🪨 National Geographic Rock Tumbler Review: Is It Worth Your Money?

Рет қаралды 4,075

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 39

@CacklingChick 9 ай бұрын

I hope this review of the National Geographic Hobby Edition Rock Tumbler was fun and helpful! You can purchase one here: amzn.to/3OUpRca TUMBLE ON!! 😁👍🪨⛏

@jimedgar6789 9 ай бұрын

I never worried about my tumbler "walking" until I woke up in the middle of the night and it was in my bedroom.

@CacklingChick 9 ай бұрын

What the...? Ok, that would scare me!!

@jimedgar6789 9 ай бұрын

@@CacklingChick Scared me too! All I heard was "rumble rumble". LOL

@CacklingChick 9 ай бұрын

Exactly!! I'd think it was a critter that got in the house!!

@nunyatd 7 күн бұрын

😅😂

@CacklingChick 7 күн бұрын

😆👍🏻🪨💦

@hattis 23 күн бұрын

Thanks! Great review 👍

@CacklingChick 23 күн бұрын

Howdy, Hattis! Thank you very much! You're very welcome, and I appreciate the feedback! ROCK ON!! 😁👍🏻🪨💦

@WibblyMart 26 күн бұрын

What a lovely reveiw! I just bought one of these and this wad a great intro!! Very informative and entertaining!😄

@CacklingChick 26 күн бұрын

HOWDY, Wibbly! 👋🏼 Congratulations on your new tumbler! WOO HOO!! Thanks for the lovely feedback! Love it! I hope you have a blast with tumbling! TUMBLE ON!! 😁👍🏻🪨💦

@animaloverload7465 8 ай бұрын

Your enthusiasm in this hobby ive done for a while has got you a new sub. The "crayon" video was my intro to you. Binge watching now.

@CacklingChick 8 ай бұрын

HOWDY! 👋🏻 I think you have me confused with @moonriserocks! She's AWESOME! Do you tumble, slab, or... ? DO TELL!! Thanks! ROCK ON!! 😁👍🏻🪨⛏️

@Pampnaylor 4 ай бұрын

Love this video. I think as a beginner I should get this kit from the National Geographic. Soooo excited!

@CacklingChick 4 ай бұрын

Howdy, Pam! 👋🏻 Yes, it's a pretty good beginner rock tumbler, keeping in mind the pros and cons I mentioned. I agree, very exciting!! Thank you for the feedback and TUMBLE ON!! 😁👍🏻🪨💦

@Herowngirltravelstheworld 3 ай бұрын

You said you used a different medium of grit I think? In the video. Can you link to it or provide the name? I'm looking at starting this as a beginner. I live on the ocean and keep finding amazing rocks I want to try lol

@CacklingChick 3 ай бұрын

Howdy! 👋🏻 Ooh, how exciting that you're going to try rock tumbling!! I have a lot of the items listed in the description, but I recommend Rock Shed's aluminum oxide 1,000 polish as it's a lot better than what came with the National Geographic Rock Tumbler Hobby Edition. Remember to tumble rocks of similar hardness. Otherwise, the soft ones will get bruised, which is what happened with the ones in the kit. Here's the link to the POLISH I use in my Lortone rock tumbler as well as the kit for a better polish: Aluminum Oxide 1000 Polish: amzn.to/3zD76VK TUMBLE ON!! 😁👍🏻🪨💦

@koreenphotogirl 6 ай бұрын

I do a post-4 step with borax. Makes them shine like glass. Great review! 👍

@CacklingChick 6 ай бұрын

Great idea! How long do you run that burnishing stage? 😁👍🏻🪨⛏️

@koreenphotogirl 6 ай бұрын

@@CacklingChick At least 24 hours but I've once forgotten it and left it there 3 days. Makes 'em super shiny!

@CacklingChick 6 ай бұрын

Holy wow! I haven't tried it for that long. Definitely going to try your suggestion. Many thanks and TUMBLE ON!! 😁👍🏻🪨⛏️

@nunyatd 7 күн бұрын

Not sure if it's the same colour where you live but I bought a National Geographic rock tumbler that is yellow and it worked great till I went to the second step. From there it took 2 hours and 5 people to get the lid to lock tight.🤦 I'm not sure if others had this problem with this tumbler and I feel that National Geographic didn't test the product long enough before putting on the shelf This pissed me off enough to go buy a different one. So now I have 2 because you can only deal with that kinda madness so long

@CacklingChick 7 күн бұрын

Howdy! 👋🏼 Wow, I'm so sorry to hear that! Maybe the lid was just a fluke! 🤯 I bought mine off Amazon. Is the second tumbler working better? TUMBLE ON!! 😃👍🏻🪨💦

@nunyatd 7 күн бұрын

@@CacklingChick I bought mine at Walmart because that's all they had and trusted the name but it does not look like yours. So I bought the next addition of the National Geographic tumbler and off Amazon that looks like the one you have and the lids much easier to lock into place. I also need a screw driver to get the lid off. So it's not just you.

