Anyone have some insight into how to create a brushed/textured finish in a vibrating tumbler? I am casting Bronze pieces of jewelry. I am looking to take a raw casting and place it in a vibrating tumbler and hopefully achieve a textured even finish on the surface. I would like to hide the porosity and imperfections within the textured finish. I am not looking for any polish or necessarily smooth finish. I would really like to avoid finishing each piece by hand.
Any suggestions on what type of media would accomplish this goal? Steel grit? Aluminum Oxide?
They make many different grades of plastic tumbling media. Riogrande has a huge selection. I’m not expert but from my experience, you may get the look you want by using a rough/course plastic tumbling media. Maybe buy the roughest media they have and start with that?
I get a nice matte finish with Lava soap (pumice) and a plastic brush. You could probably put the liquid Lava soap in a tumbler to get the same effect, though I imagine a rotary tumbler would do better than a vibrating one.
Tryt his…
Put water and washing up liquid (Dawn) into a jar and add a hand-full of sand. Put your polished piece into it. Put the jar in your bike’s basket and go for a twelve mile ride. Honestly, it really works - and gives you a good finish.