NNNNoooovvvv////DDDDeeeeC C C C 2222000011110000

Birthstones: Birthstones: Birthstones: Birthstones:

NNNNoooovvvv –––– TTTTOOOOPPPPAAAAZZZZ

DDDDeeeeCCCC –––– TTTTuuuurrrrqqqquuuuooooiiiisssseeee

WEST SEATTLE PETROGLYPHS

Mike Wall, Editor P.O. Box 16145 Seattle, WA 98116

email: mike_wall@yahoo.com

Monthly Bulletin of the West Seattle Rock Club, Inc.

Seattle, Washington

Our Club: Practices the Rockhound Code of Ethics

*** Website ***

http://www.westseattlerockclub.org

Nov/Dec 2010 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 1

Volume 45, Number 10

WEST SEATTLE ROCK CLUB, INC. Mailing Address: P.O. BOX 16145, Seattle, WA 98116

The purpose of this Club is to promote the study and enjoyment of the Lapidary Arts with good Rock-hounding and good fellowship; and to further education and lapidary skills for all; to conduct field trips for exploration and collection of minerals, gems, rocks and fossils; to promote shows and displays; to publish a monthly periodical known as West Seattle PETROGLYPHS relating to club activities.

COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS (2010):

2010 Show Chairpersons Programs Refreshments/Hospitality Telephone Committee Historian Field Trips

Webmaster

AFFILIATED WITH:

Northwest Federation & American Federation of Mineralogical Societies Seattle Regional Gem and Mineral Show Committee

Washington State Mineral Council ALAA – American Lands Access Association

Meetings are held on the Fourth Wednesday of each month,

except for November which is the THIRD Wednesday and no meetings in July and December The meetings are held in Adams Hall of the Tibbetts United Methodist Church

3940 41st S.W. (corner of 41st S.W. and S.W. Andover Street) Seattle, WA 6:30 PM – Junior Meeting 7:00 PM – Adult Meeting

Dues are: $20.00 first year (including name badge), then: $10.00 per adult member per year or $15.00 for 2 adults in same family, $3.00 per junior member per year

VISITORS ARE INVITED AND ARE ALWAYS WELCOME TO ALL MEETINGS

All material in this Bulletin may be reprinted if properly credited - Exchange Bulletins are most welcome.

****************************************************************************************

OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS (2010):

President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Federation Director Director at Large Mineral Council Reps Seattle Regional Reps Newsletter - Editor Current Past President

****************************************************************************************

****************************************************************************************

Ken Schmidt Dave Clausen

Rachel Miller Audrey Vogelpohl Audrey Vogelpohl Lyle Vogelpohl Brian Waters Judy Ayers Lyle Vogelpohl

<Open>

Mike Wall Ron Nims

(206) 932-3626 (206) 935-3040

(206) 935-8180 (206) 932-3292 (206) 932-3292 (206) 932-3292 (206) 774-8565 (206) 633-0721

(206) 932-3292

<Open>

(206) 935-4953 (206) 764-9566

Rachel Miller Dave Clausen

<Vice President>

Angie Erdman Guyneitha Clausen

Sherry Eslick

<Open>

Brian Waters Donn Ullery

(206) 935-8180 (206) 935-3040

<Vice President>

(206)-419-0565

(206) 932-2657 (206) 938-2594

<Open>

(206) 774-8565 (206) 633-0721

Nov/Dec 2010 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 2

CLUB CALENDAR

November 17, 2010

General (& Kids) Meeting (7:00 pm)

Program: Silent & “Not So Silent” Auction (Please bring material to donate for the auction & money to bid on these gems)

Show & Tell: Fall Colors (reds, yellows, oranges, etc.)

December 8, 2010

Holiday Potluck (6:30 pm – 9:00 pm) - at Adams Hall in Tibbett's Church (our

regular meeting location)

Hi Everyone, a little Fun Trivia. What is the name of the igneous rock that is light enough to float?

- Basalt - Pumice - Granite - Obsidian

Polished hematite is commonly used in magnetic jewelry. What is the metallic element that gives hematite its magnetic properties?

