Hard Rock News

Kitsap Mineral and Gem Society
Celebrating 75 Years!
Hard Rock News
December 2015
Have you considered faceting?
Elected Officers for 2015
President:
Bryan Tallman
No phone.
No email.
Vice President:
Nathan Schackmann
(360) 801-1794
[email protected]
Secretary:
Danielle Foss
(360) 621-5603
[email protected]
http://www.kmgs.org
KMGS—since 1939
One aspect of our hobby that usually gets little attention is the art (or
science) of faceting. We have several experienced facetors in our club.
They are Del Sack, John Franke, John Jolly, Jim McClure, and Randy
Eggert, to name a few. Typically, a faceting machine will cost more than
a small rock saw, but if you keep your eyes open you can occasionally find
a decent used faceting machine for less than $1000.
With my limited faceting experience I have learned how to tell a wellfaceted stone from a poorly-faceted one. If you look at where the facets
meet, a well-faceted stone will have all the facets meet at a point (not a
line). That is why it is called “meetpoint faceting”. Here are some examples of beautiful faceted stones and a diagram showing the parts of a faceted stone:
(editor)
Treasurer:
Caroline Richter
(360) 908-7199
[email protected]
Left: Woody
and Kathy
Woodside at
Woody’s knapping booth at
the November
show.
Right: Eric Foss
checks out the faceting
equipment at our November show while
Randy Eggert
(demonstrator) and
others look on.
KMGS DUES ARE DUE - Please get them to Evah as soon as possible.
See article at bottom of page 9.
Club Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/KitsapMineralandgemsociety
Club website: kmgs.org
DE C E MBE R 2 01 5
HARD ROCK NEWS
PAGE 2
2015 November show photos
December’s three birthstones - Tanzanite, Turquoise and Zircon
Tanzanite. Discovered in the late 1960s in Tanzania, and found exclusively in this tiny area of the world, tanzanite exhibits a rich violet-blue color for which the gemstone is treasured; often it is heat-treated to achieve this color. Colors
range from blue to purple, and tanzanites that are medium dark in tone, vivid in saturation, and slightly violet blue
command premium prices. As tanzanite can be less expensive than sapphire, it often was purchased as an alternative. However, it has increased in popularity and now is valued more for its own beauty and brilliance than as a sapphire substitute.
Turquoise. The name comes from the French expression Pierre tourques or Turkish stone, originated in the thirteenth century and describes one of the oldest known gemstones. Turquoise varies in color from greenish blue,
through robin's egg-blue, to sky blue shades and its transparency ranges from translucent to opaque. Turquoise is
plentiful and is available in a wide range of sizes. It is most often used for beads, cabochons, carvings, and inlays. Although its popularity fluctuates in fashion, it is a perennial favorite in the American Southwest.
Zircon. Derived from the Arabic words zar and gun, meaning gold and color, zircon is found in a wide range of colors
such as: blue, yellow, orange, brown, green, colorless, and red (the most prized color). For many years colorless zircon
was used to imitate diamonds. Folk wisdom grants zircon the power to relieve pain, whet the appetite, protect travelers from disease and injury, to ensure a warm welcome, and to prevent nightmares guaranteeing a deep, tranquil
sleep. Major sources of zircon are the Chanthaburi area of Thailand, the Palin area of Cambodia, and the southern part
of Vietnam. (from .americangemsociety.org)
Tanzanite
Turquoise
Zircon
DE C E MBE R 2 01 5
HARD ROCK NEWS
PAGE 3
November Meeting Minutes 2015
The meeting is called to order with the pledge by Bryan, our president. There are 10
guests tonight! Always wonderful to see new faces. Welcome, and we hope you enjoy
the meeting and meet new friends!
Tony is here to lead the show and tell. Vangie leads us off with a story about Thunder
Bay, Minnesota. She has some nice amethyst she purchased there after digging at a
fee site. Bryan has some lignite coal and now he’s pretty excited about Christmas this
year and what Santa has brought him! Randy has some neat glass he’s been faceting
and experimenting with using dichroic glass and fusing it with different layers. Jack
has some nice amethyst and a sneaky topaz that is the same color! Gay went on a trip
and found some obsidian sands while she spent 10 days paddling around Yellowstone.
She shared some nice pictures of the trip with beautiful scenery. Vickie has a nice
large stone from the Rice Museum in Oregon she got for half price! Garry has some
Danielle Foss, secretary
nice trays of amethyst cabs he wire wrapped. He also has some African blue, Mexican
blue, Mount Aries, and Ellensburg blue agate. He’s always working on cabs, intarsia, wire wrapping and more.
