Rock tumbling can be a real test of your patience. A tumbling run with a single batch of stones could take you many weeks!

In this article and video I how how it is quite possible and in fact easy to achieve a highly polished finish on your rocks in just 10 days!

There is no cheating or trickery involved, simply taking care to choose the right rocks from the start can make a huge difference to the tumbling time of each project.

Search any beach or gravel bed and with a bit of diligence and patience it is possible to collect a barrel load of interesting and even beautiful stones that are already half way to being polished.

You need to choose stones that are really smooth, have no cracks or fissures, and as few sharp edges and deep pits as possible.

Of course you will not want to do this on every tumble, as rock tumblers we always want to polish the most beautiful and unusual stones and rocks, and inevitably this will mean tumbling rougher rocks most of the time.

However, as a way of learning just what is possible this method can teach us a lot. Managing to polish rocks in just 10 days can give us insights into how the polishing process works and many new comers to the hobby might be surprised at how critical the first stage of tumbling is.

Many rock tumbling “experts”focus on the process itself, stressing great importance on the types and amounts of grit, how much water and the time at each stage, but the truth is that it’s the choice of rocks at the outset of each tumble that largely dictates the length of time it will take to achieve a great polish,

In this video I show how I successfully and simply produced great looking, highly polished rocks in just 10 days. Even I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and successful this strategy proved to be.

Incidentally, many Youtube “experts” showing the results of their rock tumbling tutorials at the end of their videos are showing wet rocks! Even a dull unpolished rock will have a nice gloss if wet.

The highly polished rocks shown at the end of my videos are bone dry and have not been oiled or buffed or “improved”in any way. (except for one video titled as a cheats way)!

Fast 10 day Rock Tumble.

If you would like to know where I buy my grits and polish etc. please see here : Rock Tumbling resources UK.