- Chromium - Iron - Manganese - Nickel

What did I yell after dropping a rather large crystal right smack on my foot?

- Dolomite - Garnet - Amphibole - Diopside

Keep Digging, Ken

PRESIDENT’S

MESSAGE

WHAT’S INSIDE

Club Calendar 3 President’s Message 3 2010 Refreshments 3 What’s Inside 3 November Junior Program 3 Dues 3 General Meeting Minutes 4 Holiday Potluck 5 WSRC Library 5 In My Own Words 6 WSMC Meeting 6 Mineral Myths & Meanings – Lapis 8 Is It Hard or Tough 9 Shop Tips 9 Field Trips 10 Rock Shows 10

2010 REFRESHMENTS

Please take note if you next on the list. THANKS to everyone who has al-ready signed up!

November Joe Moushey December (Christmas Party)

NOVEMBER JUNIOR PROGRAM

LAPIDARY ART allows us to unlock the beauty in the rocks we collect. Many rocks look dull on the outside when they actually are "gems" within. There are books to be read on the various lapidary arts. And keep in mind that rocks are different ... some are soft, some hard. Some are one color and others have many colors.

There are many projects that we can try ... cabbing, faceting, inlay, wirewrapping, silver smithing, bead-

ing, carving, and rock tumbling. Bring a rock that

you would like to work on. Think about what equip-ment you will need to create a stone of beauty. Give me a call if you have questions.

Audrey 206-932-3292

Nov/Dec 2010 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 3

DUES

Membership dues may be paid at this month's meet-ing. $10.00 per adult member or $15.00 for 2 adults in the same household. Junior members (up to age 18) are $3.00 per year. Checks should be made out to West Seattle Rock Club. Cash is also accepted. If you cannot make it to this meeting, or the December potluck, please mail to me at 8810 37th Ave SW, Se-attle, WA 98126.

Thanks for your help. Audrey Vogelpohl

WEST SEATTLE ROCK CLUB – GENERAL MEETING MINUTES October 27, 2010

Business:

• The meeting was brought to order at 7:07 pm by club President Ken Schmidt.

• There were 15 adult members, 7 junior members, and 4 guests present.

• Audrey Vogelpohl distributed the door prizes to this month’s winners. Gina Durnwirth won the member

prize, Isabella Francisco won the junior prize and Wayne Bentler won the guest prize.

• Audrey introduced new members Janet Francisco with daughter Isabella. They received their name tags,

membership cards and pins; and Isabella received her Future Rockhound of America patch.

• Audrey announced to the guests that she has membership applications. It is $20 for the first time you apply

and then $10 for subsequent years. If you join in October or November, that also pays for your 2011 dues. Current members can start paying their 2011 dues in November.

• We discussed Christmas/Holiday party ideas, including pizza at the Round Table restaurant, catering a meal

or a potluck at our normal meeting spot. Members decided to have a potluck at our usual meeting room, preferably on a Wednesday evening. Audrey said that she would check to see which dates would be avail-able. Bo Jeffers, Diane Christensen & April Hichens volunteered to coordinate the dinner. Secretary’s

note: Audrey was able to reserve the space for Wednesday December 8th.

• Ken reminded folks that the November meeting will be one week earlier, i.e., on November 17th, because

of Thanksgiving. At the November meeting, we will hold a silent auction (and possibly auctioneer style for some material) to raise money for the club. Ken asked folks to bring in material to donate for the auction and/or money to spend.

• Brian Waters gave a field trip report. He said that there is a trip to Blanchard Hill which has nice material:

chert and stilpnomelane in quartz. The trip, which is hosted by the Mount Baker club, is at a low elevation so it is easy to walk in. Brian also said that the next mineral council meeting is in Ellensburg November 6. At that meeting, the council will be planning upcoming field trips with the BC Wagonmasters.

• Lyle Vogelpohl gave a Federation report. He said that a Tri-Federation field trip was planned for Memorial

Day weekend 2011, in Hampton Butte, Oregon, which is about 35 miles from Prineville. There will be sev-eral trips from there to collect material such as jaspers, thunder eggs, petrified wood, and obsidian. Dry camping on private land will be available and there will be plenty of rockhounding camaraderie including potluck dinners around the campfire.

