Category Archives: Lapidary Equipment

Why is Don so busy?

The first day of the month came and went and I failed to post a new blog! I apologize for my tardiness, but it’s been unbelievably busy around the shop.

One of my projects was this new Secret Gem-Extracting Set-up, shared with you here for the very first time. Many Michigan Greenstone matrix rocks were hammered here in the last month. Some other folks even tested this slick set-up.

This is my Redneck Gem Extracting Device. Comprised of an old, bent Cadillac Wheel, a Granite Table Top, a Cheap Chair, a leveling “system” for the chair, and some broken patio blocks so the cheap chair doesn’t sink into the porous ground.

A Greenstone-Infested Rock to break.

Here’s one I got!

Another project involves getting ready for our move to the Southwest for the winter–getting lapidary equipment and stones aboard the RV. Bonnie says I have to “limit” what I take to make jewelry from, but it’s hard to chose. The new bead drilling machine requires tumble polished rocks to drill, and I loaded up 50# of beautiful Lake Superior Agates, 25# of Isle Royale Greenstone (Chlorastrolite), 5# of gorgeous, old stock, polished Thomsonite pebbles, and of course, some small polished Petoskey Stones. The Petoskeys will be easy to drill, and the others all have different challenges. I’ve never used the new bead driller, so there will be a learning curve.

I have a rock tumbling system that runs three 12# barrels of stone at one time, but still it has taken me three months to get these little beauties ready for drilling.

Finished, ready to drill.

Are these Thomsonite great, or what?

Screen and rinse before polish. The secret here is to take your time and make sure ALL the grit is off the stones before they are polished.

Finished polish on these Greenstone, sort out the non-Greenstone stuff and I’m good to go.

The custom Christmas orders are appearing in the mailbox, as well as customers purchasing Greenstone cabochons for their jewelers to make jewelry for them. The very old stock Greenstones actually from Isle Royale see popular lately..Bonnie is working on posting several more shortly.

I’ve created several fine Greenstone jewelry pieces for customers, but it is my policy not to post pictures of these until after they are gifted.

This month I’ll just show you my work of the past few months in preparation for winter bead drilling. Some of the Greenstone cabs I’m showing will be on the website soon, or you can call or E-Mail, and I’ll flag the stone for you.

It’s great to keep busy, but there are days when I’m just too busy. I think right now my head is still above water, and I hope it continues. Wish me luck.

Jewelry Making Just Got A Lot Easier

The Diamond Pacific Titan is big and bold. The Pixie (on top) that I take in my RV is a dwarf compared to its “daddy.”

People who have seen my shop will agree that it is pretty well equipped. I was able to cut and polish about any rock, but two things I was not able to do was cut and polish big Petoskey Stone.. I’ve solved this issue with a new machine I found in Tucson.

I own three cabochon machines; the Popular, six wheeled, Diamond Pacific Genie, a seven wheeled Diamond Pacific X-pert, and a Pixie. These machines have limits as to how big a stone you can polish. It has always been difficult to polish that large Petoskey Stone due to the wheels on these machines being close together. The six inch wheels on these machines have their limitations also (the pixie has 4″ wheels).

My dream machine has always been Diamond Pacific’s monster machine, the Titan. It has 8″ wheels, a 3/4 HP motor (Compaired to 6″ wheels and 1/4 HP for the aforementioned machines). Those large Petoskey Stones are no longer out of reach with my Titan. The story of the Titan’s acquisition is interesting.

With credit card in pocket, on the first day of the Tucson Gem Shows, we headed out to the Kino Sports Complex, where Diamond Pacific has their display and sales. But first, we decided to stop in and have a look at the 22nd Street Show.

While having a preliminary look around the show, Bonnie and I separate. Different things interest her than me, so the usual procedure is to set a back and forth pattern so we have some idea where each other may be. The 22nd street show tent is about 1/8 mile from end to end, so things can be missed. Bonnie caught up to me near the end of my 1/2 mile walk (back and forth four times). She ask if I saw the display that a couple had that were going out of the rock business. She said they had some rocks they were clearing out. ROCKS? I’m there.

