How to Tumble Obsidian in a Rotary Rock Tumbler! A Step-by-Step Guide from Start to Finish!

[@kellyharper367]

Old disabled house bound dusty rusty rockhound here: For people who haven't tumbled rocks... it's more complicated than adding ingredients and turning on a machine. There are a lot of nuances that affect the outcomes. That's what makes this hobby so exciting... the learning... the mentorship... and the achievement! Great job Theo!

[@1JawsJr]

The advice you got from the Rock Shed was spot on. Think about the plastic Pellets, they float, so they are always trying to flow to the top of the slurry when the barrel is rotating causing the obsidian to impact with each other a lot more. Plastic pellets should no longer be sued for media for any type of rock polishing, and this video is a prime example of why. Secondly, this goes for the coarse and medium grits. When you start off with obsidian, always roll two barrels, both barrels at 3/4 to 7/8 full with no media. This will reduce the strength of impact of the material within the barrel as it is rotating. Then you take the material from both barrels and fill up the single barrel for the 12/220 (or 220 graded) back to 3/4 to 7/8 full. Here, you should not need any media as well. Then when you go on to Pre-Polish, introduce used (smooth) ceramic media to bring the barrel level back up to just over 3/4 of the way full. then carry forward to polish. Suggestions: add borax, 1 tablespoon per every three pounds of barrel capacity for ALL cycles. Burnishing, try to avoid it, that is one of the major causes of damage. Your methods worked well, but if you have enough material, try this method some. You can reach out to me and we can talk more if you want. In addition, I have all kinds of obsidian from Davis Creek available that could help you gain more experience with it. There are details about that Davis Creek Obsidian in my channel. Overall, your video here is good, and I like seeing the fails followed up with being able to correct the fails. That gives your viewers some good information to go fall back on.

[@wyomingadventures]

I have been struggling with tumbling lately. This video is really going to help, I feel. Love the Wyoming banded iron. I have a trip planned for finding some bif. The obsidian really turned out fantastic. I've been very hesitant to tumble obsidian. Now I feel like I can try it. Thanks Theo!

[@Lissa_Marie]

I absolutely love love LOVE this video! Your obsidian turned out freakin amazing! And the banded iron… OH MY GOD!!! Good job man!

[@Fishmonger35]

When my Glass Buttes obsidian came out of the tumbler they had that dull matt- like finish as well. Even my local rock shop said they weren’t able to get theirs to finish with a shine. I can’t wait to show them your video and results! I have some “ Apache tears” I want to try this recipe on. Thanks so very much for all the hard work and sharing!

[@scottolsen4406]

If the obsidian is still dull, try using Borax as a final polish. It worked great for me.

[@Nunya_Bidnez]

I love what you do brother. Don't listen to the hate. Do what you do and make it known. You can tumble a turd if you like. Stop hating. It is in fact you're property. Don't let it stop you. By Turd I mean Coprolites. Yep I am a dino nerd

[@largent45]

Well it may have taken you, a long time, but it was definitely worth the wait! They came out gorgeous! Super shiny and those gorgeous colors show up so well! I bet you're glad, that you had the patience, to wait and figure it out!?! You did a freaking excellent job on them! And the banded iron as well! Those are so pretty! I got some rough from a friend in Canada, and those rocks are a lot more red with the hematite. They don't have the yellow and those are so much prettier! Mine almost look black with the metallic lines through it. Those from Wyoming are gorgeous! That is a definite got to have, in my collection! Thanks Theo, for doing the hard part for us, and showing what it takes to polish obsidian, in a rotary tumbler! 🎉❤🎉

[@greatnorthernviews3052]

I recently did some obsidian Apache tears actually. I did it the same way. But I used a Lot-o vibratory tumbler. It came out beautifully. It’s a time saver. I did use tumbled river rock mixed with ceramic media. My obsidian was transparent also. It’s so cool. Thanks for sharing.

[@MegaSweetp2]

Thanks, Theo!! This was informative. I have been tumbling Utah obsidian for just over a year now & I prefer my stones to me completely smooth before moving them to stage 2. I run everything in 60/90 until smooth, then burnish & move to stage 2 with media. I run them for a week in stage 2 (120/220), burnish again & move to stage 3 (500) & run for a week. Stage 4 (1000) starts the polishing & I move them to a vibratory tumbler for this stage. I also have a stage 5 (8000 grit). I use much, much less grit in all stages. I also use Borax in the vibratory tumbler to help with the polishing stage.

[@judymarkel8029]

That would make a pretty lamp shade. With the light behind it. Or make a window of some kind. I love what it looked like with the light behind it. Thanks

[@leslyeschoenhuth1107]

The stone at the 3:42 mark flashes pink & several layers. So Cool.. The 3:53 rock is so pink, too.. My Faves are the ones you put light behind & get clear & black bands.. Just, WOW..

[@Mike-br8vb]

The gold and silver sheen was my favorite! You could try taking it one more step with optical grade cerium oxide, I've had fantastic results adding this as my final step. Those look amazing when passing the light through them!

[@helgavoorneveld1530]

Yay finally my prayers have been answered!!! Tumbling rocks before and after Jippie 😍🤩🥰

[@lovefaith1794]

Theo we love you & your girl. Thank you for what u do here. Rockfam love❤

[@sandmaker]

They finally came out good. Perseverance paid off. Thanks for sharing.

