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...