My daughter frequently brings home rocks that she likes. While I’m glad that she has interests, I don’t know that we need dozens of rocks in the house.

To play to this interest of hers, I got us a rock polishing kit so that at least the jagged, scratchy rocks she brings home could be made smooth and appealing and maybe even turned into necklaces or the like for her to give as gifts. Grandparents seem to love practical gifts like that made by their grandchildren.

I knew that rock tumbling took time, but I was surprised to find that the whole thing takes about four weeks. Still, it was nice to have the weekly routine of changing out the grit, washing the previous grit off and loading it up.

We recently finished our first cycle, and they came out alright. They aren’t as polished as the polished rocks one sees in stores, but I imagine those have been polished further with polishing compound (which perhaps we should do with these). It was certainly interesting to see the transformation from jagged stones to this.