LAPIDARY DIGEST Edited and Published by Hale Sweeny (hale2@mindspring.com) Web Site: http://www.lapidarydigest.com ----------------------------------------------------------- Associate Editors: Geo. Butts, JR Shroeder, Steve Henegar and Margaret Malm +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ This list digest contains the following message subjects: 1. LapDigest News for Issue No 258 - Mon 1/11/2000 2. NEW: New Find of Chysophrase in Brazil 3. NEW: Risk of Almag Oil Explosion in Sawing 4. NEW: Dangers from Inhaling Tin and Cerium Oxide 5. NEW: What Price to Ask for Chalcedony 6. NEW: Cutting Material from Israel 7. NEW: Need a Manual for Highland Park Model B10 8. NEW: Lime Juice on 'Marble' - How to Repair? 9. RE: Does Fluorite Fade in Bright Light? 10. RE: Does Fluorite Fade in Bright Light? 11. RE: Coating over Polished Agate 12. FS: Stone Canyon Jasper Slabs 13. WTB: Carnelian Piece *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Subject: LapDigest News for Issue No 258 - Mon 1/11/2000 IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS: Sign your name to submissions, and restrict your messages to one topic per message. PLEASE!! If you do multiple topics in a letter, I must take it apart and rewrite it as multiple letters, and this just wastes a lot of time! So PLEASE ... About TUCSON and QUARTZSITE. We will not carry the several show reports, as you can see them in several other places. Bob Keller's Tucson show 2000 report and a lot of other show info will be on the show website: www.tucsonshow.com . If you are going to Tucson, be sure to look at info about Tucson on Bob's website at: www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/tucson.html. For information about Quartzsite show contact people, see http://www.admmr.state.az.us/showlst.htm. Most good URLs on Quartzsite I found were for last year's show, so I don't have a good one for you now, but will get one for you soon. :::NOTE:::NOTE::: Anyone going to either Tucson of Quartzite who would like to be a corresponding reporter for the Digest, to report only on new Lapidary products or equipment?? Let me hear from you. Be kind to one another -- you never know when you will need a favor! (smile) And remember to enjoy life and help others around you enjoy life -- Have fun! hale *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Subject: NEW: New Find of Chysophrase in Brazil You will find it interesting to know that Chrysophrase comes from other areas than Australia. Last month I went down to Brazil and came upon a new find of Chrysophrase from the State of Goias. They have no buyers yet, have asked me to round up some business in it. I am afraid I do not know my market very well on it. It is very dark color, not quite as dark as what is sold in Australia as a look alike for Imperial Jade, but not far from it. Thin flat pieces,1/2 to 1" thick. If you would like to see it, this URL: http://www.LICCINI.com/Cabachon/cry/cry.html Here is a URL of photos of Chrysophrase that occurs in Argentina: http://www.LICCINI.com/Cabachon/Mix/Crys.htm Appreciate any feedback, some opinion of the values, any dealers interested to help us with this project to begin mining it. Mark Liccini Mark@LICCINI.com http://www.LICCINI.com *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Subject: NEW: Risk of Almag Oil Explosion in Sawing Gentlemen: I noticed that some materials spark in my lapidary saw that is cooled with Almag. Is there an explosion danger due to the misted oil? Cycadwood@aol.com ----------------------------------------------------------- I sent the following to the manufacturer's lubes sales dept. at: lubes@texaco.com: "I am editor and publisher of the Lapidary Digest, a newsletter devoted exclusively to the Lapidary arts. A subscriber sent in the following query: (query above quoted here) Can you please provide an answer to this query?" Now we wait for their answer, but please you reply if you have any knowledge about this. Have any of you ever heard of an oil fire in a saw before? hale *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Subject: NEW: Dangers from Inhaling Tin and Cerium Oxide Gentlemen: I use a high pressure water gun to clean specimens that have been polished with cerium oxide and tin oxide. Is there a danger from inhaling the mist that results? Cycadwood@aol.com *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Subject: NEW: What Price to Ask for Chalcedony On the cover of a rockhounding book which I cannot remember the name of, is a sample of gas-line road agate (chalcedony) from Northern Nevada. My husband and I have harvested about 200+ lbs of it. The primary colors are blue (dark, not Mt. Airy stuff), gold, and red, mostly translucent quality. Gorgeous stuff. Some will fluoresce. We would like to sell or trade it, but have no idea what a fair market value would be. We are looking for advice on quality, asthetics, cuttability etc... as we are very new at lapidary. We do intend to sell it on eBay, but have no idea as to starting price, so any advice on eBay starting price would also be appreciated. God bless, Donna Urey Jestre4u@cs.com *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Subject: