John Grindol has a unique talent. He uses his eye for beauty to transform ordinary rock into elegant jewelry. Being a lapidary, or cutter and polisher of gemstones, has been something he enjoys in his free time away from his job at Firestone in Sulphur. Over the past five years, he has fashioned hundreds of pieces of fine jewelry. He sells his finished pieces by word of mouth and plans to set up a website in the near future.
At his workshop in Westlake, a seemingly odd place to find a man carrying on the skilled craft of his grandfather, Grindol spoke on his hobby.
Q: Before we talk more about your hobby, would you mind telling our readers about your background?
A: I was born in 1948 in Battle Creek, Michigan, where Kellogg cereal is made, in the Kellogg Hospital. My mom and dad moved down here when I was eighteen months old. I was raised in this area and was educated in public school here. I went to McNeese and I have a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. I work at Firestone Polymers, LLC, in Sulphur. I’ve been working there for forty-two years and I’m approaching retirement age. I have two brothers and one sister. My brother Stephen is a retired school teacher from Barbe. My other brother, Phillip, owns City Tag and Sign in Sulphur and is a member of the Sulphur Rotary Club. My sister’s name is Debra. She lives in Lake Charles, raises horses and shows them around the country.
Q: What is a lapidary?
A: A lapidary is really defined as someone in the art of cutting and polishing gemstones which would include faceting, everything up to and including diamonds. There is so much to learn and I am at the beginning of that learning curve. You can polish gemstone in the tumbler or you can use a lapping machine. The tumbler is a rotating rubber drum which when set on the machine rotates at 55 to 65 RPM. The lapping method uses an eight inch diameter, diamond encrusted lap (different grit sizes per lap) which cuts the rock as it is held against the rotating lap turning at 2,000 to 3,000 RPM. Diamond is the hardest stone known to man. I work with materials that are 4 ½ to 8 in hardness.
Q: What sparked your interest in becoming a lapidary?
A: I got interested in lapidary work because of my grandfather.
Q: Did he teach you?
A: He passed away before he had the chance to teach me. He lived in Michigan. After retiring, he traveled, collecting stones. He would stop in Lake Charles and show the family the ones he had collected. I was really enthused about it. I have not been trained by anyone. I’ve been teaching myself for about five years from books and websites. I still consider myself to be an amateur. It’s a long, slow process. I am approaching retirement age, so I wanted to have something to do to occupy my hands and mind.
Q: What type of equipment is required for lapidarian work?
A: The equipment to do it and the raw material are expensive if you go beyond the basic step, which is just tumbling rocks. I stick to the lower cost grades of gemstone. They are not faceting grade, although I do have many of the stones that are faceting rough grade. I cut, shape and polish. I buy the basic rock ranging in cost from eight dollars per pound to forty dollars per pound. To get stones for faceting to set in a ring is costly. They sell by the gram weight. You’re talking several hundreds, I can’t afford that.
Q: Can you go into more detail about the process?
A: The process starts with a rock. Then using a large 14” diameter diamond blade, I cut the rough rock into slabs of different thickness depending on what I want the end product to be. About the thickest I would cut would be about a half inch. I wet the slab and look for unique patterns and I decide what shape to make of it. I use a pencil and outline the shape. The next step is to rough cut to the outline of that shape drawn. I would further shape it on the lap. I have to take all the edges and smooth them down with the diamond lap. The next step is to put it through the tumbler in a four step process. The tumbler takes every little sharp corner and makes it rounded and smooth. The process takes twelve weeks before I know what I have. I use grit and water to mimic nature’s grinding that takes thousands of years and speed that up to weeks and months.
Q: How do you go about selecting the stones that you use? Are there certain qualities you look for in a stone?
A: I usually just go to the common like the agate and jasper. The finished product is called rock jewelry because they are from gemstones. Topaz, emeralds and sapphires are all found somewhere in the world, anywhere you find mountains. When the earth was formed, it was very hot. Metals like iron, manganese, chromium, beryllium, and even lead implant color. The different chemical elements determine the colors of the stones. The different shades of color are dependent upon the concentration of the element or elements. Citrine colors for example ranges from an almost clear, slightly yellow all the way to brown. Iron gives the color.
Q: Do you have a favorite stone that you like to work with?
A: I like them all. If I had to say, I love the citrines and the amethysts. My favorite color stone is lapis, which is the blue.
Q: Do you belong to any lapidary societies?
A: No, the closest one is in DeRidder and then Houston. When I retire, I will. For now I just visit their annual show and ask questions.
Q: Is this something you are able to make a living at, or is it just a hobby?
A: Oh, it’s just a hobby but I could make a living. There’s not much interest in it locally.
Q: How do you go about determining the price of your pieces?
A: Basically, most of it depends on the gemstone cost and I work in the cost of my equipment. Most of what I do varies from fifteen to one hundred dollars.
Q: How many pieces do you have?
A: I have several hundred just ready to sell.
Q: If one of our readers is interested in your jewelry, how can they inquire about viewing or purchasing it from you?
A: Contact me through e-mail at westfork3200@att.net
Q: If someone wanted to become a lapidary, what advice would you give them?
A: They need to have patience and just an artistic understanding of what’s beautiful and an appreciation of natural beauty.