Upon arrival at this booth I missed, I noticed many 8″ grinding wheels. What takes 8″ wheels? Correct, the Titan. I also noticed a small sign for a used Titan for sale. The elderly gentleman was a Diamind Pacific Dealer, and due to health reasons, was getting out of the rock business. It didn’t take me long to strike a deal after looking at his machine out in his SUV. Since these machines are almost indestructible, a used one is usually as good as a new one, except new wheels are sometimes needed. Since he had new grinding wheels, I bought a new set.

The Titan is a monster 16″ wide, 42″ long, weighing in excess of 130#. We had to come back the next day and pick it up, after clearing the back of our Tracker. The machine fit in the tracker with less than an inch on either side. Fortunately our daughter lives in Tucson and kindly loaned us a space in the garage for storage. Happy me! The Titan rode back to Michigan in the back of the towed Tracker.

Let’s see how long it takes to polish up this Petoskey.

I haven’t had this too long, but thus far it’s been great.

It’s coming!

The soft wheels really get the scratches out.

Now to the polish.

The lights in the shop really make the colors odd, but in the studio lighting the true colors and patterns appear.

The Titan, as mentioned, is capable of polishing those larger Petoskey Stones. I set the machine up and tested its mettle by polishing a 4″ X 5″ Petoskey stone. I show you the grinding procedure that took about a third of the time as the Genie; really amazing.

First cabs cut on the Titan

I also took some Lakers from rough to cabochons to test the Titan on smaller projects. I thought “why did I wait so long to get one of these?” Everything is so much easier and faster with better results. Now the possibilities have expanded. I eagerly look forward to going to “work” each day.

Another Trip to The Strip at the Tucson Shows

Pretty good Chrysocolla

Globes of Amethyst

A return to the strip as the show comes to an end often produces some bargain treasures. One of the things I wanted from our Koroite Boulder Opal source was a specimen piece of which he had several last time we were there. Upon returning I found he only had one specimen that when you pulled it apart demonstrated the opal seam. Unfortunately the one he had was a very gemmy piece, but since I was a good customer at this year’s show, and in the past, we reached an agreement on price.

Other than the opal, there were some assorted cabs; Oh, I forgot about the drilling machine: NOT!

I need one of these

Now I can make some beads with my new unit. My rock spending seems to be down, but my shop equipment spending is sure up.

The first time through the strip I looked at a Gunther Bead Drilling Machine. Today I brought in some Isle Royale Greenstones and Thomsonite to see if these materials could be drilled without shattering the stones. Both Greenstone and Thomsonite are very sensitive to Harmonic Vibrations and can just explode apart with the vibration. This machine passed the test, so now bead drilling will be one of our services beginning in April.

Jeff shows Bonnie one of his fine agates.I

We visited with my friend Jeff Anderson at his Dwarves Earth Treasures Booth at the Rapa River Show. Most any type of agate can be found there.

Other things we found were Druzy Quartz and Abalone Cabochons, and some other small random things.

Thursday the big Tucson Gem & Mineral Show Opened . We explored the show and took lots of pictures. This has delayed this post, which I apologize for. I will be posting pictures from the TG&MS tomorrow and continue to show you the highlights over the next few days.

A metaphysical spa is always available if needed. I have a friend who is a Reiki Master. I’m not real sure this is what was taking place here, but many people take advantage of whatever was happening here.

Laramar. I found the one special piece I’ve been searching for the entire show. I’ll sho you in a later blog.

Some really fine Ruby in Zoisite

We really had no room for this in the RV, but the guy selling this was interesting. He was willing to cut a deal.

A new archway for my shop? Perhaps……

A Good Thing Happened on the Way to Kino…Tucson Gem Shows 2017

I love reading Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels. Reacher is always figuring the odds for everything, but even Reacher could not figure the odds of what happened yesterday. On our way to the Kino Sports Complex to buy a new Titan from Diamond Pacific, we stopped at the 22^nd Street Show just kick around. I saw a small sign that a dealer at the show was going out of business and liquidating his stock, including a used Titan lapidary machine! It turned out to be a great buy, and he had some extra tools, wheels, and add-ons that he had used. This morning we returned to pick up the “monster” that needed the whole back area of our little car.