• Lyle reminded club members that the club has an extensive library and a lot of library material was put out

on the stage for members to sign out if they wanted.

• Ken announced that we still need a 2011 show chairperson. Our show will be April 30 and May 1, with

setup on April 29. He also said that the Spokane show will be switching to the first weekend in May in 2012, so we would need to pick a different weekend in 2012. Please see Ken if you are interested in the show chairperson position!

Show and Tell:

• Lyle Vogelpohl brought in several dinosaur bones, some bloodstone with little drops of red “blood” in it,

and a rose quartz sphere.

• Audrey Vogelpohl said that she and Lyle were going to be selling jewelry at the upcoming Fauntleroy

Church fair on November 19/20/21. She brought in one beautiful necklace made from seraphinite and an-other lovely necklace made with square blocks of fluorite and aurora borealis crystal beads.

• Dave Clausen brought in a piece of amber and told a great “horror” story from a bug’s point of view. He

also showed some red carnelian and some gorgeous opal in water.

• Miles Durnwirth displayed a great collection of five carved skulls, including some made from soapstone

(Continued on page 5)

Nov/Dec 2010 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 4

(Continued from page 4)

and jasper.

• Guest Paul Griffin brought in some rough garnets and some on dop sticks which had been polished at

Jerry’s.

• Brian Waters showed some petrified bog wood from Saddle Mountain, some petrified wood from China

Hollow and Goldendale, and some red plume agate.

• Rachel Miller showed an agate in the shape of a coffin along with a little rubber skeleton.

• Michael O’Clair displayed some beautiful quartz with red hematite inclusions from South Africa and a

piece of red-orange sandstone from Petra, Jordan.

• Lucie O’Clair brought in a scary-because-it’s-sharp arrowhead.

• Mike Blanton displayed a large piece of serpentine and told the story of how he obtained a piece from an

even larger rock that was his grandmother’s.

• Marshall Hatfield showed some red jasper that he got from his neighbor.

• Molly Hatfield brought in a little green stone and a rock from the beach.

• Nolan Whorton displayed a beautiful red rock with lots of pretty crystals. He also showed some nice

crystals that he grew himself.

• Bo Jeffers brought in lots of rocks with fall colors, including atomite in a limonite matrix, a rock from the

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, some jasper from Southwest Washington and China Hollow, aragonite/calcite, petrified wood, and a four chambered thunder egg with drusy crystals.

• Ken Schmidt said that he purchased a second vibrating flat lap which he has been playing with on some

jasper, Mexican coconuts, carnelian, and graveyard point agate that he brought in to show. He also brought in another pile o’ tumbled rocks. Start tumbling for our next show! The club can supply grit and rough if needed.

• Marshal Hatfield won the show and tell prize, which was a lovely rose quartz sphere. Lucie O’Clair and

Bo Jeffers also won pieces of opal, which were prizes donated by Dave Clausen

Program:

• Maureen Carlisle was our program presenter. Maureen is a member of the East King Co. rock club,

works at the Burke Museum as a teacher, and is a field geologist. She usually has a booth at our annual WSRC show, but this year she had the chance to participate in a Passport in Time session as a volunteer for the USDA Forest service.

Submitted by Rachel Miller, WRSC secretary

Nov/Dec 2010 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 5

HOLIDAY POTLUCK

In lieu of the regularly scheduled monthly meeting in December, we will celebrate the holiday season with a potluck dinner on Wednesday, December 8th, from 6:30-9 pm at Adams Hall in Tibbett's Church. Access to kitchen facilities will be available. Folks are en-couraged to bring a dish of their choice to share. Tur-key and ham will be provided by the Club. There will be a gift exchange for those interested, as well as the opportunity to donate a nonperishable item to the West Seattle Food Bank. If you have any questions, contact either Bo Jeffers at (malum1nsea@comcast.net), Diane Christensen (dchristensen59@gmail.com) or April Hichens at 206-949-6990 or april@mcbuzz.com. — Hope to see you there!

