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

[Former_Member]

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]

I love my tumbler! I just tumbled a batch of ear wires and findings today. Every time I open it, it's like Christmas! So shiny!! I do have one question though. I've been tumbling my ear wires, head pins, components, etc for an hour. I do a lot of hammering and I don't want the tumbling action to smooth away the hammered texture. What's your take? Should I be tumbling longer for even more shine?

[Former_Member]

I love mine too,it's a wonderful feeling pulling out all those smooth shiny pieces after they are finished :-) I don't do to much hammering except on the mandrel.But I would say if it's a texture that comes from a hammer the tumbler would not get rid of it. I like 2hrs mostly when I tumble.Put 1 piece in there and see how it goes. Those rings you make I would defiantly give 2hrs,they just get harder and shinier that way.Let me know how the hammered texture metal does in the tumbler for 2hrs,then I'll know if someone else asks ;-)

[Former_Member]

Here is a link to the same type of tumbler I use, same type my instructor, Gene Sheridan, told me to use.Love it!
http://www.amazon.com/Thumblers-Tumbler-MP-1-Rock/dp/B000BUW5ZM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1317937156&sr...

I put 1 pound of this inside;
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=mixed+stainless+steel+shot&_s...

[Former_Member]

I've tumbled a hammered cuff in a Lortone tumbler with mixed steel shot, water, and a drop of Ivory dish soap. After 45 minutes, the cuff came out bright and shiny and the hammered sections looked slightly smoother but still very distinctive. I'd be cautious about tumbling a hammered piece with steel shot for more than an hour. It might smooth the hammer marks out too much. But much will probably depend on how deeply textured your piece is.

- Teresa

[Former_Member]

Hi Lisa -

I tumble my metal components for a lot longer than two hours, and I have no loss of detail. You can check out my shop and look for the 3/4 moon series - I tumbled the metal discs for five hours after I soldered them, and they came out just fine.

I rarely tumble anything that actually contains a stone - and if I do, it's for very short periods (15 minutes or so). I generally use a Dremel with the 3m bristle discs for final finishing.

Hope that helps!

Blessings -

Francesca

[Former_Member]

Thanks for clearing that up for us Francesca and Teresa ! I havent't done any hammering for texture on my pieces but I have it marked on my "to do" list ;-)...and after looking through ya'lls pieces I'm wanting to do sooner!
Francesca -don't be afraid to put those stones through the tumbler for a while,they can handle it,just check the moh's hardness on them first.Chalcedony minerals do great,my favorite stone is Agate(6.5 to 7 mohs hardness) because I can toss it in the tumbler for awhile and let that metal get real hard.Jasper is also a 7 and can take a good tumbling.

[Former_Member]

I don't have a tumbler. Afraid I probably wouldn't know what to do with one if I did. lol. I keep hearing all these things about shot and what soap to use, and that's a little more tools than I can handle. I'm even afraid of my LOS.

LOL I'm such a chicken sometimes.

[Former_Member]

I haven't been game to try LOS yet either! But I mostly use argentium for the bright silver look that won't tarnish.

I love my tumbler, I put everything through it to harden and shine up, unless it's got a softer stone like malachite or lapis, then I just polish it up by hand. I put most things for at least an hour, but anything that's made with dead soft wire goes in for longer to make sure it hardens up well enough to hold it's shape.

[Former_Member]

Francesca, I looked at your earrings. Beautiful! And thanks for letting me know about your tumbled pieces. I'm going to try a few hammered pieces at two hours and see how it goes.

Joanna (StonesforWire), I just wanted to let you know that I don't make those rings on my page. They're from Burgard Studio. I do make the beads shown with the ring.

[Former_Member]

Lisa-your beads are very cool!They look perfect! I would love to hear how your "tumbled experiment" comes out!
Nicole-Don't be afraid!It's easy,fill the barrel about 1/4 full of water,add some Dawn liquid dishwash soap,drop your jewelry in,close the top and plug into the wall....and your done,just let the tumbler do the rest. You could only use it for your solid copper pieces though,it would take the color right off those plated pieces you make.....which are amazing by the way!Nice work!

[RichKnobSales]

There's not a way to post pics here, is there?

I've tumbled quite a few things. It does take out some of the Oopsies, LOL. The hard part is picking the shot out of the wrap. And of course, don't do a soft stone unless you want to erode it a bit, which is a great look sometimes - if you have a scratch you may want to just sort of "matte" the whole stone. Tumble your copper before you add a patina so that it is "clean".

