C G 3

Dig, Publication oCf CGowtMownGGem,NMienerwal,s& Glass Club Rox,, Dig! Member of Corporate Employee Recreation Association 3300 Bryant Irvin Road, Fort Worth, TX 76109 Volume XXII • Issue 101• November, 2020

M G !Commissioner's Report Commissioner Hello Rockhounds! Steve Shearin (work) 817-777-1997 (cell) 817-733-5368 Gobble Gobble! (as the flight attendant says in Planes Trains & President Automobiles). I obviously have no real club news to report so Tina Owens I’ll just say have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I soooo look 940-433-5554 forward to normal operations and socializing in the future. Vice-President, Programs Cheers, Carmen Sorenson Steve 817-731-8297 Interim Vice-President, Field Trips CJ Wright 505-239-5711 [email protected] Vice-President, Education Brad Sigley 817-797-9888 [email protected] Vice-President, Glass Felice Moreno [email protected]

Sunshine Chair Tina Moore [email protected] Newsletter Editor Colleen Reigh [email protected] The Purpose of the Cowtown Gem Mineral & Glass Activity Secretary is to promote a spirit of fellowship among members Linda Groom and to promote popular interest and education in certain arts [email protected] and the various earth sciences, in particular, those facets dealing with the arts of lapidaries, metals, glass, and jewelry and the sciences of minerals paleontology, geology, and archeology. Glass Activity

I hope the class pot melt class I taught was interesting or useful. I have started working on my next class that will be about recycled glass. Using recycled glass comes with a lot of challenges, but free glass makes experimenting easy. Hopefully we can do that one in person. If not, I will try to make it shorter. I hope to see Work in progress pot everyone soon. Felice melt sun catchers. Rocks are like Classes Glass Bottle potato chips. Check cera-fw.org for Recycling You can't have classes that are currently Glass bottle ecycling is still nowhere near just one available . the level it should be. A discarded glass bottle in the landfill equals a monumental effort thrown away. Creating a glass bottle Help Wanted & Needed is not easy but recycling is. The huge effort put into glass bottles can be reused easily in While we are not having meetings it is especially the same shape. important to me that members submit photos, articles Start with some recycled glass bottle andotheritemsthatareofinteresttotheclub.Ifyouhave projects at home and make the best of what gone anywhere scenic; found rocks, fossils or minerals; you have at hand. You can make a wind attended a class; made jewelry or polished a stone; chime, a small cottage with an extraordinary light effect, or upcycle glass created a stained or fused glass piece; come across an bottles into flower pots and even light interesting item in the media; please send me a link, an fixtures or jewelry boxes. article or a photo. Thanks! Colleen Glass bottles are extremely sturdy, colorful and useful in filtering light. A multitude of bottles can be used as bricks in Dura-BULL® Table- a superb wall that will filter light Top Polishing Cabinet beautifully. for Sale - $200 You can create wind chimes in big variety For full description go to: of colors and shapes. Whether you have the https://www.riogrande.com/ patience to make the entire wind chime out p r o d u c t / D u r a B U L L of glass or just use the bottle as an exterior TableTopPolishingCabinet/3 wall you should know that the glass sounds 36117gclid=CjwKCAiAnIT9 incredibly delicate and beautiful when BRAmEiwANaoE1WVaFIZKEH1r8dwMMJpiMrI6EK animated by wind. 1G49nAmnn3w_HRSHx_NWLN4r3CGRoCwGgQAv Just cut a bottle, sand the margins and use D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds it as a planter. Transparent glass can Liz Aker 928-899-8334 [email protected] transform your plant into a work of art. for photos see: homesthetics.net

