Rock tumbler for a child - good present?

[Beakerandbungle]

Hi everyone

My DS (turning 7) really loves gems/polished stones and also loves collecting shells, pebbles etc. I’m half thinking of getting him a rock tumbler for Christmas. Having taken a look they are relatively expensive and the process seems to take a while so just wanted to ask if anyone has bought one for a child and whether it was worth it?

No experience sorry but I would have absolutely loved that as a child that age! I also loved collecting stones. One concern is whether it makes a lot of noise as I believe it takes a while?

We were going to buy one when ds was small as he was very into his rocks. But a friend who had one put us off as she said they were unbelievably noisy and it takes several days so it's not like you only put up with the noise for an hour or so. We still thought about putting it in the garage but decided against in the end. Instead, we used to visit shops that sold polished stones and let ds buy some each time. He ended up with a great collection.

I would of loved that as a kid and I think mine would be made up if they got one. DH is always on about wanting one too. If you think they would enjoy it, go for it.

Yes it’s the noise I’m wondering about! I’ve seen a rubber barrel one reduced which apparently makes it significantly quieter but I guess the question is how quiet! Also how long it takes. I’m confident he would absolutely love taking brown rocks and ending up with polished gems - just whether they process will be too noisy and long hmmmmm.

Dh has wanted get one for —himself— the kids for years but when I looked into it the time and noise put me off. Plus the rocks will be nice and shiny but mostly all the same colour-brown and grey when what my kids like are the colourful crystal type ones.

No no no!!! Gigantic waste of electricity. It takes hours and hours. And will be noisy. It’s the stupidest present ever. Sorry to say this. My lovely dsis got one for dd but we couldn’t hack the total pointlessness so we never finished the process. Buy the finished article instead, or pay for a geologists hammer and a fossil hunting day in Dorset!

I always wanted one when younger and i have two now (for fun and business purposes).

They are reasonably noisy, so you wouldn't keep them on in his bedroom. Probably ok in a conservatory. Mine are in the shed. It's like a constant background drone of whirring and, well, tumbling 😬
They can take a few days for a perfectly smooth round result, but you can sometimes notice some shine after a day.
I had the national geographic kits which are great, maybe pricey, but originally comes with a starter bag of things to tumble.

No! They are so loud and take forever! Only buy them for family you hate.

Thanks everyone - seems mixed responses here too!

I’m already going to get him some Geodes to crack and could get a national geo kit it’s just the stones

@MilkWasABadChoice - this was actually my biggest reason for thinking no. Not so much the noise but the length of time which made me wonder how often it would get used /would it just become boring for a child!

I looked at getting one. But it takes weeks really to get to nice shiny rock territory. You put your rocks in with coarse grit- tumble for a few days - tip out all the gritty water out (but not down the sink, you will block your drains) rinse and repeat with slightly less coarse grit another 2 or 3 times.

My neices had one, and a friend's child, they really enjoyed theirs.

Only if you have a garage or outside space to run it. They take weeks of tumbling to get anything shiny. Plus the kits give you a tiny amount of polishing grit so you have to buy extra.

We got one 2nd hand (car boot I think).
It had it had used once (from the remaining powders).
We used it once (put it in the garage, took a long time and was noisy), but at least we didn't pay much!
This thread has reminded me it must be somewhere, I'm going to find it and list it on Marketplace.

Hmmm might be back to the drawing board. He’s so tricky to buy for! If anyone has any good gem type presents let me know!

I thought about getting one but OH sensibly thought about the high cost of electricity (money and environmental) so decided against.

The thing is, if you put in a boring brown stone, all you’ll get is a shiney boring brown stone. It’s not going to miraculously turn into pretty purple crystals or anything. So unless you live somewhere where the local geology is “pretty”, and samples are freely available, and are also up for buying lots of untested minerals, the end results will be limited.

If you are collecting field samples, please be sensitive, and don’t “over collect” at popular sites (I’m a Chartered Geologist). There’s a bit of guidance here, for collecting with kids field work code.

Geology, rock collecting, fossiling has given me a lot of fun (and jobs) over the years, but I still don’t feel the need to own a rock tumbler. The only person I know who has one, also cuts and mounts his minerals for display, sale or jewellery.

DS wanted one but friends warned me against it. It takes days, weeks, very noisy, and what do you get in the end - a smooth rock. Not exactly something that will keep them amused for hours.

A friend had one and I was veryy jealous!
Yes, a good present that is likely to last longer in their interests than other toys.

@Beakerandbungle Not gems, but I got this geode kit for DS1 and DS2. It was cheaper than this, as I bought it as a Black Friday deal, but they both enjoyed breaking open the geodes.

They were all a similar (white) type of geode, and some were far better than others, but they still liked it.

Thanks browneyesblue

I've bought one for my 7yo. He had a geode kit last year and loved it, and is always finding "jewels" wherever we go.

We live next to a beach, so there is typically an interest selection of stones, and we will be able to run it in the garage.

Also, I've always wanted one!

We have one, it takes a month to finish the process and it's noisy and you have to have it on continuously- we had it in our garage ( integral) and could hear it in the office above.
We just used the rough stones pack that came with the machine, The end result was good but it's hard to stay excited about it for a month.

Glad I saw this as DH was talking about getting one for our DCs. Sounds like it won’t go down well here as we have nowhere to put it out of the way.

I was looking at one of the gemstone advent calendars for my 9yo this year.

Dd1 had a rock tumbler for Xmas when she was 8. She was delighted, though it is a bit of a delayed gratification gift, as it takes a month to tumble a stone (changing the grade of grit each week). It is noisy and irritating tbh, and I banished it to the utility room.

That said, she has tumbled loads of rocks (some collected and some bought - the raw rocks are not expensive). Rock collecting has been an enduring hobby so I am happy to put up with the noise intermittently.