My new (used) Titan takes up the entire back of the Tracker

Azurite Malachite from Morenci Az

Pretty nice D-Bone

If you are in town, be aware that the big Show Guide has been unreliable this year about dates that shows are open. This has been disappointing because this has always been the “bible” of when to visit the 45 shows!

Lots of Turquoise arond this year at Kino.

Turkish Stick Agate

Rock painting by A.Znaniecki

A. Znaniecki

Boulder Opal-Queensland

What’s inside?

Chrysoprase Australia

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Tigereye

Mexican Carnilian

Rose Quartz

Asking $22,000????

Typical Vendor at Kino

We headed over to Kino with no particular plans now that I have my new/old Titan. Kino is always an eclectic variety of vendors. You never know what you might see here. In the farthest back tent I always find something of interest. I bought some Turkish Stick Agate that I am told is quite rare from Eskisehir, Turkey. Nearby were more buckets of Turquoise, and some vendors just getting set up. We sell agate pendants from many world locations, you can see them on our Agate Treasures web page.

By the door were some painted rocks that I liked by A. Znaniecki. He takes rock slabs and matches wildlife scenes onto the rocks. Amazing, creative and realistic, he was featured in a past Rock & Gem magazine.

A flea market of tents is set up in a large lot at Kino. A tent full of beautiful Malachite was one of the first things I saw. Nearby I bought some pretty Morenci azurite/malachite. Meanwhile Bonnie was talking to a miner of Queensland boulder opal. He had some pieces that were separated at the seams of opal, like puzzle pieces. He demonstrated how thin the seams of blue, green, and white colors are, hidden throughout the boulder matrix.

I had a nice talk with Bo Bohannon from Utah who has lots of dinosaur bone slabs and yellow cat petrified redwood. You may know that I really like both of these and have made various pendants from them, but I have some more ideas…stay tuned!

There are always sculptures, geodes, tabletops of rocks, and huge rock chunks. We saw some great chrysoprase. We skip past the hodge-podge imported goods from India and China, and stop to admire the rock cabochons and piles of rock. Note the pile of buffalo skulls. What would you do with one of them?

Rose quartz skulls were offered for $22,000, but maybe you could get a better deal, if you are in the market. Irridescent ammonites were $50-$2000, and other Morrocan ammonites were less expensive. See our ammonite pendants and more on our fossil page.

We left a lot of Kino unexplored, and left early to pace ourselves!

Tour of Rio Grande

While travelling through Albuquerque, New Mexico, we usually order and pick up needed jewelry wire, findings, chains or other things needed for our business. Rio Grande is my go-to supplier for all my jewelry making supplies, and has been for years. Originally a Trading Post on historic Route 66 it has grown to be one of the largest suppliers for the jewelry trade in the world.

A history of Rio Grande can be found here: https://www.riogrande.com/ad/History-of-Rio

This year, through prior arrangement we got a special tour of the business from Executive VP, Molly Bell. Her father, Saul Bell, was the founder of the business (read link above). we were humbled that Molly would take time from her busy day to proudly show off the business to us. Much of the work done inside the plant is proprietary, so we did not take photos. You will just have to trust me when I say we were overwhelmed by what we saw inside.

Some of the jewelry making devices were custom designed and made on site. They are sold around the world to other companies. Much of the findings and jewelry is made on site by very skilled craftspeople, who are recruited from mostly America, but some skilled people come from other countries. Rio employs around 300, the majority that have been there over 20 years. This is an impressive statistic that Molly was proud of. Keeping their employees happy is their number one priority. Even though Warren Buffett’s Berkshire-Hathaway Group purchased Rio Grande last year, the leadership and the workers have not changed. The fact that Berkshire-Hathaway bought the company is a testimate to how good Rio is.

We toured areas that were creating lost wax findings and jewelry (I loved the wax trees ready for extrusion), saw banks of ovens and extrusion machines, saw the inventory and shipping areas, where employees wear hi-tech headphones or computers attached to their arms to assure order accuracy. We saw the area where my phone orders are taken by real American Citizens that you can understand. We saw the shipping area where thousands of orders are shipped each day. A UPS semi trailer is filled each day, is addition to Fed-Ex and USPS orders (How they keep everything straight is beyond me).

