NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Professional Rock Tumbler Kit - Complete Rock Tumbler for Adults & Kids with Durable 2 Lb. Barrel, Rocks, Grit, and Patented GemFoam Finishing Foam Polish, Rock Polisher

I just got this rock tumbler kit today, and so far I am very pleased with it! It is quiet, and doesn't take up too much space, and it comes with rocks to tumble, a jewelry-making kit, an extra pully band, foam and grit, and a nice booklet on the rocks included with the tumbler. A very nice little kit from Nat Geo, for a good price! It definitely does not come with enough grit though. I purchased additional 120 grit aluminum oxide to use with for my future rock tumbling. I might get a different grade of grit later, but to start out 120 aluminum oxide seemed most likely to give my rocks the best shine, without grinding them into dust. I can also say that the wheel looks a bit wiggly, but it doesn't seem to hinder the machine at all. I am trying an experiment right now where I soak my rocks for 24 hours prior to tumbling them, and then I am going to add just a bit of mineral oil to the water, grit and foam. I am testing my rocks in; vinegar, mineral oil and water/ mineral oil and water/ water. I will update this review of the results, after I have results to post. UPDATE: DO NOT USE DARK COLORED/BLACK GRIT/SAND/POWDER WITH LIGHT COLORED STONES! It grinds into the stones, and changes their color, based on the grit/powered/sand you're using! After 3 days of tumbling to each batch of stones, these are my results: - The vinegar, mineral oil and water mix: Shined and cleaned the rocks, and seemed to soften them, creating a visible effect in their polish. - The mineral oil and water: Also shined the stones, and seemed to soften them, without much difference in their cleanliness, and added a visible effect in their polish. - Water: Did not soften or clean the stones, and had less of an effect on their polish. OVERALL RESULTS OF EXPERIMENT: I think pre-soaking the stones in mineral oil and vinegar had the most noticeable effect on the stones polish. They seem to soften in the mineral oil, and the vinegar does get them clean pre-polish. I also tried tumbling the stones in mineral oil and water, with the aluminum oxide powder, and found that the dark colored powder ground into the stones, specifically the Tigers Eye. ...Which is NOT the result I wanted. Upon further experimentation and research, I have decided to use clean/white sand and colored sand as grit, to see if those work better as a polishing medium than the aluminum oxide. If my theory is correct, pre-soaking the stones in mineral oil and vinegar and then tumbling with the color sands should grind the sand color of my choice into the rocks. Will update later with pictures, if/when possible. So far, it's a going well and I'm having fun experimenting with geology! Yay, shiny rocks! Thanks Nat Geo!

If you need a gift for your sister's kids, this one is almost as good as a drum set, and better than a thousand beads. Unfortunately, I suspect they used their sea monkeys for grit, but it's still doing the job.

I bought this for myself 4 years ago when I was in my 50s. I knew nothing about rock tumbling. This has been a great little tumbler. Since then I've purchased a larger tumbler and a vibratory tumbler. That said I still use this tumbler! If you join an online rock tumbling group some people might be a little snobbish about this tumbler, but I can't say enough good things about it. I haven't used it 24/7, but it's gotten a good workout over the years. I'm careful to clean the barrel after every use and between stages. My fingers maybe aren't the strongest anymore so I use a screwdriver to pop the metal lid from the barrel and have no problem removing the top. I'm going to attach pictures of the first batch I tumbled. For stage 1 I tumble the rocks without any added filler/media (ceramic). I also bought ceramic filler and used that for stages 2-4. I like using the included foam pieces for stage 4 and I'm really pleased with the nice shine they provide. Yes, it's a little noisy so I put it in a room that doesn't get much use. I bought a plastic washing machine drain pan to place this in just in case I would have leaks, but that hasn't been an issue.

