August 2016 Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of Shenandoah Valley Gem and Mineral Society
Meeting date: August 8th, 2016
Intro:
Our President, Michael Pabst, called the meeting to order. There were 19 members present.
Old Business:
1. Bruce said he is re-doing the colored posters he made for the show due to inaccurate information on them. He has also been in contact with the area libraries about displays/posters to put up as advertising for the show.
2. The show has been advertised on the VA is For Lovers site, Facebook and the What To Do In The Shenandoah Valley magazine for August and September. A listing for our show is also published in the September 2016 issue of Rock & Gem Magazine (Page 76). Members were encouraged to spread the word and take flyers to businesses, post offices, hair dressers, etc. Scott G. had lots of flyers to distribute.
New Business:
1. Members were asked to prepare exhibits to display in September at the show. The public enjoys looking at these. They can be:
- A “theme” box, such as “Colors of the rainbow in rocks”
- Minerals from VA
- Crystal growth
- Photos of places to collect specimens
- Rare & unusual minerals
- Jewelry made from minerals
- “Minerals you can find in a car”
- Use your imagination!
Cases can be picked up at the September meeting.
2. On Friday night, Sept 23rd, members are asked to bring a covered dish to share for the “Thank You to our Vendors” meal at EXPO. The meal will start at 6 pm. Chicken and paper goods will be provided.
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Program Report:
Jack Glenn gave some valuable and useful information about our website. (He spends many volunteer hours making ours the best on the East Coast!! Thank you, Jack.)
Jack displayed each of the areas that are on the website, and gave more details about each.
He showed us how to navigate through each item.
The “on-line resources” button is great to find links for information about specific minerals, locations, and where to do some collecting.
Jack, as the administrator of the website, can see how many “hits” our site is receiving, and how many users go to more than one page of our site.
Members can “email the webwrangler” to send information about new discoveries in the mineral world, photos of collections and/or collecting trips, and “rocks in the news”. This is our website, so we want to make it educational, interesting, and fun!
Next Meeting: September 12th at 7:30 pm at Waynesboro Church of the Brethren.
We will discuss:
• The upcoming Gem & Mineral Show (Scott and Dean)
• Field Trips (Wayne).
Our president, Michael Pabst, will present a program: “The Copper Silicates of Arizona".
Besides the well-known minerals, Dioptase and Chrysocolla, there are about 40 other rare copper silicates known worldwide.
They are microscopic, but very colorful.
About half of them can be found in just a few copper mines in Arizona. These few mines are among the best localities in the world for colorful micro-minerals.
The Christmas Mine, Mammoth-St. Anthony Mine, and New Cornelia Mine each provide several beautiful copper silicates.
For example, viewers will be astonished by the combination of Kinoite and Ruizite from the Christmas Mine. .
Field Trip Info: Check out information here. Wayne is working on some field trips and info for us. More information was sent to members on 8/24/2016 by the club secretary.
Looking ahead:
- We are asking club members to mark their calendars and plan on helping with the show at The Augusta EXPO Sept 23-25. Even helping for a few hours would lighten the load for everyone.
If you’d like to present a program, please talk to an officer at a meeting or sign up at this link:
http://www.shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org/next_neeting_program/sign_up_to_present_program.php
Anyone can sign up to bring snacks for a monthly meeting by clicking this link:
http://www.shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org/next_meeting_info/sign_up_to_bring_refreshments.php
Be sure to keep up with our website www.shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org and our Facebook page Shenandoah Valley Gem and Mineral Society for updates and information.
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Notes from The Rock Shop - August 2016:
The Rock Shop was open for its monthly session on Saturday, August 13th, 2016.
We had ten members attend to work on various projects.
The session got off to an unintentionally exciting start when the motor of the 8” trim saw decided to “retire” and went out in a blaze of glory. Quick work by Charlie prevented any issues, but that was definitely the end of the road for that motor.
A replacement has been procured, and while we are at it, a new blade has been ordered. The refurbished unit will be back in action by the next session if all goes well with the repairs.
Justin had some material tentatively identified as soapstone to work with, and also put some quartz and amethyst to the wheels.
Linda had some great wonderstone to cab up, and some pink granite from NH that took a very pretty shine.
Dan & Tommy are still whittling down their pile of Rose River Red granite, but in addition had some fun with fluorite, azurite, pink granite, and chrysocolla.
Kimberly was putting the finishing polish on a piece of Noreena jasper when the felt belt reached out and snatched it away from her and the floor gave her a two for one special. A note was made to procure a floor mat to modify the effect of gravity in the area of the felt wheel. Moving on from that, she did some free-form work with jasper and agate.
Jilly worked on mixed cabochons.
Scott made some display slabs from Catoctin basalt and rhodonite from Colorado.
Charlie completed a stunning horn coral mini-cab that has an excellent figure - almost like a star sapphire. This being a small piece, he used a 10D nail and cyanoacrylate glue to dop the stone to the nail’s head. When completed, he uses acetone to get the glue to release. He also continued his mastery of all things agate, producing a top quality plume agate cab.
Bruce came by to be a spectator - we’ll get his hands dirty next time!
Jack brought a large piece of Kambaba jasper in to make an initial cut on. Sometimes you have to get a flat spot on the rough somewhere, so you can use clamps or other techniques to produce slabs. In this case, the plan was to make use of the flat spot as a gluing surface to fasten the rough to a piece of 2” x 4” with white woodworking glue and clamp the wood piece in the saw vise. NOTE - it is very important to let the glue cure for 3-5 days before attempting to subject it to the stress of the saw’s transport.
After it is slabbed down as close to the wood as possible, the leftover piece is put in a tub of water for a week or so to cause the glue to release. If it proves stubborn, a heat gun can aid in getting it to let go.
It’s great to see the variety of materials being worked and having a chance to enjoy the outcomes people are achieving.
Everyone took part in the cleanup and the shop was left in good order for the next session, which will be Saturday, September 17th, 2016.
Thanks,
Jack
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Volunteers for Refreshments, 2016:
February: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
March: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
April: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
May: Jilly Weigel
June: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
July: N/A - Club Picnic
August: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
September: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
October: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
November: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
December: N/A - Club Christmas Dinner
Deborah Grimm, Secretary
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Club Officers and Staff 2016
President – Michael Pabst
Vice President – Leo Cloutier
Show Co-Chairs – Dean Hostetter/Scott Gregory
Educational Outreach -- Deborah Grimm
Secretary/Newsletter -- Deborah Grimm
Field Trip Coordinators - Wayne Petersen/Scott Duresky
Treasurer – Scott Gregory
Web Site Coordinator – Jack Glenn
Club web site: www.shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org
Club Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ShenandoahValleyGemMineralSociety
Club email: svgem-min-club@live.com