MAY, 2018 EDITION 1

No Stone

Unturned

One of the Cabins

KEN TIM ANITA DIVINING

Above: Robbie, finding sapphires

Read his report inside.

Evening around the camp fire

Camping styles

Look what’s

Happening

at the Club GEM TREES

Tamara is creating beautiful

gem-trees. At right she is putting

the finishing touches on her latest

tree and (inset) the very first tree

she created.

The gem tree by Dianne (below)

shows what you can do with your

left over silver wire and some gold

nuggets.

Bracelets are coming thick and fast. Below the middle

bracelet featuring a tiger eye cabochon was made by Rita,

while the silver bracelets on either side were made by

Dianne and Lloyd.

MAY, 2018 EDITION 2

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Phone: 0450 185 250

Email: cairnsmlc@gmail.com

Postal Address: PO Box 389, Westcourt. 4870. NQ

129 Mulgrave Road (in the Youth Centre Grounds)

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

President: Michael Hardcastle

Vice-president: Bill Reece

Secretary: Jeanne Mora

Treasurer: Joe Venables

Assistant Secretary: Tammi Saal

Assistant Treasurer: Carolyn Whittaker

Extra member: Jan Saal

OTHER PERSONNEL:

Purchasing Officers: Jan Saal

Specimen Curator: David Croft

Specimen Tester: David Croft

Cabochon Instructor: Mike Hardcastle, Jodi Sawyer

Faceting Instructors: Jim Lidstone, Joe Ferk

Silver Instructors: Sylvia Rose,

Machinery Curators: David Croft,

Gem Testing: Vic Lahtinen

Librarian: Emma Haggerwood

Facebook Admin: Tammi Saal

QLACCA Delegate: Bill Reece

Youth Centre Rep: Bill Reece

Field Trip Advisor: Allan Gale

Special Events: Bill Reece & Management

Committee

Auditor: GKS Chartered Accountants

Safety Officers Damien DeSabbatta & Anita

WE WISH TO THANK THE FEDERAL

MEMBER FOR LEICHHARDT, HON.

WARREN ENSTCH, FOR FACILITATING

THE COPYING OF THIS MAGAZINE.

CLUB HOURS:

Monday 4:00pm to 9:30 pm

Wednesday *8:30am to 12:30

*1:00pm to 4:00pm

Saturday *9:00am to 1:00

*12:00pm to 4:00pm

Workroom fees are $4 per session and must be

paid before session begins.

Note: The Club is closed for all gazetted

holidays

GENERAL MEETINGS:

General meetings are held on the 1st Saturday of

each month. When this is a public holiday, the

meeting is deferred until the following Saturday.

Note: Your Attendance at General Meetings

ensures that your voice will be heard when it

comes to making decisions concerning the

running of the club.

CLUB PURCHASING POLICY:

If you wish to purchase something on behalf of the

club, please notify the purchasing officer..

Magazine Editor and Publisher: Jeanne

Mora

The Editor reserves the right to choose and

edit all material featured in this magazine. Although all

care is taken to ensure the accuracy of the material

herein, the Editor does not accept responsibility for any

inaccuracies which may inadvertently occur.

MAY, 2018 EDITION 3

Hello Everybody,

Topaz! Heaps of it in O’Briens Creek! Well I know where there wasn’t much, and that was in

the hole that Rob and I spent two days digging. Unfortunately upon reaching the bottom, we

found it had previously been cleaned out! That happens sometimes, so we had lots of

exercise, fun, food, drinks, laughter and good company, and we slept like logs at night. The

camp grounds have good, clean facilities and they have recovered from the flooding and are open for

business. More fossicking news in the field trip report.

Now the fossicking trips are over until July, it’s time to start work on securing the shipping container. I need a

casual volunteer to watch and assist me in digging and pouring the footings.

The garden bed that caught fire has been removed in preparation for the Gem Festival in July which is fast

approaching. Bill will be asking you to assist in the selling of Monster Raffle tickets at Stockland. Please give

it a go. It doesn’t hurt and it helps raise funds for our club.

Michael Healy, the State Member for Cairns, has accepted an invitation to attend the Gem Festival on

Sunday, 29th July. He will also be calling into the club, for morning tea, on Wednesday,30th May.

The silver casting workshops were a great success. A big thank-you to Bill Hall and Tim Franklin for organis-

ing and coordinating the sessions and assisting the club members to achieve a successful outcome. The

clean-up session was postponed as many of our members attended the late Dennis Kable’s lapidary

equipment garage sale.