[Former_Member]

Okay, so I lucked up on a 3 pound tumbler at the goodwill for $3.99 a few weekends ago.. but it didn't have any instructions with it. Here is what i want to do:

Shine up and harden some of my copper pins that I am working on

Smooth out some of the nicks and dings that a few pieces of jasper have.

I don't know what kind of 'shot' or whatever it is called to put in the tumbler or where I get it from.

[sarahndippity]

I love my tumbler to. At first I wasn't sure if should buy one but now feel that it was the best investment I made. It really gives the finished piece a professional look, especially after you have LOS'ed your jewelry and polished. It brings back the beautiful high gloss of new wire. Tumbling also re-aligns the mulecules in the wire making it me resistent to future oxidization. It doesn't stop the process but helps slow it down.

[sarahndippity]

HillBillyBaubles make sur you REALLY clean out the barrel even a little of grit left inside can scratch you jewelry and gems. Shots are small pieces of stainless steel in irregular shapes. For a 3lb barrel one pound of shots is all you need. The shots are expensive but lasts. You can get it on line at Rio Grande or Monsterslayer , Fusionbeads.com has free shipping and might hve it too. I use nomal dish soap, a few drops and you are good. To store the shots , rinse put in a container and cover with water. Add a few drops of soap in and put the lid on. Store it this way until you want to use it again.

[Former_Member]

Okay.. do I use the same thing for polishing up the gemstones that are looking a little nicked and damaged??

[sarahndippity]

If you are polishing cabs you want to get a seperate tumbler. Stones are polished with grit in different finess. It goes through a few stages each time with a finer grit, It als can take a week or more to polish it up. This is why you don't mix the two mediums up. The grit is super fine and hard to clean out of the barrel. The next time you use it with a finished piece it could endup getting scratched.

[HeidiKingmanJewelry]

I bought my tumbler after attending the Weekend with the Wiremasters last year. When I pulled out my copper and sterling stamped and wire-wrapped cuff and saw the gorgeous polish -- almost like it had been glazed -- I was hooked! I've never tumbled anything longer than 30 minutes (usually much less). I guess I've been impatient to see it! I'll have to try a bit longer on pieces without stones.
You can see how nicely the shot polishes the high points while leaving the oxidation in the deepest grooves. I can't match that effect as well with just steel wool and polishing cloths. So if you haven't ventured into tumbling -- I highly recommend it! Oh - and everyone at the Wiremaster's swore by original Dawn dishsoap (the blue one and without anti-bacterial). Just a couple drops with water, and voila!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/79312873/multistone-copper-tribal-cuff-bracelet

[Former_Member]

There's no easier way to clean up nicks on wire than a steel-shot tumbler, although I've never run mine longer than 45 min. (and sometimes as little as 20 min.) .

One caution: If you buy stones online, they may be coated in a water-soluble solution that simply washes off in the tumbler. I've had it happen with impression (aka sea sediment) jasper, as well as matrix turquoise (I know, I learned the hard way not to tumble soft stones!). However, with the current popularity of matte stones, the removal of the shiny finish is not a problem, though it will be unexpected. Check out this matte (now!) turquoise carved lizard piece that lost its shine in the tumbler:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/81623407/dark-lizard-neckwear

[CreativityJewellery]

I absolutely love my tumbler! It's a life saver. Before I got it as a wonderful xmas pressie from my hubby (he's a keeper!) I used to have to hand polish every little piece.
The only things I don't tumble are freshwater pearls, and more recently the mystic quartz rondelles. I found the color came off the mystic quartz stones really quickly lol, much to my disgust. I had no idea they were only surface dyed, but they are.

[WingsAllure]

I texture alot of my products and cuffs and tumble with 2lbs of shot water and a drop of dish soAp in my lortone tumbler. I tumble up to 8 hours on some items especially if i have used liver of sulphur and want to burnish surfaces and not crevices and have not lost texture. It mAy smooth them a touch but it wont removed properly hammered textures or stamped designs

[Former_Member]

Okay, I'm wanting to start making some scarf pins, and I think I understand now. Is the shot that I can buy on etsy the same thing that i would buy elsewhere?

[sarahndippity]

Yes it should be.

[Former_Member]

Dana-you might could find it here on Etsy,it's called a "Mixed" Stainless Steel Shot , you need a pound of it.

[Former_Member]

Okay, I'm going to get some and start playing LOL