Check out Rocktumbler.com. They recommend 2 Tbsp per pound of material for nearly every recipe! I usually only burnish for an hour. Do you think it makes a big difference to do it much longer? I dont generally have unused grit left over in the Nat Geo 3 Lb tumblers. I use 4 Tbsp in the 3 lb Lortone tumblers (per manufacturer instructions) and it happens in those barrels ocassionally. They don't actually hold 3 lbs of material - more like half of that. Sort of misleading on their part.
Yup, that's exactly why I am hesitant to purchase more expensive "higher quality" tumblers. The only thing that I can think of to justify their cost is, like you said, perhaps longevity. But when you take into account that brands like Nat Geo's, Koolstone, etc much lower cost, even if they only last 2-3 years, it will be somewhere in the 6-9 year range of replacing them before you get to the cost of a Lortone or Highland Park.
Check out Rocktumbler.com. They recommend 2 Tbsp per pound of material for nearly every recipe! I usually only burnish for an hour. Do you think it makes a big difference to do it much longer? I dont generally have unused grit left over in the Nat Geo 3 Lb tumblers. I use 4 Tbsp in the 3 lb Lortone tumblers (per manufacturer instructions) and it happens in those barrels ocassionally. They don't actually hold 3 lbs of material - more like half of that. Sort of misleading on their part.