As the Minnesota tundra thaws......

As the Minnesota tundra thaws, I find myself very impatient for warmer days to get out into the garage to saw rock.  Carol and I have picked up some rough lapis lazuli

April 10 and Minnesota is getting hit by the super snowstorm.....

April 10 and Minnesota is getting hit by the super snowstorm that is hitting the Midwest.  I feel bad for the robins that are here.  They look so cold bouncing around on the snow , all puffed up.... 

I need to change out 240 and 600 grit diamond wheels on the Cab King.  I have been putting it off.  The tumbler has rainbow moonstone at 600 grit.  Otherwise not much is new.

As the Minnesota tundra thaws.......

As the Minnesota tundra thaws, I find myself very impatient for warmer days to get out into the garage to saw rock.  Carol and I have picked up some rough lapis lazuli and oco geodes that just invite sawing.  I need to clean out our 10" highland park saw, as the oil is very dirty and sludgy.  That means using the tile saw after I put on a new 6" thin diamond blade designed for cutting agates.  I was advised to "take it slow and use LOTS of water".

In the meantime, I have been tumbling a batch of rainbow moonstone for several days in 200 grit.  They are starting to look nice and I can stare for hours at the little rainbow flashes as pieces hit the light as they tumble.  In case you as the reader haven't picked up on it, working with rock is a very meditative and mystical thing for me (Jim).  I can be totally focused for hours and before I know it 5 hours can have gone by. 

Here is a representative piece from a google image search of the kind of material in the tumbler.



  As always, I can't say enough about the Belt Inc. Lot O' Tumbler.  The results are fast using vibratory motion and the polishes are beyond compare.

Newest cabochon of fossilized dinosaur bone from Utah

Newest cabochon of fossilized dinosaur bone from Utah.  You can clearly see where minerals replaced the cells.  Most of this material is found in the Utah/Colorado area.  When the dinosaurs died, the bodies would be carried downstream and formed a dinosaur "log jam"-where the bodies were quickly covered with river silt.  I think Carol mentioned 20 million years ago for those events.  The Colorado/Utah area was a swamp at that time with many river systems running through it, not the dry and dusty land it is today.

Another new addition is a black obsidian cabochon with one snowflake in the corner.  I kept on getting my mug in the picture because of a high shine.  First world problem there....