NEW: Cutting Material from Israel Hello All, I am fortunate enough to be able to take a trip to the Holy Land in November, 2000 and am anxious to get information about any cutting material that is native to that part of the world. I would appreciate hearing from any list members, either here or off digest, who have knowledge about such material or can direct me to other sources. Thanks for the help. Wally Baxendale West Chicago, IL wallybax@aol.com *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Subject: NEW: Need a Manual for Highland Park Model B10 I have acquired a Highland Park Model B10 rock polisher/saw and do not have an instruction manual. I contacted the companies who had bought out Highland Park in search of manuals but they said that this particular model had been replaced some years back and they did not have the owers/instruction manual. I am wondering if you can give me some advise and direction as to how I could acquire some written material. Thank you for your assistance Elaine *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Subject: NEW: Lime Juice on 'Marble' - How to Repair? Had an accident on a antique marble table. Lime Juice was spilt on it and it sat all night. Any help on cleaning it and bringing up the polish. I looked in the archives and didn't see anything. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Bob Gillespie bobbyg@tbaytel.net *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Subject: RE: Does Fluorite Fade in Bright Light? YES - Fluorite is a color centered mineral, meaning that electrons are out of position, and this results in a color. Light energy puts the electrons back into place and the color is lost. Bob Jones RockGemMag@aol.com *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Subject: RE: Does Fluorite Fade in Bright Light? It's true, Fluorite can go from a brilliant hue to pale milkiness in a few short months if left on a windowsill or in direct sunlight. I learned this the hard way many years ago when I bought one of my first spheres. I still have it as a reminder. Sunlight's not the only culprit. One of the stores I sell to had some nice purple fluorite in matrix from S. Illinois. Unfortunately, they had it brightly displayed with a halogen light. I mentioned to them that the arrangement probably wasn't such a good idea. Sure enough, about a month later, the purple had turned clear with a slight bluish tint. As for amethyst and rose quartz, I've never had a problem with any of it fading, even though I've had plenty of pieces sitting both on window ills and all through the backyard. (Mowing the back lawn is always a little bit more of an adventure after I get back from Thunder Bay every summer..) Giovanna Fregni kfletcher@citilink.com Mpls/St. Paul *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Subject: RE: Coating over Polished Agate Hello Hale: I could not agree with you more. Never spaycoat a well polished agate. What I do to remove fingerprints from a finished piece is to rub it with Sight Savers. These are the silicone coated tissues for cleaning eyeglasses. They are (were?) made by Dow Corning. They work very well and are very inexpensive. Don Sommerfield *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Subject: FS: Stone Canyon Jasper Slabs I'm selling a few slabs of stone canyon jasper on E Bay. This is a very beautiful brecciated jasper that polishes real nice and has a multitude of interlaced colors in various swirls and blobs. Every piece is unique but characteristic at the same time. The location that this comes from has been closed for twenty years and is on private land. Go to this link and scroll down to see and/or bid on these slabs: http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/steverite/ Steve Swartz Carson City, Nevada USA steverite@netzero.net *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Subject: WTB: Carnelian Piece Hi - I am looking for a nice piece of carnelian for an intarsia piece I am working on, or some other orange material, or close to orange. I could use either a slab or a chunk. I need strips about 1-1/2 to 2 inches long. If I had a chunk I would slab it thin and cut the strips from the thin slabs. If I start with a slab I would trim thin strips from it. Please contact me directly if you have some or have information on where I can purchase some. Thank you, Jack Haslup jakh469879@aol.com *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* To unsubscribe from the Lapidary Digest, send a message to Lapidary@mindspring.com, with the word UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST as the subject of the message. Other commands you may use are: SUBSCRIBE DIGEST to join, HELP to receive a page of help instructions on the use of the list, and DIR to receive a list of names of all files in the Archives. The command may be used on the subject line (without brackets, of course) to obtain a copy of the file named "filename". Type filename exactly as it appears in the directory, including the extension txt. Do not cut-and-paste filenames into the subject line. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+