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September 1988

l'IIonthly Bulletin of the

j',lineral & Gem Sodety of

Castro VaHey, CA

-,; Tha t's right folks! It is L~ {n,,) for H!lOther !-ihop clean up day, so bring some elbow gW:::hiC an d \Veal' your old clothes, and help make our Bb,op ~) n.icer pbwe to 'Nork in.

, .. ..

And then, Hft,t~r ;} hard naYk wGrk ~'-() ,:iHLunlay go horne, Get some sleep and come bad, to l.'icni(~ on ,~:unday! We will have TAILGATING for memb~wfj and 0t:aler nWI\1ber~ only - $10.00 per space (proceeds go to fJchoiatship fUild). There wHl also be a rock auction. Win tho')c H\~mbcn:! witlllast names begin­ning with t.he following iniL;HJI'l pk.gse bTiHg IJ. di~'>h from the assigll~d (~atcp;ory:

---"- ,' --- -- --"'1 •• MN~.~~g ~M~ ~~~~

• " I • • • Duyyour " • " • 1'lCF.ET • " now • • • ~ & • • WIN " • • • " " • DIAMOND • • PACIFJC • • \"1 I • ''(}ENfE'" " • , • " • drawing io b~! • • keltl on March 5 " • " • 198.9 • • a' • • • I J!I CSV "Mineral & Oei/! • • Annu#.4l Show " • • • • • " • "

" ~.sa .dN~~ B ~!inl~al!' --_. --_._-_ .. " _ ..... , ..

"'_ !C- -, A~ . •. --' .. ':"

n .. lV~ ~~ALAns

""")'r '1'1"<"-" " ~J. \ .. ." ... £(,,1. ...... ,

n)u COLJt.D BE A WINNER! Mt~nl1,c; ;:;v;~;iLing our shop latdy have probably no~iecd thc .. .. I 1)' J 1> 'j' "C' '" ,,'" hIlI d ' d nC;'1uL; t:', new _ lanlOIH , - aCl ]C :rcn t e I U W or. I a ,Ja!Hon ,

(~Hhbini''- YT:\chi ne Ol.l display. 'th is unit, Hlu,("lg with an 8" diamond i.. l·lH' S,FV ntt.<ldunent uncI n jewelers pnlif;hing un it is our raffle iL{)[~! hi" the year. The winnin G ticket win be drawn at 4 pm Su nday, t.(! arr.h 5th, 1989, at 01)1' show.- Winner ll.ecd not. be present to win.

'1.'j-,,! corupk t.e syswm, B(~nS {-or about $1 ]00. 'l'ir.kets sen for jus t ;f:-t .on t;:;_ch, 'Ntu:r{; n hDTI;oin. \Alith yOHl' coope1oation W(O cnB have UIr'CC \\/;ni, c~ n;: Uw perf:{Ofl 'who '<'I1n[; the: cabbing f;ystC tn; \)1,11 ~: h':nL,;";h;p ;i.m,'j nnd or lH C>LTJB. conlinl!f'd Oil, J)u/!r ?

Auqust B f (1BB

7 30

,Joe Zolm { Billie Vern ,Joe Hammond, Noel Zimmerman,

Non members Imtunovich, Claflin G

MSC: ,)

minutes in the

mimxtes in the

MSC Ed:nah treasurers

in

Ecll1clh

the af3

t:he bills

NevI st,u(lent is ·to 1'he

cutte:c :LS

third t:o be orde:ced this week. A

torch has been se"c up.

machine and the cutt:.ers for 'che machine.

Korstad: Needs tumbled st;o:nes for ~ would like bJwha·t

is YH:?eciecl fronl a to be obtained committee.

: Fort Hason ~-:-~"~~";c"'~ -"o"':-""~we e kend "

the

Information to l,he show

Noel Z imme:r'wan: Needs donation for Bank,

c1u.e s

1988

en some of set. up,

Rock ident:ifica"cion class to be set up G

qave Funde

h.ave come back some saws are

hose was Hose shoulcl be

needs a nm-7 motor or b,,,

List of 'co be in of the is almost filled.

at: t:he

Old Busin.ess: Ucl chairman of

no demonstrations ~ t:ail ,- auc·tion ~ member dc alers at

$10,00 a space.

(October) "Jill

om::ned f3: 8 p.m.

subm:L-tt:ed

Lee ~'lorth

JULY 1988

Balance Forward

Income Dues Interest Refund ~

48.00 13.15

Arvey Paper 8.00

Expenses Rent YMCA Phone Bank

Charges

74.15

533.32 22.67

11.20

'67.19

1988

3,826.77

3,333.63

7

(joe 00 .p2.

page 8 September

A ME~'HOD OE~

(Rockette)

Tumbling is the easiest method. of polishing stones, having had a rapid g·rowth in popularity in recent years. And although lapidarys probably have not tumbled stones for: more than years, certain stones, tumbled in river or streams, or on ocean beaches, have been used as ornamentation by mankind since the very dawn of man's existence. The very early Egyptians occas made beads Leom exceptional tumbled specimens.

Many articles of :i may be made using tumbled stones. Suitably drilled, they become beads, or may be used by attaching b~'lll caps, balls, and many othE"r types of findings to form necklaces, pendants, "ming trees", and other types of jewelry and ornaments. In most of these cases, various epoxy adhesives are used to firmly bind stone and metal. Some stones are preformed before tumbling, to make the finished product more attractive. Some types of hishi are preformed and then tumbled as the finishing step.

While the process of tumbling is looked down on by some others have elevated it to a fine art. To obtain the "viet n finish so des on all types of stones from quartz and agate to the very difficult "apache tears" r requires a certain amount of· skill. A batch of tumbled stones may take from a week to several months to go through the several steps to produce a fine polish; but it is a form of mass production and requires only a small amount of the operator's time each day to check or change the grits in a batch.

MGSCV / 1988

'1',,10 of tumblers are the old one, v~hich takes

up to two month's to a batch and is favored by many f both bf;cause of its lower cost and the fine results that can be p.roduced, and. has bc,;en tested by time. It is obtainable in many styles and sizes and with many different features. The newer type of tumbler "lOrks on a vibration p:d.n·~

, and it too comes in many forms and. features. The great advantage is that it can do in a \'leek that ,-,hich will take up to weeks for a tumbler to do.

Quite a bit of literature has been written on tum.blers. A good introduc­tion is the chapter in tum.bling found in Sinkankus'

(Rockett€<

CrystalLine quartz is sometim~}s .rose to purple colored and occurs, more or les s r in chu.nks in vlhich the z faces are not visible. Indeed, it is rare for rose quartz to show crystal faces. Generally streaks of white quartz run through the mass, often they lay in several , so that it is not easy to obtain a piece without a white streak or two. FurthermorE-of some of these may be fractures.

Occasionally pieces or areas of rose quartz are unblemished by these streaks and carvings and small j objects are cut of this material.

Rose quart~z is oft:en full of micro­scopic rutile crystals laying in every direct€llon. Sometimes these crystals ar'e orientl~d in planes, and these pieces may be cut so that a weak star is apparent. If the piece is thick enough, a sphere can be cut with a strong and beautiful star.

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CI'JitLOS