Lapidaries

Can anyone recommend a lapidary they've have experiences with, near the philadelphia area?  Yellow pages and internet don't really mention any and i've looked under several different categories.

Thanks,

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mining woman;
Get a copy of the Rock and Gem magazine, they have lots of online resources, listed, and may have something in the area you want. Ive been buying Rock and Gem, forever, they seem to be reputable and VERY informative. Dont know about their advertisers, though.

Been a rockhound, forever (since I was about 4), and have done some cutting/polishing, too. Its not that hard to learn, if you have any aptitude, no matter how big or small. Its fun.

Brian  AKA goldigger.

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mining woman;

Purchase? You got to be kidding! A tight-wad like me purchase equipment.... Most of the common tools are available any where:

bench grinder- common, just use the grind stones made for rock cutting;

lap wheels- been made from old phonographs;

You can make a faceter- see Rock and Gem mag- the first ones were home made, anyway;

Slabbing saws- easy!

mud saws- piece of cake! Just a big disk of copper or aluminum sheet metal with water and grinding compound fed on, near the cut, so it carries into the cut. It turns just fast enough to keep the sheet metal flat, probably no more than 700 RPM. The soft metal grabs the grit and cuts the harder rock.

I used or had access to a 12 inch, home made slab saw and for fine work used a tiny saw, something like a tile cutter. Ive got some 8 and 15 inch diamond saws just waiting for a home made machine.... need some ideas?

I never got into faceting, I like cabochons and tumble polish; jade is easy, to work, but hard to polish; agate is hard to cut but polishes great with tin oxide. Its lots of fun, but you need a separate work shop and I just dont have the room as I live with my sister and bro in law.

For instance, Im looking for a suitable holiday trailer so I  can get my TH, ham and placer stuff out of the house and basement. Mainly, I need it for a Ham shack. The workshop is a work-in-progress.

Right now, Im on the trail of a long forgotten deposit of thunder eggs! Kind of like a treasure hunt but metal locators are not going to help much, unless.... I have to go back and read that mining report and see what is in the, so called, clay in which they are found. (Got me thinking, here!)

Rock and Gem has always had a good series on faceting... I read it occasionally but never use it.

I first started picking up rocks, because they were bright colours, when I was about 4 or 5- I was amazed at my little brother, because his use for them was to go in his ear!

Glad to help.


Brian AKA goldigger (and rockhound)



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