[Rockhounds] Newly published Agate and Jasper book

[VevaBailey at aol.com]

Thanks Pete for the info.
I will check around and see if I can find some used equipment for sale. 
I probably will have to purchase one instrument at a time, unless I can  
find out where that rockhounder was looking at rocks here in Nevada and found 
a  very large gold nugget. LOL
It was reported that the nugget was worth at least $20,000. See it pays to  
be a rockhounder in Nevada!!
 
Veva
 
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 6/10/2009 9:35:59 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
pmodreski at aol.com writes:

Veva,

As to some of the equipment,

For specific  gravity, I have had a "Cent-o-gram" balance, made by Ohaus, 
for many decades,  and it gives very accurate and reproducible specific 
gravity readings.? It  weights to +/- 0.01 gram.? I just checked online, this 
balance is still made,  and it can be purchased for $154.50--not cheap, but 
it's a reliable instrument  for a  lifetime.

http://www.ohaus.bz/ohaus_cent_o_gram_scale.htm

Many  gem testing instruments can be purchased from GIA, but their 
equipment is very  expensive, though top quality; for example,?their dichroscope is 
$157 and  their polariscope is $349.? I don't have any good suggestions 
offhand for  other sources of these kinds of equipment.

I see that you can buy one  of several kinds of digital refractometers for 
between $175 to $348  from,
http://www.mineralab.com/Gem%20ID.htm
(these of course can only be  used to test polished, faceted gemstones).? I 
have an older model digital  refractometer, a "GemMeter", which works 
moderately well, but it is not as  accurate as a tradiational optical prism 
refractometer (available from GIA for  $895).

Good luck!? I'm sure others will have some more advice to  offer,

Pete


-----Original Message-----
From:  VevaBailey at aol.com
To: rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com
Sent: Tue, 9 Jun  2009 9:40 pm
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Newly published Agate and Jasper  book



Thank you Kreigh, for the info. 
The book is on the  way!!!
Now another question for the list.
I want to purchase some  testing equipment, specific gravity, polariscope,  
refractometer,  etc. 
Who would the best vendor for this equipment?
I am on a limited  budget, so I must get as much for my money as I can. 
My sister was out  walking and brought home a piece of black, very black  
rock, it isn't  lava or glass like, so I would like to test it to see if it 
is  
onyx,  jet or jade. 
Here in Nevada, it can could be any one of these stones. I  haven't  tried 
to cut it yet, so I don't know how hard it would be to  cut.  



--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts  ---
multipart/alternative
text/plain (text body --  kept)
text/html
---
--  
_______________________________________________
Rockhounds at drizzle  Mailing List
Subscription  Services:
http://lists.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds
List  Usage  Policy:
http://rockhounds.ning.com/page/list-rules




--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
---