I finished cutting and faceting my gemstone. I turned a hunk of old TV screen, scavenged from BLM land not too far from Mountain Home, into a pretty amazing looking gemstone. Not that I didn't have any help or guidance from Michael Stoecker and Kelly Willis during the process. Faceting stones isn't something easily understood for someone who failed basic geometry in High School.

Gemstone Unveiled

• Design Cut: NoviMMX
• Facets: I cut 57 facets into this stone.
• Number of Days: 4 days to go from rough to gem.
• Machine Used: Selectra-Matic Faceting Machine

Turning it Over – Gemstone Transfer Jig Process
I began the lesson with the Pavilion already cut and polished during Lesson 3. Basically the bottom portion of the stone was cut and it was time to start working on the “Crown”.

The problem here is trying to find a way turn the stone over and getting it attached to a new Dop Stick in a manner so the angles will be precisely the same. The way to do this is by using a “transfer jig” and Kelly thought it best that he accomplish this delicate task.

Video of the Dop Stick Transfer Jig

It much easier to understand the transfer jig process by watching the 2:00 video.



Cutting the Crown and Table


In the above picture you can see how the transfer jig process gave me access to the top part of the stone so I could start cutting the Crown and Table.

The cutting of the Crown and Table went much faster than I thought. I cut the eight “C1” facets at 30º rather quickly and this narrowed the girdle portion of the stone significantly. Then I polished these facets to a high sheen. Next I moved on to cutting the eight square C2 facets at about 28º and polished them up.

The only thing left was to cut the flat part of the top of the gemstone called the “Table”. This process took a little more time as high precision is required to cut right down to the “meet points”. After a few pointers from Kelly, the Table was nicely faceted and polished.



Thanks to Michael and Kelly
As you can see by the above picture, I am now the proud owner of a really cool gemstone that I cut almost completely by myself. I wish to thank Michael Stoecker and Kelly Willis for giving me this opportunity and opening up their shop to me.

But I was told that these guys are not finished with me yet. They seem to have some evil plans for me in the coming weeks. I certainly hope those plans don't include “hot wax”.





PS: A hardy congratulation goes out to Michael Stoecker for recently being chosen as the new President of the “Intermountain Jewelers Association”.

Are we going to let the Mountain Home Youth Center Close!
I was at the Farmers Market on Saturday morning walking my normal route through this excellent local event and almost missed it. Missed What? The Youth Center Community Yard Sale. The only way I knew the Youth Center was having a Yard Sale in their building was a sign on the Railroad Park side of the road.

I saw the sign and decided to take a look at all the “stuff” they had for sale. There was a boatload of boxes, loose items, furniture and other potentially useful things covering every flat spot in the Youth Center. All the proceeds from this inside yard sale were targeted to keep the Youth Center open.



$850 a Month to Stay Open
I admit, I didn't know the financing for the Youth Center had gotten to such a critical point. What can “you” do to help keep the Youth Center door open for the few hours they are open each week?

1. Donate money. The Idaho Independent Bank at 310 American Legion Blvd is accepting donations for the Youth Center.
2. Attend a meeting at the Western Elmore County Recreation District (WECRD) on Wednesday, September 28th, 2011. The Youth Center will be asking for funding from this local taxing agency.
3. E-mail or call the WECRD and ask them to “use your tax dollars” to support the Youth Center. 

There You Have It
You can help keep the Mountain Home Youth Center open for one more month, for the next years or potentially let it close forever. Time is short but I think this is a worthy cause. What do you think?

My Stoecker Jewelers faceting lessons continued with the cutting of “the breaks” and reshaping “the girdle” of my ever evolving gemstone. I also got more insight into the jewelry business Mountain Home Style.

Faceting First
After some close examination of “the stone”, I discovered there were some very visible scratches that needed to be polished out. We got the polishing wheel out and I went about polishing out the scratches in pavilion facets. I quickly took care of this job and moved on to the next task.

Cutting in the “pavilion breaks” is a rather crucial task in gem cutting so I let the expert handle this delicate operation. I watched Kelly Willis do his mental geometry, dial in the faceting machine and within minutes the 8 breaks were cut. I took over and polished up these facets to a high gloss. Let me tell you, just cutting in those 8 facets and polishing them made a huge difference. Even the pointy “culet” turned into a nice sharp point.



Due to a few minor overcuts and undercuts, I had to go back and recut/reshape the “girdle”. This delicate job was all mine and within 30 minutes, I had that stone looking pretty darn good.