In our faceting area, Jim is busy instructing two new members in the art while Joe is assisting some members

in fine-tuning their faceting skills. Thank you both. Congratulations to Kylie who has completed her faceting

course and has been presented with her certificate.

In the cabochon area, the instructor has been extremely busy with five new members, cutting, grinding and

polishing stone to form cabochons.

In the rock, mineral and gemstone identification area, David is ably analysing and identifying specimens for

members and visitors. Vic, our Gemologist, comes to the club on Wednesday mornings to identify

gemstones. Both these gentlemen are very experienced and knowledgeable. I would like everyone to be

aware of the expertise we have available at the club and how fortunate we are to have these experienced

members make themselves available and are prepared to share their time and knowledge. Thank-you both.

With all members working together to achieve goals, we will have a successful club that we can al e proud of.

Everybody can assist in their own special way.

An amazing jewellery display cabinet is being built by our busy Treasurer, Joe, and will be used to display

members work both at the club and at the Cairns Show. Joe has spent hundreds of hours working quietly

behind the scenes . He deserves many pats on the back. I sincerely thank you Joe. This is something

members don’t usually hear about. Joe went to the bank on Wednesday to deposit the Club takings. Part of

the process is to load the coins into a machine which automatically sorts and counts them. The machine said

Joe was short by $10.70. which confused him no end. He is very accurate when counting money.

Continued on page 7

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

MAY, 2018 EDITION 4

SOME HINTS TO GET YOU STARTED

To stabilise the first few links, try pinning

the first two outside rings to a flat surface

like a soldering block. Use sewing pins.

Different Aspect Ratios and the effect

you’ll get: (from top to bottom)

AR 3.95 - flopping connector rings tend to

bring the weave in disorder, as they can have

two stable positions and tend to lock there

*AR 4.20 - connectors can flop freely, but

'auto-arrange' by chain tension, so this is a

good AR. (1mm wire, 4mm ID)

4.70 - already relatively floppy, as not only the

connectors are freely movable, but also the

connected chains tend to arrange in a nar-

rower pattern that is not really attractive.

So it's of advantage to use EITHER a low AR

in the 3.7 to 3.8 range that has the connectors

safely locked in position but a bendable

weave,

OR an AR in the around 4.2 to 4.5 range, with

'free' connectors that does not yet tend to

distort.

AR 3.70 - nearly stiff, and there is NO Elf-

weave-typical flopping connector problem.

Use 1mm wire 4mm rings*

MAY, 2018 EDITION 5

MOVING ON FROM BASIC ELFWAEVE

ELFWEAVE IS A VERY ADAPTABLE PATTERN

Below are some ideas for different looks using different treatments. From left to right:

1 Teamed with leather to make an interesting cuff, 2. With an additional row of jump rings on either side of

the original pattern. 3. Using different coloured jump rings for variety.

DATES TO REMEMBER

May 12 Club General Meeting

May 13th Mothers Day

May 26 Mt Gravatt Germ Show, Club House

1873 Logan Rd, Upper Mt Gravatt

JUNE

June 2nd Club General Meeting

June 2nd QACCA Management Meeting,

Gunyah Display

June 2-3 Gunyah Club Display, Mt Cootha

June 21st Management Committee Meeting

June 30th Gold Coast Gem Craft Show, 80

Pacific Av,. Miami, Pizzey Park

ARE YOU GETTING YOUR ENTRIES READY FOR THE

CAIRNS SHOW (July, 18, 19, 20) Pick up an entry form

& drop your entries at the Club ,

HAVE YOU BOOKED YOUR STALL FOR THE GEM

FESTIVAL YET (July 27, 28)

Mother Mouse and her baby mouse were out

walking one day, when a large hungry cat

loomed up in front of them. Without hesitation,

Mother mouse yelled, “BARK”. The startled cat

turned tail and ran and Mother Mouse turned to

her baby mouse and said, “You see how handy

it is to know a second language.”

MAY, 2018 EDITION 6

TWO GREAT EXAMPLES OF MATES HELPING

MATES

WELL DONE GALE FAMILY

The Gale family have just returned from a fossicking

holiday which included spending time helping out the

proprietors of the O,Briens Creek Caravan Park.

