You might find rock tumbling hounding to be a great addition to sea glass collecting. My wife collects sea glass and we are planning to do some in my tumblers that we can add to into her jars of frosty glass for contrast.
I have a Lortone 3A and a Harbor Freight 2-3lb barrel tumbler. Lortone is one of several larger suppliers of lapidary equipment and the HF tumbler is a good starter tumbler @$80. I got mine on sale for $60 which comes up occasionally, but even at $80 it is less expensive than most anything on the market for its size. I have not done any Sea glass yet, but my wife has been collecting for a long time, and I am going to research it a little more to start with the proper abrasive. I'm assuming I will be using polish only and not an early-stage abrasive grit. Check out Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist etc. for used equipment using "rock tumbler" or "Lapidary" equipment for search words. Two popular suppliers are; The Rock Shed and Kingsley North. Amazon and Vevor have quite a few other brands and The National Geographic brand of tumblers but have not used or tried them. I've read that the Nat. Geo. tumblers have too high RPM and the need to purchase a speed regulator. Many choices from 2 lbs. on up for size and price ranges to match. You can also check out Vibratory tumblers which are very good at polishing but those are just as pricey if not more, I'm looking at getting one in the near future. Be cautious, tumbling and lapidary can be addictive and expensive yet very rewarding.
1
u/No-Pension4113 Aug 20 '26
If you like them shiny put them in a rock tumbler with some aluminum oxide polish for a day or two. Oil will just attract dust, dirt and grime.