Lortone vs. Harbor Freight Rock Tumblers

Here are real customer comments sent to us at rockshop@rocks4u.com.

About the middle of August, I purchased a 3-lb rock tumbler from Harbor Freight Tools and have broken four belts in the process of tumbling and polishing one batch of agates. The particular model I purchased would be equivalent to a Lortone having only one 3-lb barrel. I did read one web site that warned about the poor quality of the Harbor Freight tumblers, but I wondered how I could go wrong for $22. I had my answer when I spent $16 on two replacement fans (the first two belts broke a blade off the plastic fan when they failed), four replacement belts, and shipping (close to half of the cost). The belts are difficult to replace and don't seem to last very long. I even tried a rubber band while waiting for the new belts to arrive. The rubber band did last for most of the pre-polish step, but was sticky and gummy at the end of that cycle. I'd have to be really desperate to try that again.

Near the end of September, my wife and I visited your shop in Salt Lake City (while visiting friends in Salt Lake), and I saw that you run multiple tumblers seemingly on a continuous basis. How long do the belts typically last on the Lortone tumblers? What is the diameter of the Lortone tumbler belts? Would I get more service life out of the Harbor Freight tumbler if I replaced the fan with a Lortone fan and used a Lortone belt?

I live in (city), WA so I don't visit Salt Lake City very often. I was impressed with your shop when we visited because of the assortment of tumblers, tumbler parts, grit, and rough rocks. Thank you in advance for your help.

RK

Our reply:

Hi RM,
Thank you for your compliments to the shop. I’m glad you stopped in. We have a number of customers that use Lortone replacement parts for their Harbor Freight Tumblers. Specifically, we send out a lot of belts. I believe the Harbor Freight sizes correspond to the Lortone sizes, so you can base belts on your tumbler size. I’m not sure about the fan. That may be a gamble.

We send out shipments via FedEx and USPS everyday, so it is no problem to send you parts if you want to give that a try. Either order on-line at https://shop.rocks4u.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=86 or give us a call at 1-888-762-5746.

May we use your comments and my response on our blog—with no identifying information, of course?

I hope that was helpful. Please let me know if I can answer anything else.
Sincerely,
Anita

RM replies:

Yes, you may use my comments in your blog. I will order later this week, after pay day.

I based my question about the capability of swapping parts on your web catalog. The entry for the cooling fan indicates it can be used in the Harbor Freight tumbler. I was wondering if you knew of anybody who had successfully interchanged the parts.

You didn't answer my question about the service life of the Lortone belts (i.e., how long do they last?). I want to find out if the belts break frequently and I have to accept that lot in life, or whether the Lortone belts are made of better material and will last for several tumbling phases or for several batches of rock. I think that the material in Harbor Freight belts doesn't hold up to the heat generated by the flexing and the transfer of energy (to turn the tumbler drum). When they fail, they are usually cracked in several places, as if the rubber became brittle. I've removed the top guard plate to facilitate air flow for cooling to see if that helps.

And we reply again:

Hi RM,
I asked our lapidary people and they said you could swap parts between Harbor Freight and Lortone. Also, Lortone belts are much better than the one you have. They last a year or more in our machines. The trick to keeping them running is to not over tighten. Also, don't get the oil on them.

Thank you for allowing us to use your comments. Please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with!
Sincerely,
Anita

Cash & Treasures visits Rockpick Legend Co.

On Saturday, November 10, the host and crew of Travel Channel's Cash & Treasures filmed an episode about Utah topaz at our store! It was a lot of fun, but a lot of hard work, too. They started around 10 in the morning and worked until 5 at night. We answered a lot of questions, took direction on camera, stood around while they filmed segments, arranged displays, re-arranged displays, made new displays, oh, and gathered props.


We were pleasantly surprised by how friendly the group from Cash & Treasures were, not only to us, but to our friends and customers. Kirsten Gum was just as nice off camera as she is on camera. The camera men, Luke Saver and Brian Cardello, showed the kids their equipment and posed for pictures. Some of us got closely acquainted with audio man Aron Prigg as he wired us with microphones--he was very nice about it. And last, but not least, Carl Schick, the producer, was patient with our screw-ups, open to our non-experienced TV producing suggestions, and just plain fun to work with. By the time they were done we felt like they were old friends.

They started by shooting opening segments outside the store. When they came inside, they had Rick sort and appraise the topaz they found while collecting the day before with Mike Unruh, well-known topaz expert. Later in the day we had the pleasure of visiting with Mike.

After Rick appraised the topaz, he helped Kirsten wash the topaz in an ultrasonic cleaner. My favorite line of the day was when Kirsten asked Rick if she could use his toothbrush. Of course she wanted the one he was using to wash topaz, but it was a great line, anyway.

