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About Me. From Precision Toolmaker to Cutting GemstonesAbout Me Hello everyone. My name is Dave Fogg. Welcome to Treasure-Cut-Gemstones.com, the site focused on bringing gem cutters and jewelry makers together for creating fine gemstone jewelry! I would like to share with you a short biography about me.
I became interested in rocks and fossils when I was a small boy. One afternoon while digging in a pot hole at the end of my dead end street with my brother Rob, we made a facinating find. First I found a fossil of a fern. Then my brother found the mating piece! The really exciting thing, though, was that the second piece had another fern fossil on the opposite side. We continued to dig until we found the third mating piece! I have treasured these pieces all my life. To me they are priceless.
I grew up to be a Toolmaker and found myself working for a man named J.B. Chase. Here was a man who had a huge impact on my life. He was disabled but driven. He taught me more about myself than I ever would have realized without him. He showed me what I was capable of accomplishing. As a Toolmaker working for JB, I learned to strive to be the best at what I did. I learned to always take those extra few steps to make it more than just good enough. Be the best at what you do. I spent many years under him specializing in precision form grinding. Year after year perfecting the art, which unfortunately is quickly becoming lost. CNC machining of all types including wire EDM have been replacing these lost talents at a rapid rate.
Before my grandfather passed away several years ago he gave to me his equipment for cutting gemstones. I called him Buppa. He was from the other side of my family and interestingly enough his wife, Nanna, was also an art teacher.
Buppa was a man of many talents and loved hobbies of all sorts. One of them, of course, had been gem cutting. I as well as the rest of my family had always been in awe of the treasures he would create. With my background I guess he assumed I would be the one to take over. I am eternally thankful! Applying my lifetime skills to cutting gems came easy to me. Now people from all walks of life can appreciate my work rather than just another Toolmaker.
I have been cutting gemstones on and off now for about 15 years. It is so gratifying! There is nothing like the moment when you finally remove the finished gem from the dop and peer inside for the first time! Wow! I still work for the same company as I did all those years ago. My position has changed from Toolmaker to Senior Tool Design Engineer. The next obvious step for me then was to create facet designs for gemstones too! I use a program that has been used successfully by many gem cutters. It is called GemCad and written by Robert Strickland. The designs are piling up and the gemstones are too! Finally this brings me to Treasure-Cut-Gemstones.com. I hope to offer much fun and informative information to all of you who share my love for gems! This site will continuously be updated with articles written by myself and others. Please enjoy your stay and come back often!
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So began my interest in stones. My grandmother, Lily, furthered my interest with her collections of stones which also included indian artifacts. She started me off with a few of those mineral indentification cards. You know the ones I mean, with the stones glued onto a piece of cardboard. She was also a talented artist and art teacher. So as I was growing up I learned to appreciate treasures! Stones and fine art.
