Barrel Polishing

[Mila Jewellery]

Can somone give me a bit of advice on these please - after spending today trying to polish one of many small pieces I'm going to link together to make a bracelet, and now having very sore thumbs and a rather acute angle on my left thumb nail I decided there must be a better way! I have had a brief look on the web but I have never used one before and so I though I'd ask you lovely people on here

[AlexandraBuckle]

Having just decided I want one myself from reading another thread - I'd be interested to hear what people have to say too I actually find polishing really boring!

[Gemma]

Yeah- I think I need one too. I have a rock tumbler- can I use this with steel shot etc?

[Petal]

Here's some links about tumblers that should help - lots of useful recommendations.

http://www.cooksongold.com/forum/jew...jewellery.html

http://www.cooksongold.com/forum/got...polishers.html

Happy reading....

[AlexandraBuckle]

Great, thanks for that Petal!

[Emerald]

Can somone give me a bit of advice on these please - after spending today trying to polish one of many small pieces I'm going to link together to make a bracelet, and now having very sore thumbs and a rather acute angle on my left thumb nail I decided there must be a better way! I have had a brief look on the web but I have never used one before and so I though I'd ask you lovely people on here

The advice i would give is get one lol you still will need to use a pendant drill for the occasional item but for a lot of items the barreller gives a great finish, after spending many years using a large polishing motor and mops i can easily say i am soooo converted no more black hands, hair or face xx

[Fiona]

I use a tumbler for all my silver - takes off burrs and gives a great polish - and I use stainless shot..

[Mila Jewellery]

Here's some links about tumblers that should help - lots of useful recommendations.

http://www.cooksongold.com/forum/jew...jewellery.html

http://www.cooksongold.com/forum/got...polishers.html

Happy reading....

Oh great - thank you for those x

[Fi Wilson]

I'm saving up for a tumbler and waiting for the January sales in the hope of grabbing a bargain. In the meantime I use the poor man's version - a jam jar! I fill it to about a third with stainless steel shot, load in my pieces, fill with water to an inch above the shot and then add a drop of washing up liquid and whack on the lid. Depending on how detailed the pieces are and how many nooks and crannies they have I usually find 5 to 10 mins of gentle shaking works (as well as helping to tone my arms too!). It's a perfectly good finish but can't wait to get the real thing!!

Fi

[Mila Jewellery]

I'm saving up for a tumbler and waiting for the January sales in the hope of grabbing a bargain. In the meantime I use the poor man's version - a jam jar! I fill it to about a third with stainless steel shot, load in my pieces, fill with water to an inch above the shot and then add a drop of washing up liquid and whack on the lid. Depending on how detailed the pieces are and how many nooks and crannies they have I usually find 5 to 10 mins of gentle shaking works (as well as helping to tone my arms too!). It's a perfectly good finish but can't wait to get the real thing!!

Fi

Wow top tip I'll give that a go as I can't really stretch to a tumbler at the mo. Thanks x