In case your public school education fails you as soundly as mine:
Lapidary – Noun: a person who cuts, polishes, or engraves (gem)stones. Etymology: Originates in Latin “lapid” or “lapis”, meaning “stone”.
I was in the right neighborhood by thinking “polishing” for “lap” but I kept ending up at “polishing a camel”, and it turns out I never knew that the Latin that leads to “lapping” for “polishing” is because of the use of “stones” to so do…
Yeah, I had to Google it.
TIL…
I understand that jewelry had to turn down a donation of a lapidary set up because of space and a lack of teachers. I imagine I could find a teacher to get us started. But there is that space issue.
Lapidary is an area I would LOVE to see us eventually expand into. One can learn at Rock and Mineral clubs, but that means in the Garland area for Dallas Gem and Mineral and south Arlington for that group. Creative arts in the White Rock area also offers classes, costly ones.
It would be great for jewelry to plan on this expansion in the future (likely when we have more space).
That post has been on CL for well over 8 months.
he might be flexible on the pricing if he wants to sell…
Hell he might even be willing to set it up and teach if you bought it Nicole - kill two birds with one stone, and he’ll deliver!!!
Better yet - if you’re talking to him ask him if he’s willing to consider a donation to the space. Just an idea.
Take a look at meetup groups and see if you can contact someone to teach (if anything pans out)
One of our members has recently gotten into lapidary enough that he’s been doing a bunch of his own stones. If I see him around I can ask if he’d be interested in teaching.
I have a friend that did some years ago also and I know a couple of other folks that might could teach the basics.
Where would we place it?
That setup is pretty beat up and looks messy imo. Though I am sure MS folks could make it new or build our own. Just arbors, and pans. A Diamond Pacific Genie would suit the space. Super machine, and a great company. They are quite enough you can talk over them in videos. They don’t have spray issues like a lot of the top feed squirters do 
New they are 1800.00 used 400-1200. New set of wheels 600.
I just bought a few saws and a genie. Had to replace capicitor, pump, and wheels.They are hard to find used though.
Where could we dispose sedimentary water?
I’m sure if you ask arround the clubs some one would donate everything eventually.
How much water are would there be? How does a homeowner dispose of it? I am wondering if folks should be required to take the water they use home.
hmmmm - I am not into lapidary work, but using plain water to slice into rocks is essentially the same thing that mother nature does every day around the word in terms of erosion so I don’t see an issue here with feeding the landscaping outside. (not the interior sinks)
I bet this is one of those cases where you can dispose of the water by pouring it on your lawn. Just not down a storm drain.
In August in Carrollton TX, you can dispose of a few hundred gallons of water each day by placing it outside in a pan…
Each genie at the mineral club, at clean up is about 1/2-1g. Lawn is fine if that’s acceptable.
Rocks are not just rocks obv.
Saws use oil for the most part. It’s recycled.
Some one should take the class at DGMC maybe? Cool set up and super helpful group. They have wrapping, faceting, flint knapping, clay molding, silver smithing, lots of classes/knowledge.
and a perfectly acceptable way of disposing of old paint too - let it dry out