As you will be aware, the park sustained massive

damage when the gentle Elizabeth Creek turned into

a destructive torrent during an unprecedented flash

flood. 600mm of rain actually fell on the catchment

on Springfield Station, and out of a clear sky, a flood

washed away just about everything in the Park.

The Gales arrived with a chain saw and a will to help

and got stuck into the clean-up effort. Great job! Well

done!!

Brenda was saying that she has never seen so

many odd outcomes. While moving what appeared

to be a build up of newspaper on the boundary

fence, she unwrapped unbroken ceramics.

Apparently, two bottles of wine turned up unbroken,

two Kilometres downstream.

During their stay, some very good quality Smokey

quartz specimens (most from a single small pocket)

were unearthed by the Gales. (see below)

Now that Elizabeth

Creek is back to its

usual gentle self it was

decided that this would

be the venue for the

May Day Weekend

Field Trip. An account of

the event is inside.

AROUND

THE

CLUB

And A BIG THANK-YOU

To those who set up the sale and those who

supported the garage sale of the late Denis Kable’s

lapidary stores. From all reports, it was a very

successful effort. I’m sure this was appreciated by

his family.

A TRIBUTE TO A CLUB SUPPORTER:

As you are all aware, “No Stone Unturned” is printed

off at the office of Warren Enstch. What you may not

be aware of, is that the staff in the office are always

friendly, helpful and always willing to hold up their

own schedules to see the magazine gets printed with

the least possible stress to me. A massive thank-you

to you all. You really are an asset to Warren.

Jeanne

BIRTHDAY BEST WISHES TO

all members born in the month of May,

including these that we know about. Have a memo-

rable birthday and year.

Len Hart, Maggie McCauley, Tamara Newton,

Robert O’Leary, Wayne Potts, Sylvia Rose,

Gloria Worlley, Jan Drenth,

PS A little bird tells me Allan is about to

celebrate his 80th birthday! Watch this space!

A WARM WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBER ;

Nicola Redgen.

(Nicola is the creator of our club web page, which

she set up while balancing completing her course at

JCU and her home duties. It’s great and is greatly

appreciated!)

To view, log on to

https://cairnsmkineral club.rocks

BEST WISHES TO ANY OF OUR MEMBERS WHO

ARE UNWELL

MAY, 2018 EDITION 7

Michael’s Report Continued from page 3

So he came back to the club to find the illusive short-

fall. He hunted around where he’d been counting the

money but it wasn’t there. He decided that he must

have absent-mindedly put it back in the till . So he

counted out $10.70 and returned to the bank . When

he arrived a bank employee apologised as she told

him that the machine had actually miscounted the

money. He hadn’t been wrong after all.

Sylvia and Allan Rose are due back at the end of `May

and we look forward to hearing all their travel stories.

I could go on and on thanking the many devoted

individuals, so instead I will thank everyone who, in

any way, assists in the running of the club.

Until next month,

Michael

CLUB T-SHIRTS

After a lot of hard work by Tammi, the prototypes of the

club T-shirts have been delivered. Because we had to

have 10 shirts, before an initial print would be done,

members were asked to buy a grey shirt.

So begins the saga!

There were only two shirts the same shade of grey.

(As Jan quipped, we had “50 Shades of Grey”). Now

because the fibre varied from shirt to shirt, the

company advised that the dye used for screen printing

would look different on each fabric and may not “take”

on some fabrics. So……We went back to embroidery!

Looks good too but the diversity of colours is not a

good look. We need to make a unanimous decision

(once and for all) on what colour we are going to

have! The consensus at the moment seems to favour

pale blue. Let’s have some feedback please.

Perhaps the answer is for members to order their size

of shirt and the club buys them all in the same shade!

(Just a thought).

A CHANGE IN PROCEDURE

Those of you who attend meetings will be used to

the Secretary reading the minutes from the previous

meeting.

From now on, those meetings will be emailed to you

as an attached PDF file, the week following the

meeting. Please take the time to read them.

For those without a computer, or who haven’t had

time to read the email, copies will also be posted on

the notice board and on the table for your

convenience. They should be read in the 15 minutes

before he meeting begins.

MONSTER RAFFLE

Bill has collected several prizes already including;

two sterling silver necklaces donated by Dianne and

Lloyd Ellis; two hand-turned wooden toys donated

by Joe Venables; an Arrakune painting donated by

Tim Frankin; and a gold filled bangle donated by

Jeanne Mora (Sylvia actually made it). Some prizes

are still to come.