WSRC LIBRARY

Please check your rock library for any items you may have checked out from the West Seattle Rock Club Library and forgotten to return.

We are currently missing one item in particular that a number of members would like to checkout. It is a DVD on Tumbling Rocks – It is called “Tumbling Rocks” by M. R. Wendt (www.agate-beach.com). A while back Mr. Wendt attended one of our meetings and gave a presentation on tumbling.

So please spend a few minutes to check for any WSRC library items and return them at our next meet-ing so others can enjoy. THANKS.

Nov/Dec 2010 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 6

WSMC MEETING by Brian Waters, Mineral Council Representative

On Saturday, November 6th, I attended the General Meeting of the Washington State Mineral Council In Ellensburg. This meeting was combined with the Wagonmasters Meeting for field trips for next year. This was done in hopes of getting more participation from clubs on the eastside and to come up with some new field trips and was successful in doing that.

The meeting was called to order at 9:30 am by yours truly. There were eighteen people there representing eleven clubs. The first order of business was reading the Treasurer's Report. The Treasurer was not in at-tendance but the report was approved.

Next we did a Wagonmasters’ Report. I reported on the field trip that our club sponsored to the Saddle Mountain area to collect petrified wood. This was held in October this year instead of the spring as it normally is. The weather was nice both days, and there was good attendance on Saturday with about 40 people showing up. Nobody but Lisa and I stayed overnight and attendance was light on Sunday. The only drawback that we found to making this trip in

(Continued on page 7)

IN MY OWN WORDS By Rachel VanProyen

On March 30th, I, Rachel VanProyen, left for the Do-minican Republic with my brother Gerrit, my dad Mike, and some people from my church in Sequim

After 10 hours in the air and a 4-1/2 hour bus ride, we finally made it to our destination in Barahona. The city of Barahona is located near the southwestern re-gion of the country, about 45 minutes from the Haitian border. In Barahona, we worked with Children of the Nations (COTN), which builds and operates schools, orphanages, and medical clinics for orphaned and des-titute children.

Our team worked on digging trenches as a foundation for a fence at a newly built pre-school. Of course, I was able to meet and play with lots of kids from the nearby village. The pre-school was built next to the COTN Vocational Center. At one time I was even able to help with an English speaking class at the vo-cation center. Near the end of the week, we went to a beach where the waves crashed right on the beach. Most waves were about 8 feet high.

Dominican Republic is famous for Larimar. It is often mined in an area near Barahona. Sadly, some miners die trying to get this beautiful blue stone. We bring Larimar jewelry back as gifts for my mom.

The second week of my trip I spent with some mis-sionaries in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Do-minican Republic. While I was there I was able to go see some historical sites. We went to see Christopher Columbus' Tomb, Christopher Columbus' son's pal-

ace, and the tree where Christopher Columbus tied off when he landed his ship in the Dominican Rebublic.

While we were there, the political elections were start-ing. It was fun to see people waving flags and hanging onto cars while rooting for their favorite candidate. There were a lot of posters for the candidates.

When I arrived in Seattle on April 14th, I was glad to be home, but I knew I would miss the scenery and people of the Dominican Republic.

(via Pebbles, 6/08)

Nov/Dec 2010 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 7

(Continued from page 6)

the fall, as opposed to the spring, was there were con-siderable reports of rattlesnake sightings. Due to this we decided to move the trip back to the spring next year.

Ed Lehman gave a report on the collecting status of the First Creek area. The area has been logged by the landowner and now the landowner has decided to stop maintaining the roads so access to the area is now limited to walk in.

The next issue brought up was about land-use. In the past it had been the job of the 2nd Vice-President to promote land-use issues among the member clubs but that has not been done for a long time now. Due to budget cuts and other issues with federal, state and local governments the Mineral Council is studying how we can best promote keeping collecting areas on public lands open.

