Sunsites Gem and Mineral Club General
Meeting Minutes - February 11, 2008
President Don Hammer called the
meeting to order at 7 p.m.
Guests, along with new members,
Jeanne Dague and Carol Cartmell
were welcomed. Members and guests present numbered 32. It was
especially heartwarming to see Jack Breese and Bob Fenner
present.
Don asked for a motion to approve
the minutes of January's meeting. There was a motion; it was seconded,
and the minutes were approved.
Walter gave the Treasurer’s Report.
The Club's checking account stands at $1.863.10, and the Certificate of
Deposit balance is $3,112.71.
Don announced that from 2-5 p.m.
every other Monday, silversmith classes are available in the Lapidary Room
located behind the Fire Station. Soldering is taught and work is done on
an individual basis. The next class will be this Monday, February 18.
Don offered bits and pieces
of amethyst rock to Club Members who did not attend the mini field trip to
the Commonwealth Mine on Saturday, February 2nd. Eighteen members signed up to participate,
and by all accounts, it was a successful field trip.
The Club will not be going to Peterson
Draw to look for garnet as the owner has withdrawn his offer allowing us to
come.
This month's field trip will be on
Saturday, February 16. We will go to the Black Hills Rock Hound Area.
Bob and Barbara will guide. On February 12, Don sent the Membership
detailed information pertaining to the up-coming field trip.
Announcements: Don encouraged
Members to take a look at the Hospitality
Sign-up Sheet and to participate,
if possible. Club dues are to be paid by March 31st. See Joan
Hammer for tickets to the Cowbell's Dinner Dance. Don spoke highly of the
items to be seen at Electric Park during the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.
See Henri about an open field trip the second weekend in March with the
Deming Club.
The meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m.,
followed by refreshments and the rock raffle. Thank you to those who
supplied the goodies and the raffle items.
Our program was a thorough
demonstration of Lapidary presented by Member, Larry Strout,
after which Members were invited to sign up for Lapidary classes.
Respectfully submitted,
Diane Brower
Mini Field Trip back to the Commonwealth Mine:
At 10 am on Saturday 2 February 12 members, two new members that had
just signed up and four guests assembled near the Old Store in Pearce and
proceeded around the hill to the east side of the Commonwealth Mine. Led by Henri Vanden
Bos, we drove up the hill one at a time to reduce the
chances of setting the high, tall grass on fire and everyone made it without
any problem. We then headed for two
veins of amethyst a short distance to the east.
The good color had not been exposed to the sun so that meant breaking
the veins out of rock. Henri Vanden Bos and his guest Jeff
Vander Berg commenced breaking out one vein with large bars assisted by Casey
Dennis and Don Hammer with big hammers.
We broke off, dug out and broke up many rocks to expose the good color
and then piled the pieces nearby and invited everyone to help themselves. Other members worked on nearby sites where
the vein was also exposed. The Schnabel’s
found the other vein and broke out a very large piece of amethyst after a few
hours work. Everyone got some nice
amethyst to take home. Don Hammer slabbed a piece and it came out very nice with excellent
color and a nice pattern in the crystals.
February
Field Trip
After
weather related postponement, 25 members and 4 new members as of that morning
gathered in the Willcox Safeway parking lot at 8:45
on Saturday February 23. Bob Fenner explained the route to the Black Hills Rock Hound
Area and the collecting site and then led by Bob and Barbara Fenner we headed east on I-10 to the Safford exit and
subsequently to milepost 141 on Highway 191 northeast of Safford. The road in to the site had been improved, so
even cars had no problems and BLM had ripped up a large area to expose buried
chalcedony and fire agate. The ground in
the immediate vicinity of the parking area was graveled (covered) with
chalcedony and fire agate.
