I cannot speak for the stone type of media you are using. I have never used it and I am only familiar with corn cob media. I soak my parts in Simple Green type liquids, rinse them in water and toss into corn cob tumbler media. I have never been disappointed.

We are in Australia and we get all our media from gun shops. Tumblers are extremely popular for shining bullet casings. We only use corn cob or walnut and have never used the polish as per your photo. We soak in dishwashing liquid (watered down) first, rinse off, dry and then put in the tumbler. If the parts are rusty, it may take all night to tumble shinny. Good Luck!

You can get crushed walnut from the pet store. It's used as bedding for some pets.

Thats the Only way. Stones are for removing larger burrs on industrial brackets etc. You use Walnut shells found in any pet store and I use 2 spoon fulls of Mothers Mag and aluminum polish dropped in the media. Let parts tumble for at Least a full day if not a few and your parts will have a Mirror finish. Longer the better. Just don't do any plastic parts like posts etc as it will ruin them. Those get cleaned in an ultrasonic or a good toothbrush and hand work. Loose the stones!

Forgot to add I that I used to also use a bit of flitz media additive. You don't need a whole lot added. Some gun stores carry it but I usually ended up ordering it online I think.

https://www.amazon.com/Flitz-TA-04885-Tumbler-Additive/dp/B001T7JWN4/ref=sr_1_1_sspa

I use walnut shell media sourced through ebay.

The way that I have read it on pinside is that walnut media is more aggressive than corn cob media and that walnut shells can strip the plating off of your parts. Again, I cannot speak to this but it what I have read here. Corn cob media is very gentle.

You can buy corn cob media at Cabellas. Or Amazon.

I have tumbled hundreds of loads of parts using walnut shells and have NEVER had an issue with plating being removed. Corn cob is also more gentle than walnut shells but it also takes lots longer to tumbled parts. I tried it once and switched back to walnut.

Not sure. Just make sure it's nothing but walnut shells. You want no additives.

I'm not a pet connoisseur but I believe walnut litter adds chemical fragrance additives. As Bryan mentioned just look for Walnut Bedding. I have found it in virtually every pet store near me. Little note, Not saying my method is correct but I use the same walnut shells for a year or more. You will know when they start to break down to powder its time to change. So don't buy 50 pounds! And another tip, keep the tumbler in the garage or other outside the house. Unless you have a huge house it will drive you batty listening to it all night. lol

I am new to tumblers as well. I got mine at Harbor Freight, & they had a variety of media. If you check the web site it list the different media, & how course it is. They carry 2 different grits of walnut. I am not sure if I went the best route, but I got the resin, & the fine walnut.

I bought the same 18 lb. tumbler at HF. They had coarse walnut media there too. https://www.harborfreight.com/25-lbs-coarse-grade-walnut-shell-blast-media-92150.html which I bought as well.
Been satisfied with the results. I think you may have just chosen the wrong media, as that tumbler is pretty dam nice for the money.

We had a good thread on tumblers not long ago. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vibratory-tumbler
Go to my post # 34 and click on that link. Get your big HF tumbler for 25% off this weekend with the super coupon!!

I don't think you'll like the fine. I didn't. It doesn't do as good of a job as the courser and it gets into everything. It's also quite a bit dustier.

I'm at Harbor Freight now buying some media.
They have fine walnut shells for $22.99. 25 pound box.

You probably don't want fine, but let us know how it works out.

Hi guys! I have some chrome looking leg levelers that aren’t rusty, but look just ugly and old. I’m thinking about throwing them in the tumbler a few days but am wondering does the bottom round swivel part get filled with walnut and gunk them up? Thanks

if you use fine you will regret it, especially if you add a polish compound. That is made for polishing ammo casings. Use bird litter, Petco or whatever.