On Jun 23, 9:15*pm, Jim wrote:
On Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:06:00 -0700, sunrainor
discovered a keyboard and, for our
edification and amusement, submitted



On Jun 17, 12:25*pm, Peter W. Rowe
wrote:
*Finola,
(snip)
If you intend to do a fair amount of this type of work, eventually you'll want
an actual lapidary machine. *Simplest are the small "all in one" combination
units.
(snip)

Thanks Peter and Terrie - very useful and do-able information. I am
back in Barbados again and my rocks are in St. Lucia but I brought
across a mid sized one to try out your suggestions with.

I did a bit of looking and found some combo machines - do you allow
posting links to stores? If so, could you guys take a look see and let
me know if you have any opinion/experience with them? If not, here's
the description:

"The SwapTop Trim Saw is the all purpose, full feature trim saw for
all your stone, tile, ceramic, and hobby projects.

The Swap Top is a fine starter machine and will handle the mentioned
matwerials quite well. Our local lapidary club uses several of these
units for our beginning lapidary classes; our students begin work with
Brazilian agate, since it is a nice hard material.

The manufacturer has used our cluib s a testing ground for these
units, and we have suggested many improvements which have been
incorporated into today's models. HTH.

Blessed be, for sure...

Thanks Jim, when I get to the point of purchasing one, may I ask you
for more specific advice on what parts to purchase?

And not sure how to do this, but I'd like to be able to tell people
what my stones actually are - from what I read, it's quite difficult
to actually pin down unless you are either an expert of can do some
tests...where does one look for help in this? We don't have 'rock
shops' in these parts - our regional university has a geology dept - I
will contact them for advice, but any other suggestions would be
welcome.

Finola