One
member found a nice fire agate when she stepped out of the car. Others were found by members resting or just
socializing. Apparently, that area had
received heavy rains during the monsoon that exposed substantially more
agate. Some climbed the hill to the
north and found some larger pieces as well as chalcedony geodes. Though the morning started cool and overcast,
the clouds cleared by 11 AM, and it turned into a pleasant day adding to our
enjoyment. Most members had plenty of
specimens by noon and many left not long after though a few were still
searching for the bigger pieces as late as 4 PM. Our thanks to Bob and
Barbara Fenner for organizing an excellent field
trip.
March Field Trip - 15 March
We
will go to the old Lucky Cuss mine in Tombstone for black, white and clear
calcite that fluoresces; white, golden and light blue travertine, onyx orbs and
bundles, aragonite and dendritics. The mineral guides list 21 minerals ranging
from alabandite to vesuvianite. Meet at the Sunsites
Community Center at 7:45 AM on Saturday March 15; we will leave promptly at 8
AM. The Lucky Cuss is 57 miles from the
Community Center. Bring light digging
tools, bags or pails, rock hammers, chisels and water. Also bring lunch, sun protection, gloves and
lawn chairs.
Lapidary and
Silversmith
Classes
Silversmith classes are scheduled for the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month from 2 – 4 PM at the Lab behind the Fire Department.
Lapidary
classes are in session on Thursday from 6 to 9 PM and Friday at 9 to noon at
the Lapidary Room behind the Fire Station.
Come
and join the fun for lapidary, silversmith, and wire wrap lessons. Interested, any questions? Call Irvin Pontious for lapidary at 824-0110. Silversmith - call Don Hammer 384-3105. Wire Wrap - call Larry Strout
826-3991.
Lapidary
and Silver Smithing
For those of you that missed the
lapidary demonstration at the February meeting this article will explore the
processes we call lapidary and silver smithing.
Webster says: Of or pertaining to the art of cutting and
polishing precious stones. Lapidary is
taking this rough piece of rock and turning it into pretty jewelry. Notice that the stone is oval shaped and
slightly dome shaped. This shape is
called a cabochon. The dome shape
reflects light from many more angles than a flat shape would making
the stone seem shiny from almost any angle.
One facet of lapidary is called making cabochons or cabs. And that’s what we’ll talk about today.
But first we need a rock – so we go
into the mountains and find rocks that we can make shiny and have an interesting
pattern. If you want to test a rock and
see if it will polish or become shiny simply spray or pour water on it. If it shines then it will polish. Usually we can just pick them up off the
ground but sometimes we have to break them off the mountain.
Then we bring the rocks home or to
our lapidary shop and place them in the vise of our slab (rock) saw. The vise has a worm gear mechanism to carry
it towards and past the blade. The saw
blade has diamond imbedded in the rim – diamond is harder than any other
substance and it will cut through any rocks in Cochise County. The blade dips into oil in the tank below to
keep it cool. Once we have adjusted the
vise, we turn the motor on and gently touch the stone to the blade several
times to make sure we start the cut properly.
Remember this is a rough uneven stone and the blade could start cutting
at an angle and that would ruin the blade.
We don’t want to ruin the blade - this 14” blade costs about
$250. Then we close the cover to keep
the blade from throwing oil all over and let the saw run until it has cut
through the stone and we have a flat piece of the rock called a slab.
We check the slab for cracks and
find the most interesting pattern. Using
a template we mark the shape that we want the stone to be. And then cut that shape out of the slab using
a trim saw. But the trim saw only cuts
in straight lines so we have to grind the edges down to get the final shape. The grinding wheel has diamonds embedded in a
metal matrix and water dripping on it to keep the wheel and stone cool. Now we have the oval shape but we still need
to round the top. And holding a small
stone with wet hands is not easy. So we
melt some doping wax with an alcohol lantern, put a piece of dowel in it, dip
out some wax and press it down on cold metal to shape the wax flat and
rounded. Then we heat the stone, dip the
dop stick into melted wax and press it down on the
stone. Lift the stone off the heat and
shape the wax around the stone. Now we
have a handle on our stone so we can hold it and maneuver it.
