Farmers tumbling stones w/tractors.

dr sportster

Well-known Member
Both my parents grew up on farms in Manitoba. The other night at Easter dinner my dad mentioned about farmers having a wheel attachment where they placed stones inside to tumble for polishing purposes to make jewelry etc.while they worked the tractor. When pressed for more details my dad couldn't remember much else [which is no big deal since he just turned 85]. I am curious if anyone on this board has heard of any kind of rock tumbler attachment that went on the tractor wheel. I'm thinking maybe he saw one guy with a homemade type deal. Ever heard of this ?
 
Friend bought a small tumbler at HF; he set it in his shop (attached to the house). It made such a racket all night that he dumperd the stones the next day and sold the tumbler to someone who wanted one.

I think that a tumbler on a tractor wheel would make enough noise that the operator wouldn't want to use it much.
 
I havent heard of a tumbler attached to a tractor but why not? Its pretty common to make a tumbler out of a tire, a 5 gallon bucket or even use a cement mixer. Every tumbler I have seen though, has been a wet tumbler but maybe they used it dry. They could have even just used what ever grit they had available and threw in sand or dirt from the field. Didnt old tractors have straight pipes? If so, I doubt the tumbler would over power that noise but by them self, ya, tumblers are loud.

I made my own brass tumbler out of a treadmill and it uses a 5 gallon bucket. I would like to find a super single semi tire and see if I can polish up some larger rocks. If you want to make something, here is a website with info. http://mbyers.net/scienceclub/b1a1rocktumbler.html
 
I see a connection between the prior thread on cleaning a tractor's gas tank and this tumbling thread.
Quite a few years ago I needed to remove rust and the residuals of a gas tank sealer my Dad had used
in a WD gas tank. My brother strapped the tank to the rear wheel of his WD and we filled it with sharp crushed stone, some water and a little laundry detergent. After he spent a couple of hours pulling drags, we took off the tank and were really pleased with how clean the inside of my tank was.
 
It used to be fairly common for people to put rocks inside the hubcaps on their cars. Did a good job but also worked on the rim paint and your ears.
 
I was givin some wright impact sockets that were fairly rusty . I put them in a old gal. oil jug with it filled about half way with sand . I straped it to the rim of my chore tractor and left it there about a month . Cleaned them up real nice .
 
LOL, ROFLMAO!

NOW, I've heard everything. I've been doing Lapidary work as a hobby for over 40 years and this is the first time I've EVER heard of anyone tumbling rocks with a TRACTOR. But why not, what ever works . . . .LOL!

I've made quite a bit of custom jewelry, some of which has been appraised in the 5-figure price range; so I'm not a novice. As I write this, I'm wearing a beautiful Petrified Wood belt-buckle that I made a number of years ago. It's made out of Opalized Giant Redwood from central western Nevada; and the manner in which I cut & polished the stone, depicts a desert scene.

Doc
 
i guess you could also churn butter with it. after all the tractor is a multi purpose machine.
i can hear it now; dawg, blame it wife, why in the tar-nation didn't ya tell me we were outta butter t'day whiles i was plowing the fields ? now i gotta go fire up the tractor again and plow the back 40 tonight, well, might as well hand me them there rocks so i kin get them done too. :)
 
I think that a tumbler on a tractor wheel would make enough noise that the operator wouldn't want to use it much.

Are you serious? You're going to hear a few little stones clunking around over the roar of the engine and whatever noise the equipment behind is making?

I would think a tumbler on a tractor doing field work would be the perfect place for it.

They're not complicated. All you really need is a round container that's rugged enough to handle rocks rolling around inside it, and a way to attach it to a wheel.
 

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