Bill will be asking members ti assist in the buying

and selling of tickets and people who are still work-

ing may consider selling a book to colleagues. The

prizes are good quality!

MAY, 2018 EDITION 8

MAY DAY FIELD TRIP

G’day Readers

The May Day long weekend field trip was to the O’Briens Creek fossicking area near Mount Surprise this

year. Eight club members attended with 3 first timers amongst them.

Generally, fossicking in this location involves dry sieving in the creeks and gullies, however due to the recent

flooding, this was not possible as everywhere was still too wet. O’Briens Creek was still running over the

crossing, consequently, we were predominantly restricted to

specking and spent some time exploring areas further a field

from O’Briens Creek itself.

Michael and Robbie were already at the campground on

Elizabeth Creek when Brenda and I arrived on Saturday

morning with Karen and David arriving not much later. After

setting up camp we agreed to head out to the fossicking area

for a bit of a recce all of us meeting up at the site of the old

bulldozed mullock heap on the western side of O’Briens

Creek a few hours later. Nearly everyone had specked a

topaz or two, including yours truly (sometimes it pays to

shuffle your feet), the best was a 66ct waterworn stone

Brenda picked up on a recently exposed sandbar slightly

downstream of the mullock heap. Brenda and I went to get in

a supply of wood for the fire leaving Michael, Robbie, Karen

and David to continued to explore further upstream.

Tim was at camp when we got back with a load of wood and Nicky joined the party a little later. A very

pleasant afternoon/evening followed with everyone enjoying relaxing around the campfire with a bit of

Brenda’s Sun dried Tomato and Salami Damper for an appetiser.

Sunday saw the majority of our crew up and about early ready for a full day on the field (well, Robbie was

awake and at least one of his fingers was up and visible through the gauze on his tent). Michael and Robbie

opted to work a hole they had started the previous afternoon in O’Briens Creek, so it was decided that the

rest of us would explore Tourmaline Gully in the morning and catch up with them around lunchtime to see

how they were going. After a relatively short drive we arrived at the beginning of Tourmaline and David

specked the first stone just after reaching the gulley from where we parked the cars. We all spread out and

worked the gulley scratching and specking. Even this high up the bottom of the gulley was too wet to sieve.

We all eventually worked our way back to the cars and discovered that David had found another Topaz and

Nicky had scratched out a couple of stones, one of which was a slab shaped piece that went 108ct.

We pulled out of Tourmaline Gulley and headed back to O’Briens where Michael and Robbie were working

their hole which was considerably larger after their morning efforts, and, alas, with only a single stone to show

for it. Most of us had a break here but not Michael and Robbie, nor Tim who specked a very nice stone sitting

on a rock in the middle of the watercourse just a little upstream from the boys. After a break we headed back

to the cars leaving Michael and Robbie to soldier on, while we went to explore O’Brien’s Creek downstream of

the crossing. (continued next page)

Above: Robbie and Michael

MAY, 2018 EDITION 9

We parked up at the old mullock heap

a few hundred metres from the

junction of O’Brien and Elizabeth

Creeks and got busy looking for

stones. Brenda found several just

down from the mullock heap but her

dicky knee was starting to play up so

we had to call it quits for the arvo.

Karen and David also headed back to

the campground, as they had to head

home. That evening was a little

quieter around the fire, everyone

relaxing after a full and busy day on

the field and comparing their finds. It

did get a little more animated when

Brenda brought out the Caramel Tarts with cream for the crews desert.

Monday morning, and Tim, Brenda and I had to head home. Michael, Robbie and Nicky headed back out to

the field and I hope they all found stone. We’ll find out soon

Happy Fossicking, and I hope to see you all in a dirty hole on a field far, far away sometime soon.

‘Windy’

Above Karen & David and a friend

Above: Tim specking a

dry creek bed

Above: Nicki

Left: : Allan in camp

Above: Someone’s lucky find.

Brenda’s maybe?

MAY, 2018 EDITION 10

This is one of Gemboree 2018

competition patterns

MAY, 2018 EDITION 11

The next day the newspaper headlines read

(You're going to hate me for this....)

"ARTIE CHOKES 2 for $1.00 @ Costco"

Oh, quit groaning! I don't write this stuff, I receive it from my

warped friends and then send it on to you.

What do you call a smart blonde?

A golden retriever.

What's the difference between a girlfriend and

wife?

