October 2014 Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of Shenandoah Valley Gem and Mineral Society
October 13th, 2014
The meeting was called to order by Club President Dean Hostetter; 33 members and guests were in attendance.
Old Business/New Business:
* Details from the October club show were presented by Dean; Net profit of $1387.52. For all those who attended, it was an exciting event.
* Saturday, October 18th field trip to Willis Mountain was the best ever with access to a variety of minerals. Thanks to all the folks who brought in samples of their finds.
*New officers will be elected at the November meeting. We are looking for someone to take over as President.
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Program Report:
”Mother Nature's Watercolors - Deer Sky Jasper and other Picture Jaspers of Eastern Oregon" was presented by Club Member, Jack Glenn.
In addition to a color slide presentation, Jack had numerous samples of the raw material for all to see.
There are at least 75 named varieties of picture jasper. Deer Sky was named because of the unique color and pattern by the man who found the material.
The location is still held confidential but Jack was able to obtain several photos not previously seen. The location is a very small hand-dug mine located on a private ranch.
Thanks, Jack, as you piqued our interest in this new material.
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Notes from The Rock Shop, October 2014:
The Rock Shop was open for it's monthly session on Saturday, October 18th, 2014. We had six members participate, and Leo provided his usual excellent guidance and mentoring. Two new members were first-time shop visitors to our shop and had a chance to try their hand working rocks with the club's equipment.
Mark took a turn at shaping and polishing stones on the cabbing machine and looking over the shoulders of others to gain some experience. Michael brought along some material (including some bumblebee jasper and Deer Sky jasper) to begin shaping into sphere blanks for his specific art, lapidary spheres.
Shop regulars Charles, Jilly, Elanor and Jack worked on some slab sawing, trim sawing and cab-forming. Charles had some tree agate and fantasy jasper he preformed, and Jilly got a nice blue quartz cab underway and spent some time working on some difficult materials (chrysocolla and rhodonite) - looks like both materials will need stabilization before they can be trusted to work further. Eleanor had some local materials and started to pretty them up. Jack face-sawed a piece of mystery jasper from eastern Oregon and tested a sample piece of ricolite serpentine to see how well it would polish up (results were encouraging!)
The smaller slab saw continues to have some issues with feeding the rock into the blade at certain points of the vise's travel along the threaded rod. The general diagnosis is that the threaded clamp that is driven by the feed mechanism has worn threads and/or the threaded rod has a worn spot. The workaround of assisting the threaded clamp with a secondary clamp is proving only partially effective. One idea being considered is arranging an auxillary weight via a cable out the back of the saw to help the feed mechanism overcome any threadbare spots.
The club is in the process of getting price quotes to order a second cabbing machine to ease congestion at the Genie and give more members opportunities to shape their stones into cabochons. Watch this space for developments!
The next Rock Shop date is Saturday, November 15th 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM. The facility is open to all members and free to use (but we ask for a contribution to the Repairs and Supplies Tip Jar on the central bench if you can make one)
Thanks,
Jack
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November meeting: Monday, November 10th at 7:30 PM
Waynesboro Church of the Brethren
364 Bridge Road
Lower parking lot—Side Door entrance!
Program: “COAL – MINES & MYTHS” by club member Deborah Grimm.
She will be presenting the November program about coal – NOT as a mineral (because it’s organic), but because it is necessary for our present lifestyle.
Included will be slides discussing:
- Coal from various types of mining to reclaiming the land
- From processing to shipping it
- From building the machinery to repairing it
- From uses of the solid product to the methane products
Coal is used for thousands of products. Come join us and touch some 300 million year old specimens from ½ mile deep inside the earth!
Did coal come from dinosaurs and could Superman make a diamond from coal?
Refreshments: Eleanor Matano, per the original sign-up list
Volunteers for Refreshments, 2014:
February: Calvin and Katherine Phillips
March: Debbie Grimm
April: TBD <<--NEED A VOLUNTEER!!
May: Feather Stein
June: Jilly Weigel and Jack Glenn
July: N/A - Club Picnic
August: TBD
September: TBD
October: TBD
November: Eleanor Matano
December: N/A - Club Christmas Dinner
Bob Helt, Secretary
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Club Officers and Staff 2014
President – Dean Hostetter
Vice President – Leo Cloutier
Show Co-Chairs – Dean Hostetter and all Club members
Educational Outreach -- Linda Corwin, Bob Helt
Secretary/Newsletter -- Bob Helt (heltsncrozet@comcast.net)
Field Trip Coordinator - Dean Hostetter (deanboy@ntelos.net)
Treasurer – Scott Gregory
Web Site Coordinator – Jack Glenn
Club web site: shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org
Club Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ShenandoahValleyGemMineralSociety
Club email: svgem-min-club@live.com