[Jewelry making - Article 01648] - Re: [Orchid] Considering buying a Tumbler

[Silverspotstudio]

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Hi Sojourner,

    It sounds like the single-barrel Harbor Freight would probably be
    the all-around best tumbler for your needs (IMHO). I would go all out
    on the shot, though - I bought stainless for around $30 and it has
    been an immeasurable boon to me. It saves oodles of time. I'm
    honestly not sure what weight of mediaI have in there, but I want to
    say three pounds? You can always take some out if the motor seems to
    be laboring. 

    However, the Harbor Freight is not suitable for use with final
    finishing media, like Sunsheen or charged walnut hull and such. I
    think that Judy Hoch is right: the tumbler for that stuff should have
    flat sides, since you're running the medium dry and it is so light
    that it will just slide around in a round barrel. Not only that, but
    I tried it once in my tumbler and it interacted with the rubber to
    produce a gunky black coating on all the pieces inside. (This was
    brought up in a fairly recent discussion, but I canna find it.) It
    was not fun. Don't try it at home. 

    I've found (she says, ducking to avoid the scoldings that are sure
    to come) that for a lot of pieces that have textured surfaces, lots
    of detail, and raised or rounded areas (i.e., no flat, smooth spots
    that need to be mirror-bright), the burnishing is enough.  Mind you,
    I do a lot of prefinish work on these with rubber wheels and bristle
    discs, so they have a smooth satin finish before they go into the
    tumbler. If the post-burnishing result still isn't bright enough, you
    can hit it with rouge or some Semichrome on a muslin buff. The latter
    will really make the finish "pop," but it can be quite messy. 

>     I just want to be able to finish small silver pieces, mostly
>     bangles/bracelets, earrings, a lot of woven/braided or
>     knit/crochet work.

    It's hard to say without seeing your actual pieces, but I'd be
    awfully leery of putting fine knitted or woven work into a tumbler. 
    It might come out as a squished wad of wire. That said, I've
    burnished surprisingly delicate (-seeming) pieces in the tumbler,
    including the dobsonflies on my site. The work-hardening that occurs
    through tumbling is _wonderful_ for these pieces. 

HTH, and have fun!

Jessee Smith
www.silverspotstudio.com
Cincinnati, Ohio

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