Why I LOVE Cutting rock- Part Two!

Today, I finally got to do a little rockhounding myself and while most of these are Vickie's, the last one is MINE (and it's worth the wait!).

Lets start with a really nice piece of jasper:

Actually, looking at it now, it looks like possibly carnelian- great colour and patterning. Vickie says she has dibs on the end piece but I'll get at least 4 more.

Now here's a really interesting little piece of amethyst that has been brecciated (broken) by quartz:

Don't know how this will be to work but it sure looks spectacular.

Then there's this little gem with plume and great fortification agate sections:

It looks awesome backlit:

And if you like red, you'll love this one. In person, the plumes are even nicer and I can't wait to polish it:

And now for the piece de resistance! The light was really flat and at first all I saw was the globular black hematite on the surface.

One end looked interesting- the other not so much so I decided to cut across to make the interesting end more manageable on the saw. I guess I chose a rather fortuitous spot:

So now this end looks interesting too and #1 daughter has already claimed a slab with the druzy (I think I'll get two). Back to the interesting end. In cross section it isn't much:

But oh boy, when I cut in the other direction- BAM!:

The fortification pockets are amazing and I can't wait to polish it. Don't know what will happen to the patterning as I cut slices but there is still fortification on the other face.
I may actually have to barricade myself in the rock house because it appears that several family members want a piece and they never get around to paying me!

So if you want to see some interesting jewelry made with spectacular local rock come on by! I'll be locked inside the rock shop.

Back on The Beach

Well, the weather is improving- s l o w l y !!
But it's good enough to go looking for some rocks and work in the rock lab a bit..
I am very fortunate in that I have a wife who is gifted with "The Agate Eye". This is not to be confused with "The Evil Eye" although I'm pretty sure she has that gift as well. Vickie can literally smell agate. This first piece was in a creek bed with just a few dull inches showing at the surface. Imagine her surprise when she extricated it, turned it over and found this:

This piece actually has sections of different agate including plume, moss and fortification and areas of what I think is carnelian. It has a surface consistency of glass so it should polish amazingly but it is too big to cut on my trim saw so it will have to wait until I get the slab saw going.
But we wanted to cut something so we chose a couple of smaller pieces we found a few days ago. The first one is a little macrocrystalline but has some nice patterning.

But the next one is a real show stopper!

The picture doesn't really show the depth of colour and it isn't polished but this is going to be really nice when it is finished.
So if you like hunting for rocks, Digby Neck is a pretty good spot. And if you are in the area, come on by The Artist's mark and see some of the pieces we have collected and polished up. Everybody gets to pick a free polished stone so one way or another, you will go home with "A Piece of the Neck"!

Drill Baby Drill

I belong to several groups dedicated to lapidary and the making of rock jewelry and there are some amazingly talented people when it comes to wire wrapping stones to create pendants and earrings. An alternative technique to creating such jewelry relies on drilling the stone. While in many ways simpler, this can produce some pretty neat stuff.

Here's a beautiful piece of local agate on grey basalt that I made into a pendant- simple but nice.
I started by shaping and finishing the stone but you will notice that I didn't go for a high gloss finish because I find the lines and shapes show better if I take it to just this stage without using any polishing compound.

Drilling Rocks:
I often have people write or come to the shop asking how to drill rocks- often after they have tried unsuccessfully to do it themselves. So here's how it is done. First, you need the right drill bit.

This is a 1 mm. diamond drill bit made by Drilax. It's true length is 4.5 cm. and I buy them in boxes of 30 at a web site called Wish. They will break (hence the box of 30!) but I like them because on a relative basis they are cheap and the thicker shaft makes it easier to set the bit perfectly vertical in your drill. And speaking of drills, while I know of people who drill rocks with a Dremel, I can't. It is vital that you eliminate as much bit "chatter" as possible because when the bit is wobbly, it creates much more heat and heat is a big problem! So my suggestion is to use a drill press. Going back to heat for a moment, it is important (mostly for the stone) that the operation stay as cool as possible since too much heat can cause the rock to shatter. Some people drip water on the bit, I do it totally underwater. Here's my set-up.

