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oldnavy72 |
40. RE: Wet in Washington
Jan 24 2008, 10:58 PM EST
Oh, I have been around the block enough times to know not to use pawn shops only as a last resort and not even then. They can be a good place to buy the things that go unclaimed tho.Something else I'd like to do on here (in this Wiki) is start a glossary of terms/terminology if there isn't one already. There are a few terms and phrases that I have to Google, but you know what I mean. This is such a great learning experience. I was a cryptologist in the service and so I have a natural tendency to be an information vacuum cleaner. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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oldnavy72 |
41. RE: Wet in Washington
Jan 24 2008, 11:18 PM EST
I meant Star Garnets. The lady, Louise, was a hoot. She is definitely an invaluable source of information and her rates seemed very reasonable.
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pvjjh |
42. RE: Wet in Washington
Jan 24 2008, 11:29 PM EST
oldnavy, you have a great plan. Man it sounds great. I think I finally figured out your real thoughts about this. You don't need the machines as I mentioned before, unless you want to fill your spare time with a good hobby. Correct me if I am wrong, you really aren't looking for a lot of gems or material, just quality. If you could get just several great gems or stones a month you would be in great shape. The money needed for faceting or polishing, would be miniscule. I guess the one thing I would try to learn as well as I could before heading out on your trek would be gemstone quality identification. Finding the stones is one thing, but knowing when you have a real good one is another. That takes a lot of practice and education. I wish I had both. For instance you may find 2 bucket full of star garnets, or sunstones and may only have several real great stones, some good ones and a whole bunch of "lets sell'm" where and when we can. For instance the tourmaline Kirsten found, where the value when form $350 at the mine to nearly $12,000 when it was finished. There are tricks for determining how good a rough is and that is the key for making money. It will cost the same for a facetor to facet a $5000, $500 or $5 1 carat stone. What you need to know is how to determine if that is a $5 or a $5000 stone. Heck I am still trying to figure out the $5 stone. lol Now where can you learn such a skill? That I don't know. I know of a few tools, but I am still no good determining the best if you will. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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oldnavy72 |
43. RE: Wet in Washington
Jan 24 2008, 11:41 PM EST
Excellent advice!I really didn't want to get in to the polishing myself. A toothbrush and some water is about all I want to do. You know, now that you mention it, that show about the tourmaline, I noticed they used 2 different weights, when it was in the rough and being polished they used ounces I believe and the lady that did the faceting said it was worth $50 an ounce (or something) and at the jewelers in Hollywood CA, finished it was 2 carats at $5-$7K per carat. I did pay attention last night to the garnet lady - and also the value goes up when the "star" goes all the way from the top to the base of the stone on the finished (cleaned) product. Yea, knowing what the "hot rock" is can definitely make all the difference. BTW, I did start a new thread, somewhere on here, but not in the main discussion forums, called "Tips and Tricks" where I would like to get folks to share those jewels of info and hold back on the discussion. Just make it a repository for tips. Hopefully the Mods will take this and put in in the appropriate place. Do you find this valuable? |
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pvjjh |
44. RE: Wet in Washington
Jan 25 2008, 12:16 AM EST
what a thread you got started here. lol It is great. The tips and tricks thread could be great as well.I think the tourmaline show when they finished faceting the stone it weighed 11.4 carats, about twice what the facetor first estimated. At the jewelers, i believe they confirmed the wieght and the value was $1000 per carat, hence the near $12,000 value. Yeah the garnet lady was a kick. A great show, but I was amazed how busy it was. Probably pretty true for a lot of pay sites. Maybe not. I wish is wasn't so far out of the way as this summer my family and some freinds are planning a trip to MT to dig sapphires for a couple of days. I think digging for start garnets would be a kick as well, but just a bit to far out of the way for this trip. But maybe next trip... Do you find this valuable? |
ModerndayEdison |
45. RE: Wet in Washington
Jan 25 2008, 12:45 AM EST
I believe that Garnet Queen was such a kick because you could clearlytell that she was doing what she loved, and loved what she was doing. And has probably been doing it for quite some time, as they said on the show. I know if I had pulled millions out of the ground over a period of 30 to 50 years......I would keep doing it with a dance and a shuffle the same as she is doing. The same holds true for other types of work or employment as well. You have to enjoy what your doing, and have a passion for it. Otherwise you just won't succeed in that profession as well as you would with the love, enjoyment, and passion for the job. There is no more exciting wealth than that which you pull from the earth with your own two hands. And I believe that old woman's demeanor was a perfect testiment to that conclussion. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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oldnavy72 |
46. RE: Wet in Washington
Jan 25 2008, 1:39 AM EST
Couldn't have said it better Edison. You could definitely feel her passion for it.Another thing I liked was that this location is maintained by the USFS and $10/day for digging, shaking and washing seems very, very reasonable. Do you find this valuable? |
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pvjjh |
47. RE: Wet in Washington
Jan 25 2008, 7:34 PM EST
"Couldn't have said it better Edison. You could definitely feel her passion for it.One other plus oldnavy, is that it is right next door to WA. :-) Now if C&T updates their website we will know how to find it. Do you find this valuable? |
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ModerndayEdison |
48. RE: Wet in Washington
Jan 26 2008, 8:51 AM EST
