BATEMANS BAY LAPIDARY CLUB INC.

Are you interested in looking for rocks and gems?

Learn how to prepare a stone for polishing!

We welcome visitors and new members!

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N.B. Links to other information are in blue.

Headings are in red.

Our club meetings are usually held on the 4th Wednesday of each month, beginning at 1pm.

View details in Upcoming Events or contact the Club Secretary.

Join us for a meeting where we discuss club matters and correspondence from affiliated lapidary clubs, report on excursions held, plan new trips and activities and examine specimens of fossils, gems, minerals and items of interest brought along by members.

Please refer to the Calendar for further details.

The Upcoming Events (the calendar) of the club are displayed on the right sidebar of the Home and News pages of our website when viewed using a computer/laptop.

However, if viewing on a phone, go to the very bottom of these pages.

(The phone view is known as mobile view.)

Lapidary is the art of cutting and polishing stone.

There are four basic lapidary arts: tumbling, cabbing, faceting, and carving.

Tumbling

Rough gem material is placed into a tumbler, a revolving barrel with abrasives. Progressively finer grits or abrasives are used until the gem is polished. This process closely resembles what happens to rocks in a stream or on the beach.

Cabbing

Cabbing or cabochon cutting is probably the most common form of lapidary arts. Cabochons or “cabs” are gems cut with a flat bottom and a curved or domed top.

Faceting

Through a mechanical process of cutting surfaces on a piece of crystal, beautiful gems are created. At present, as we don’t have access to a faceting machine, no faceting activities are being undertaken.

We welcome members to undertake courses, in cutting, polishing and cabochon making.

We conduct fossicking trips and visits to sites of geological interest in our local area. Weekend excursions are held regionally and at times, extended interstate fossicking trips.