Amber Listserv / Waste not

[Andy Ng]

Thanks, Tom.

I do hope to see your polished pieces soon! Many moons ago, when I first
started buffing amber with fluffy old socks, quite a few pieces flew off and
smashed on impact. Since then, my fingers have developed a 'kung-fu death
grip', and flying bits of resin are a rare occurrence, even though I
sometimes buff at very high speeds (#3 and #4 settings on a Black & Decker
RTX).

The Indonesian haze is agricultural. Farmers there practice shifting
cultivation. They slash and burn new patches of jungle when their plots of
land diminish in fertility. Those thousands of fires often go out of
control, and when peat-soil and jungle catch fire, toms of soot, ash and
debris pollute the atmosphere. Over in my country, we have a zero-burn
policy which is rather effective. Unfortunately my Indo neighbors are rather
inconsiderate, and burn as they please. When the winds blow my way, I get
their 2nd-hand smoke. :-(

Andy


On 10/11/06, Tom Buckley <tbuck22 at optonline.net> wrote:
>
>  Andy,
>
>     You do nice work. I hope to set up some sanding and polishing
> equipment soon so I can play around with some rough amber. I just love the
> feel of a nicely polished piece of amber.
>
>     What's with the Indonesian haze? Is it volcanic, meteorological or
> industrial?
>
> Tom
>
> Tom Buckley
> Silicone Specialist
> Polymer Engineering
>
> Phone: 845-258-4928
> Fax: 845-258-4930
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Andy Ng <andy.ng.aik.hoe at gmail.com>
> *To:* amber at ambericawest
> *Sent:* Tuesday, October 10, 2006 11:56 PM
> *Subject:* Amber Listserv / Waste not
>
> Hi guys,
>
> The haze drifting in from Indonesia continues to grow worse, though it's
> not yet as bad as in past years when we had to turn on headlights at noon.
> The air is thick with particles (you can see many dust flecks in the
> photo...just can't keep them off), and I hope this clears when Peder arrives
> in Sarawak, or he'll be copping a lungful of this murk. Until the air gets
> better, I'm not going to venture into the great hazy jungles.
>
> Anyways, I been working with more scrap chips of resinite. The piece in
> the center is one of the rarer colors...it reminds me of some carnelian in
> my gem collection.
>
> Andy
>
> ------------------------------
>
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>
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