May 2016 Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of Shenandoah Valley Gem and Mineral Society
Meeting date: May 9th, 2016
Intro:
There were 26 members present. President Michael Pabst called the meeting to order.
Old Business:
1. Scott Duresky gave many suggestions for future field trips, both in VA and out of state. He will collect information, and design a data base that the club can access for this.
2. One of our members, Bruce Wetterau, has volunteered to compile a montage of photos and design a display to place in libraries, etc. His contact information is below in the “Looking Ahead” section.
3. There was a sign up list for volunteering to help at the show.
New Business:
Continue working on getting volunteers for the show.
NEW FIELD TRIP INFO section is now in the minutes below. Also included is a field trip risk, waiver, and agreement at the end of the notes.
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Program Report:
Jack Glenn presented an interesting program called “Rock Tumbling: Good/Fast/Cheap - Pick Any Two”.
Jack gave many helpful hints for those who wish to attempt rock tumbling – Clean! Be patient! Clean again! Wait patiently! Take notes. Clean. Wait. . . . .
Seriously, there are many factors to take into account, but Jack took us through step-by-step and demonstrated the use of his tumbling equipment.
The process includes shaping, grinding, polishing &burnishing. Some needs are:
- rocks
- abrasive
- medium
- rotational, mechanical vibratory, or an electromagnetic vibratory tumbler
Jack used a combination of these and included dry and wet medium types.
The grit will even wear out the equipment if not used properly.
Due to the high noise level, an outside area may be used for the process, if care is taken not to let the equipment run when the temperature gets below freezing.
The entire process may take a few months, so kudos to Jack for his patience and for sharing his learning experiences with us.
And he gave door prizes, which included a starter tumbler set won by Leo. Thank you, Jack!
If you would like to review the presentation slides, they are linked here.
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Next Meeting: Monday, June 13th at 7:30 pm at the Waynesboro Church of the Brethren.
David Lipscomb will do a Show-and-Tell on “Rocks and Minerals of Virginia”.
David is a long-time Virginia mineral collector and dealer. He runs the Virginia Rock Shop near Nellysford in Nelson County, at The Rockfish Valley Community Center,190 Rockfish School Lane (Rt. 635 West), Afton, Virginia.
Website: www.varockshop.com.
Meet and get to know David, and then visit his rock shop!
Looking ahead:
- Information for sending hard copy or digital photos of rocks, minerals, or sites to Bruce Wetterau so he can compile a display for the public:
I'm putting together displays to advertise the club's upcoming mineral and gem show this fall.
Your photos of specimens--particularly colorful or showy ones--in digital format could help make a really great display.
We should probably also include a couple of snapshots from club field trips/talks on special topics too, if you have them. You'll get a photo credit line for any that get used.
Would you please take a minute or two to send me any that you think might be useful?
My email address is bwetterau306@comcast.net. Thanks, Bruce Wetterau
- July 13th meeting: 6:30 pm at Coyner Park in Waynesboro. Yearly picnic – bring a dish to share. No formal meeting – just lots of fun and socializing!
- Scott Duresky is compiling a list of field trip opportunities to include other clubs and some out of state opportunities. More info to come.
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 - May 2016:
The Rock Shop was open for its monthly session on Saturday, May 14th, 2016.
Eight members attended to work on various projects. Some members have been making regular visits and are well on their way to becoming practiced lapidarists. Everyone is uniformly pleased with the results they are able to achieve working with the club’s first-rate equipment and mentoring by the “old hands”.
Linda had some rose quartz she worked on and completed a nice piece. She continued working with pieces of the blue quartz she had collected, sawing some slabs and starting to work those down to cabs.
Tom took some time to create a very interesting multi-sided jasper specimen, something between a statuette and a sculpture. It showed off all faces of the rock and you could see a different view on each face. Excellent work!
Heather and Ilana furthered their lapidary efforts on some material they recently “collected” from “the mines of ebay” Got some great agate material to work on, and this is becoming Ilana’s new favorite stone.
Eleanor had some local material to experiment with - initial results look very promising!
Jilly brought in some - what else - chrysocolla to cab. This was material stabilized via the ultra-thin cyanoacrylate glue method. It all held up very well, and a couple of nice stones are ready for final polish.
Jack thought he was going to use the ultra-thin bladed trim saw to cut up some tanzanite and phosphosiderite to see how it worked, but he left those pieces sitting on the hall table. Instead, he did some further slabbing of ocean jasper rough and helped others with mounting stones in saws, trimming out slabs, etc.
Charles also continued whittling down his monster ocean jasper boulder. The more he cuts it, the prettier the pieces get!
Everyone took part in the cleanup and the shop was left in good order for the next session, which will be Saturday, June 18th, 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
Educational Outreach -- Deborah Grimm
Secretary/Newsletter -- Deborah Grimm
Field Trip Coordinator - Dean Hostetter
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