20 kg

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To

steal ideas from many people is research.

How is that one careless match can start a forest

fire but it takes a whole box to light a camp fire?

A shinbone is a device for finding furniture in a

dark room.

Did you know that dolphins are so smart that

within a few weeks of captivity they can train

people to stand on the very edge of the pool and

throw them fish?

I thought I wanted a career. Turns out I only

wanted pay checks.

He who smiles in a crisis is someone who has

found someone to blame.

Knowledge is knowing tomatoes are a fruit, wis-

dom is knowing not to put them in a fruit salad.

Money can’t buy happiness but it sure makes

misery easier to live with.

Tired of constantly being broke and stuck

in an unhappy marriage, a young

husband decided to solve both problems

by taking out a large insurance policy on his wife with

himself as the beneficiary and then arranging to have

her killed.

A 'friend of a friend' put him in touch with a nefarious

dark-side underworld figure who went by the name of

'Artie.' Artie explained to the husband that his going

price for snuffing out a spouse was $10,000.

The Husband said he was willing to pay that amount

but that he wouldn't have any cash on hand until he

could collect his wife's insurance money. Artie insisted

on being paid at least something up front, so the man

opened his wallet, displaying the single dollar coin

inside.

Artie sighed, rolled his eyes and reluctantly agreed to

accept the dollar as down payment for the dirty deed.

A few days later, Artie followed the man's wife to the

local Costco Supermarket. There, he surprised her in

the produce department and proceeded to strangle her

with his gloved hands. As the poor unsuspecting

woman drew her last breath and slumped to the floor,

the manager of the produce department stumbled

unexpectedly onto the murder scene. Unwilling to

leave any living witnesses behind, ol' Artie had no

choice but to strangle the produce manager as well.

However, unknown to Artie, the entire proceedings

were captured by the hidden security cameras and

observed by the shop's security guard, who

immediately called the police. Artie was caught and

arrested before he could even leave the premises.

Under intense questioning at the police station, Artie

revealed the whole sordid plan, including his unusual

financial arrangements with the hapless husband who

was also quickly arrested.

MAY, 2018 EDITION 12

It’s a well-known fact that emeralds have been around for centuries,

captivating millions with their unique beauty. Emeralds continue to be the

prized gemstone of many—beloved for their rich colour and gorgeous green

allure. Here are a few surprising facts that may surprise you about May’s

simply enchanting birthstone:

1. Emeralds are among the rarest of all gemstones: The world’s best emeralds come from South

America. Therefore it’s particularly prominent in ancient Inca lore. This ancient civilization used to

worship emeralds as gods.

2. Colombia yields the largest amount of emeralds: contributing to more

than 50% of all emerald production worldwide. The Spanish traded emeralds

across Europe and Asia for precious metals, which opened up the emerald

trade to the rest of the world.

3. Emeralds come in many colours: they range in colour from deep greens

to faint, opaque green hues. Green stones from the Emerald family that have been deemed too pale to

classify as emeralds are referred to as “Green Beryls”. The deeper the green, the more valuable the

emerald. The most valuable emeralds posses a vivid green colour, and in some cases even a blueish

hue!

4. Unlike diamonds—imperfections in emeralds can improve the stone’s value: emeralds contain

internal fractures called inclusions, which create an appealing pattern that generally increases the

stone’s value instead of detracting from it! These inclusions are called "jardin" .(French for Garden)

5. Emeralds are larger than diamonds: compared carat to carat, a 2ct emerald is larger than a 2ct dia-

mond, due to the emerald’s less dense composition. This is because they are less dense than diamonds

6. An emerald’s clarity can be evaluated with the naked eye:

7. Emeralds are synonymous with royalty and romance: as they have been admired by emperors and

kings for centuries.

8. Emeralds are an ancient symbol of eternal youth: in Ancient Egypt, mummies were often buried with

an emerald around their neck, as they believe the gemstone was a symbol of eternal youth.

9. Cleopatra and Emeralds: One of Cleopatra's favourite stones was emerald, and her passion for

the stone was well documented. She is said to have dressed in emeralds from head to toe.

11. Nero’s eye soother: Nero, the Roman Emperor, claimed that gazing into an emerald soothed his

eyes. The soft, calming colour of the emerald helped early lapidaries rest their eyes after an extended

period of concentration. Today, emerald is still thought to relax and relieve eye strain.