My personal favorite area was where all my jewelry wire is cut. The wire itself is not manufactured at Rio, but is was mind boggling seeing all the spools filled with shiny precious metal.

The care the Rio employees exhibited was remarkable. I had no idea all the things they do in their plant. The gallery wire machine intrigued me, as it punched out this fancy bezel wire. I do not use sheets of precious metal, but I saw the care the employees take to keep them scratch free.

At Snob Appeal Jewelry we pride ourselves in knowing our gemstones, as well as out materials we use in making your jewelry. By touring the source of much of our wire and chain and many of our findings; we can better answer our customers questions. Thanks to Molly Bell and all the great American workers at Rio Grande, I feel so much better about our truly American Made Jewelry. Quality is what we do, and it was obvious quality is what Rio Grande does also.

Tucson Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Shows 2014-Dino Bone & Lapidary Stuff

Pyrite/Silver/Lead inclusion in this Rhodocrosite.

I wanted to show you the metal-included Rhodocrosite I mentioned yesterday. There was not much, but I bought what I could.

Cover and vice options on 7" Barranca Diamond Trim Saw

7" Barranca Diamond Trim Saw with quiet motor

Barranca Diamond GP6-6 WheelCab Maker.

Motor on GP-6

New Citrus scented Mineral Oil comes in 5 Gallon pails for $50.

Electric Park was calling again today. (My editor tells me that this hasn’t been called this in several years). I will endeavor to refer to it as Kino Sports Complex, but my mind reverts to what I first learned!) I wanted to avoid the crowds at the wholesale shows and The Kino Sports Complex provides room to move. We have heard that thieves are hitting the shows for cell phones, so watch yours when in town. Some of our vendor friends had to replace their phones.

I checked out what Lapidary Equipment might be new. Barranca Diamond features a new 6-wheel GP6 Cabmaker which resembles a Genie. The difference from a Genie is this motor has 1/3 horsepower (rather than 1/4), and they use brazed 80 and 170 grit metal-bonded diamond wheels. They have the same 4 Nova wheels as the Genie. The list price for this machine is $3645, making it more expensive than the Genie, but sale prices may be up to $1000 less, and this is Made in America. A third difference is the Cabmaker features a drip system for wheel-wetting. This avoids the emitter-spray that takes place with the Genie. This also has 6 stainless steel water-control valves verses the Genie emitter system. I was very impressed with this American-made Cabmaker. If you need more information on this check out the BarrancaDiamond website. We talked to John Wease of JS Gems who distributes for them. I appreciate him taking the time to show us these features.

I also saw a new 7 inch Barranca Diamond trimsaw that seemed nice. This saw is comparable in size to Diamond Pacific’s Wizard trimsaw. It featured a direct drive 1/3 hp motor that is extremely quiet, all cast aluminum, and numerous other handy options including a plastic cover that you can reach through the side while cutting. Most of us don’t use a top, but this is a good option for some users. The cast aluminum makes it lighter weight, and is the table lifts up and out for blade changes or cleaning. It has a fluid drain hose and a sludge removal plug. It is mounted on a 1/2″ polypro base, so it is impervious to water or oil. The rock vise and splash hood are options.Again I found these machines to be well-engineered and well built.

DP 18" Swing arm saw.

DP Swing arm saw 18"

At Diamond Pacific I examined their swing arm slab saw. If I had the money, I would own this Model SA18 which has a lot of advantages over my old slab saw. Time-saving elements you don’t have to open the saw to reposition your rock for the next cut and it has a table inside that can be completely removed for cleaning. I expect that one of my lapidary friends that have one of these high tech saws may wish to comment on it.

At Graves I didn’t see anything new, but they do offer excellent saw blades, some American made. I bought a special blade to cut the watermelon tourmaline you saw in a prior blog.

I also saw some Citrus scented Mineral Oil sold by Stellarlubricants.com. This was one of those why-didn’t-I-think-of-that moments. They said that they completely sold out in Quartzsite and it is selling fast here in Tucson also. If I had this oil my shop probably would not even smell like a shop anymore.

Geodes at Kino

More!

Coyote Tails: WTH. I realized later these are probably bounty tails.

Cellinite @$20#

What a great door stop...