This tumbler does fine for what it is. The main thing is to not follow any of the directions or use any of the included objects. Just use the tumbler and ignore everything else. Also don't go to any higher speed than 1. Yes, the directions say use speed 3. Don't. Speed 1 is already too fast. Don't go faster. Why should you not use the included items? Well. 1) This is a 3 pound tumbler. There's only 1 pound of rocks included. To get a good tumble you need to at least fill it 2/3rds full (i.e. you would need AT LEAST double the amount of rocks, if not triple -- the rocks will lose volume as they go, meaning you'll have less and less rocks to take up space as time goes on). Not only that, the mix of stones is not of similar hardness. If one were to dump the included amount in, not only would it not fill the tumbler enough to get an effective tumble, but the harder stones would absolutely obliterate the softer ones. Also to note: most of the included stones were not really of a good enough size or quality to tumble, even if they were of similar hardness. Many were tiny chips or shards. Some were so badly cut that they wouldn't polish up well at all. Not great candidates for making it all the way to the end. 2) The included grit is both not enough and also not really useable due to having no indication as to what you're using or how coarse each step actually is. Even if you WERE provided that information, to get an effective tumble, you would need a great deal more than what is provided. It would be very difficult to achieve your desired results with so little product. Visually, all stages seem to be silicon carbide. This will not effectively polish your stones in the final steps, no matter how hard you try, even if you DID have enough. Additionally, the included gemfoam seems to do nothing to improve the situation. Just go ahead and get a set of tumbling grit from The Rock Shed or Polly Plastics and include some ceramic pellets for cushioning. Follow their directions instead. 3) The included booklet is really only good for IDing the rocks that were included in the one pound bag. Other than that, the directions and suggestions are garbage and the little blurbs beside the gems have a bit more woo than I personally am happy with (lots of "people believe this stone has (x healing property) etc"). Meh to that. End takeaway: The speeds they suggest are inappropriately high, plus, as stated above, the included objects are inappropriately proportioned and mixed. Get yourself a decent amount of stones from elsewhere, augment with the proper grit, keep the speed on 1, and follow literally any other directions, and you'll be golden. It's a decent tumbler in and of itself. It's also comparatively quiet, for a tumbler. This is probably due to the rubber barrel. Good purchase all in all.

Easy to follow instructions and easy to use.

This is AWESOME! We just set it up, easy as nails to get started! Simple instructions, reliable tumbler and beautiful stones included (with grit and polisher). Took us 5 minutes to get started and be up and running, biggest thing was where to put the tumbler (do your research, someplace away from elements, easy to clean up and reasonable to get to). We are so excited and can’t wait until we are done! In the pictures, you will see the rocks when we first got them, after stage 1, and after stage 2! We are currently on stage 3, and then we will polish! I think we should have left them in longer to tumble on stage 1 - be sure to stop and check them to see how they are doing before putting into the next stage! I feel like we kinda want more than 1 tumbler to make sure they are done to perfection! This has been so fun for my little girl and I to do together! New hobby, here we come!

Easy to use. It does make noise, so I would recommend keeping it somewhere like the basement or the garage, since it runs for days at a time. My rocks turned out very smooth. My husband bought one for me, and I liked it so much that I bought this one for my grandpa who had collected rocks, arrow heads, and fossils his whole life. My grandpa is a simply country man and has never once gotten excited about a gift I've given him until this. I'll be getting him more grit and more rocks for Christmas this year.

Such a cool gift. We got this for our son and it works great. It’s not too loud but you can definitely hear it rolling. It’s fun for him and doesn’t take up too much space

E davvero bello vedere i bambini quanta passione dedicano a questo attrezzo. La sua collocazione non può avvenire in casa in quanto un po' di rumore lo fa e andando di continuo anche per 7 GG di continuo non è il massimo. Lo consiglio a tutti i giovani esploratori che vogliono trasformare il grezzo in gioielli.

Artikel ist wie beschrieben und hat eine deutsche Gebrauchsanweisung. Super Sache gerne wieder.

Il fonctionne très bien ; je l'utilise pour nettoyer les objets en les polissant.

Wonderful little workhorse

It works but god damn is it loud and annoying. You need to leave it spinning for literally weeks 24 hours a day. I thought this process would be 24x quicker than it is. Kids will not enjoy the wait and just be put off. Save your money and just buy some rocks already tumbled - it’s way cheaper.