October 2015
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OCTOBER 2015 Monday, October 12, 2015 6:30 pm Executive Meeting 7:30 pm The Changing Gemstone and Bead Industries and discuss some of the misnamed and new factory OCTOBER 12 PROGRAM manufactured gemstones. Gemstone Beads 2015 – The Changing Gemstone and Ken Rogers has been recognized as one of the “go to” Bead Industries. New Finds, Fakes, Created, Dyed & people when someone, or firm, had questions about Enhanced – An Illustrated Talk by Ken Rogers gemstone beads. Ken has been a rockhound since he was 10, cut his first gemstone cabochon at age 15, and Join us for an evening with Ken Rogers who will talk learned silversmithing and jewelry making in his high about changes in the gemstone bead industry and how school art class. Ken had a 30-year career as a photo- they affect jewelers, beaders, lapidary enthusiasts and journalist, working for the world’s top magazines jewelry buyers. and corporations. When the photographic world converted from film to digital media, Ken returned On February 17, 1972 Nixon went to China, opened to the gem and jewelry world to manage a Beverly trade, and in doing so, woke up the “Sleeping Dragon.” Hills jewelry store and several gem bead companies. While China expanded its industrial growth it looked Since then Ken has returned to creating his own to its own natural resources, including historic and gem bead jewelry, consulting, lecturing, and helping craft industries. China opened and expanded their friends with their businesses. Ken has been a member mines, including Turquoise and many other gem of the Bead Society L.A. for the past 15 years and the stones. They retrained their craftsmen and developed Culver City Rock & Mineral Club for 10 years. new, modern, bead and gem cutting and carving facil- Charlene Aspray ities. Program Chair As time went on, the PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Chinese started design- Hello fellow Club Members and rock hounds. ing and manufacturing new gemstones in their Autumn has arrived in Southern California and along factories. The Chinese with the changing season comes opportunity for all went as far as buying up members to get more involved toward further de- gem-mines in its neigh- veloping the Club into the most interesting, fun, and boring countries and community serving organization it can be. territories. Soon, the Chinese were able to control much of the world’s gem and bead market. Several currently serving club officers have expressed desire to let their tenure expire at the end of this In his illustrated talk, Ken will discuss what has year’s term which will allow new members to step in happened in Asia, where it is going, and how it will and help administer the club in 2016. affect us, here in the U.S. Ken will go on to expose Continued page 2 PRESIDENTS MESSAGE continued from page 1 It was first described in 1805 by Abraham Gottlob Nominations for all positions are now open and Werner. It was named for Sigmund Zois, who has sent should be forwarded to the nominating committee him the specimens from Carinthia (modern-day south- chairman, Steve Dover {[email protected]}. The ern Austria and northern Slovenia). Some sources for slate of nominated officers and committee chairper- Zoisite are Tanzania, Kenya, Norway, Switzerland, sons will be presented and discussed at the upcoming Austria, India, and Pakistan. October 12 meeting, with formal voting of officers at the following November meeting. Thulite, the variety from Norway, experiences manga- nese substitution, with up to two percent replacement Personally, I haven’t belonged to a group that has of the original calcium. It was named for the mythical been more fun than The Culver City Rock and Min- island of Thule, as some think it refers to Norway. It eral Club and I hope, if nothing else that my tenure is also found in Austria, North Carolina, and Western as President reflects those simple precepts: Come to Australia. Recently, high quality thulite was found in meetings, have fun, learn things and give back to the Okanogan County in Washington state. community that has nurtured us. If we can all pitch in and help serve the club in an officer or committee The variety from Tanzania is called tanzanite, and it chair capacity (even if only for a single year) we can is generally blue all enjoy the meetings and diversity of different opin- to violet. While ions and knowledge that keeps us strong and together it was originally in our common interest. just called blue Zoisite, Tiffany That said, I hope everyone saw the incredible super & Co. renamed moon, blood moon eclipse last Sunday September 