Both Bob Pattie and myself suggested that the Coun-cil create a committee of three to four people to deal with our concerns regarding land use and that the committee would be responsible to communicate this to the member clubs. This is so we can get informa-tion and education about the issue out to the clubs and hopefully provide a base of support for keeping our public lands open. Bob pointed out that it takes sev-eral years just to learn about all the people and issues involved in this area and suggested that member of the committee be committed and appointed to their positions for at least three to four years.

Andy Johnson from the Kennewick Rock Club, who is nominated to be the President of the Council next year, explained that the American Lands Access As-sociation was created by the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies to promote the use of public and private lands for educational and recreational purposes. The ALAA is separate from the AFMS because it was created to be able to lobby government organizations and the AFMS cannot. If any clubs are not members of the ALAA it is highly recommended that they join as this group deals specifically with this issue which is crucial to our hobby. Andy recom-mended that the Washington State Mineral Council join the Northwest Federation of Mineralogical So-cieties, a subgroup of the AFMS, and support the work of the ALAA through that instead of creating our own committee to work on the same issues.

The discussion then turned to if the Mineral Council could join the Federation since it is not an actual club but rather an organization of clubs and how would the issue of dues be handled since almost every member

club of the Council is all ready a member of the AFMS. It was also pointed out that perhaps some member clubs of the Mineral Council may object to the Council joining the Federation and that before such a move could be made member clubs would have to be consulted.

It was finally decided that Christina Morrissey of the Marysville Club, who is the Secretary of the Mineral Council, would contact the AFMS and find out if there is a way that the Council could join the Federa-tion without paying dues and she would bring back the information to next General Meeting of the Coun-cil in March 2011.

The meeting then moved on to candidate nominations for Officers and Trustees for 2011. It was brought up at the last general meeting in September that the Council's bylaws state that nominations be made at the September meeting and that elections be held at the November meeting, but for many years the nomi-nations have been made in November and the elec-tions have been held in March and why wasn't the Council following it's own bylaws. At this meeting I pointed out that this had become common practice sometime in the past and that if the 2011 officers wanted to change it to follow the bylaws then they should but nothing could be done for this election now.

Then the discussion changed as questions were brought up as to why the westside holds monthly meetings and the eastside does not. It was pointed out that both sides of the state can determine what works best for them and that the westside finds value in having the local representatives meet more often. Also, in the past the eastside used to hold meetings an hour before the General Meetings but since many times this was attended by westside members coming for the General Meeting that this simply dissolved into just one meeting.

Finally, people were nominated for officers for next year, and unlike this year every position was filled. Since the 2nd Vice-President position this year was filled in on a caretaker basis only this left the position of Vice-President open for next year and I was asked if I would be willing to fill this position and I agreed. So, not only do I hold the position of Immediate Past President I am now also nominated to be Vice Presi-dent and therefore am in line to be President again in 2012. Also of note is that my wife Lisa filled a Trus-tee position for the westside.

After that a couple of other issues were brought be-(Continued on page 8)

Nov/Dec 2010 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 8

MINERAL MYTHS AND MEANINGS- LAPIS LAZULI

by Dave Wester

Throughout the ages, man has held a deeper belief of gems and minerals, considering them to bring luck or associating them with health or life facts. When you think about it, there’s probably a grain of truth to some of these myths because minerals, gems, and rocks are made up of the same compositions as the human body. If you’ve taken a chemistry class you’ll know this to be true. This column will present a gem or mineral myth (or meaning) each month so that you can become better acquainted with some of the more diverse properties of those rocks we love to collect. Someone showed me a nice piece of rough Lapis at a recent workshop so thought...how about Lapis!

LAPIS LAZULI

Lapis lazuli is a rock, not a mineral; whereas a mineral has only one constituent, lapis laz-uli is formed from more than one mineral. The name is a combination of the Latin word lapis (“stone”) and the Arabian name azul, meaning “blue.” In ancient times, lapis lazuli was known as sapphire, which is the name that is used today for the blue corundum variety sap-phire.

(Continued on page 9)

(Continued from page 7)

fore the meeting concluded. One was of an e-mail that the Council received from a person who had con-tacted Weyerhaeuser about collecting carnelian at the Lucas Creek collecting site and he was told that the site was closed. He was upset about this and wanted to let the Council know that he was initiating a letter writing campaign against Weyerhaeuser in hopes of getting them to re-open the area, and he wanted to know if the Council would get involved with him in this regard. All representatives attending agreed that this was not a good idea.

