"Smokey" wrote in message
...
Thanks to all of you for some excellent suggestions and help. Colin, I
fell
of my chair reading yours !
I realize now that "carborundum powder" is one of those things that ham
project books describe but, in reality, was never invented.
Somewhere in a cavernous basement is an evil person laughing about the
goose
chase he sent legions of novices on only to end in hopeless frustration.
His
eyes are probably sinister and he has a fang-like overbite. Memories of my
first Boy Scout campout come to mind as I recall spending hours in the
middle of the night going camp to camp for my scoutmaster trying to find a
"caffeine eliminator" for his coffee. Others, I have heard, looked for
"snipe." "Caffeine eliminators," "snipe" and now we can add "carborundum
powder" to the list of common things that no one will ever be able to
find.

ANYWAY...the suggestion of using "anything abrasive will work" was a good
one. I had on hand some 1500 grit waterproof sheets of something or other
(I
don't know if it was aluminum oxide, emery, sandpaper or what). I decided
to
try grinding again after my 40 year hiatus since my novice days. I dropped
a
few drops on water on the stuff to give the crystal a little cushioning. 3
sets of "figure 8s" later I had moved the crystal the 2 kc I wanted to
move
it. It was simple. Light pressure on the corners of the crystal...only
enough to guide it in its figure-8 pattern, not even bearing down with
any
discernable pressure. After each set of 8 figure-8s I'd rinse the crystal
off and remeasure its frequency. There was no magic in the event and it
was
actually somewhat anticlimactic. Apparently technique is the key thing,
keeping the crystal parallel and trying not to grind down the corners.

Had I been this successful as a WN9 I may have been launched into a whole
different career. Why, I could have been "C-W Crystals" or "Peterson" or
"James Knight" !!!

And from my executive office I could have ordered around my
employees..."Anderson, bring me the Jenkins report!, " "Wilson, get in
here
I want to see you" but my favorite would be, "Miss Davis...bring me a cup
of
coffee, cream and sugar and the caffeine eliminator." Heh-heh.

Vern W9STB



Carborundum was a man-made product produced in electric fired furnaces
in the New York region IIRC.. I have a few examples ofearly carborundum
fixed
detectors in my collection. Whether the product is still being commercially
produced is another thing, but it did exist at one time...

Pete