I thought you might be interested in seeing the latest results of my tumbling over the Christmas holidays. These pieces obviously have little to no monetary value, I personally just find them interesting and worth preserving. On the little 'collar iron', I replaced the original wooden handle with wood beads which I glued together.
These pieces were tumbled together for a total of 96hrs. I start with 1/2 - 3/4" smooth gravel, 3/4 of a cup of beach sand (cleans off the rust), a squirt of liquid soap and warm water. I then tumble for 24hrs, rinse and repeat. In the final 48hrs, I tumble minus the beach sand, this helps to 'polish' the metal. In the final step of the process, I thoroughly air dry everything then brush on a light coat of paraffin/beeswax paste, which I let dry for another 24hrs, I then wipe down with a soft cloth. I use a Loretone 45c tumbler for this process.
From left to right... square nails, a metal cabinet castor, a screen door or an ice box hinge, a collar iron, two horse halter buckles, a work boot 'horse shoe' heel plate and a chair castor.
Thanks very much for looking,
Dave
