
Rotary Rock Tumbling Onyx – Process & Techniques
This is one in a series of Rock Tumbling “How-To” videos that I have been posting on YouTube. This video features me tumbling Onyx! This particular batch of Onyx had gorgeous color bands, so I am calling it “Fancy Onyx”. Onyx can be confused with tumbled Obsidian or Black Tourmaline, but it is not nearly so fragile. It is Mohs hardness 7, and is not brittle in the tumbler, so it is great for a beginner tumbler.
Check out the video below to watch my entire process, see the final recipe and timeline I used, then see the super shiny finished, polished Fancy Onyx!
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My Rock Tumbling Equipment List:
- Rotary Rock Tumblers
- Lortone 3A – https://amzn.to/2XUzlLY
- Lortone 33B – https://amzn.to/2XRIHYJ
- Lortone QT6 – https://amzn.to/32DZSMf
- Lortone QT66 – https://amzn.to/2LxLQX3 (My Favorite!!)
- Lortone 45C – https://amzn.to/2LwVlpE
- Thumler AR-2 – https://amzn.to/2XRJYit
- Grits & Polish
- 60/90 Silicon Carbide Course Grit – https://amzn.to/2JTB7TB
- 120/200 Silicon Carbide Medium Grit – https://amzn.to/2JTB9uH
- 500 Aluminum Oxide Fine Grit – https://amzn.to/2JVST8I
- 1000 Aluminum Oxide Extra-Fine Grit – https://amzn.to/2JSbPoV
- Aluminum Oxide Polish – https://amzn.to/2xVCmfu
- Tin Oxide Polish – https://amzn.to/2LtYmH7
- Grit & Polish Combo Pack – https://amzn.to/2JQZd1i
- Tumbling Media
- Large Ceramic Media – https://amzn.to/2JRt7T1
- Small Ceramic Media – https://amzn.to/2Ly9Qtm
- Plastic Pellets – https://amzn.to/2xYA5Ao
- Burnishing
- 20 Mule Team Borax – https://amzn.to/2SynwoQ
- Dreft Detergent – https://amzn.to/2XULSPq
- Books
- “Modern Rock Tumbling”by Steve Hart (The BEST tumbling book out there!) – https://amzn.to/2XUMepe