Permissions all planted, decided to do some tumbling

ANTIQUARIAN · Jul 26, 2021

The title says it, all of my farm permissions are planted and its too darn hot here to entice me to detect the tot lots. :laughing7:

So last week I decided to tumble the Plumb Hatchet and a few other interesting iron relics. These relics tumbled in aquarium gravel, 1tbp dish soap and a half cup of Lake Ontario beach sand. I tumbled them for 72hrs changing the mixture every 24hrs, then tumbling them for another 48 hours minus the sand.

Here are the before and after pics.
Dave

Blak bart · Jul 26, 2021

Nice work dave....that iron is looking mighty fine !! Get your speedo on and try some beach and shallow water before its cold again :laughing7:

TooManyHobbies · Jul 26, 2021

What did you use to tumble them, cement mixer? Wax after?

ANTIQUARIAN · Jul 27, 2021

Blak bart said:
Nice work dave....that iron is looking mighty fine !! Get your speedo on and try some beach and shallow water before its cold again

Thanks for your post Bart. :thumbsup:

In a Speedo... I look like a head of cauliflower wrapped in a rubber band. :laughing9:

Hope you're having another great year buddy.

TooManyHobbies said:
What did you use to tumble them, cement mixer? Wax after?

I'm confused... is this an actual question or are you just trying to be funny? :icon_scratch:

TooManyHobbies · Jul 27, 2021

Haha, I was serious. I guess I just pictured all of them being tumbled at once in something bigger than a coin tumbler. LOL, I missed the 1/2 cup beach sand. They look bigger when I click the pic, lol.
So, did you wax them after or are they just wet?

scruggs · Jul 27, 2021

They look GREAT! NICE JOB!

ANTIQUARIAN · Jul 28, 2021

scruggs said:
They look GREAT! NICE JOB!

Thanks very much for your post scruggs. :hello:

I use the Lortone 45c with a rubber drum, I then apply Conservators Wax to all the brass and iron relics, otherwise the finish looks dull and flat without it. It's difficult to know what to do with the more interesting iron relics that we find, I find that tumbling them helps to remove the rust and makes them more of a conversation piece. The iron surface of the other relics came out looking very clean, this is due to the abrasive action of the sand mixed with the stones in the tumbler.

I have a feeling the quality and hardness of the iron the axe is made from is much better than the other relics. Consequently, if I wanted to clean it down to the bare metal, I'd have to take a grinder wheel to it and I'm not interested in making it look new. The only reason I have time to tumble these pieces continuously for 5 days, is because I don't have a paying job to go to every morning. I?ve recently accepted a job with Generac Power Systems, which I'm now scheduled to start on August 9.

Blak bart · Jul 28, 2021

I have that same tumbler....only ever used it to polish stones....never thought to use it on relics !!

crashbandicoot · Aug 3, 2021

Off topic but what crops do you have up there?Around here the corn will start to be cut very soon and rice not long after,soybeans will most likely be late this year because they got rained out and had to be replanted.Still by end of Oct.every thing should be cut and fields plowed just in time for cooler weather,can you say detecting time?Nice bunch of stuff you have there and a good job on the cleaning.Best of luck when those cops are gone!

ANTIQUARIAN · Aug 4, 2021

Blak bart said:
I have that same tumbler....only ever used it to polish stones....never thought to use it on relics !!

Thanks for your post Bart. :thumbsup:

I've tumbled iron, brass, bronze and even aluminum in my tumblers. it's a learning process the whole way through.

One guy even told me that he uses a mixture of vinegar and Windex with aquarium gravel to tumble brass items. :icon_scratch:

Dave

crashbandicoot said:
Off topic but what crops do you have up there? Around here the corn will start to be cut very soon and rice not long after,soybeans will most likely be late this year because they got rained out and had to be replanted.Still by end of Oct.every thing should be cut and fields plowed just in time for cooler weather,can you say detecting time?Nice bunch of stuff you have there and a good job on the cleaning.Best of luck when those cops are gone!

Thanks for your post and question crash. :occasion14:

The fall/winter wheat is being cut now, the soybeans will be cut from September to the end of October and corn will be cut from mid-October until the end of November. So the most productive time of year for me to detect the fields here in Southern Ontario is in the early spring from mid-March until mid-May before the fields are planted or in late-September to early November after the bean and wheat fields have been disked.

Thanks again and best of luck to you in Dumas,
Dave