How to use your Lortone Tumbler

Tumbling your silver, gold and copper metal clay will give it a high shine and compact the metal clay making it stronger and more durable. Ideally all heavy wear items such as rings should be tumbled for a minimum of 2 hours.

The Lortone single/double barrel tumbler is an effective way of achieving this high shine with little effort. The rubber barrel means it only makes a gentle humming noise. The wing nut on the side of the barrel enables quick and easy access with the knowledge that the lid is secure.

To download and print our guide to using your tumbler please click here.

Using your tumbler for the first time

When using your tumbler for the first time it is important to harden the rubber barrel. Place 450g of mixed stainless steel shot (balls, needles and satellites) and 1/2 teaspoon of tumbler soap in the barrel. Cover the shot with water and run the tumbler 2 or 3 times for an hour until the water in the barrel runs clear. Once clear it is ready to use.

Polishing your PMC Silver and Gold

Insert 450g of mixed stainless steel shot into the barrel. Add your silver and gold jewellery items and ½ teaspoon of tumbler soap. Cover with warm water and turn on the tumbler using the switch.

Note only one of the spindles rotates to turn the barrel. Tumble for several hours.

Should the water turn black, drain off the water using a plastic kitchen strainer and replace the soap and water.

Once you have finished polishing, remove the polished items and drain off the water and soap. Add ½ teaspoon of soap and cover the shot with water. Leave the barrel in an upright position until the next use.

Polishing Creative Copper Clay

Polishing Creative Copper and Creative Bronze clays is an effective way of removing fire scale.

Important:

All metal clays are porous therefore it is important that you use a separate barrel for tumbling copper and bronze. This means that you should have one barrel dedicated to tumbling silver/gold and a dedicated barrel for copper/bronze. If you do not use separate barrels your silver items will turn a copper colour next time you polish.

Fire your Creative Copper and Bronze clay as per the instructions on the back of the pack. Once fired, quench immediately in a Picklean* solution made up of one tablespoon dissolved in 200ml of hot water.

Remove the copper/bronze items from the quenching bowl and brush using a brass brush. Rinse the items in a bowl of water and place in a barrel with 450g of mixed stainless steel shot. Add ½ table spoon of Picklean and cover the shot and copper/bronze clay items with hot water.

Switch on the tumbler and tumble for 5-10 minutes. The fire scale will start to come off almost straight away and turn the water black. For best results change the Picklean solution several times.

*Picklean is a revolutionary safety pickle. It can be mixed in small amounts using water from the kettle and is bio-degradable, non-toxic and food safe.