Rock Shop Expands!

Had a visit from my friend Vaughn Tidd who used to operate Whale Cove Campground. Vaughn has been finding beautiful rocks and doing lapidary work for years but now he's moving into a beautiful apartment overlooking the harbour in downtown Digby.
Good for him!
Over the years, Vaughn has put together a shop with first rate equipment but it's now time for him to let it go and I appreciate it's not easy.
A while back I bought a trim saw/ grinding wheel and grinding arbor from him and am having a lot of fun turning out some beautiful stones. Now I have added a few missing components.

 This is a Mercury 10 inch slab saw made in the middle of the last century in Edmonton, Alberta. It is a real workhorse and will allow me to cut larger slabs which have proven very popular in the shop. The lower picture shows the motor that causes the stone to move automatically through the blade (important since cutting large rocks is a slow business).

This is a Calway (Lot-O-Tumbler) 4 pound vibrating rock tumbler that is perfect for polishing agate and jasper. As I get older, tumbling 40 pounds at a time becomes a bit of a chore so this baby is going to get a lot of work this winter and with the stones I have ready to go, we will have some beautiful stuff in the shop come spring.

So now I have a pretty complete lapidary shop.

That's the old Mercury Arbor across from the Mercury slab saw and the tumbler on the floor (temporarily). So now I can start with a pretty large stone, cut slabs, trim them, grind them, sand them, polish them and if necessary drill them so if you have ever wanted to see this done, drop on by!
And one last thing- if you see another guy in there, it will be Vaughn because while I bought the equipment, I've told him to come by any time and use it because I know how hard it will be for him to stop.
Look forward to seeing you on "The Neck".