Sorry for the wrong bit- I was doing some wood working and was too lazy to change it. This is a plastic container with a piece of quarter inch wood at the bottom. It is there to stop the bit from putting a hole in the plastic since when I am drilling, the plastic container is filled with water to cover the stone. I will drill stones up to a cm. thick but regardless of the thickness or type of rock, I have found that even using all the patience I can muster, I have a tendency to blow out the back of the stone when the bit exits the finished hole.
To solve this, here's what I do. First, I decide where I want the hole. It should be centered relative to the geometric mass center for the piece. If it is an abstract piece, you may have to hold it lightly to see how it will hang because believe me, gravity always wins! You don't want the hole right on the edge to minimize the chance of fracture but you want it close enough so you can attach your bale and leave room for the chain. Start the hole on one side and drill about 75% of the way through. Then, take the stone out and use calipers to see where the exit point will be. Mark it with a water resistant pen and restart the drilling on that side at that point so the holes meet in the middle. Throughout the process, the stone has to be held absolutely still. Some prefer to clamp the stone using a C-clamp but I prefer to hold it by hand. Drilling should be done slowly with the bit being partly removed from time to time to let water get to the area of the stone where the bit is working.
And that's all there is to it!
Then, when the stone is cool and dry, I attach the bale. In this case it was a 925 silver antiqued bale with two prongs. I buy them and all my other wire and findings from Fire Mountain and if you can put together an order of 100 pieces or more with some friends, you can get some really decent prices (about 60% of the unit price).
The glue I use is FPC Surebonder 9000. It comes in a clear plastic tube and there is no mixing required. I use it to bond all kinds of metal to rocks and have never had one give way, even when I am gluing bell caps. Fill the hole with glue using a thin wire to get the glue in the hole and then warm up the silver bale in your hand. This is necessary to make it a bit more pliable because you then need to open it up to go over the stone and get the prongs on both sides into the hole. Then you have to pinch the bale back together, put some kind of weight on it and let it cure for 24 hours. Make sure that there is no excess glue that can be seen on the bale or stone.
In the case of the above piece, I added a sterling silver 16 inch chain and now it's ready to go in the shop.
If you have questions or want to learn more, just make a comment on the blog or send me an email.
Cheers!

How Can I Make My Rocks Look Beautiful?

I am a member of the Nova Scotia Rockhounds Facebook group and this morning someone asked about cutting and polishing rocks. I gave the short answer then and will give the long answer now.

"How can I get my rocks to look as beautiful as yours?" That's a question I often get asked by visitors to my shop.
The sad answer is that you probably can't- not because I'm better than you but because I probably have better equipment. To duplicate my shop with new machines would set you back over $10,000! So it is rare that Lapidary is a money making hobby.

My rock shop

That being said, there are some things you can do to make your finds more beautiful- especially if you stay small, and you can at least get started for a reasonable outlay.
The smallest saw I own is a Rock Rascal with a 6 inch diamond blade. With it, I can cut rock up to about 2 inches thick. I can also grind a face if I want.

A new Rock Rascal will set you back over $500

 But you don't need a rock saw to cut rock. You can get by in most cases with a tile saw. Home Depot has a beauty- the QEP 22650 which you can buy with a 7 inch diamond blade for $129. I've seen it in action and was pretty impressed.

This saw has a bridge to help position the rock and can cut faces on an angle if you want. Is the tile saw as good as the Rock Rascal? It depends on the blade you use. It has a 3/4 HP motor so it has the power you need.
So now you've cut a face but it has ugly blade marks on it and isn't shiny. No problem. Buy a rock tumbler! But not just any tumbler. There are two basic types of rock tumblers- those which have drums that rotate and those that have drums that vibrate. The rotating type tends to make the rocks round, which is a problem when tumbling vein rock like agate or jasper and they take a long time- several weeks!
I recently started using a vibrating tumbler called the Lot-O-Tumbler. It has a rubber bowl so it is much less noisy and you can tumble 4 pounds (8 if you buy the double) from rough to finished in less than a week! If you are in Nova Scotia, you may be able to get one from George Johnston who has set up a supply business called Scotia Prospecting Supplies in Chester and if you buy one, get an extra bowl for the polishing stage to avoid grit contamination. Believe me- it is worth it and so is the tumbler! It just might be the best piece of lapidary equipment I've ever used.

