stone washed finish?

Where i work, we do the finish of cheap cultery and other metalic tableware with tumblers (though much bigger, that can contain about 800 pieces at a time), but the finish is sometwhat shinny. In fact, maybe it's because the tiny balls used are stainless steel. Maybe with an other "medium", more abrasive, the result would in fact be stone washed. I don't think it's blasted, cause the finish often shows impact marks to big to be made by balls small enough to be propulsed by air. And in fact, the expresion is "stone washed", and we always put soap flakes in the tumbler.
 
It is done in a vibratory tumbler using ceramic media "stones".
 
Thanks now I know a bit more!

It is done in a vibratory tumbler using ceramic media "stones".
Click to expand...

Does it have to be vibatory? I was wondering if I could make my own tumbler, but it would be easier to make a kind of rotary tumbler.

Have anybody here made their own tumbler or have any other tips regarding how to get a nice stone washed finish?



Regards Jakob
 
My cousin worked as a machinist in the medical prosthesis industry. He finally made their vibrating polishers. He used a half piece of stainless pipe and added walls and ends. Then mounted a shaft underneath it with a couple pillow block bearings. A pulley was mounted on one end and an eccentric weight on the other. It was mounted to a stand with rubber mounts and a small motor to turn the shaft. They used grit o cob and ground up polishing compound. It was essential to have enough volume to really bury the pieces to be polished. For multiple piece of the same length they used round plates with rubber on one side and a piece of all tread through the center. The pieces were positioned between the plates with the tips on the rubber and the all tread tightened. Then that was placed in the media and all the pieces were polished with out rubbing on each other.
 
Nylunds knives said:
Thanks now I know a bit more!



Does it have to be vibatory? I was wondering if I could make my own tumbler, but it would be easier to make a kind of rotary tumbler.

Have anybody here made their own tumbler or have any other tips regarding how to get a nice stone washed finish?



Regards Jakob
Click to expand...



I think the vibration is an important aspect of achieving the fine random scratch pattern of the stone wash finish. But I think you could achieve a similar finish in a rotary tumbler, but I expect the scratches will be longer and more directional. I don't know - try it.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I think the vibration is an important aspect of achieving the fine random scratch pattern of the stone wash finish. But I think you could achieve a similar finish in a rotary tumbler, but I expect the scratches will be longer and more directional. I don't know - try it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, your probably right.

Do anybody have any clever ideas on how to make a vibration tumbler;)


However I have to try to make on either way...



Regards Jakob
 
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From my own experience, where pieces to finish are just freely thrown in the tumbler amongst the medium, scracthes are quite regular, without any direction or what.
 
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