# rock tumbling wooden parts



## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

I know this may sound ridiculous, but hear me out. Has anyone ever tried putting small wooden parts in a rock tumbler? I know that the tumblers normally require water to work on rocks, but I'm thinking this could really work well without the water to soften edges on very small parts that would be difficult to work on by hand. I don't have a tumbler and at about $50 for the inital supplies, I'd love to check here before investing in this, but I'd love to hear if anyone has tried this or would be willing to try it. Thanks!


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## Dkol (Mar 13, 2009)

Absolutely that will work. I would even try an alternative abrasives such as steel shot, ceramic cones even crushed walnut shells.

The tumbler can also be used to restore screws and fixtures.


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

Thanks so much for the post Dkol. Have you by any chance tried it yourself? I'm looking for anyadvice I can get on what to expect in terms of how long I'll need to run it, any cleaning I may need to do on the parts afterwards, etc. Not to push my luck, but any photos would also be really cool.

Any input from others would be GREATLY appreciated as well!


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## jstegall (Oct 9, 2008)

Years ago I saw some root nodules that a guy had done, this was in Uvalde, Tx and I do not remember the species but it was very hard and looked terrific. He only told me that he had used his rock tumbler.


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

I've used my brass tumbler (for reloading - with walnut shells and polish) to tumble some small metal parts that needed rust removal…and it worked quite well…never thought to try wooden parts….of course this is not a rock tumbler - which turns 360 degrees…I've been watching this thread as I am curious of the outcome also…Interesting idea….I enjoy experimentation..


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

sounds like a interesting Idea


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## DanLyke (Feb 8, 2007)

Seems like a tumbler would be pretty easy to make: A motor of some sort, direct drive a dowel, put another dowel on bearings parallel to the first dowel an inch or two apart. Take a short (less than the length of your dowels) big (4" or more) PVC or ABS pipe with caps, and an end (one of which should have a screw insert), contact cement some innertube on the inside (so that it doesn't make an unholy noise), fill the PVC or ABS pipe with your parts and abrasive, set it down on the dowel rollers, turn on the motor, come back in a few hours/days.

Might need to slap a belt (maybe a broccoli strap?) around both dowels to make sure they both turn, and put some bike inner tube on the dowels to make sure that they get a good drive connection on the bigger piece of capped pipe.

Or keep an eye on your local Craigslist or Freecycle, someone's gotta have a tumbler in the attic they're not using…


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## JayPique (May 25, 2009)

Some of the big boys have machines that sand entire chairs at once. They stick the chair inside a big concrete mixer type thing that's full of abrasive balls, which spins around and sands the chair. I've never seen one except at auction.

JP


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## Michael121 (Jun 30, 2008)

A lot of parts are tumbled sans water. They use ceramic cones, little steel shapes that look like UFO's. Polished rocks.

Most of the Aluminum parts I've seen are done dry. And brass. It takes off the rough edges.

It should work with wood, I would try using something like silica as a sandblaster does. Finer grains first then go bigger if need be.

You could actually do it in an old dryer. Not the best but seen one used for a guys car parts. Makes a mess. Just don't use the wifes.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

I have a vibratory tumbler, 2 bowls, and 3 media: crushed walnut shells mixed with rouge (red polishing compound), green resin pyramids impregnated with a very fine silica grit, and steel shot that my friends got me, as they used it to polish their homemade wedding rings in my tumbler, and left me the two jars of shot pellets.

I wouldn't mind running some experiments for you. You know how I am about that juicy empirical data 

I have some video floating around, but I'm not sure where I put it at the moment (not online yet, I guess), but here's how they look in action.


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## Dkol (Mar 13, 2009)

It has been years since I have owned or used a tumbler. The last time I used one was a friends vibratory tumbler to smooth a carved piece of vegetable ivory. It worked great. I would think that if trying to keep a specific shape the vibratory would be the way to go. The true rotary tumbler would probably do more rounding and smoothing in a freeform (driftwood) sort of way. This could be controlled by the the amount of empty space in the drum. More space equals more movement and more aggressive the abrasion.


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## AaronK (Nov 30, 2008)

i was actually pondering this the other day when noticing my wife's necklace of randomly shaped wooden beads. i figured that tumbling was how they did it. i would also use sand or shells, and dry.


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

Thanks again for all the great posts. I was afraid this thread would die an early death, but I've gotten some pretty good feedback.

Gary,
I may take you up on the offer. I've got a friend that has a small rotary style one (he thinks) but if that takes too long to work out, I may follow up with you. I'm kind of on a deadline. I'm hoping to have some Christmas presents that will use this technique, but I need to make sure it works before I start making all these little objects.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

Just let me know, Hokie.


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## mtnwild (Sep 28, 2008)

I would think you've opened a world of possibilities.

Size of pieces.
Size of grit.
Type of grit.
Size of tumbler.
Speed of tumbler.
Time for each project.
And many more variables.

Looks like a whole field to explore.

Keep in touch, let us know what you learn…...............


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## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

Got a stationary belt sander? Even a hand held will work for this if you can clamp it upside down.