We discussed having a committee of Council Repre-sentatives contact Weyerhaeuser and other landown-ers that have closed off collecting areas and offering to help them clean up and maintain their land and get word out to member clubs that these areas are closed in return for allowing the Council to take a guided trip on the otherwise closed property once a year. It was decided that this idea has merit but that at this time the idea would be tabled so that the current atti-tude of people involved could cool down. We also decided that the Council would post a list of known current sites that are officially closed to collecting on our website to help get the word out.

The final issue brought up regards a proposal that the Council rent Sani-Cans for overnight field trips both in and out of state that the Council takes. Current practice is that the host/sponsor collect donations from attendees to cover the costs, however it was pointed out that while sometimes there are more than enough donations there has been a few times when it has barely been covered and the "hat" has had to be passed more than once to cover the costs. A motion was made and passed that we continue the current practice of collecting donations from attendees of the field trips but that if the costs of the Sani-Cans was not covered that the Mineral Council would reim-burse the field trip leader the rest of the expenses given a certain cap. The motion stated that Represen-tatives were to take this idea back to their clubs for approval and revisit the issue at the March meeting.

One final question was given by Andy Johnson as to when the last time the Council had increased dues. It was decided that is was sometime during the 1980's. It was decided that Representatives check with their clubs about raising the current dues from $0.75 to $1.00 per member and report back in March.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 am.

Afterwards we held our Wagonmasters Meeting and while some of the details are still being worked out, it

looks like we will have several new Wagonmaster trips on the schedule next year including two trips to Goldendale to collect at the China Hollow site, a trip to Emerald Creek in Idaho for star garnets, a trip to Glass Buttes in Oregon in conjunction with the Ma-dras Pow Wow, a trip to Lolo Pass Idaho for smokey quartz crystals, a trip to Timberwolf Mountain near Yakima for quartz crystals. Other more tentative trips are also being planned for a jade mine near Darring-ton, a trip to Republic for fossils and a trip to a mar-ble quarry for magnesite and barite minerals. Of course we will also be making trips to many of the old favorite collecting sites that we go to most years, in-cluding to Lake Wenatchee for garnets, actinolite, and talc which I have volunteered to lead on behalf of the West Seattle Rock Club.

Check the website, mineralcouncil.org in Janaury for a complete listing of these upcoming Wagonmaster trips.

SHOP TIPS

Editor’s Note: Shop tips featured in this bulletin have not been evalu-ated for safety or reliability. Please use caution when trying out any new idea.

——————————————–

Work Silver

Working with silver? Don’t try to hard solder any item that has traces of lead solder on the metal. The lead will oxidize and eat holes in the metal, and don’t mix lead with your silver and gold scrap!

(via The Tumbler, 11/10; via Breccia, 11/99; via Chips and

Facets, 7/95)

——————————————–

Knotty Chains

A fine chain can be very frustrating when it knots. Put a drop or two of salad oil on a piece of waxed paper. Lay the knot in the puddle and work at it with two straight pins. The knot should come apart quickly.

(via Carny Hound, 8/10; via S.C.R.I.B.E. Newsletter, 4/10)

Nov/Dec 2010 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 9

(Continued from page 8)

The main component of lapis lazuli is lazurite (25% to 40%), a feldspathoid silicate mineral composed of sodium, aluminium, silicon, oxygen, sulfur, and chlo-ride. Its formula is (Na,Ca)8(AlSiO4)6(S,SO4,Cl)1-2. Most lapis lazuli also contains calcite (white), sodalite (blue), and pyrite (metallic yellow). Other possible constituents are augite, diopside, enstatite, mica, hauynite, hornblende, and nosean. Some contain trace amounts of the sulfurrich lollingite variety geyerite. Lapis lazuli usually occurs in crystalline marble as a result of contact metamorphism.

