Tumbler Barrel

My question is
The tumbler barrel I have is rubber and smooth on the inside (no fins). The lid fits just in side the top of the barrel. It was given to me un-used, original use for polishing stones. The one and only time I used it I was a little disappointed with it. I used the shot and cleaning powered that came with the shot.
Is the barrel the same as for polishing metal? or do i need a different model? i left is tumbling for aboput 4 hours?
Hope this makes sense?

Peace and Good will to all
Debs

An unfinned rubber barrel is correct - rubber 'grabs' stuff without needing the vanes to help it tumble.

What compound are using. Not all are good for all areas - if you have hard water, you really need the Raytech barrelling medium from Manchester Minerals (inter alia).

You should be looking to have no more than 1/3 full with shot, metal and water (with water up to 1/2" above the top of the metal), and about 1/2 tsp of medium. I consider 4 hours to be a pretty short run, but you should be seeing results after about 20 minutes.

ok. I'm a complete donkie, I'm almost too embarredded to tell you that I thought the "Soap", was the compond... I will now buy the DRI-SHINE 'III ' Corn/Maize with Raytech proprietary
Thank You Mizgeorge, what would I do with you

No, I'm at fault for a bad explanation there! The barrelling compound is the soap - it's called so many different things that it gets really confusing. The difference is that the one from MM is far more effective in hard water areas than the barrelbrite sold by most suppliers, which simply won't foam with hard water. The one with part #94-087 (also sometimes called barrelling compound B, polishing soap, and who knows what else) is the one I'm talking about.

The dri-shine is completely unnecessary for tumbling.

Ok, that'a the one I have. I'll give it another try as and when.