Amazing carving at the African carver's tent. Sorry Rob I forgot to ask what the stone was.

A sample of my Gem Bone trove.

We roamed around the grounds at Kino Sports Complex, chatting with vendors looking for things of interest and trying to find something new in the line of rocks. I went back to Bohemian Fossils and dug again into John’s gem Dinosaur Bone troughs. Some slabs called out to me and I couldn’t pass them up. (“Don, pick me, pick me, pick me….”)

Not surprisingly Bonnie found a few beads to round out her collection as well.

New Machine and New Pendants

My new Diamond Pacific Xpert seems like a great machine. It produces the cabs wonderfully, and because I have used the Genie for 10 years, there is little or no learning curve. My unit is #8, and I am very pleased with it. I would recommend the machine to anyone.

My "bank" of polishing wheels.

I lined the Xpert up to the right of the Genie and am planning on putting worn wheels on one side of the Genie and polishing wheels on the other side. Some of the stones, like opals, require worn out wheels to work properly. I think it will be nice to not have to change out any wheels.

I’ve just cut and polished a large quantity of greenstones, mostly small, but many are old material from Isle Royale that would make great rings for some lucky individual. Greenstones seem to rising in popularity and I have recently finished a couple custom pieces that where well received by the owners. I have the largest selection of Isle Royale Greenstones on the Web for sale, and I get many hits in that section.

Wonderful blue druzy.

A very large and unusual Kentucky I cut from rough.

I have a couple new Greenstone products coming out in a few weeks. I’ll post them, when I make them.

I will post a few more pictures of recent pendants I made from the rocks I bought in Tucson. Some of these are not on the website, but may be available if you call. I will be selling loads of new stuff at this year’s shows, so check our show schedule on the home page and stop and say hello. Two shows just added are the Tulip Festival Show in Holland and the Ludington 4^th of July Show. I expect we will also be in the Alpena area this summer. Follow our link here or check our show schedule on the home page.

A flawless Lake Superior Agate should make someone happy.

Larimar (Pectolite) of high quality was expensive at Tucson.

Another change this year is the price of gold and silver (ouch). I am trying to keep the cost down, but it is hard when I am paying three (almost 4 times) what I paid when I started making jewelry. I still refuse to cheapen my jewelry by using substandard metal. I think my loyal customers will realize what a great values they still get from us.

Australian Black Opal (triplet)

Russian Staurolite I picked up in Tucson was some of the best I've ever seen. Who else would make pendants out of this stuff? This one is made for guys or gals.

Unfortunately we still have too much snow to go out rock hunting, but we did sign up for the Copper Country Mineral Retreat, put on by the Seaman Mineral Museum in Houghton. I would recommend this opportunity to search the various scrap rock piles of the Keweenaw. You WILL find something, and I see remarkable treasures found every year. Think about a big bulldozer turning over a rock pile exposing material that may not have been seen for 100 years, then releasing us rockhounds onto the pile. It’s just like an Easter egg hunt for adults. Visit www.museum.mtu.edu Click on the Copper Country Mineral Retreat.

I hope you liked this small sample of my new stuff. Come see us this year; check the “Upcoming Shows” list on the home page. I love it when someone comes to one of our shows and tells me they like my Snob Blog.

This is one of the strangest cabs I obtained in Tucson. Calcite on Druzy Quartz.

Diamond Pacific Xpert

I just purchased a new Diamond Pacific Xpert. This is a completely new design for a 7-wheel (6″) Cabochon machine. The top tray is removable. The 1/3 hp motor is mounted in the rear and it is belt driven. All electronics are protected from water and the unit is powder coated with all stainless screws. Some advantages I saw were easy access to the pump and the spacing between wheels is that of the Diamond Pacific Titan which I believe is 1 3/4″ between wheels. I do some offset faceting where I need more room for the stone at the sides and this will be great. The two outer wheels can be quickly changed without tools.

DP Xpert tray on

Xpert top tray removed. I know you only see six wheels but the 7th wheels goes on the left end. Look close and you see the shaft.

Xpert rear with top tray removed

I am eager to get this Xpert. The Genie has served me well over the years and I may keep it also. There, of course. is always a demand for used Genie’s. The recommended retail for the Xpert is $1875.