My Rock Tumbler Journal

My Rock Tumbler Journal

1Day 1: Mrs. Halvorsen, my neighbor, gave me her old rock tumbler today. It is a small barrel that sits on a motor and turns around and around. I filled it with rocks I collected at the creek, some water and a spoonful of coarse grit. Coarse grit looks like dark, rough sand with big grains. Mrs. Halvorsen says the grit rubs the rocks as they roll, and the rocks rub against each other, too.

2Day 2: The tumbler growled all night like a grumpy bear in the garage. Dad says the noise is a small price to pay for shiny rocks. Then again, his bedroom is not next to the garage wall.

3Day 8: I opened the barrel to check. My rocks were dull and gray, and my heart sank to my shoes. I wanted them to sparkle right away, like the rocks in the photos on the tumbler box! Mrs. Halvorsen laughed. "Patience is the secret ingredient," she said. "Rocks take their sweet time." I rinsed everything, added a finer grit, and closed the lid again.

4Day 15: The rocks are much smoother now, as smooth as a bar of soap. Their sharp corners have been worn away. One pink rock has a thin white stripe I never noticed before. It is like a secret the rock was keeping.

5Day 22: Today I started the polishing step. I added a powder so fine that it feels like flour between my fingers. Mrs. Halvorsen says this last step is the one that makes rocks shine. Then the tumbler went back to its endless song.

6Day 30: I poured the rocks onto an old towel and gasped. They glowed like hard candy in the sunlight. The gray rock is now a deep green mirror. My plain creek pebbles have turned into treasure. I ran next door to show Mrs. Halvorsen, and she grinned. "See?" she said. "Time is the best polisher there is."