27. for marketing What a great show and one we won’t see again until purposes. Nat- 2033! Hope to see everyone on the second Monday in urally formed October. tanzanite is Darrell Robb extremely rare, Photo by Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0 President and is found only in the Mererani Hills. It is reddish brown in its MINERAL REPORT rough state, so heat treatment is required before the stone can be used for jewelry. In 2002, it was chosen Zoisite, Thulite, Tanzanite as the December birthstone by the American Gem Trade Association. Alternate December birthstones It may appear as blue, violet, green, brown, pink, are turquoise and zircon. yellow, gray, or colorless. Its luster is vitreous, while Minda Moe its fracture is conchoidal to uneven. While its specific Mineral Chair gravity varies slightly between varieties, it is in the range between 3.10 and 3.38. It is slightly harder than SHOP NEWS orthoclase feldspar, which is a 6 on the Mohs scale of hardness. Its streak is white. Shop schedule Check our website, www.culvercityrocks.org, for Zoisite belongs to the epidote group of minerals. It scheduled open time or call the shop (310-836-4611) can be found in metamorphic and pegmatitic rock. after the scheduled opening time to confirm that an Transparent Zoisite is generally used as gemstones, instructor has arrived. while other material is usually used for carving. Any- olite, which sources from Kenya, is prized for decora- Equipment Availability tive carvings because of the contrast between its green As of September 15 (when I was last at the shop before Zoisite, black tschermakite, and ruby crystals. Continued next page PAGE 2 OCT 2015 THE NUGGET SHOP NEWS continued from page 2 applied tightening force when compared with using writing this report) all shop equipment was in good scrap wood for preventing vise binding. In addition, working order and ready for use except for the 16- we have several rock gripping devices that sometimes inch slab-saw which needs a blade and jaw facing. (rarely) can hold the rock and can be clamped rela- tively easily in the vise. All three saws have resilient Slab saw practice materials lining the jaws which aid griping the rough Last month I outlined the steps for using the three surface of your rock. Tightening the jaw imbeds the large covered slab-saws. This month starts explaining rough rock surfaces allowing strong gripping. the details and why they are important. Adequate clamping is rarely easy and usually awk- 1) Turn on the exhaust fan. In use the saws produce a ward. Accept this and continue to learn what leads lot of heat and small rock chips. Circulating oil flush- more often to success. Avoid hurry and impatience, es the chips and cools the blade so it will not warp they are counter-productive. and jamb in the kerf (the cut or incision made by a (To be continued in future Shop News reports) saw). The exhaust fan draws the oil mist, produced by the cutting action, out of the Shop. In practice the fan Limited parking in back of the shop is open for use. is normally operating any time the saw room is occu- Park on the asphalt, off the alley concrete to avoid a pied and often for general Shop ventilation in warm parking citation. Please respect the space reserved for weather. Oil or dust in the air can cause health prob- the shop instructor next to the paddle-tennis court. lems such as allergies or emphysema. We currently On behalf of the Shop Committee use food grade mineral oil certified by the USDA Bruce Mensinger for use in food processing equipment where oil may come in contact with the food. BENCH TIPS 2) Clamp the rock to be cut in the saw’s vise and ad- DEBURRING A HOLE just thickness of the cut. When you drill a hole, there’s usually a burr pro- Securely clamping the rock to be cut is one of the duced on the most important steps and certainly the most frustrat- underside ing procedure in setting-up a cut. Failure will almost of the metal. always result in damage to the saw, especially to the Typically, burrs blade, and often to your rock. The difficulty comes are removed from having to do at least four things at once: find by filing or a way to orient the rock so that it can be securely sanding the area clamped, will be cut on a plane suitable for the project smooth, but do- you are cutting it for, allowing enough overhang from ing it this way the vise so that several cuts can be made (at least two will put scratch- if you want a slab with parallel surfaces), and bracing es on your piece the vise so that it clamps your rock and not just itself. that will have to I’d like to say this process gets easier with experi- be polished off.