Richard picked up some citrine from a rock shop down near Centralia as well as a big amethyst geode. Jim is a beginning stone carver and he has some really neat carvings in antlers mounted on what looks like jade and a great
carving in soap stone of a spirit bear. Carlos has some Indian marbles from Oregon, which are concretions. He has
some interesting teredo wood he found as well, and it sounds like he had a fun trip finding it. Great show and tell
from everyone as usual! Always fun to see what everyone has been working on and what they’ve found in their
adventures.
Gordy calls one more time for help at the November show. Volunteers are always needed for setup. Tumbled
stones are always needed as well as silent auction material. Please remember to clean your rock for the display
cases at the show! It can stain and damage the liners. If there is oil on your rock, use kitty litter to absorb it and
then Dawn dish soap. Be sure to keep posting those fliers up about the show to help boost attendance and interest.
Don’t forget about the show potluck for the club and vendors on Friday night at 6pm. The Christmas party is coming up on December 11th as well. It will be at the same location as last year, Hillcrest Church in Bremerton across
from Walmart. There will be more info on the club website and in the newsletter so stay tuned.
Elections are tonight! Bryan is taking nominations for all officers from the floor and especially for vice president.
There are three of us who have agreed to stay, but we will need a vice to volunteer. Jim McClure and Tony
Schackmann will drum up nominees shortly. Bryan leads us on to the program for now.
Jessie and Rafael have the program tonight. They are here to talk about their amethyst from Uruguay. They have
a gorgeous selection for the club to see out on the tables. Jessie tells us all about the process of finding and mining
the amethyst. All the amethyst in Uruguay is found within about 4 square miles in hard rock, about 20 feet down.
Citrine is amethyst that has been heat-treated either naturally or artificially. Jesse and Rafael are traveling to
Tucson this year to see the largest geode of amethyst in the world. Rafael describes how they unload a shipping
container of barrels full of the stone. They will be at the November show with their beautiful amethyst for sale and
display!
It’s now break time – Then time for more announcements. There is a 100 dollar scholarship donation from a Memorial Fund for Mark Fawcett. Our scholarships are made possible by generous donations like this. Mark will be
greatly missed in the club. We move on to elections. Tony Schackmann and Evah Summers are nominated for
president. Tony wins the vote. Garry Mahan and Linden Richter are nominated for Vice president. Garry votes
for Linden. Linden wins the vote. The treasurer and secretary offices received no nominations so Carolyn Richter
and I will stay for another year.
The next board meeting will be January 14th. All members are welcome. The next general meeting will be January 8th, but don’t miss the Christmas party in December where we just enjoy good food and good company.
Once again it was a great meeting and it was fun to see new faces and beautiful amethyst! That’s all for now.
Your Secretary,
Danielle Foss
DECEMBER 2015
HARD ROCK NEWS
PAGE 4
John Burch passes
We were saddened to hear of John’s sudden death. John passed away November 17th,
2015 at Harrison Memorial Hospital. He was 71. John was a current KMGS member.
He was retired from Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and leaves behind his wife and two
children. He enjoyed many things about our hobby and specialized in meteorites and
trilobites. Our condolences go out to John’s family. He will be greatly missed by all
who knew him. There was no obituary at the time of this printing.
Louis Peltier passes
Louie lived on Bainbridge Island, WA. He passed away peacefully at Harrison Hospital
on October 20th, 2015. He was 85. Louie was born in Chokio, Minnesota Nov. 25,
1929. Longtime Bainbridge Island residents remember Louis as “Louie the butcher,”
who earned loyal customers by offering high quality meat products and friendly service.
He was a Navy veteran, Mason, airplane pilot, rock collector, and valued member of the
community.
Louis is survived by his wife, Carolyn; and sons, Tom and Ron. He’ll be remembered as
a generous person who loved to tell stories. Louie was a long-time member of KMGS.
More 2015 November show photos:
(It’s not over until the pizza is gone!)
L– show teardown pizza break
M– loading up the trailers
R– Del, Bobbie, grandsons & pizza
Juniors
Juniors will not meet during the Christmas Potluck Party. We hope you will come and enjoy the
good food and fun!
Sincerely, Kathy Reimers, Bobbie Sack and Jill Wetzel - Juniors Leaders
For Sale - Lortone 15" Flat Lap. $300.00
This 15" diameter flat lap has 5 trays, 5 pads, lots of weights, and rings. Lots
of grit is included. Contact Gay Fawcett. 360-271-5071.