I have noticed that there has been allot of rerunepisodes of Cash and Treasure on lately. This means they are out filming and producing. I made a comment on this site a while back about drift wood and Petrified Wood, and a few weeks later there was a killer episode about Petrified Wood with specimens larger than I had ever seen. I pick mine off the banks of the Mississippi River, but they were using track hoes to dig these whole petrified tree trunks out of a field... it was awsome. The stuff is worth money. And you could tell Kirsten was having a blast on that episode. I could clearly tell that she was surprized that Wood turned into Stone is as valuable as it is. I don't want to take credit for the episode because her and her crew did the research and foot work to produce it... I just threw the idea into the air for them to grab on to and run with it. I thought that it was cool that it wound up as an episode. You guys might try to do the same thing......just make a suggestion here on the site that the show hasn't touched on yet (That doesn't involve digging up old out house pits, or climbing in dumpsters) And I am sure it might wind up on the show. Do you find this valuable? |
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oldnavy72 |
49. RE: Wet in Washington
Jan 26 2008, 12:51 PM EST
Good job Edison. I have been trying to think of things that would be worthy for the show - keeping with the theme and all. The upcoming ginseng episode gave me an idea, and that is if they would do shows on collecting/finding medicinal herbs and the like. My son-in-law supplements his income gathering yellow root and selling it by the pound to local herb and naturopathy folks back east.I also wonder when they are going to move this wiki over to the new site? I surely hope they do. Do you find this valuable? |
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oldnavy72 |
50. RE: Wet in Washington
Jan 26 2008, 12:56 PM EST
Here's a link to the new C&T site -http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Cash_and_Treasures - I think they changed hosting companies and maybe servers because they regular forums under the new location are lightning fast. But the link over on the far left and the next to the last one for the Wiki errors out saying it can't be found - so I am not sure what they are trying to do or are going to do with our threads over here.http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Cash_and_Treasures Do you find this valuable? |
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ModerndayEdison |
51. RE: Wet in Washington
Jan 28 2008, 11:40 AM EST
It would seem that CnT's Wiki is exceeding their Free Web Space hereon this site, and the enormous feedback that they have been recieving about the show has warranted an addition to the Travel Channel's Servers to accomodate Cash ad Treasures fan fair. Their building a bigger and better website. Like you Oldnavy.....I'm not sure what they plan to do with all of our posts here on this Wiki, I guess we'll just have to stay tuned for them to let us know when they're ready. Do you find this valuable? |
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ModerndayEdison |
52. RE: Wet in Washington
Jan 28 2008, 11:47 AM EST
I guess that would explain why my Cash and TreasureBanner isn't showing up at the top of these Wiki pages any longer. I will start watching both sites and see how things progress. Do you find this valuable? |
washingtoncougar |
53. RE: Wet in Washington
Jan 29 2008, 7:36 PM EST
The wife is wondering if any one knows the name of the piece of lapidary equipment that the Garnet Queen was using to grind and polish the star garnets. Dave Do you find this valuable? |
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oldnavy72 |
54. RE: Wet in Washington
Feb 1 2008, 3:36 PM EST
Excellent question. I have been trying (although not very hard) to find out myself. It didn't look all that complicated, like an inverted sanding/polishing cone that she had rigged some sort of water drip device. I think the challenge would be knowing how far down to polish because the key to value according to the appraiser, besides the star quality, was that the star go all the way to the base of the polished stone.
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pvjjh |
55. RE: Wet in Washington
Feb 1 2008, 11:09 PM EST
It sounds like a preform cab diamond lap. I know you can buy some of the laps with different shapes made into them. Just a guess. I can't remember what it looked like. I need to watch the episode again.
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washingtoncougar |
56. RE: Wet in Washington
Feb 7 2008, 1:05 AM EST
Thank You,the wife is already looking to see if she can find any. Dave Do you find this valuable? |
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pvjjh |
57. RE: Wet in Washington
Feb 7 2008, 2:25 PM EST
I sent my faceting machine to be upgraded hence that work is down for a while. Though I have been doing a lot of rock sawing - mostly cutting geodes. I also dopped up some rubies and have be grinding them. I haven't done much cabbing before, it is hard to do on a round wheel. Wish I had diamond wheels instead of grinding stone wheels. Also a preform lap would be real handy to help shape these things. If I find any on line I will send you the links. Paul or p of the pvjjh. lol
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treebaby |
58. RE: Wet in Washington
Feb 8 2008, 3:14 PM EST
"Hello all,hello, i am a late comer to this discussion, but our family lives in Ballard (in Seattle area) and we have an 8 y.o. son. The 3 of us and our little subaru would love to hookup with another family for some type of rock hounding adventure spring and/or summer. I have been trying to collect book on rockhounding in thisarea and any bits o' info. It would be cool to hook up with another family for a "test" adventure to see what we need and just to check out everything and HAVE SOME HEALTHY GOOD FUN?! if this appeals please email us/me. tree (teresa) ethington@q.com Do you find this valuable? |
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washingtoncougar |
59. RE: Wet in Washington
Feb 8 2008, 5:43 PM EST
Hello Treebaby,the best thing I could tell is to check out the local Gem and Minerial clubs in the area. Looking at the internet there are a few in the Seattle area. They all have calanders of up coming field trips and shows. Here is a web address to start with http://home.comcast.net/~wams1939/links.htm Good Luck and Enjoy Dave Do you find this valuable? |