Build a frame sized to the exposed part of the belt and as deep as necessary.
Add 4 legs on the outside, long enough to set the frame about 1/4" above the exposed belt.
Might add a "foot" to one leg for a clamp. I don't.
Turn on the sander, drop in the cubes. Keep an eye on them. Doesn't take long.
I've made beads this way.
Gene


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

mtnwild - I spent probably a month or two researching before I got my vibratory polisher. The info was so sparse online. I couldn't even tell how big any of them were, because they were all on nondescript work surfaces, or in studio setups, with nothing for scale. It turns out some that I had looked at were enormous, and I couldn't tell. They looked like the small tabletop versions. That said, while researching, I found a lot of people who use them in metal polishing, some in big industries where they run thousands of parts at once, and you're spot on. It's a huge task to know how much of what to add, and for how long to run things, and what kind of rinse cycles are necessary to remove grit. One guy on a forum mentioned that they ran a batch with 500 parts one way, everything came out great, so they scaled everything for 1000 parts, and they all came out destroyed, rounded to way out of spec. It's a very tricky process! The grits all have specialties. Some will reach into cracks and sand inside them. Some will clog cracks. Some will smooth over the edge of cracks, making rounded grooves that are much wider than the original openings. Some won't remove toolmarks. Others will obliterate toolmarks and every other detail. In metal, with more aggressive things, they flow a stream of water through, top to bottom, which removes the little bits of metal that are worn off by the media. If they don't do this, those become a secondary medium that really wears parts down too fast, and improperly.

Gene - That sounds pretty cool! I want to try it


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## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

Gary, 
I should add that I eventually lined the inside of the frame with 60 grit sand paper. (the same as the belt). I also made a sandpaper lined lid as some times a bead would pop out.


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## rustfever (May 3, 2009)

I, too, have a vibratory 'tumbler'. I have used it on several loads of small metal part, including nuts, bolts, and screws. I use the green ceramic medium, water and a drop of dish soap for the metal parts. Light rust comes on in one bas of about 45 minutes. Sever rust in three or four 1 hour loads. I rinse the ceramic after each load, dry, then start again. 
I have never thought of trying small wood parts as the only way I know is to use water with the special ceramic medium. 
I will be interested in trying this new idea.
Ira


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

don't worry. I haven't forgotten about this. I'm still planning to experiment, but I'm also still hopeing to borrow a small tumbler from a friend to keep costs down until I see how it works. I'd prefer to let Gary work on his own projects before adding my curiosities to his list of projects. I'll keep you posted!


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

Hehe 

You know, it's funny. It was only just now that it occurred to me that the medium I should probably use with wooden parts is sand. It's obvious now, but I was only thinking of what I had: little green silica-infused resin pyramids, crushed walnut shells coated in rouge (red polishing compound), and steel shot (which are actually not recommended for my tumbler, but seemed to work fine.


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## BigTim (Jan 17, 2008)

It does work. A few years ago I made tons of tiny toy cars, the size of matchbook cars. I had my Grandfathers rock tumbler and would load in 12 -15 cars at a time with a bunch of white silica sand. In an hour they were perfectly smooth with just the right amount of softend edges to feel "right".
the tumbler is also perfect for finishing all those little cars. Clean out all the sand and load in the cars with a simmliar volume of parafin wax chunks (3/8" more or less) and in 2 hours you a have really smooth child safe finish. I'd set mine up on a timer so I did not have to remember to go shut it off. Don't ask what pine cars look like after you left the sanding drum run overnight….and half the next day. I can't tell you, 'cause they did not look much different than the sand. hence the timer LOL


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## Earlywood (May 4, 2011)

Does anyone know more now than they did 608 days ago?

I have thought of doing the same thing to sand wooden spoons. I am anticipating that I will need to use media that is rather large in comparison to the tightness of the growth rings of the wood being sanded. It seems that if small sand particles were used, that they would sand out the soft earlywood and leave the hard latewood (kind of like what happens when you wire brush a piece of wood).

Has anyone seen this happen?


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## saddlesore (Oct 17, 2007)

I use a rock tumbler with corn cob or walnut shell media to clean and polish pistol and rifle brass prior to reloading, as well as sea shells. It should work great with wood parts too. The media is cheap and gently abrasive.


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## jessfromthewoodlot (Jun 15, 2011)

Hey - i've tried and not had much success. i make wood buttons. the big ones i can sand on the belt sander, but the little ones are a bugger to hold on to - and i lose MANY as they fling across the garage. so i tried tumbling. attempt # 1 - used some dark sand = black crappy looking buttons. scrapped them. next - regular sand - still had black buttons - figured it was the black birch i had in the mix. so 3rd try - plain cherry wood + plain sand - still had yicky black buttons - figured out it was the GREY plastic barrel being slowly turned into powder and coating the buttons.

so. i've read a lot of your comments - sounds like you've had success - are the tumblers you're using metal? or has anyone else had this problem?

any comments would be helpful! thanks!

jess

thewoodlot.org 
thewoodlot.etsy.com


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## Finn (May 26, 2010)

For what it is worth….years ago, I was called to repair a cooling system that froze plastic parts for a machine that tumbled them to break off the "Flash" that occured on the pieces when formed.. it was called a "Wheelabrator" This one had a drum about 24" across and 48" long. Interesting idea to use it on wood.