DECEMBER 2015
HARD ROCK NEWS
PAGE 5
The Story of Victoria Stone
(From the 11-12/15 Mt. Hood Rock Club newsletter, “Rock-It”)
Victoria Stone is also known as “Imori Stone", named after it’s Japanese creator, Dr. Imori. It
is not an artificial or fake stone. What Dr. Imori was able to accomplish
was to actually blend several different minerals using a special process
known only to him to come up with an Imori Stone, commonly called
Victoria Stone.
This beautiful reconstructed gem is mineralogically similar to Nephrite
Jade. It has a harness of six, specific gravity of 3.02 and a refractive index of 1.62. It was laboratory produced from natural raw materials such
as quartz, feldspar, magnesite, calcite, fluorspar, etc. for a total of seven different minerals-fused together under high pressure and a high
temperature and again mineralized to make this gem by adding special
crystallizers and habit regulators. This is not an imitation or synthetic
but is constructed natural stone. The boule of Victoria stone was slowly
cooled down for 35 to 40 days to make it crystallize into the pretty fan shapes. Although Victoria Stone is minerlogically similar to nephrite jade, the arrangement of the actinolite crystals is
different. Instead of the crystals interlocking and tying together as they do with jade, they have
crystallized in fan shapes to provide the beauty of the stone. As a result of this difference, the
rough stone is more likely to crack or splinter if overheated.
Victoria Stone could be bought by the boule or in slices when it was produced in 15 different
colors from 1960 to the 1980’s – green, sky blue, reddish purple, yellow green, blue green, sky
indigo, chocolate, yellow, deep indigo, white, quiet green, quiet yellow, quiet blue, grey and
black.
To cut Victoria Stone, cut it first lengthwise, then let it set for 24 hours; then you can go ahead
and slice it using normal cutting procedures, using plenty of water to keep it cool so it won’t
shatter.
First sand on sharp 220 grit sanding cloth, then sharp 320 cloth, with a final sanding on a worn
320 cloth. A quick and easy polish can then be obtained finishing on a dry leather buff with tin
oxide.
The transparent Victoria Stone that is used for faceting is composed of di or trisilicates of earth
elements and alkali metals.
The hardness is 5.5 to 6, specific gravity of 3.02 and a refractive index of 1.12. It was quickly
cooled down in one day so that it wouldn’t crystallize into patterns. The faceted Victoria Stone
came in 8 colors, including sapphire blue, emerald green, amethyst purple, ruby red, topaz, aquamarine, garnet and Peridot green. Dr. Imori died without confiding in anyone how the process
worked and no one has been able to duplicate it. There is only a limited and nonreplenishable
supply of Victoria Stone in existence, when this material is used up to make jewelry and cabochons, it will become scarcer and about impossible to find.
Wire wrapping workshops cancelled until further notice
Vangie Mayton reported that this time of year, with the show in November and the Potluck in December, she
wishes to cancel the wire wrapping workshop for the next two months. A notice will be posted in this newsletter when the workshops will resume.
HARD ROCK NEWS
DECEMBER 2015
PAGE 6
Leslie Wing still recovering at Life Care Center in Port Orchard
If you get the time, stop by and say “Hi” to Leslie at the Life Care Center on
2013 Pottery Avenue in Port Orchard. He is in room 39.
As you may recall, Leslie was our current KMGS president in August 2014
when he suffered a stroke at home, leaving his left side paralyzed. Leslie is on
the “waiting list” for physical therapy.
Leslie
Leslie says he really enjoys his weekly visits with his good friend, Randy Eggert, of our club. He seemed to enjoy the recent visit with Nancy and I as well.
Garry Mahan
No program or display table for December
Since we will be having our Christmas potluck on December 11th there will be no program or display
table for this month.
KMGS Christmas Party Potluck
Our Christmas Potluck/Party is on December
11th at 6:00 PM
Checklist for the Christmas Potluck
___ Your Potluck Item/Dish, Marked (with your name) Serving Spoon or Serving
Ware — Please have your potluck item cut and ready to serve!
___ Your Own Plates and Silverware
___ Holiday Gift Wrapped Slabs for the Slab Bingo, if you can!
___ Canned Goods or Non-Perishables for the Food Drive
The potluck will take place in the same location as last year. It will be at Hillcrest Church, 6750
State Highway 303 NE Bremerton, WA
Directions: Hillcrest Church is located on State Highway 303, the main road between East
Bremerton and Silverdale.
If you are coming from downtown Bremerton it is on the right hand side of Highway 303 just
across from the Wal-Mart in East Bremerton.
