Post by 12sunyata on Apr 18, 2020 23:14:22 GMT -5
Hi Everyone.
I'm psyched to have just discovered this wonderful forum. Here's what I have to say in my introduction:
As a young man, I grew up in Chicago, where I worked as a goldsmith for many years. That's how I fell in love with rocks and minerals in the first place. My instructor showed me how to carve stones, weld/solder gold and platinum, cast using lost wax techniques, mill precious metals into bars and rods, facet gemstones, set stones, virtually everything. I spent 13 years in that field before going back to school for 11 years in Seattle, then to Scottsdale, and now to Phoenix.
On a side note, while living in Chicago, I began rock climbing and mountaineering, which I pursued around the USA and Mexico for years before stopping, due to tendonitis in both elbows. But, I visited many incredible wilderness areas with fabulous rock formations, which kept my love for all-things-rocks...rock'n.
This past year, my partner and I, rekindled our love for rock and fossil collecting. We've been venturing into mines, quarries, and pay-to-mine facilities in search of the ever elusive specimens. Arizona and the neighboring states are bountiful with fantastic material, enough to keep us busy searching for many lifetimes.
Oddly, and the reason I discovered this site, was I'm in the process of constructing a carving station. I bought, then returned the offering, Carver's Station, back to Diamond Pacific as it was of extremely cheap construction. So, I discovered the drip fittings on Amazon, and bought a few lengths of those snap-together pieces. In addition, I bought a powerful aquarium pump, a heavy-duty Foredom tool, and dozens of sintered diamond bits/wheels/etc. I'm nearly ready.......BUT.....I needed to design the actual chamber. I was searching the Internet for imagery, and I stumbled on the idea offered on this site. What great imagery and a brilliant idea for building a stable chuck-holder. I had planned on carving free-hand, which I did 40 years ago, but it appears that it might be easier carving with a fixed handpiece. At least it's worth trying.
Now, I'll complete my station, then I can begin carving about 40 lbs of DeerCreek fire agate that I collected this year.
Kevin
I'm psyched to have just discovered this wonderful forum. Here's what I have to say in my introduction:
As a young man, I grew up in Chicago, where I worked as a goldsmith for many years. That's how I fell in love with rocks and minerals in the first place. My instructor showed me how to carve stones, weld/solder gold and platinum, cast using lost wax techniques, mill precious metals into bars and rods, facet gemstones, set stones, virtually everything. I spent 13 years in that field before going back to school for 11 years in Seattle, then to Scottsdale, and now to Phoenix.
On a side note, while living in Chicago, I began rock climbing and mountaineering, which I pursued around the USA and Mexico for years before stopping, due to tendonitis in both elbows. But, I visited many incredible wilderness areas with fabulous rock formations, which kept my love for all-things-rocks...rock'n.
This past year, my partner and I, rekindled our love for rock and fossil collecting. We've been venturing into mines, quarries, and pay-to-mine facilities in search of the ever elusive specimens. Arizona and the neighboring states are bountiful with fantastic material, enough to keep us busy searching for many lifetimes.
Oddly, and the reason I discovered this site, was I'm in the process of constructing a carving station. I bought, then returned the offering, Carver's Station, back to Diamond Pacific as it was of extremely cheap construction. So, I discovered the drip fittings on Amazon, and bought a few lengths of those snap-together pieces. In addition, I bought a powerful aquarium pump, a heavy-duty Foredom tool, and dozens of sintered diamond bits/wheels/etc. I'm nearly ready.......BUT.....I needed to design the actual chamber. I was searching the Internet for imagery, and I stumbled on the idea offered on this site. What great imagery and a brilliant idea for building a stable chuck-holder. I had planned on carving free-hand, which I did 40 years ago, but it appears that it might be easier carving with a fixed handpiece. At least it's worth trying.
Now, I'll complete my station, then I can begin carving about 40 lbs of DeerCreek fire agate that I collected this year.
Kevin
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