I give you the Lot-O-Tumbler.

You should be able to put any of your cut rock in here and tumble it to a high shine IF THE ORIGINAL MATERIAL IS A SILICATE or MICROCRYSTALLINE! You can't get a shine on rocks like sandstone (unless there is a lot of silica) or limestone. All you need is some grit and polishing material that George can probably sell you as well.

So that's all for this week. next week, I'll do another blog on taking it to the next level. And if you have questions, I'd be happy to try my best to answer them.
One last thought. If you have friends who also enjoy the hobby, form a club and pool your money to buy equipment you can share. As a last resort, I charge $30 an hour to work on other people's material.

Mystery Rock

So today I am asking for your help.
Yesterday, I was cutting some rock in the shop and here is one that I cut open.

It is about 5 cm x 3 cm and the inclusions are between 0.5 and 1.5 cm. It is definitely a silicate bit apart from that, the only thing I can think of is some sort of chalcedony that might have inclusions that were formed by gas or H2O replacement.
It is absolutely beautiful and I'm going to try and cut two slabs to make pendants because I know it will polish beautifully.
As someone used to say on TV, "The truth is out there!"
Also just finishing a second lot from my new (old) tumbler and there is some beautiful material in it. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

Catch of the Day

I like grinding and polishing and tumbling agate but I LOVE cutting it! You never really know what you're going to get.
This little stone was only about one inch by 2 inches but when I made the first cut, I knew I had to get as much as possible.

There is a beautiful contrast between the peach and dark brown and the last two pieces even have a little area of amethyst at the top.

So after we took this shot, I was able to cut one more section. I ended up with three beautiful sections for "The Boss" and one nice end piece for me that I decided to tumble in my new tumbler.
And speaking of the tumbler, here's a pic of some of the stuff I got in my first batch.

There are some beautiful examples of several types of agate and now I will sort them. Some will no doubt end up in our "free rock" box so if you stop by, you can take home a beautiful piece of the neck!
See you soon!

Busy Day in The Rock Shop

Colleen Collins is a new arrival to "The Neck" and has opened a Yoga facility in Freeport. She hosts retreats and individual sessions and if you want to know more, go to www.anybodyyoga.ca

She asked if we could do up some pendants to give to attendees at her upcoming retreat and we were happy to oblige so here is today's output.

All the stones are local and all the wire wrapping and clasps are hand done by Vickie. There is a beautiful selection of porcelain/ crazy lace/ fortification agates and jasper.

We are moving into high gear on the jewelry front and have some absolutely beautiful stones to work with so if this is an area that interests you, come on by. I might even be able to show you how I work the stones in the rock shop.

See you soon.

More Spectacular Rock

Had a chance to work a pretty interesting piece today.

It looks like Stilbite invading basalt as it is very fibrous but it polished up much better than I thought. There are beautiful pinks and reds and it looks as if some of the original mineral has been replaced with silicate.
If you have any ideas, help me out!
Beautiful weather here right now- sunny and mild with light winds and low humidity. If only it would last a few months!
We just got a new shipment of fall weight yarn so I'll do a more extensive post on that when we have it all in inventory.
Cheers!

The Third Tourist Season

Well, it's the last day of the Labour Day weekend so we are headed into our third phase of this year's tourist season. In the spring, we get a lot of people from the Maratimes doing short trips to explore their back yard.
That all changes when school gets out. Then it's mostly families from all over and a lot of people from Europe.
But after Labour Day, the kids are back at school and we start seeing more retired couples from all over.
This year has been amazing, with almost twice the visitors we had last year- our first in operation. Part of that was due to people coming in to buy the Seawall Fibres Yarn (of which we are the sole distributors) but more and more people are discovering us through this blog and the Nova Scotia printed guide (Doers and Dreamers) and web site.

So I thought I'd give you a little peek at what's in store for next year.
Thanks to our summer adventures, I have a ton (literally) of great rock to work on over the winter. Also, I've been able to work some beautiful stone that Vickie has started to "set" in various ways. Here's a sample of what's coming.

