Thread: New Idea??? Experimentation....

Since it came up, and I searched out a very old thread on it here is some info about a Rotary Tumbler too

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...k-tumbler.html

I've been saving lapped grit from my coticules and Norton 4/8k to try as polishing compound with my corn cob media. To save it I've just been wiping it off with a paper towel (the same towel for many many lappings) then letting the towel dry out.

I'm going to add it in soon, but wonder if I should moisten the towels with a little mineral oil before dropping them in. My thought is to tear the towel into little pieces and let the paper shred away but leave the grit. If I don't add a little oil, I'm afraid the grit will either settle on the bottom of the bowl or will drift out into my workshop.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Thank you.

I would shy away from adding oil, somebody on this thread just added some CrOx powder to the media and it worked fine, I would guess the Norton powder would be about the same...

I do not know this from experience I am just thinking here, so let us know either way please...

I doubt it would settle to the bottom due to the circulatory action that happens, but it's an interesting concept indeed. I look forward to the report...

I too am interested in this. Thanks for being willing to try this.

I have used 1 micron diamond paste and it worked great, I do not see a reason for a hone grit not to work.

I'll give it a try tomorrow or the next day. Got some new walnut shell and Turtle Wax rubbing compound, and have a blade running in that right now. I had started with Cabela's red-treated walnut shell, but I think that was jeweler's rouge and it did nothing to the steel blades.

I did speed up loading the rubbing compound by cutting it into the shells as the tumbler ran. Think adding cold butter to sugar, or lard to flour. Same action. Ask a baker if this makes no sense to you.

My Naniwa 12k should arrive today, so I'll have that much more lapping grit to add to the corncob. I'll have nothing to compare to, since this is my first go-round with the tumbler. I know that early in this thread people did very nicely controlled comparisons. Unfortunately, I can't quantify my grit size or amount, only whether grit-loaded paper towels will give up the grit to the media.

I could sacrifice 1/8" of a coticule, add x teaspoons of lapping dust to x cups of corn cob, but then someone would want to know whether it was better or worse than if I'd used LPB or La Veinette. Not going near that can of worms, not me!

OK, here's what little I can conclude so far, after running the corncob mix for about 24 hours:

BBW grit will shake loose from a paper towel but Norton 8k grit will not.

Can't really say anything about whether I got more polishing action from the media.

However, Norton 4k grit on a coffee filter makes a great polishing cloth. It will clean the black out of pitting without actually sanding down the pitting.

My next experiment is to cut a car chamois into 2 x 4" squares and load those with lapped hone grit. Faster than the tumbler, better contact with pit bottoms than sandpaper, and safer than buffing. In theory, at least.

I just started using a tumbler on some of my recent acquisitions. I bought some Kay-Tee corn-husk bird litter to do the second run, but the stuff looks like it's really large grained. How large should the corn husk grains be? Does it matter?

Ok I am going to have to order some media for my tumbler. Also I saw early on in this thread someone asking about sandblasting. Might I suggest Baking soda. Its not nearly as harsh as most other blast medias and much harder to over do it. Not sure if it had been mentioned as I didn't read the entire thread. Yet!