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Some Stoecker Secrets Revealed
Spending time in the “Employee's Only Area” of a jewelry store can reveal some interesting information. Here are just a few secrets I am willing to leak out:

1. Jewelers must eat lunch: I was taken in the “back-back room” for lunch and sort of sworn to secrecy as to what I was about to see. Let's just say the back-back room is rather crowded. I'm not sure what Michael and Kelly are working on back there so I'll leave it to my readers to figure out what it is and leave a comment.



2. No Lead Ammunition?: When a Master Jeweler makes up his mind to save the environment he will spare no expense. I understand the US Army is testing this blue sapphire gemstone filled “leadless bullet”.



In reality, Michael and Kelly make these and you can buy your very own in a tie tack, cuff link and hat pin version. Seriously! Check them out as they are very cool.

3. Eyeglass Frame Repair: Every time I have been in Stoecker's both Michael and Kelly stay very busy. While I hope most of you know these two guys repair jewelry, I found out they also repair metal eyeglass frames.


Hard to see but this is Michael fixing a pair of eyeglasses

Faceting Words of Wisdom
My faceting lessons are moving along pretty much as I expected. Learning to faceting a stone can and will teach you patience. I'm still excited about this whole project and the projects the guys at Stoecker Jewelers have in store for me in the future. But to complicate matters, I present 2 direct quotes of wisdom:

• “No matter how many faceting mistakes you make on a stone, it can be easily be fixed” – Kelly Willis from Stoeckers
• “Never learn faceting on a gemstone you value.” - Michael Stoecker

Comments
Hope you enjoyed this article as much as I enjoyed writing about my experience. Leave a comment or question if you wish. If not, send a friend the link to this story so they can enjoy it.

The Mountain Home City Council Meeting held on Monday, August 22nd, 2011 was fascinating, moved along fast and lots of good things were discussed. As usual, City employees outnumber us regular citizens by a 2:1 ratio.

Some of the issued discussed during this meeting included:

1. The NLCM Lawsuit: The No Limits Christian Ministries, Inc lawsuit against the City will end up costing “us” ONLY about $75,000 - $80,000. This amount includes a $24,000 “damages award”.

- My Opinion: In today's litigious society, Mountain Home made out like a bandit. It could have been much worse. On the other hand, I think I can safely say because of this lawsuit, some very excellent local organizations will not be funded or funding will be cut. The Youth Center, The Mountain Home Museum, our City Bus routes to name just a few.



2. Adult Entertainment: As a direct result of the “NLCM, Inc” lawsuit, the City will now likely allow “Adult Entertainment” establishments in select commercial zones around the city. The current City Land Use Chart allows adult entertainment establishments only after applying for and approval of a Conditional Use Permit (CUP). This will change in the coming weeks or months.

- My Opinion: Once this Land Use Chart is changed and approved, there will be little if anything the City can do if someone wants to open a “Strip Club”. Yahoo!?!



3. The New Police Chief: Looks like Nick Schilz is a wanted man in Mountain Home. His appointment to the Police Chief position was unanimously approved at this meeting. I understand this was a grueling process with over 70 individual interviewing for the job. Nick was the Elmore County Deputy Sheriff until getting this job.

- My Opinion: There will be an opening for a new Deputy Sheriff in Elmore County. Guess that is a forecast and not an opinion.

4. Dangerous Sidewalks: If the sidewalks in front of your house are in bad condition, you will likely be asked and then told to get them fixed. The Council agreed the city may/might/will help with some of the associated costs. If there is no sidewalk in front of your house, get ready to have one built. This is in the city ordinances.

- My Opinion: This could get expensive for some residents. Oh, the City “Sidewalk Budget” is only $10,000.



5. HUD Housing: The Council wants to act slowly and cautiously before buying a HUD owned house for $1 plus closing costs, home inspection fees and possible maintenance costs. If the City ends up buying a HUD owned house, they will sell it at public auction and the proceeds will go to our local Seniors Center.

My Opinion: The Seniors Center is an excellent organization that needs more funding. But I still don't believe “The City” should be in the house flipping business.

Bondyweb Rant Follows
In this day and age of computers, scanners and the internet, it would be nice if the City would post some of the support documentation on their new and improved website. I understand I could head on down to City Hall and pick up copies of these documents. I may have the time but why go through the expense of printing when a digital copy will do just fine.



Bondyweb Thanks Follows
This humble and sometimes grumpy website owner, author and window washer would like thank the Mayor for putting a link to my website on the City website. See the bottom of the webpage located at:

http://www.mountain-home.us/MTNHOME/Forms_%26_Links.html

The link is called “Life off Interstate 84 – Idaho”.

Comments!
Hope you enjoyed my Mountain Home City Council Meeting Minutes for this week. Leave a comment and tell me what you think. If you enjoyed it you could also tell a friend about me by sending them a link. Please?