Tumbling

I got what I wanted for Christmas this year.  I got a rock tumbling kit.  (If you keep an Amazon wish list updated you just might get what you want).  When I was a child my neighbor tumbled rocks.  I was a bit afraid of the man but I did admire his shiny rocks.  I've been tumbling rocks for a month now in my lower level.  I set the tumbler in an area as far away from my bedroom as physically possible while still being warm.  In summer I can tumble rocks in the garage but not in the winter because I'm afraid the water in the tumbler would freeze solid.  I put the tumbler in a cardboard box and covered it with a chair and a heavy quilt to muffle the sound.  With the tumbler came a supply of rocks. As you can see in my picture some were clear, some white, a couple purple ones, and a couple granite rocks.  The center blue/gray rock was from my own yard.  In December I mistook it for a blue potato so I decided to polish it up.  Wow, the rocks in my yard must be softer than the others because this rock lost at least half of it's volume.  Loosing 30% of volume is typical when a rock gets tumbled.  I had a little trouble with my tumbling.  The first cycle with the coarsest grit went fine.  The second cycle was troubling.  I wasn't careful enough to make a good seal with vegetable oil.  Water leaked from the tumbler.  The grit got into the lid and turned into cement.  I cemented the lid of my tumbler on tight.  There was no budging it.  So I soaked the tumbler in water for 5 days.  I have to be really careful not to get this grit into my sink because it will cement the pipes shut. Every day I would try to open the tumbler without luck.  I would dig a little bit of grit out of the lid at a time.  One the fifth day I finally got it open again. Now I know. Carefully apply fresh oil to the lid before tumbling. Best way to learn a lesson is the hard way.  My rock tumbler came with some jewelry clasps for key chains and "one size fits all" rings.  I really don't know what I am going to do with all these polished rocks.  I'd like to start a collection of Saint Cloud granite and Lake Superior granite polished rocks.  I'll think of something to do with them, right?