After the topaz was clean, Alston showed Kirsten (and crew) how to cut topaz on a lapidary saw. Kirsten seemed especially impressed that Alston was not afraid of putting his fingers right up to the blade. Alston showed her he could touch the blade while it was spinning without getting cut. With a little coaxing, Kirsten tried it and sighed a sigh of relief when all her fingers were still intact. This works because a rock saw blade cuts by grinding--it's not really "cutting" at all.

Next Constance helped Kirsten make jewelry with her topaz and our findings kit (modified to suit Kirsten and crew). There was a little problem getting the bell cap around the topaz for the pendant, so Alston trimmed the topaz--twice. Once that was taken care of, Kirsten got her topaz pendant and earrings.

Kirsten had several nice display pieces, so Zeke and Frederick showed her how to display them with acrylic stands and mineral tack. They all seemed to enjoy a lengthy conversation about displaying topaz, their favorite gems, and where they like to go rock hounding. While I'm sure this conversation will be cut out of the final show, I wish you could hear it. It was very cute all the way around.

The filming wrapped up with a final appraisal from Rick. Cleaning, mounting and making jewelry didn't really change the value of the topaz, but it definitely made it nicer to look at!

Thank you Kirsten, Carl, Luke, Brian, and Aron for an education in making a TV show, a fun (but hard) day, and being so great to work with! We're looking forward to seeing the episode sometime next spring, and we hope you'll visit us again!

Anita Dalrymple

Feldspar Gemstones

By far the most abundant mineral group on earth is the feldspars. Yet, when you think of gemstones you don’t associate them with feldspars. However, the feldspar family produces some pretty amazing gems.

The feldspar family is composed silicates (Si2O4) of potassium (K), sodium (Na), and calcium (Ca) where the sodium replaces the potassium and the calcium replaces the sodium in various amounts to create some very common rocks and occasionally, gemstones.

Imagine a triangle ▲ where at the top of point you have pure potassium silicate which is the mineral orthoclase. Most orthoclase is white to fleshy in color and boring. Under special conditions it can form a very rare gemstone from citrine to honey in color and be as transparent as glass.

Now moving down the left side of the triangle toward the bottom left corner we add a little sodium to get sanidine, one of the rarest of the feldspars. Most of the time sanidine is just white and opaque like the crystals from Tooele. Given the right conditions it can form a smoky quartz look-a-like.

Add enough sodium now to make it a 50:50 mix and you get moonstone. Moonstone is one of the gems that have many faces. It can be orange, yellow, green, red, gray, brown, and black. But the most sought after is the blue. When you get a blue flash across a semi-transparent stone it is just amazing. Even more beautiful is when the blue is mixed with orange, yellow, or red. Then you see a rainbow dancing within the stone. This is one of the most popular gemstones in the world. It is said to bring young maidens great luck.

Once you have replaced all the potassium with sodium you have microcline, a.k.a. amazonite. This forms opaque stones that are robin-egg blue to deep emerald green.

Now we move across the bottom of the triangle from left to right replacing the sodium with calcium.

Oligoclase is a rare and visually stimulating gemstone. It forms various shades of greens from mint green to pastel green like tourmalines. It can also form shades of yellow, tan, and brown.

With a little more calcium you get sunstone, a very popular gemstone. Our Utah sunstone is fun to collect but it doesn’t really turn out a good gemstone. The material from Oregon however, is the finest in the world. It forms blood red to pastel reds and green, tan, yellow, brown, and black. The highest quality is the red with inclusions of copper flakes that make the stone shimmer or glitter as it moves in the light. I particularly like the ones with red and green together, they remind me of Christmas. This sunstone is probably the most valuable feldspar on the market.

With a 50:50 mix of calcium and sodium you get labradorite. Calcium and sodium molecules are round and large so when they mix there is there is a lot of space between them. This space, called interstices, fills with water and creates a prism as the light refracts off of it. This phenomenon is called labradorescents. We see the colors of a rainbow--yellows, blues, greens, oranges, reds, and violets. They are often very vivid and striking, making this mineral a favorite among mineral collectors, gemstone collectors, jewelry wearers, and just about anybody who sees it. Though named for Labrador, Canada where it was first discovered, the best material comes from Madagascar. Labradorite is often called spectralite or galaxite.

Moving to almost pure calcium you get bytownite. It is among the most rare of gemstones and a favorite with collectors. It has a warm glowing yellow to amber color.

We have a few of these feldspars in stock. We have some moonstone cabs of different colors, sunstone, labradorite, amazonite, etc.

Adrienne is updating the minerals on the website about once a week. This week she should have about 50 more specimens on including guitar picks custom made by Alston and gemstones.

CLICK HERE to check it out! 

Rick
Rockpick Legend Co.
1017 S Main Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
801-355-7952