Hi Sojourner,
It sounds like the single-barrel Harbor Freight would probably be
the all-around best tumbler for your needs (IMHO). I would go all out
on the shot, though - I bought stainless for around $30 and it has
been an immeasurable boon to me. It saves oodles of time. I’m
honestly not sure what weight of mediaI have in there, but I want to
say three pounds? You can always take some out if the motor seems to
be laboring.
However, the Harbor Freight is not suitable for use with final
finishing media, like Sunsheen or charged walnut hull and such. I
think that Judy Hoch is right: the tumbler for that stuff should have
flat sides, since you’re running the medium dry and it is so light
that it will just slide around in a round barrel. Not only that, but
I tried it once in my tumbler and it interacted with the rubber to
produce a gunky black coating on all the pieces inside. (This was
brought up in a fairly recent discussion, but I canna find it.) It
was not fun. Don’t try it at home.
I’ve found (she says, ducking to avoid the scoldings that are sure
to come) that for a lot of pieces that have textured surfaces, lots
of detail, and raised or rounded areas (i.e., no flat, smooth spots
that need to be mirror-bright), the burnishing is enough. Mind you,
I do a lot of prefinish work on these with rubber wheels and bristle
discs, so they have a smooth satin finish before they go into the
tumbler. If the post-burnishing result still isn’t bright enough, you
can hit it with rouge or some Semichrome on a muslin buff. The latter
will really make the finish “pop,” but it can be quite messy.
I just want to be able to finish small silver pieces, mostly
bangles/bracelets, earrings, a lot of woven/braided or
knit/crochet work.
It’s hard to say without seeing your actual pieces, but I’d be
awfully leery of putting fine knitted or woven work into a tumbler.
It might come out as a squished wad of wire. That said, I’ve
burnished surprisingly delicate (-seeming) pieces in the tumbler,
including the dobsonflies on my site. The work-hardening that occurs
through tumbling is wonderful for these pieces.
HTH, and have fun!
Jessee Smith
www.silverspotstudio.com
Cincinnati, Ohio