Crazy Lace Agate set with copper and leather cord

By next spring, we will have a great selection of stone jewelry to complement Vickie's amazing polymer clay pieces and Sandra's whimsical fantasies. And I promise to get Vickie back to work to restore our inventory of purses that have been so popular.
As I type, Lisa is dying more yarn in some exciting new colours. Look for it soon on the Seawall Fibres Etsy site and follow Seawall Fibres on Instagram and Facebook.
We should have a large selection of knitted goods by then as well and there will be more of Vickie's art. She is even working on kits so you can make your own leather soled slippers from our beautiful yarn.
So you will have all sorts of exciting options to Take Home a Piece of The Neck!
That being said, we still have plenty of beautiful items in the shop and the weather in the fall is beautiful and the whales are still around in abundance so if you're looking for a place to spend some time, come on out to "The Neck" and stop by and see us. Mention this blog post and get 10% off anything you buy this year. 
Hope to see you soon or, if not, next year.

New Stuff in the Shop

We have been extremely busy of late with stuff fairly flying off the shelf! Our inventory of Vickie's popular purses stands at 2 but she has promised me that if I make dinner for a few days she will make some more. The worst part is since she has celiac disease I can't make Kraft Dinner.

We finally got the last of Lisa's initial shipment of yarn tagged and priced so I think we now have about 110 hanks of wool in our display.

So there's plenty to drool over for all you knitting fanatics out there (you know who you are!).

Our Etsy site for Seawall Fibres is now up and running and fully stocked so if you want yarn and can't make it into the store, just pop on over to www.seawallfibres.etsy.com
And if you haven't yet seen Lisa's "Mineral Mondays", go to www.seawallfibres.blogspot.com
Or if that isn't your cup of tea, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram!

Once we get the shop restocked, our plan is to restart our Etsy shop for The Artist's Mark but until then, if you want to see Vickie's abstract art and gorgeous jewelry, my rock specimens and silver pendant collection featuring local gem stones or Sandra's famous whimsical sculpted figures, you'll just have to come and see us on beautiful Digby Neck- the whale watching capital of the maritimes!
If you mention the blog, I'll give you a nice piece of tumbled agate or Jasper.

Hope to see you soon!

Whale Cove Campground- a True Digby Neck Experience

Many years ago, I worked as an exploration geologist, spending entire summers living in a tent. I loved it! Growing up, my family camped every summer and the experience gave me some of my fondest memories.
Nova Scotia is basically one big camp site, and a fabulous one to boot! Each year, outdoor enthusiasts from all over the world come here to enjoy the outdoors.
Out on "The Neck" we only have one campground but fortunately, it's a real beauty.
Whale Cove Campground (located, coincidentally, at Whale Cove) gets its name from the numerous whale sightings nearby. It's a beautiful place which offers several different types of accommodations.

Check out the nearby wharf

Do you RV? They have large, easily accessible sites with water and electricity and a dump site.
How about a rustic cottage They have them- with housekeeping!
Campers have a wide choice of clean sites with a lot of amenities including free WiFi, a coin laundry, a small museum and lots more.
Maybe you've never camped in a tent but would like to see what it's like. Well, they even have a Rent-A-Tent program so you don't need to buy expensive equipment before you try it out!

Your home away from home

There are plenty of nearby places to eat and you can even get fresh caught lobster right at the campground!

They even have their own lobster boat!

And there's lots to do for the whole family. Beach comb for agates and sea glass on the rock beach, explore the coves and wharf and hike nearby trails. (And if you find a nice piece of agate, bring it to my lapidary shop at The Artist's Mark Studio/Shop and I'll cut it and polish it for you for a nominal cost. Guests from Whale Cove get a 10% discount on all our goods and services.

Beautiful Bay of Fundy agate

Your hosts at Whale Cove Campground are Tina Frost and her family. If you want to see how big a difference super friendly, helpful hosts can make to your experience, check out the comments on the Whale Cove Campground web site.
Stay at Whale Cove and maximize your Digby Neck Experience!
And while you're here, stop by The Artist's Mark and say hi.