The finest color is intense blue, lightly dusted with small flecks of golden pyrite. Stones with no white calcite veins and only small pyrite inclusions are more prized. Patches of pyrite are an important help in identifying the stone as genu-ine and do not detract from its value. Often, inferior lapis is dyed to improve its color, producing a very dark blue with a noticeable gray cast which may also appear as a milky shade.

In ancient Egypt, lapis lazuli was a favorite stone for amulets and orna-ments such as scarabs; it was also used by the Assyrians and Babyloni-ans for seals. Lapis jewelry has been found at excavations of the Predynastic Egyptian site Naqada (3300–3100 BC), and powdered lapis was used as eyeshadow by Cleopatra.

Lapis is believed to strengthen total awareness, ESP, the skeleton, thyroid, and pro-moted creativity. In Asia, it was believed to contain magi-cal powers. Lapis lazuli was pulverized and used as a pig-ment for paint from pre-Renaissance times until the mid 1800s when it became possible to manufacture the color artificially. Physically, lapis lazuli is thought to help cure, insomnia, depression, recurring fevers, and disorders

of the throat, lungs and immune system. Career: Vet/work with animals. (via Rocky Trails 11/09)

IS IT HARD OR TOUGH?

The terms "hardness" and "toughness" are sometimes confused when comparing qualities of gemstones–and there is a great deal of difference.

The diamond is far and away the hardest, for it will scratch, cut, or polish any other stone. As an example, with a diamond-pointed wheel dresser as used by lapi-dary workers, silicon carbide grinding wheels could be reduced to dust in minutes.

But for toughness (resistance to chipping and break-ing), jade has it beat by a country mile. A diamond will scratch and easily cut jade, but a jade hammer can crush a diamond to powder. It is the cross-matted structure of jade that makes it nearly impossible to break.

Never fear if you accidentally drop a solid jade cabo-chon on concrete. If it breaks, better check it because it is probably not jade.

The Chinese used jade for anvils just as we use steel. Sometimes, the same anvil was used for several gen-erations. Jade used for axes and hammer-like tools centuries ago was a practical, useful, and highly val-ued material.

(via Rocky Trails, 1/09; Rock Rollers, 8/08; via Rockhound

Rumblings, 3/89; via Gemstone Stories)

HOW CAN YOU HELP

Your Federation: Save stamps and give to our club treasurer.

Your Hobby: Join ALAA. - Contact Lyle Vogelpohl

Other: Volunteer to teach beginners what you are good at.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ...

Cabbing … contact Lyle Vogelpohl … (206) 932-3292

2010 FIELD TRIPS

Nov 13 Mt Baker Rock Club – Blanchard Hill – 9:00 @ 1-5 exit 240 gas mart – Stilpnomelane in Quartz, Chert – Hard rock – Brian Huges – (360) 296-0976 rockhounder@live.com

—————————————————————————————————————

See WSMC http://www.mineralcouncil.org/index.htm for additional field trips and details

2010 SHOWS Nov 12 10am-5pm Northwest Opal Assoc. & BEMS 6th Annual South Sound Gem/Opal/Mineral Show

Nov 13 10am-5pm Washington State Fairgrounds, Meridian Street South & 9th Ave SW, Puyallup, WA

Nov 14 10am-4pm

Nov 13 9am-5pm Skagit Rock & Gem – Treasures of the Earth – Gem/Mineral/Fossil/Jewelry Show

Nov 14 9am-4pm Sedro Woolley Community Center, 720 State Street, Sedro Woolley, WA

Nov 20 5:30pm Columbia-Willamette Faceter’s Guild – 37th Annual Gem & Jewelry Auction 7pm-10pm Monarch Hotel, 12566 SE 93rd Ave. Clakamas, OR 97015

Nov 20 10am-5pm Kitsap Mineral & Gem Society, 2010 Fall Festival of Gems

Nov 21 10am-5pm The President’s Hall, Kitsap Co. Fairgrounds, 1200 NW Fairgrounds Road, Bremerton,WA

—————————————————————————————————————

See the Northwest Newsletter for additional show listings and times.

Nov/Dec 2010 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 10