MAY 3, 2010

Officers present: Gary, Jeff, Karin, Bob, Jeannie, Betty, Ernie and Charles

Met at the Black Bear Diner, Salinas 6 pm

Agenda M/S/P by Jeannie and Betty

FEDERATION: Bob mentioned the bills sponsored by Boxer.

TREASURER’S: Nothing new since meeting. Have to renew contact with Community Center for the next 6 months.

FIELD TRIP: 1) Ernie is moving Lavic date to October 10/28-11/7 as it will be cooler in desert.

2) Mining Museum - Gary is working on this and hopes to have contact with the quarry.

3) CA Science Academy - thinking September will be a better time.

Snyder’s coming up this weekend. Geology trip near the Pinnacles on Saturday.

WORKSHOP: 1) May 23rd - slab, cab and fun  2) June 27th prep for the 4th and fun

OB:  1)  Shirts - on order - will send e-mail for all to bring money.

2) Claim - nothing new

3) 4th of July - have temporary sales permit. Jimmy will help with setup by bringing tables and pop-up. Discussed drawing of “guess how many stones” - club would split $$ with the winner.

4) permanent facility - back burner, nothing new.

NB: 1) Charles White new show chair.

2) improvements discussed as in the April board meeting. Possible 2 new dealers. Move club table to below stage. No new member dealers from now on. Make Map of facility for Betty. Ernie will come to May 17th meeting with a new floor plan. Possible that Deb and Jim can’t do the snack bar. Could put a dealer there. Maybe have a catering truck parked across the street.  

3) discussed updating the dealer contracts and getting them out sooner.

4) need June program

5) Annual BBQ set for August 1st. 

6) New logo discussed 

7) Pebble Pup program - will remind Donna.

Submitted by Karin S.

4th of July vendor booth at Spreckels  was successful. We were buzy all day with kids and adults spinning the wheel, mostly kids thou. And, many returning to take additional chances. The guess the tumble rock jar was won by Hayley Baker, Los Palmas. Tumble bags sold well also. Volunteers turned out to help during the day and I am most grateful for their commitment.

The day was buzy with an old time parade, several foot races, firemen drills and mucho food booth manned by local charity groups. Was chaos for a while with all the attendees!

I had a chance to visit with Shirley Hagberg on June 26th during my monthly visit to Fresno. She is doing well and happy to be in the wonderful skilled nursing facility, Cottonwood Court, 7442 North Millbrook Avenue, Fresno, CA 93720, if you’d like to send her a “hello” card.

John Wills recently suffered thru another back surgery. His address: P>O>Box 689, Los Molinos, CA 96055

CLUB SHIRTS ARE HERE. IF YOU ORDERED ONE, PLEASE PICK UP AT THE NEXT MEETING ON JULY 19TH, 2010. If not paid, they are $10 each + $1.00  XXL and $2  XXXL extra

CLUB PICNIC: August 1st, 2010   At Beck’s Ranch, 1 pm, 29325 Chualar Cyn Road, Chualar. Signup sheet on July 19 - chose tri-tip or chicken, side dishes and desserts. Please bring: chair, plates and silverware. No longer treasured rock for the auction or other related items. The picnic is always a lot of fun, a snappy auction  to gain new rock, either it be slabs, rough or anything else related to the rock hounding hobby.  Please call Karen Jones 678-0337 or Gail Lack 449-0322 with your choices

By: M. Humenik

February Santa Cruz Lapidarian

At present, there are about 4,000 minerals that have been described in the literature. (Of these, only about 200 can be considered common.) This bewildering array of compounds begs for some kind of system to arrange them so that their different qualities and properties are not just a confusing collection of facts.

Many classification schemes are possible. Minerals could be classified on the basis of color or specific gravity or crystal shape. Any of these criteria would allow you to bunch minerals together into groups but would these groups reveal any relationships between members of the group? Malachite and dementoid garnet are both green, but that’s as far as similarities go. Chalcocite and chromite both have high specific gravities, but again, this is where the similarities end. Crystal shape seems like a possibility. Calcite and hematite both can occur as crystals in the hexagonal-scalenohedral class but are otherwise very unlike each other.

It turns out that chemical composition offers the best classification scheme to relate minerals’ qualities and properties to each other. Minerals are usually rather simple compounds (compared to most organic compounds) and can each be described by a simple formula that states the relative amounts of which elements form the mineral. A few examples – Halite (Salt) has the formula NaCl indicating that it consists of an equal number of sodium (Na) and Chlorine (Cl) atoms. Ice (a mineral) has the formula H2O, with twice as many hydrogen (H) atoms as oxygen (O) atoms. Calcite, CaCO3, has 3 oxygen (O) atoms, a calcium (Ca) atom and a carbon (C) atom. Pyrite is FeS2, containing 1 iron (Fe) atom for each 2 Sulphur (S) atoms.

