geeks/discuss/9155324/

[Former_Member]

Thought this thread needed a bump up too =)

[Former_Member]

Ok I am entirely self taught so I may sound like an idoiot asking this question but....what the devil is LOS?? I'm still learning as I go and you guys are being EXTREMELY helpful! Thank you all so much!

Oh I also found a tumbler in case anyone is interested at Harbour Freight Tool for $34.99 it's a 3 pound barrel as well here's the link.
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-lb-rotary-rock-tumbler-67631.html

[Untwistedsister]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Lortone tumbler. I have 2 barrels. I have found very few stones that can't be tumbled after wrapping. But do not tumble the swarovski elements with the ab coating. It will come off. Also, make sure the 'shot' you get is stainless steel, not carbon steel. If it sticks to a magnet it's not good enough stainless steel.

Also, be careful not to tumble your antiqued silver (LOS) with the shiny stuff.

Someone mentioned their silver coming out with a goldish tone. I had that happen with sterling jump rings that I was tumbling on a gold colored pin. Pickling them took it back off and I had to totally clean out my tumbler.

I only use distilled water in my tumbler to so I don't contaminate anything with the minerals from regular water.

[Untwistedsister]

Oh, and Ivy - LOS is Liver of Sulphur that will darken your silver for an antiqued look.

[GoodnessInTheCosmos]

The easiest way to clean up nicks on wire is to use a dremmel tool and polish (tripoli or rouge). Rounds out all the edges, don't have to wait for hours, and no 'mistakes' with the stones...

[Former_Member]

My tumbler is my best friend, especially before a show. I throw it all in the tumbler and have great results.

[Former_Member]

Aaahhhhh....Thank you Terri! Using a Dremel doesn't really make sense for a lot of the stuff I've seen coming out of this team because with things like my own there are too many twists and turns and tiny little spots that a dremel couldn't get to without having to bend the wire out of shape to get to them.

[Untwistedsister]

@goddess - what kind of wheel do you use with your dremel for that? felt?

[GoodnessInTheCosmos]

@Untwistedsister , Yes, and the felt bits come in all different shapes and sizes. There are also soft brush ones use you can use, but don't use any bits with metal, or stone type wheels. I picked mine up at a store that specializes in lapidary and metalsmithing.

I find that by the time I've wrapped the piece, it is fairly hard and can easily take the dremmel on any speed without bending. If you are worried about that put it in a table vise (put a soft cloth in the vise first) and it will hold everything more stable.

[Former_Member]

I just bought one and cannot wait to use it! I moved across country and it is not here yet..but..I am so glad I found this thread as I have learned a lot. I was wondering to tumble with stone or no stone? My tumbler came with a special soap and it cannot remember the instructions, but it sounds like the soap is important,yes?
many thx

[Former_Member]

I've just started tumbling and I do it with the stone in as suggested earlier in this thread and I just use basic dawn dish soap...literally just 2 drops and I'm really liking the results.

[Former_Member]

Dawn is the best soap I have found; it gets more of a soapy lather than any other soap I’ve tried. Tumbling piece with a stone will just depend on the Mohs Hardness. Most stones you can tumble. I would not tumble anything with a 4.5 mohs or lower at all. If it had 5 to 6,I might give 45 min. If it had 6.5 to 7 I would give 2 hrs. If it had a mohs hardness like an Agate type stone 7.5 ,I might even go 2.5 hrs. My cubic zircon designs get a 3hr tumble. Of course you also must factor in the quality of the cabs polish job. Not all cabs are created equally.
It really hardens and smoothes out the piece the longer you can tumble.
This is a design I learned from Gene Sheridan. You can easily pop the stone out the back, and then snap it back in place. This is a good idea if for a piece with something like a Malachite or Rhodochrosite cab(only a 4 mohs).The cool part is I can tumble the pendant frame for a good 3 hrs and then snap the stone in when it’s finished.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/92099733/interchangeable-cabochon-pendant-cameo
Have fun with your new tumbler!

[denssilverlinings]

Just got my tumbler yesterday and tumbled my first batch of copper - I love it!! As I'm new to this, I have a few questions - Is it ok to tumble argentium? Is it ok to tumble more than one type of metal in the drum at the same time- like copper and argentium, or sterling and gold filled or brass?

[Untwistedsister]

I often times will tumble a piece that has both gold filled and sterling wire without problem. Just adjust the time for the gold filled. Be careful not to tumble brass metals that are really only brass colored and also don't tumble pieces done with LOS with your bright silver.

I cut and polish my own stones and what I do is test a piece of the stone in the tumbler before I set it if I'm unsure if I can tumble with the stone. I have pieces with Indian Paint rock which is a softer stone and Azurite/Malachite which I've tumbled without a problem. The only things I would NOT tumble without question are real pearls.

[Former_Member]

I have a Lortone tumbler that I bought new in 2005 but for the last year I have to apply WD40 to the rollers and give it a jump start by rolling the barrel with my hand until it takes off. I've been thinking about buying a new on but was looking at other designs. Was looking at the DuraBull single barrel sold by Rio Grande. I have fibromyalgia and sometimes have problems getting the Lortone open after tumbling. Any recommendations for a tumbler that cost <$100? Or ideas on how to fix my Lortone?

I don't use my tumbler consistantly and maybe that is why I have problems with it but I love it for my handmade earwires (once I figured out to keep the pairs together) and for my PMC pieces (only made the mistake once of not blocking the holes on my hollow form). Tumbling for someone with chronic pain is way better than hand burnishing!

[Untwistedsister]

@Kathryn - have you tried 3 in1 household oil instead of the WD40? Even mineral oil may work better longer. To open my lortone, I kind of pull the side of the barrel to the side to break the seal.

I think I paid around $100 for my double barrel lortone and I love it. Before that I had one from Harbor Freight and it had a switch which was nice but it wasn't reliable and broke belts all the time.

[Former_Member]

lovin the concept, and the work, haven't seen anything as awesome since "Wire Artist", closed shop.

[Former_Member]

Den, I tumble Argentium all the time and I've never had a problem. I have been told that it's best to tumble different metals separately, and even keep separate barrels for them or at least thoroughly clean them in between. That said, I make two-tone pieces with Argentium and gold-fill which I put through my tumbler, and again no problems. I have a double barrel Lortone so I keep one barrel for Argentium only and one for gold and 2 tone. I don't tumble copper or brass (at least not do far) so I don't know how they would go with other metals.

[Former_Member]

Thought I would bump this post up,know we have some new team members =)