[@donnabeaudin9114]

Wow Theo, the Obsidian is gorgeous, what a labor of love! I’ve learned a lot, thank you for sharing the steps. The banded iron is so pretty also! I just tumbled my first batch of green Apatite that I mined myself, came out beautifully! Thanks Theo!

[@kolitiokada9825]

Hey Theo! Enjoyed watching your solution-seeking process! Beautiful stones! Obsidian: Root Chakra. Eliminates negative energy. Provides powerful protection & grounding. Tiger Iron: (tiger's eye/hematite/red jasper) Root, Sacral, and Solar Plexus Chakras. Enhances strength, stamina, and overall healing.

[@tristanmelling410]

Oh heck yes! I’m going to have to fix my tumbler and check my obsidian spots. They are too nice!

[@annibal13]

I've only just gotten into tumbling so watching this whole process is fantastic!

[@johnsaucerhunter]

Dude... I love seeing the what did and didn't work adventures, because otherwise some lonesome fool (as I point to myself) would be trying all sorts of combination's seeking success. So seeing what someone else has tried (and perhaps failed in), makes it drive home (mentally) with better chances of memory retention. Boy that turned out to be a lot more long-winded than I intended, but simply, thanks for the all the steps (pro and con) as now I feel more confident in trying this for myself as I have a boatload of raw Obsidian that has stared at me for almost a decade. Cheers Theo!

[@1sec2midnight]

Great obsidian rotary tumbling video. The colors in them are amazing. I really like the banded iron from Missouri. Thanks for sharing.

[@anniegironne8444]

Glad you found the perfect receipe for the obsidian, it's gorgeous

[@PerryArt420]

VERY NICE, BUD... THIS HELPS ALOT.... THANX

[@tulazaz]

Yay, you did it!😃👍. They are so beautiful! I’ve been making creative things for people to display their rocks in and on using things like decorated mounted abalone shells, vintage glass and other things I’ve collected. I actually sold my very first pieces to our local crystal shop this week. I’d like to take a personal challenge and come up with something creative that lights up and will show them off for you. They are so awesome, they need something like that. Also, try getting some free eye glasses cloths from where you get your glasses to handle them with.

[@Rocktwister]

Great polish! Thanks for listing it all out. If i get the guts to do it I will use this as my reference! I have a vibratory, hmmm the possibilities!

[@KellySnyder-gv7re]

Those turned out beautifully 😊! I’m saving this for future reference!

[@raystevens687]

Hi Theo thanks for sharing your rock 🪨 tumble idea 💡 it really made scenes to me the way you did it great job.

[@patriciamckean4186]

Wow, thanks for recipe!

[@lisamills-wv6nc]

Wow! Beautiful! Nice job, Theo! 😊

[@karlahall9058]

They turned out amazing!!! Nice job. What a challenge 👏!!! 😊

[@kendramanuel1276]

Very cool Theo! ✌️🫶😃

[@scottolsen4406]

I just watched the video on tumbling obsidian. I have had good luck so far. I did not use ceramic. I went through stage 4. The obsidian was smooth, but not polished. I added water to cover the rock and added 2 TBSP of Borax, nothing else added. I ran it for 2 days and it polished great.

[@roxannsejkora1691]

I liked the piece of obsidian that had both silver and gold sheen in it. ❤

[@milesnn]

Magnificent thank you

[@cbowers6530]

Beautiful and well done!!!

[@joang.cavanna2046]

They are gorgeous! Congratulations. Did all the different kinds of obsidian come from the same place?

[@jennifershipp2599]

Beautiful!😊

[@WhiteWolfSpirit]

Hello. Ive been subbed awhile, but this isnt my primary xhannel, so i miss things. Ive been doing research into obsidian, but also into onyx. How does a laymwn like myself distinguish between the two?

[@moemaster1966]

I enjoy watching your video ,I’ve tumbled obsidian and only achieved Matt finish I’ll definitely try your recipe and see if I can replicate your results…👍

[@sandybulman2052]

Try using soft scrub or stove top cleaner for step.3 and a final step 4, use Palmolive liquid

[@Mad4saxBrewery]

I have been having good luck with labradorite with lots of extra ceramic added. No sugar like you see lots of people using.

[@sbarfield8801]

What do you do with them? Sell them? Or collect them?

[@stevenweir7236]

Would a vibratory tumbler work easier on obsidian?

[@obake84]

What tumbler did you use?

[@rachelwilliams4423]

try marbles in the mixture next time u might get some good results

[@ResortDog]

You can add something real soft to help that slurry thing.

[@joannkoep8905]

I live in Oregon and tried polishing obsidian. It takes so flipping long by hand I lost interest. Thank you for doing this

[@theskyeel8605]

You are getting bruising on your rocks because your barrel needs more media. try ceramics. nothing else competes. the amount of rocks you have in your barrel is fine, but fill the rest with media/filler to 3/4 full, sometimes just a little more so they aren't colliding as hard. hope this helps.

[@ecks_marks_the_spot]

I think your vast experience actually worked against you. I just ran a batch of Apache Tears and they turned out great. I ran them with plastic beads (round) starting at step two. I had a lot of glass shards thru the process and many of the smaller rocks mostly disintegrated. The larger ones were still looking rough after step two but everything polished smooth by step 3. I let step 4 run 10 days instead of 7 and they came out beautiful.

[@jenneebrick2568]

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