Post by bothunter on Mar 16, 2013 0:18:43 GMT -5
Hello Ladies and Gentleman,
I am still new to the board and had posted last month, asking advice about buying a slab saw. Post and thread is here:
forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/index.cgi?board=sawingb&action=display&thread=58179
If you don't want to re-read that thread, I originally did not know anything about saws (now that I own one, I still don't know much ) and was looking to buy a Covington 16" slab saw.
After reading many posts and getting a lot of advice, I purchased a Barranca Diamond HP18" saw. Many will want to know what the total price was. Delivered to my garage door, the total was just a tad over $4000.00. Ouch!
However, in my humble opinion, it is worth every penny, nickle, dime, quarter, half-dollar, and dollar bill I could beg, borrow, or steal to get a saw this beautiful and well engineered. Well, actually, the wife and I had saved up the money, so we avoided any interests on credit cards with this purchase.
The wife and I, also, will soon be joining a rock and gem club. The name of the club: The Mother Lode Mineral Society of California.
The clubs current president is Bob Rush, who turns out to be one really nice guy. He invited me over to his house and I was a little nervous and excited to meet Bob, after hearing all the great things folks were saying about him. I was given the grand tour of the shop, shown some beautiful examples of stone work and silversmithing. Mr. Bob Rush is a true gentleman and a master craftsman when it comes to lapidary arts. As a side note, I met Bob two days before the Mother Lode Mineral Society's rock and gem show. Needless to say Bob was a busy man. The wife and I did go to the show and I tried to help the club while at the show, but I was easily distracted by all the displays and exhibitors. Plus my illness is/was not helping me much with any kind of endurance.
I did meet a lot of people at the show and many many club members. To all these good people, I applaud all the work they did to put on this show. It truly is amazing.
I am looking forward to the next club meeting, where things will be a little less hectic, and I also looking forward to meeting up with Bob again. Lucky for me he only lives 10 minutes from my house. How lucky is that for a new guy?
Thanks for reading and I will post more pics as soon as I can.
Respectfully,
Paul
And now for the pics:
Who is that albino?
Bob Rush gave me these jaws to make this clamp. It works like a charm.
A closeup of clamp. You do need a small hand grinder to make the notches in the material for the clamp to bite onto.
some slabs:
Stoney CreeK
I am still new to the board and had posted last month, asking advice about buying a slab saw. Post and thread is here:
forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/index.cgi?board=sawingb&action=display&thread=58179
If you don't want to re-read that thread, I originally did not know anything about saws (now that I own one, I still don't know much ) and was looking to buy a Covington 16" slab saw.
After reading many posts and getting a lot of advice, I purchased a Barranca Diamond HP18" saw. Many will want to know what the total price was. Delivered to my garage door, the total was just a tad over $4000.00. Ouch!
However, in my humble opinion, it is worth every penny, nickle, dime, quarter, half-dollar, and dollar bill I could beg, borrow, or steal to get a saw this beautiful and well engineered. Well, actually, the wife and I had saved up the money, so we avoided any interests on credit cards with this purchase.
The wife and I, also, will soon be joining a rock and gem club. The name of the club: The Mother Lode Mineral Society of California.
The clubs current president is Bob Rush, who turns out to be one really nice guy. He invited me over to his house and I was a little nervous and excited to meet Bob, after hearing all the great things folks were saying about him. I was given the grand tour of the shop, shown some beautiful examples of stone work and silversmithing. Mr. Bob Rush is a true gentleman and a master craftsman when it comes to lapidary arts. As a side note, I met Bob two days before the Mother Lode Mineral Society's rock and gem show. Needless to say Bob was a busy man. The wife and I did go to the show and I tried to help the club while at the show, but I was easily distracted by all the displays and exhibitors. Plus my illness is/was not helping me much with any kind of endurance.
I did meet a lot of people at the show and many many club members. To all these good people, I applaud all the work they did to put on this show. It truly is amazing.
I am looking forward to the next club meeting, where things will be a little less hectic, and I also looking forward to meeting up with Bob again. Lucky for me he only lives 10 minutes from my house. How lucky is that for a new guy?
Thanks for reading and I will post more pics as soon as I can.
Respectfully,
Paul
And now for the pics:
Who is that albino?
Bob Rush gave me these jaws to make this clamp. It works like a charm.
A closeup of clamp. You do need a small hand grinder to make the notches in the material for the clamp to bite onto.
some slabs:
Stoney CreeK