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## HerbC (Jul 28, 2010)

HokieMojo,

LJ Bogdanovich built a DIY version shown on this project page

Good Luck!

Be Careful!

Herb


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## juli (Dec 23, 2011)

Hi,
I have a rock tumbler ( a small one) and i tried to get my wooden pieces smooth , this way i don't have to sand it one by one with a sanding sponge…
I Left it for couples hours with enough space on it and is NOT WORKING…
I used regular SAND :not working, STEEL SHOT: not working, WALNUT SHELL: not working. 
I did not add any liquid or water.

Maybe my tumbler is not enough powerful?
If anyone had success with this kind of experimentation let me know!
Otherwise i will send my small pieces one by one with a sanding sponge..

Thanks!


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## mrg (Mar 10, 2010)

My father used to make peach pit rings and little wooden trinkets when I was a kid and I remember him having one of the vibrating tumblers from Harbor Freight that he wood put these in to make glass smooth. He had it for quite some time,


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## bobsmyuncle (Jan 12, 2011)

After hand-sanding 1000+ small blocks on a recent project, I did some research into "tumble sanders." They are out there, but I'm not sure how they all work.

I'm tempted to buy an old clothes dryer, throw in some blocks, some scraps of sandpaper, and set it on air tumble for 30 minutes or so. I also looked at portable concrete mixers. Unfortunately, the local hardware store is liquidating their rental tools and I didn't want to pop $200+ for one on speculation that it might work. Next time, I'll seriously check into the back room of the appliance stores.


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## cl8toR (Oct 7, 2013)

I am currently tumbling some wooden sunglass frames. I started with some barley berries. Like rice, but they seem to be a bit stronger. Ive been told that this will work better than white aluminum oxide. I had a few pair tumbled in whith AO but the problem was that it ate the dark speckle grain of mahogany and walnut much faster than it at the heart wood.

Ill let you guys know how it goes. Im using a tumbler similar to the HF tumbler. not a rotary one like Kramer Industries uses. They ran the first couple for me.

Cheers.
C


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## cl8toR (Oct 7, 2013)

barley berries did nothing in 45 minutes


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

Not mine but I happened to see this the other day, a DIY wood tumbler.


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## HuckD (Sep 15, 2013)

I'm wondering if this might be a use for the rotisserie motor that came with my grill and has never been used. I just put it in the wood shop thinking "I might need this someday".


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## REO (Sep 20, 2012)

I have done this for small parts for the original tree swing. They were small interlocking stacking men.we used shingle granuals for the medium and it worked terific in a vibratory drum from HF.


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## socrbent (Mar 9, 2012)

Did you see this post - http://lumberjocks.com/projects/69912 ?
I thought there were some other posts like this but didn't make them a favorite.


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

I've also heard of people using small pieces of abrasive or sandpaper in loose as an abrasive. Good look. The random tumbling of the part along with the loose small pieces of sandpaper does the work.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## cl8toR (Oct 7, 2013)

REO can you tell me where you got the shingle media? How long did you tumble? Thanks!


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## turbotermit (Aug 31, 2015)

I am going to try this method on birch plywood. When we use the CNC router, cutting small letters, the edges often comes out a bit rough, and it is a nightmare to sand like 50 small letteres by hand. We bought som sanding sand, and are going to make a home made tumbler. but it sounds like sand isnt the answer.

Great to see that others had the same thought.

Cheers


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## M71 (Jan 26, 2015)

We hand carve jewelry in various woods and then hand sand and hand polish them. The hand sanding is the monotonous part. Has anyone come up with a machine and media which would produce a smooth surface on the wood to some degree at least. Hopefully this would reduce the amount of hand sanding needed.

Much appreciate any suggestions folks.


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## sras (Oct 31, 2009)

I tried this with a toy rock tumbler. It worked fine for tumbling rocks. I lined the drum with 60 grit paper. It eventually worked, but it ran for several weeks (I think it was 3 weeks).

There are some projects posted on LJs a few years ago that used a drill motor in bottom of a coffee can with sandpaper lining. The higher speeds worked much better.


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## finkh (Sep 22, 2011)

tumbler

I built one of these but it has two disks to run on a rock tumbler. My media is a bunch of one-inch squares of 220 grit sandpaper, mixed with walnut shell grit. The grit keeps the pieces from knocking into each other, and the sandpaper is a lot more aggressive than the grit, but 220 just rounds the edges. Harder wood takes a bit of a polish after a few hours (maple, ebony, yellow pine). Softer wood never really gets silky smooth, but my aim is to soften the edges as the result is blocks for kids. KEVA or KAPLA blocks in poplar get finished in a couple of hours in a small (six inch diameter barrel), three or four hours in the larger octagonal barrel. The barrel with grit and sandpaper runs very quietly. The small barrel with just sandpaper was loud enough to need a silencing dome (cardboard box).


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