@CacklingChick 7 күн бұрын

Ah, good! I like the tumbler we both have, but it does run really fast, so we definitely need HARD rocks. Yes, a screw driver is mandatory to get the lid off!! Have fun!! I enjoy yacking with you. 😃👍🏻🪨💦

@nunyatd 7 күн бұрын

@CacklingChick the yellow National Geographic tumbler actually spins faster then the others just to let you no. The bigger tumblers seem to go slower and I'm not sure if it's the same motor wattage Thank you for responding to my messages not many people on KZbin do Stay perky thanks for the chat and rock on ✌️

@CacklingChick 7 күн бұрын

@nunyatd I think I noticed the yellow National Geographic tumbler before, but I just Googled it anyway. Thanks for the info. Oh, yes, I'm not changing my personality and will remain a spaz. Be yourself as well. I also enjoyed yacking with you. ROCK ON!! 😁👍🏻🪨💦

@robertjackson7971 6 ай бұрын

If you want a shine on your rocks use 1200 aluminum oxide polish I use that stuff and it works

@CacklingChick 6 ай бұрын

Thanks! I use 1,000 A.O. from the Rock Shed. Where do you get yours?

@jarlsoars1150 8 ай бұрын

I have one of these...bought it at a consignment store for probably half what it retails and it was barely used. It had something like three bags of rough and grit, too. Anyway, our local gem/rock show is going on this weekend and I bought a second Loretone 33B unit from a vendor out of Wisconsin. By the way, they told me that Loretone is ending their production as of March 29. It seems the owner is retiring.

@CacklingChick 8 ай бұрын

Yes, the National Geographic rock tumbler kits don't give you much material, but that's easily solved with rockhounding! I'm jealous you have a rock show to attend. They're fun! Yes, I read last week about Lortone going out of business. Horrible news as I also own two of the 33Bs. Great tumblers for sure! Have you been tumbling long? What are you tumbling now? 😁👍🏻🪨⛏️

@CacklingChick 8 ай бұрын

Also, I heard Harbor Freight won't be making any tumbler as well. Apparently, Highland Park tumblers are good. I need to check them out! Anyway, enjoy your Lortone tumblers!!

@jarlsoars1150 8 ай бұрын

@@CacklingChick My first entry into tumbling was probably back in 2012, but, after a few batches sold my 33A a few years later and just started again last year, but, I've always rock hounded despite that though. Currently, I ran a batch of small, solid geode halves from Hamilton, Ill., just across the river from Keokuk, IA(Geode country lol). Anyway, I figured since they're solid quartz they should polish well...most are clear but a few are solid white. The other batch was a mix of locals...I have to redo stage one because everything was too similar in size, so, without smaller intermediate pieces the grit wasn't distributed as well...they got more or less 'dull' but not shaped and there was a lot of fresh grit still, so, gonna add some ceramic media to reach the voids better. Working on breaking up some other local pieces and mixing in some purchased rough for the new tumbler, but, that takes me so long to get around to..lol.

@CacklingChick 8 ай бұрын

That's interesting you're adding ceramic media to stage 1 as that really slows down shaping and removing pits and cracks. I accidentally did that with some rocks I'm currently tumbling. In my case, I only added the ceramic media because each barrel was only half full. After a couple of weeks of that, I thought, oops, no wonder they're not losing the pits and cracks! Removed the media, retumbled for another 8 days (because I got busy... and lazy... haha). BOOM... much smoother!

@jarlsoars1150 8 ай бұрын

@@CacklingChick I might have over loaded the barrels with rocks...that's probably part of the problem. I didn't use media this time at first either. They lost a little volume on their own but not as much as I expected. I mentioned that the batches were more or less the same size rocks so there's simply not enough grinding action between the rocks, so, I opted to reload and run step 1 adding small media. I've done that with previous tumbles anyway and have had good results, so I don't think it's the media in this case. I think it can go both ways...if there's too much media, I think it can chew up your grit faster if the rock-to-media ratio is disproportionate therefore resulting in less reduction. I've seen it happen to others out there.