2 s CGMG News s November, 2020 Bench Tips SLAB and TRIM SAWS Save wear and tear on your expensive diamond trim saw blade and cut your agate or jasper slab with a glass When cleaning oil from your slab saw, put a shopping cutter. Use one with a carbide wheel, not tungsten and bag inside another one and put them into a five gallon put a good handle on it so you can bear down hard. Use can. Drain the oil into the sacks. After a day or two, the pliers to break the slab along the scored lines. oil will filter through the bags and will be clean and The Agatizer ready to re-use. Chips and Facets Trim Sawing: Instead of pushing the slab into the blade Add a couple of tablespoons of liquid detergent to your and letting the oil spatter all over you, turn the whole cutting oil—if your saw has a plastic lid, this will be the unit around so that the saw blade rotates away from firsttimeyouhavebeenabletoseethroughthetopafter you. Then stand to the back side of it and pull the slab cutting your slab. The Tumble Rumble into the blade. You can see what you are doing better and your goggles do not get all oil-splattered. * After slabbing or trimming, all OIL should be removed The Agatizer from material by soaking in a strong solution of dishwashing detergent. Laundry detergents should When your wheel has worn down quite a bit, increase never be used, since they all contain bleaches that will the RPM of the machine. By doing this you will affect the color of many gemstones. Dishwashing compensate for wheel wear, thereby maintaining detergents do not contain bleaches which can cause grinding efficiency. The Tumble Rumble film and dullness, but rather they are made to break down oils, fats, and greases. Strata Gems One excellent method used to sharpen saw blades is to mix cement- -No Sand--and water in a milk carton. Let When working with soft stones such as marble, onyx or harden and cut three or four slices to clean and sharpen howlite, soak piece in water a day or two before cutting the blade. The Diggers Digest it in oil. The oil will not soak in and this will result in a much better finish when the polishing is done. Breccia When cutting petrified wood, cut across the grain for beauty. Sanding should always go with the grain to Cutting for “sheen” on obsidian! Cut at an angle of avoidtearing.Ifthegrainis badlymixed,itis necessary about 50° to the stripe of flow lines to insure a good to hand rub to polish. You can produce an excellent sheen in the finished product. Rockhound’s Rag finish with dry crocus cloth and about an hour of hard rubbing before polishing. Strata Gems Because JADE does not have the abrasive quality of some material, it DOES NOT WEAR AWAY THE When sawing geodes or agate-filled nodules, first look METAL BOND ON DIAMOND SAW BLADES. for the largest dome on the specimen. This dome was in Consequently the BLADES GLAZE when you cut the upright position when the specimen was forming. jade, and it becomes necessary to clean and dress the Saw through this largest dome, and it is likely you will saw blade by cutting through a building brick or a piece expose the best "picture" or surface. If the specimen is of discarded 200 grit wheel. Chip 'N Tumble elongated or egg-shaped, saw length wise to obtain the best exposure. Rocks and Gems There are three ways to cut palm root and each one will giveadifferenteffect.Allpalmrootseemstohavearing Keep your diamond saw blade rotating in the same of agate around the eye and a colored center. First, you directionandoccasionallytosharpenit,makeacoupleof can cut it right down the center. This gives the palm root cuts through a piece of obsidian. AFMS Newsletter a wood-grain effect that is striking but it does not show the eye. Second, you can cut squarely across the grain All hints are via: AFMS Newsletter September 2020 and bring out the round eyes. Third, you can cut it Compiled by Bernice D. Schilling - 1975 San diagonally and get an elliptical eye effect. All will give Fernando Valley Mineral and Gem Society patterns that make showy cabs. The Polished Slab * Editor's personal favorite tip

3 s CGMG News s November, 2020 Web and Email Addresses https://www.facebook.com/groups/ CowtownGMG/ [email protected] http://cera-fw.org/gem-mineral-glass/ home/newsletter

Holiday Stained Gass Patterns

Gem & Mineral and Bead Show November 2020 7-8—AMARILLO, TEXAS: Annual show; Golden Spread Gem, Mineral & Treasure Society; Amarillo Civic Center, 401 S. Buchanan; Sat. 9-5, Sun. 10-5; Adults $4, free admission for children 13 and under, as well as boy and girl scouts, and first responders; 59th annual show; contact Golden Spread Gem, Mineral & Treasure Society; Email: [email protected] ; Website: http://www.amarillotreasure.com/

Area Clubs American Legion Hall, Suite 105, 10205 Keist, Dallas, TX 75233, Fourth Plano Road, Dallas, TX; third Tuesday of Tuesday of month . at 7:00. Fort Worth Gem & Mineral Club, 3545 month at 7:00. Dallas Bead Society, The Point at CC Bryan Ave, Fort Worth, TX; forth Dallas Paleontological Society, Young, 4847 W. Lather Dr., Dallas, TX; Tuesday of the month at 7:30. Brook-haven Geotechology Institute, first Saturday of month at 10:00. Arlington Gem & Mineral Club, 1408 3939 Valley View Lane; second Pleasant Oaks Gem & Mineral Club, Gibbins, Arlington, TX; first Tuesday of Wednesday of the month at 7:30. Garland Women's Activities Bldg, 713 the month at 7:30. Oak Cliff Gem & Mineral Society, Austin, Garland, TX; first Tuesday of Dallas Gem & Mineral Society, Unitarian Universalist Church, 3839 W. month at 7:30.

4 s CGMG News s November, 2020