For more information on the Whale Cove Campground, go to www.whalecovecampground.com

Great Place to Stay on the "Neck"

We are definitely into winter here on The Neck and the pace of life has slowed considerably. My new snowblower has worked great so far but time will tell. We get huge waves here when the wind blows from the south and today they are spectacular at high tide. It's truly an amazing place during a storm!
Linda Graham from Centreville stopped in this morning to say hi and I thought it would be good to do a post and tell you about her operation.
Graham's pioneer retreat is located in Centreville, about 5 minutes further up the neck from our shop. If you are looking for a memorable, comfortable and unique place to stay, this is it! Four cabins overlook beautiful St. Mary's Bay, providing spectacular views all year. What makes them unique is that they are totally "off the grid" and yet have electricity and all the comforts of home. How? By generators that can be started and stopped with the flick of a switch.

One of the cabins at Graham's pioneer retreat

For more info on Grahams, go to www.digbyneck.com
So plan your next visit to beautiful Digby Neck and stay at Graham's pioneer retreat. You can go bird watching and whale watching, spend time on some beautiful beaches, go rock hounding (if you are nice to me I'll tell you where!), enjoy some local seafood and a bonfire and see a spectacular starry heavens in our world famous dark night sky.
Visit the amazing Balancing Rock and try and figure out how it got there.

And if you stop by The Artist's Mark, I'll tell you all about the geological history of the neck and show you how we create beautiful jewelry from our local agate. If you are staying at Graham's you'll get 10% off all your purchases in our shop.

Beautiful moss agate pendant in a sterling silver setting

So much to see.
So much to do.
You're gonna' love Digby Neck!

New Lapidary Equipment

So after a lot of head scratching and "creative" engineering, the old Mercury arbor is ready to use.
When I got this, there were 4 grinding wheels on it and a gravity drip system to provide cooling.
Since I now have 60 and 100 grit wheels on the other machines, I removed the 100 grit wheel. Also, the 600 grit grinding wheel has been replaced by a 600 grit diamond belt on the new Lortone unit.

3 new diamond belts

Now there are 200 and 400 grit grinding wheels that have been cleaned and leveled using my diamond sintered truing tool.
So in the empty space on the arbor, I added 3 sanding drums (1200, 3000 and 8000 grit).
I also have a 14,000 grit flat lap on one end.

On the other end, there was an old style metal sanding drum which I am now using as a holder for a padded leather polishing pad.

leather polishing pad with felt underlay

The gravity wetting system has been replaced by a "spitter" which wets the wheel being used from below.

So now I can cut rocks up to 2 inches thick, grind it from 60 grit (really coarse) to 14,000 grit (really, REALLY fine)  and then polish it.

cover reinstalled- ready for action!

The weather is getting cooler each day so the timing is perfect since I have a lot of beautiful agate to work with.
If you are in the area, now or next summer, let me know and I'll be happy to show you how it works. We should have some beautiful specimens and agate jewelry next spring.

New Lapidary Material

It is a foggy day on The Neck and I am still waiting for some grinding wheels and sanding belts to complete my lapidary set up so I thought you might like to see some of the material we have found and cut recently.

Beautiful example of fortification

Vickie found this beautiful stone at Gulliver's Cove. We will cut a few more slabs and make some gorgeous pendants.

A golden and red plume agate with fortification found on Seawall Beach by AgateEye

This stone looked interesting on the outside but even we were surprised when we cut it open! The colours and pattern are spectacular and we plan to cut some slabs for jewelry and sell the rest as specimens.

Really interesting chevron type pattern

Gorgeous example of the rare Golden Flame Agate!

These spectacular stones were both found at Seawall Beach after a huge storm. Both will be used to create jewelry this winter. Boy, is AgateEye going to be busy! It's her own fault - she keeps finding 'em.

The Rock Den is really starting to take shape. New (old) 8" sanding drums came from Black Mountain Lapidary in Kelowna, BC along with the leather buffing pad. Just waiting on the belts, and then we'll reconfigure the arbor. 

Watch for a post showing the new setup.