Then we go back to the
grinding wheel and start grinding from the side to start forming our dome
shape. After we have made the first
grind, we increase the angle and do a second grind and third and a fourth
grind. Since we are constantly turning
the stone round and round for each grind this is often called peeling the
apple. Now we have the shape that we
want the stone to be but it’s all full of scratches and not shiny. So we go to a finer grit wheel and grind out
the coarse scratches left in the stone by the grinding wheel. We use 3 or 4 finer and finer grits on wheels
or on belts to remove the scratches left by the previous wheel or belt. This is called polishing the stone and it
will gradually begin to shine. To remove
all the scratches – the scratches cause the stone to be dull – we use a final
polishing compound such as tin oxide or cerium oxide on a felt or leather
buffing wheel. Now we have a shiny,
pretty stone. But it still has the
handle on it. We put it in the freezer
for 20 minutes, take it out and pop the handle off the stone. Now we have a finished cabochon.
But we need some means to attach
it. We don’t want to glue the stone to
our shirt or blouse or belt or ear. So
we need a finding that we can make or buy.
A finding is a mounting for a stone so that the stone can be worn as a
pendant or on a belt buckle. We can
start from scratch cutting out a shape from a strip of silver and then
soldering a rim or bezel to that shape.
Or we can save lots of time and buy bezel cups already made up. But we still can’t fasten it to
anything. So we solder a jump ring to
the bezel cup and fit it to an earring clamp.
This is called silver soldering or silver smithing. If we want a pendant, then we solder another
jump ring in the first jump ring. Now we
have a bail (a ring)
that we can put a silver chain through and the gals can wear the
stone as a pendant. Or we might mount
the stone in a belt buckle, or a bolo tie or a brooch or a ring. And when someone says that’s a pretty stone
we can proudly say – thanks I made it out of a rock I found in the mountains.
The Sunsites
Gem & Mineral Club has a well-equipped lapidary lab behind the fire hall in
Sunsites. We
have started lapidary classes on Thursday evenings and Friday mornings. A silver smithing
session meets every other Monday afternoon in the same place. Silver soldering is a prerequisite to silver smithing and we will organize a silver soldering class in
the near future. If you are interested
in any of these classes, call Don Hammer (384-3105) ASAP.
March
10 - Monthly Meeting
A
Flight through the Universe
Just how big is the Universe? Did
you ever stop and look into the night sky and ponder about the beginning, the end?
Beginning with our Solar System, we will explore the Milky Way galaxy and
beyond. We will skirt the very edge of the known Universe. This presentation
will take you on an extraordinary journey back through time and provide an
awesome insight into the grandeur of the Universe.
The
galaxy image is of NGC 6946. This color
image of the face-on spiral galaxy, NGC 6946, was taken at the Large Binocular
Telescope on Mt. Graham, September 18, 2006. The galaxy lies at a distance of
about 16 million light years from earth. Note the many new star-forming regions
in the spiral arms (blue-white areas). The false-color composite was made from
images taken through near-ultraviolet, blue, and green filters, using one
primary mirror and one Large Binocular Camera (blue optimized). 16 million light years is equivalent to
93,850,000,000,000,000,000 miles. Or for
those who would like to explore the math 16 million light years times
31,536,000 seconds per year times 186,000 miles per second (the speed of
light)–That’s a long way away! That is only one example of the mind stretching
character of this program.
The
magnificent visual images in the presentation come from the Hubble Space
Telescope and the Japanese Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The Chandra Space Telescope takes the x-ray
images and the Spitzer Space Telescope took infrared images. A 3-D movie of the
star-forming region in the Orion Nebula, shown during the presentation, was
produced by the American Museum of Natural History.
John R. Ratje received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, in 1974. He is also licensed as a Professional Mechanical Engineer. An amateur astronomer since junior high school, John loves to “tinker” with the night sky.
Since
1984, Steward Observatory, the research arm for the Department of Astronomy at
the University of Arizona, has employed him. As Assistant Director for
Operations, he has been involved with all aspects of the Mt. Graham
International Observatory (environmental analysis, design, construction and
operation). He resides in Safford, Arizona.