May’s Birthstone: Emeralds

MAY, 2018 EDITION 13

12. Emeralds have mystical powers: in ancient times, emeralds were believed

to posses mystical power that could give the wearer the ability to foresee the

future and see the truth. It was also believed that emeralds would protect the

wearer against evil and even cure diseases like malaria and cholera!

13. Emerald Anniversary: Emerald is the official gift gem for celebrating the

20th and 55th years of marriage. The latter is referred to as an “Emerald Anniver-

sary”.

14. Celebrities Love Emeralds: During the last century alone, Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth

Taylor and Queen Elizabeth II have been known for their love of emerald jewellery. Angelina Jolie caused a

sensation at the 2009 Oscars by wearing emerald earrings that cost 2 million US dollars. In 2013, Beyoncé

made fashion waves by wearing a spectacular pair of emerald earrings to President Obama ’s second

inauguration in 2013. In 2015, Lady Gaga flaunted a large pear-shaped emerald pendant and matching

earrings at the Grammys.

15. Emeralds are a green variety of beryl – the same mineral that blue aquamarines are formed from. But

the emerald’s green hue comes from chromium and vanadium trace elements. It far more rare and therefore

more expensive than the aquamarine.

16. Emerald jewellery should be treated gently: (if you’re lucky enough to own some) The emerald’s

crystal structure is quite brittle, even though the mineral beryl itself is fairly tough, ranking 7.8-8 on the Mohs

Scale of mineral hardness. That’s why you should always protect your emerald jewellery from

knocks and scratches. The safest way to clean emeralds? Wash your jewellery in a bowl with warm, soapy

water, scrubbing gently with an old toothbrush. Pat dry.

17. Synthetic Emeralds: Synthetic sapphire and ruby were created in 1907, but synthetic emeralds

were not created until 1935 when American chemist Carroll Chatham successfully grew his first 1-carat

Chatham emerald. This stone is now on display at the Smithsonian Institute.

18. For emerald the cut is the key:

The colour we see in jewellery also depends on the cut. A

skilled gemologist can give a paler stone a darker appear-

ance with a deep cut and fewer facets (flat surfaces on the

stone). Or a darker stone can be made to appear lighter with

a shallow cut and more facets. Given all that, it is not so

surprising that this gem has a specific cut named after it, “the

emerald cut.” Many fine emeralds are prepared in this iconic style.

19. Emeralds and aquamarines have a lot in common: both are from the same mineral family—the Beryl

family.

MAY, 2018 EDITION 14

A STEP BACK IN TIME

This step is back to an old copy of the

Australian Gold, Gem and Treasure to a letter penned

by Ron Whitmark of Avalon, NSW. Where-ever you are

now Ron, I hope you approve of my sharing your words

with our readers.

“ As a student of where words originate, I thought your

readers might be interested in a couple of definitions I

researched. Gold is measured in Troy ounces and there

are 12 Troy ounces to the pound but why are they

called “Troy”? Well, it’s got nothing to do with the

ancient city of Troy which existed around 1200BC or the

modern city of Troy on the Hudson River in eastern New

York.. It comes from the city of Troyes in north-east

central France, on the Seine River, and refers to a

weight used at an annual fair there.

In the Troy weight scale, 24 grains equals one penny-

weight; twenty pennyweights equals one ounce and as

I said, 12 Troy ounces equal one pound.

Then we come to the Avoirdupois scale, in which 16

ounces equal one pound. The word “avoirdupois”

comes the old French “avoir de pois” meaning “goods of

(to be sold by) weight”.

And now a few words of warning to anyone not clued

up on the differences between Troy and Avoirdupoise.

One Troy ounce contains 480 grains while one

Avoirdupoise ounce contains 437.5 grains. If you pay

for an “ounce” of gold that’s been measured on an

Avoirdupois scale you’ll be short 42.5 grains.

Of course you can simplify it all and just pay for grams

of gold, a gram being equal to 15.532 grains.

Therefore in a Troy ounce there are 31.1042 grams

while in an Avoirdupoise ounce there are 28.3502

grams.

Simple eh!”

And people wonder why decimal measurements were

introduced back in the 1960s !!!!

CLEANING UP YOUR CAST SILVER ITEMS.

When cleaning up your lost wax casts, you will

probably use a flexi shaft of some kind…..so for

those of you who aren’t quite sure what that box of

bits are used for, here is a rough guide. Those

listed to use with aluminium are suitable for silver.