Tumbling Stone Tile

An aged or weathered look on stone tile is a popular finish. When a stone is cut it has sharp, ragged edges (see part on left). Creating an aged look involves rounding the edges and getting a uniform finish on the surface. This can be done by hand with a grinder and polisher, but that process is labor intensive and slow.

A better way is to tumble lots of parts at one time to get a consistent and even result with every tile. To achieve the finish seen on the part to the right, a two-step process is needed first to round the edges and get a smooth surface. The second step is a light polishing to get to the uniform finish seen in the picture.

Barrel tumbling often works best for this application, as it will do a better job in keeping the tiles tumbling within the load and not bang into each other as much as heavy tiles in a vibratory tumbler might. Ceramic Tumbling Media, over the course of only a couple of hours, rounded the edges and removed any roughness on the surface. A second dry tumbling step using Hardwood Media and Hi-Glos Polishing Cream gave the desired result.