Mr.
Ratje’s program will be at the Sunsites
Gem & Mineral Club meeting at 7 pm on Monday March 10 in the Sunsites Community Center on Treasure Road in Sunsites. The public
is invited to see this stimulating presentation.
Club
Calendar:
March April
10 Regular Meeting 3 Board Meeting
15
Field Trip 14
Monthly Mtg
28
Board Meeting 19 Field Trip
May June
1 Board Meeting 7
Picnic
12
Monthly Meeting
18
Field Trip
29 Board Meeting
Upcoming
Regional Events
Cottonwood: March 21-23; 32nd Annual Verde
Valley Gem, Mineral and Jewelry Show Held at Mingus
Union High School, 1801 Fir St, Cottonwood AZ.
Display, Silent auctions, Raffles, exhibits, jewelry
& lapidary dealers and supplies, fluorescent display, kid's activities.
Hours: Fri & Sat 9 AM- 5 PM, Sun 10 AM - 4 PM Admission: Fri $1, Sat &
Sun $3, 3-day pass $5. Parking: Free. Contact: Doug Evenson
928-634-0459, dougevenson@verdecomm.net, Mike Ramsey 928-634-0666 ramsey6264@yahoo.com
Reminder:
Apache Creek, NM
“AGATE RENDEZVOUS 2008” - August
23RD to September 1ST, 2008 (See February Newsletter)
Arizona Gem
& Mineral Clubs (from RMFMS.org)
New Mexico:
P.O.
Box 13718, Albuquerque, NM 87192-3718 Pres: Susan Seymour, (505) 877-3621;
suzannerox5@aol.com
Carlsbad: Road
Runner Gem & Mineral Club:
1801 Solana Rd., Carlsbad, NM 88220; Meets 1st Monday, 7pm at Senior
Recreation Center, 1112 N. Mesa; Pres: Frank Pierce, (505) 885-7676; e-mail:
marynixon@valornet.com
Farmington: San
Juan County Gem & Mineral Society:
P. O. Box 1482; Farmington, NM 87499-1482; Meets 4th Tuesday, 7:30pm
in Sun's Dining Room at San Juan College, 4601 College Blvd.; Pres: Duane Gustin, (505) 402-9742; dbgustin@msn.com
Las Cruces: Gem
Crafters & Explorers Club:
P.
O. Box 3091, Las Cruces, NM 88003; Meets 3rd Friday 6:30pm, (except
July & Dec) at Breland Hall, room 189, NMSU
Campus; Pres: LeRoy Unglaub,
(505) 524-9497; pathfdr@zianet.com
P.O.
Box 762, Los Alamos, NM 87544; Meets 3rd Tuesday, 7:30pm at
Christian Church, 92 East Rd.; Pres: Joyce Guzik,
(505) 672-0249; joy@lanl.gov
Roswell: P.O. Box 815, Roswell, NM 88203
Santa Fe Geological
Society, Inc.:
P. O. Box 1245, Sandia Park, NM 87047; Pres: Lee Winn, (505) 820-1085; e-mail:
rwinn@cybermesa.com
Silver City: Grant
County Rolling Stones Gem & Mineral Society: P.O. Box 1555, Silver City, NM
88062-1555; Meets 2nd Thursday, 6pm at Silver City Senior Center,
205 W. Victoria St.; Pres: B J Burch, (505) 388-4312; e-mail: mamafisch@aol.com
Truth or
Consequences: Sierra Gem and Mineral Society: 813 Gold; Truth or Consequences, NM 87901; Pres:
Leon Gorrell (505) 894-0559
Non-Affiliated
Clubs for New Mexico
Clovis Gem &
Mineral Society:
1587 BY 60-84, Clovis, NM 88101
Deming
Gem & Mineral Society:
P.O. Box 1459, Deming, NM 88031
Lordsburg: Rockamania
Gem & Mineral Society: 208 Motel Dr., Lordsburg, NM 88045