If you are coming from Silverdale: Follow 303 towards Bremerton. Go just past Wal-Mart to the
light at McWilliams Road and make a U-turn. The church is a big barn-shaped building up on a
hill.
The potluck will take place in the lower level of the church. There should be plenty of parking
on the lower level, depending on our turn-out of course. As you drive up the hill and approach
the lower level of the church you will make a left there. If you go past that – just go around
the church and on the other side, on the lower level, find your parking spot. Please leave parking spaces closest to the doors for our members who are disabled. If you need to park on
the upper level – be prepared with a flashlight.
HARD ROCK NEWS
DECEMBER 2015
PAGE 7
Field trips & Quartzsite, AZ & Tucson, AZ shows
There are currently no KMGS field trips planned. This would be a good time of the year to
make something out of your previous finds (for those with a heated shop).
This would also be a good month to plan your trip to Quartzsite, AZ, where there are tons of
rock to look at and lots to purchase if you should so desire. The Quartzsite event basically goes
through the entire month of January with the QIA (Quartzsite Improvement Association) Gem
& Mineral Show being held from January 20th through the 24th, 2016.
Many of the dealers will go directly from the Quartzsite event to the big event in
Tucson, AZ. The upcoming Tucson event is running from January 30th, 2015
through February 14th, 2016 . The Tucson event is one of the largest venues in
the world for rockhounds, jewelers, metalsmiths, etc. It typically has thousands
of dealers and attracts over 50,000 attendees each year. There are many shows
but the two main shows are the American Gem Trade Association Show and the
Tucson Gem & Mineral Show.
KMGS 2015 CHAIRPERSONS
Membership
Juniors
Programs
November Show
Chairman
Kathy Reimers, Bobbie
Sack, Jill Wetzel
(360) 731-5963
[email protected]
Gordon Eslava
(360) 830-4638
[email protected]
Silent Auction
Doug Leider
(360) 627-8142
[email protected]
Display Table
Tony Schackmann
(360) 372-2777
werockon@
inlandnet.com
Washington State Mineral
Council
Evah Summers
(360) 689-3715
[email protected]
Tony Schackmann
(360) 372-2777
werockon@
inlandnet.com
KMGS Scholarship
Wilma Eads
(360) 871-2445
[email protected]
Librarian
Position vacant
Refreshments
Field Trips
Karen Eslava
(360) 621-9830
[email protected]
Tony Schackmann
(360) 372-2777
werockon@
inlandnet.com
Welcome
Raffle Table
Willma Eads
(360) 871-2445 jacke@
wavecable.com
Mary Balderson
(360) 908-8063
Cheer
Kathy McClure
(253) 265-3011
pogy2@
centurytel.net
KMGS Webmaster
Kitsap County Fair
KMGS Facebook
Education
Jack Eads
(360) 871-2445
[email protected]
Doug Leider
(360) 551-6921
[email protected]
Gordon Eslava
(360) 830-4638
[email protected]
Jack Eads
(360) 871-2445
jacke@wavecable.
com
Historian
Hard Rock Beaders
Wire Wrapping
Newsletter editor
Bobbie Sack
Position vacant
Vangie Mayton
Garry Mahan
(360) 373-3370
(360) 871-2815
[email protected]
(360)277-0383
[email protected]
Please contact the
editor for any changes
or corrections to this
table.
DECEMBER 2015
HARD ROCK NEWS
PAGE 8
Upcoming Shows
December 5th 9am - 6pm 6th 10am - 5pm Maplewood Rock and Gem Club Annual Winter Bazaar Maplewood Rock and Gem Clubhouse. 8802 196th ST SW, Edmonds WA
2015 Fall Festival of Gems
Well, the 32nd annual Fall Festival of Gems is over for 2015, and it was another outstanding event. The
member display cases showed the variety of skills and material in our club with many wonderful displays. Our main display case featured the stunning
lapidary skills of former member, the late Bob Sahli.
His lovely wife Kathy allowed us to use some of his
work for our display. It left many people breathless as
they saw the meticulous detail of his creations, we
have been fortunate to be able to see this work. Many
thanks to Kathy for providing this wonderful display.
This year was the first in ten years without Mike
Heesacker and the Boy Scouts. Our attendance was
Bob Sahli display case
down by a third and it seemed the back end of the
building was pretty quiet. I don’t think the Silent Auction table did as well without the scouts bidding on all the pretty rocks, but the Spinning Wheel seemed
to do well. There was a lot of traffic at the vendors, although some reported low sales. We did the Raffle
a little differently this year and had hourly drawings and one final drawing at the end.
