[Rockhounds] Field Trip Report

[Jim Daly]

Our club, the Michiana Gem & Mineral Society, went to a similar operation in the past. I agree with Doug that using their scrap for stepping stones could be a problem, some of our members used it for edging around flower beds, etc., and it worked out well.
Jim Daly
--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 5/5/17, Kreigh Tomaszewski <kreigh at gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: [Rockhounds] Field Trip Report
 To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors" <rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com>
 Date: Friday, May 5, 2017, 10:43 PM
 
 Today the Indian Mounds and Tulip City rock
 clubs took a joint field trip
 to Rock Solid Granite, a fabricator of
 stone countertops. The owner, Rich,
 gave us a tour of the fabrication shop.
 About ten years ago he gave up his
 CNC machine because it was too
 expensive, and returned to the more
 traditional methods for working stone.
 
 He starts by glueing wood slats
 together to make a pattern for the
 countertop to be cut. This is then laid
 out on the large stone slab and
 adjusted for optimal pattern and to
 avoid bad spots in the stone, and is
 then clamped down.
 
 Then he uses a large overhead saw on an
 x/y mount over a turntable that can
 support a full 8 x 12 foot slab to cut
 to pattern. Sink cutouts are done
 with a diamond router that actually
 floats on the stone surface from its
 cooling water feed, or by cutting
 undersize with the saw, and manually
 grinding to full size.
 
 Edges are finished with a router, or
 with hand finishing tools. He also has
 a nibbling tool in case a rough edge is
 desired.
 
 Material handling is an issue. A fork
 lift with a gravity clamp can lift
 and move an entire slab. Smaller pieces
 can be moved with a vacuum handler
 that uses suction pads to grip the
 surface of the stone.
 
 He did a demo of his giant saw by
 cutting a 6x6x12 rock in half that one of
 the club members had brought along. He
 ran it slow, because he was not sure
 of the rock composition, and it only
 took about a minute.
 
 All his scrap, and the sink cutouts, go
 into a scrap pile out back that he
 periodically has to pay to haul away
 (it goes to a stone crusher to be used
 for construction aggregate to make
 roads). Stone countertops are made from
 all kinds of granites, marbles,
 basalts, and talc to labradorite.
 
 Yes, it really was a field trip. We got
 to take as much of the scrap pile
 as we wanted. I took more than a dozen
 slabs that were more than a foot
 square, all different, and will have a
 new paved path in my garden. And a
 couple smaller pieces are going to get
 slabbed up for some lapidary
 projects.
 
 When the remaining quarries, gravel
 pits, and mines, no longer let you in,
 sometimes you have to get creative. We
 saved Rich a lot of money today by
 hauling away much of his scrap pile,
 and he gave us an interesting hour of
 learning, and a lot of interesting
 specimens. This was a win/win trip that
 I expect we will do again.
 
 Kreigh
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