Blogging?

I've been thinking about doing this for awhile now. Endlessly mulling it over. What would I write about? Who would actually want to read it? Are there really other bead nerds out there? So, I have decided to just do it. Bear with me, I am kinda flying without a destination right now.

This first post is about me and my new tumbler. It's a Lortone 3A. It's the smallest one they make, I use it to tumble my handmade metal findings. I've had it for about a week, and have used it 4 or 5 times. The lady at the bead store (Wild Beads in Arlington, TX if anyone is interested) told me I didn't have to change out the water and solution every time I tumbled. It can be re-used several times until it gets nasty. So last night after doing a big batch of head pins and ear wires, I decided to see how my water was looking. NASTY! Time to change it out! So I dump out the nasty water and rinse my stainless steel shot, and let everything sit out overnight. This morning I decided to do a tumble to clean the shot and quickly threw it together and turned it on.

When I got home from the gym 2 hrs later it wasn't turning and the casing felt hot, then I noticed in my hurry I had forgotten to put the washer on before I screwed the lid down. I immediately panicked. Why aren't I more organized? Where is the receipt? Where is the manufacturer's warranty at?

I found the receipt 20 minutes later, and called the store. Of course they won't exchange it, any problems have to go through the manufacturer. I should have known! Just my luck.

I call Lortone and the lady that answered the phone was super nice. I told her my problem and she says nonchalantly, "Oh, it's probably just the belt." Like, no big deal. "It's a 3A right?" Like it must happen a lot with that model. Yes! I tell her, and she explains how to fix the problem. I was really impressed that a PERSON, and not some automated voice answered the phone and helped me! It turned out the belt had come off! She was right, and I fixed it! I was so happy! I really love that tumbler! It saves me hours of work!

I guess the moral of the story has turned into an ad for Lortone. If you need a small tumbler, the Lortone 3A is great, and Lortone has wonderful customer service.

I thought about posting a picture of the tumbler, but I don't love it that much, and that seems kinda geeky to me. :)