The formulas give you the chemical “name” for each mineral: halite is Sodium Chloride, Water is Hydrogen Dioxide, Pyrite is Iron Disulphide and calcite is Calcium Carbonate. The “carbonate” refers to the carbonate radical (CO3). A radical is a group of atoms that generally remain together during chemical reactions. They are electrically charged and act similarly to single charged atoms (ions). Calcite is Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) and rhodochrosite is Manganese Carbonate (MnCO3).

The bonds that join the atoms together to form compounds are electrical in nature. The movement of electrons from one atom to another imparts positive or negative charges to the atoms involved. Positive and negative ions join each other to keep the overall compound in an electrically neutral state.

Generally, a metal atom will give up or share an electron to become a positively charged ion (a “cation”). Nonmetals and many radicals will accept or share electrons with a metal and become negatively charged (an “anion”). By convention, the cation is listed first in the formula followed by the anion. With halite (NaCl), sodium is the cation and chlorine is the anion. With pyrite, (FeS2) iron is the cation and sulphur is the anion. With calcite (CaCO3), calcium is the cation and the carbonate radical is the anion. With celestite, (Sr5O4), Strontium (Sr) is the cation and the sulphate radical (SO4) is the anion.

Minerals are classified on the basis of the dominant anion or anionic group. This is done because minerals having the same anion will have more similar chemical and physical properties than minerals with the same cation. Thus, calcite (CaCO3) and siderite (FeCO3), resemble each other much more than siderite and pyrite (FeS2) do.

There are 12 broad divisions used in “Dana’s System of Mineralology”. These 12 classes are each divided into “families”, based on chemistry which are further subdivided into “groups” based on crystal structure. A group consists of “species” which may form “series” with each other as well as specific “varieties”

The first class of minerals is the only one not based on anions. The “Native Elements” are minerals composed of single elements in a free and uncombined state. This can happen with about 20 elements but is an uncommon occurrence. Some examples are gold (Au), graphite (C), diamond (C), and sulphur (S).

The second class is the “sulphides”. These minerals consist of a metal combined with sulphur as the anion (or selenium or tellurium). Many ore minerals are in this class including pyrite, galena and cinnabar. Many of these minerals look metallic but are brittle (unlike metal).

The “sulphosalts” (sometimes included with the sulphides) are composed of lead, copper or silver in combination with sulphur and antimony, arsenic or bismuth. Bournonite and enargite are sulphosalts.

The “oxides” are an important class of minerals whose members are composed of a metal combined with oxygen as the anion. The minerals in this group vary widely in properties. Ice, rust, corundum and hematite are all oxides. (“Rust” isn’t technically a mineral but ice is.)

A subset of the oxides is the “hydroxides”. These are oxides that contain water (H2O) or the hydroxil (OH) as an important radical. An example is brucite (Mg(OH)2)

Lifted from LARocks Yahoogroups.com

QUESTION:   I have just slabbed some nice Dino-bone, but is brittle and full of fractures. I was told to "stabilize it with "Hot Stuff". Any other, relatively easy suggestions? And how will using "Hot Stuff", or whatever is suggested, change my cabbing & polishing?

ANSWER:  I only have limited experience with filling voids but here's my 5 cents: First, I think it depends on the severity of the voids you're dealing  with - the number and the depth of them.For just a few cracks or pits, I'd go with the super glues like "Hot Stuff". I prefer the thin consistencies over the gels. You can  generally buy two small tubes for a buck at the 99 cents store. That  way you don't have to try getting a used tube unstuck. Just open a new tube every time you need some glue. ;-) If the pits are more extensive, I'd go with Opticon. Opticon is a  thin, two-part epoxy compound. It permeates easily into all the  voids. I put the stone into a shallow dish just large enough for the stone. Pour a little resin over the stone and set the dish in a warm spot for 4-6 hours (I often put it up over a lampshade). Occasionally spoon a little of the resin up over the  stone. Then pour the excess resin back into the can and add a couple  drops of the hardener to the dish. Mix it up well and spoon the  resin up over the stone. Let set up over night.

In either case grind and sand your piece up to 600 grit and  thoroughly dry it. Then clean it with acetone and thoroughly dry it  again before applying either glue. Let the glue set up, sand the excess off with 600 grit, and polish. Avoid getting the stone too hot.

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