Each summer in the City of Prineville, Oregon there is a rock and gem show referred to as the Prineville Rock hound Powwow.  I have heard about how great this show is each of the three years I have been active rock hound.  I have always been reluctant in going to this show because it is a four to five hour drive from my home.  This year after reading about this show on the Rock Tumbling Hobby (RTH) web site I decide that this year I was not going to miss it.

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Recently one of my readers, James, left a comment asking for more pictures of my saw because he was working on getting his saw put together. He mainly wanted to see the pulley sizes and how the vice and auto feed went together. Here are some pictures of my Highland Park F5 rock saw, rock snot and all. I hope these help.

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My friend, Bob Pyle, is have a yard sale Saturday and let me take a preview of what he is selling. I purchased these slabs from him and barely made a dent in the pile of slabs. If you would like purchase some quality slabs at fantastic prices the sale is at 2414 Madison in Boise, Idaho.  It will start at 9:00 and go until 5:00 Saturday 6-13-09, no early sales.

Morrisonite

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Here is a recent cabochon that I made from  Kabamba Jasper.  The pictures below show the process and step I use to create cabochons.

Outline on piece of slab I started with.

Slab shaped to outline of cabochon.

Edges roughly rounded over.

After sanding with 220 grit belt I mark my cabs with a Sharpie Marker to show where scratches and edges remain.  Once the marker is gone I know the problem areas have been reworked. Don’t do this on light colored jasper; it took forever to get the marker off a piece Willow Creek jasper I recently worked with.

Sanded cabochon before starting the polishing.

Finished cabochon.

Finished cabochon on remaining slab it was cut from.

There are many different techniques that can be used for creating cabochons.  What techniques do you use when creating a cabochon?

Saturday the Owyhee Gem and Mineral Society was having a field trip to Coal Mine Basin.  I was not sure what to think about this destination because I have been told that the site had been long been exhausted and the roads were so rough that even with a four wheel drive it was a challenge.  I have found that reports like this can often be skewed by different points of view and sometimes completely bogus because the person doing the reporting doesn’t want others to collect material they might want.  The club’s field trip leader had checked out the roads before hand and said that they were not bad at all.

Coal Mine Basin

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