Many Uses for a Rock Tumbler--Some Better Than Others...

Dear Rock Friends,

We often get asked if a rock tumbler can be used for other things besides
tumbling rocks.

Here are some of the other uses we have encountered.

A restaurant in Park City uses a couple of larger tumbler for marinating
meat overnight (inside the cooler).

Auto shops use them for cleaning carburetor parts.

Auto restoration shops use them for cleaning original parts like nuts and
bolts.

A local medical manufacture uses them to burnish needles for syringes.

A local aerospace manufacture use the to de-bur metal fittings and parts.

Many artists use them to manufacture beach glass for art.

Bottle collectors use them to remove dirt and crud from antique bottles.

Gold prospectors use them for crushing gold-bearing rocks so they can
amalgamate the gold.

Jewelers use them to clean jewelry castings.

Coin collectors and many with coin fountains use tumblers to clean the coins
so banks will take them.

A grad student at Berkeley is currently using one to create a specific
weather condition with sensors inside the barrel to measure the effect of--I
didn't really understand it but it sounded interesting.

A custom paint maker uses them to mix paint.

Some restaurants use them to clean utensils. It will put a pitted but clean
look on metal utensils really fast.

I know at least one clay artist who uses one to mix her own clay for
ceramics and another tumbler to mixing her own pigments for her ceramics.

These are just some of the more interesting uses. If you have some you would
like to share please let me know.

Rick Dalrymple
888.762.5728