One of our dealers, John
Cornish, & helpers at his
Geode booth
After working with the show the last several years,
it still amazes me how we pull it off. It seems everyone just keeps showing up and helping. Thursday
setup of the tables went well and we had a good
jump on Friday, so it went extremely smooth. When
we tore down on Sunday everyone was orderly and
we stowed all the equipment carefully into the trailers without any damage. I want to give a special
thanks to my partners Dave and Kathy Reimers,
Tony Schackmann and Jim McClure. Without them,
the show could not happen. Also Doug Leider, Terry
Iverson, Karl Hendrickson, Leonard Ballard, Eric
and Danielle Foss are always there to help and its
greatly appreciated. Many thanks to everyone else
for their participation.
As mentioned above, this year was the first year in
a decade without the Boy Scouts. Therefore, we need to come to an agreement on how or if we want to
utilize the back quarter of the Presidents hall, previously occupied by those scouts. There is probably
room for another 6-8 tables beyond where the demonstrators were. What do you think we should
do? The Gold people have discussed using it, we could have member sale tables, we could leave it empty,
or we could move to a smaller facility. As a committee we will address each of these options, but we
would also like to hear from the rest of the membership. If you have any ideas, please either discuss it
with me or someone on the committee or send me an email to [email protected]. Anything we decide will
have to be within the next couple months so we will have time to implement any changes. So please
share your show ideas with us.
Gordy Eslava, show chairman
DECEMBER 2015
HARD ROCK NEWS
PAGE 9
Brad Smith’s Bench Tips for December
FOREDOM
STAND
A quick and easy way to suspend a flexshaft over your jewelry bench is to use some steel
pipe components from your local hardware store. It attaches with a couple screws and
only costs about $10
I use 1/2 inch galvanized pipe
and fittings. To build a
stand that attaches to the top
of your bench, all you'll need
is a flange and a thirty inch
length of the pipe. If you
prefer a stand that attaches
to the side of your bench,
you'll need a little longer
pipe, three foot, a flange,
and a 90 degree "street elle".
Finally, make a hook that goes
into the top of the pipe to
hang the motor from. You can use heavy coat hanger wire or 1/8
steel rod from the hardware store.
****************************************************************************************
BROKEN
DRILLS
Have you ever broken a drill bit off in a hole? Sometimes you can grab it with pliers,
but other times the steel piece is below the surface in the hole. If this happens, a
quick fix is to dissolve the steel in a solution of alum or fresh pickle. The solution
will not affect your silver or gold piece.
Alum is typically available from a food store. It's used to preserve some foods. Use
about a tablespoon per cup of warm water. Submerge your piece so that the partially
drilled hole is facing up to let the bubbles float free and not block the hole.
"Bench Tips for Jewelry Making" and "Broom Casting for Creative Jewelry" are available
on Amazon
Membership News
Membership fees are due just around the corner in January. You may mail them to the club address, to me
directly at 4691 NE Minder Rd., in Poulsbo 98370, in person at the Christmas party, or the January meeting. If you don't receive your newsletter in February, it may mean that you forgot to take one of these easy
peasy options to get your dues paid.
If you need a name tag or the additions to your name tags like "vice president," or "past president," etc.,
please contact me with the designator, color, and size of your badge. I can order them for you!
Evah Summers 360-689-3715
HARD ROCK NEWS
PO Box 3342
Silverdale, Washington
98383-3342
December 2015
TO:
Merry Christmas!
“The Hard Rock News” is the Official Publication of the Kitsap Mineral and Gem Society. Meetings are held
at 7:00 PM on the second Friday of most months at Chico Alliance Church Daycare (entrance in the back).
Address: 3670 Chico Way NW, Bremerton, Washington.
The object of the Society is to provide a general dissemination of knowledge pertaining to the earth
sciences; to sponsor regular meetings and field trips for the benefit of the membership and to be helpful
along these general lines to one another. The Society is social and educational in character.
Looking Forward to December and Beyond... Update Your Home Calendars!

The KMGS Christmas potluck will be held December 11th at the Hillcrest Church located at 6750 State Highway
303.NE. Bremerton, WA. Across from Wal-Mart. Set up at 5:00 pm - eat at 6:00 pm. Slab bingo.

The annual members sale will be held in February. During this sale the KMGS members bring in lapidary, mineral, or fossilrelated items they would like to sell.
Feel free to contact me if you want to put an anEditor Contact Information: Garry Mahan
[email protected] Phone: (360) 871-2815. nouncement in the newsletter. Deadline for each
newsletter is the 25th of the previous month.