Show Television Standard-Examine- r Thursday March 17 1988 Man cleans It takes time skill and a little patience up by doing dirty worEt By BECKY CAIRNS Standaf d Exammer staff You can’t see them but you know they are there lurking somewhere in the bathroom Who? The grout gremlins and toilet trolls of course Those microscopic critters responsible for the mildew in the shower and the ring around the toilet bowL Den Aslett knows they are there too As a housecleaning expert he hears regularly about the ongoing battle to scrub flush and sanitize the grout gremlins and toilet trolls into oblivion Bathrooms seem to be a sore spot in most households says Aslett the owner of a Pocatello-base- d cleaning firm who is known as “America’s No 1 Geaning Expert” This national bathroom obsession is likely tied to the relentless advertising of products designed to keep tubs sinks and toi-- 1 lets spotless Aslett said “Television convinces you you’re really a scab if your bathroom doesn’t look good” he said in a Blair KooistraStandard-Examine- r Richard Giismann looks over a 362-car- at chunk of topaz he faceted into a polished gem By MARK SAAL Standard Examiner staff his is for those who believe gems are found in nature like they are in a jewelry store — one simply needs to scoop them up wash them off and wear them No they don’t start out that way It takes a face-tto create a sparkling gem Richard Giismann is a facetor He takes rough gems that have no particular shape to them and cuts grinds and polishes until they come out looking like something in a jewelry store window About 15 years ago Giismann was rock hounding in Idaho when he was introduced to his current hobby A facetor in Boise helped Giismann cut and polish his first two stones Giismann was hooked A tool and die maker by trade he returned home to Utah and — although they are available commercially — made his own faceting machine to cut and polish gems Today the Giismann is an amateur facetor and a in the Intermountain Facetors Guild According to Giismann faceting doesn’t take long to learn Or to master “You can learn it in an hour” Giismann said “It’s really not that difficult If you can follow a diagram you can become a facetor “And you could master it quickly if you know what you’re looking at A lot just depends on the person Some people their standards are higher than others It’s like mowing and trimming the lawn How close is good enough?” The facetor first decides what type of cut will be used on the rough gem This can be as traditional as the standard brilliant cut (the shape that comes to mind when thinking of a diamond) or as varied as the free form cut (usually asymmetrical) Since a gem’s value is determined by its karat or weight the bigger the better “You try to get the most yield out of the material" Giismann said “When you grind you’ll lose of the material anyway so to you don’t want to waste any more than you have or ge one-ha- lf two-thir- ds to” After excess material is sawed off the gem is attached to an arm on the faceting machine This arm is rotated and set at different angles depending on the cut The gem is then touched to a spinning disk impregnated with diamond (called a “lap") which grinds the stone to the desired angle Similar to sanding wood three laps are used beginning coarse and gradually becoming fine Once the three cuts are made the stone is polished — again on the machine — using a differ- ent lap and various powdered polishing compounds Although the machine is designed to stop at the desired angle Giismann said the facetor can’t blindly trust the machine “Faceting is 5 percent cutting and 95 percent looking" he said “You can’t rely completely on you have to go by sight” Joe Bybee another Ogden facetor agrees Although facetors can purchase machines ranging from $600 to several thousand dollars with varying precision on the angle stops more expensive doesn’t necessarily translate into a better cut stone “The success of the machine depends on the guy running it” Bybee said “You have to know your machine and compensate” Bybce said the parts on even the most expensive machines will eventually begin to wear out and the facetor will have to adjust Nevertheless Giismann said facetors keep coming up with better equipment “The competition is getting greater all the time people are getting fussier” he said “Two fellows in Seattle are doing stuff with computers seeing what light docs to stones They’re really going to great lengths to come up with better and better stones" Although amateurs Bybee says the work by members of the guild exceeds that found in jewelry stores “No commercially cut stone you find in the jewelry store will ever meet the fineness and careful detail of stones cut by amateurs" Bybce said “That’s because amateurs arc after perfection commercial cutters are after money" These amateurs cut gems to be entered in competitions where they will be carefully scrutinized ol house” Giismann works at his facetor machine which he made himself the stop (on the machine) phone interview from his Idaho office ASietl Since he started cleaning houses to work himself through college Aslett has become a veritable guru of grit removal His cleaning firm has grown into a multimillion-dolla- r business operating in a dozen states he has written five books with a sixth due out in April and he has crisscrossed the country sharing his cleaning tips in hundreds of seminars The Idahoan presents three “Life After Housework” seminars in Ogden Friday and Saturday at the Raintree Inn Topics addressed at Aslett’s seminars include preventing housework using professional tools and techniques to cut cleaning time and “de-- j unking” the house If cleaning sounds like a lackluster subject you don’t know Aslett Listen to him talk or read a few pages of his books and you’ll quickly see this is one janitor who makes a dirty subject fun He travels with a toiletshaped suitcase He stages window squeegeeing tournaments He founded a cleaning museum called the “Janitor Hall of Fame” “We’ve found if we make people laugh they learn” he said Aslett’s enthusiastic approach to cleaning is often described as evangelical Nicknamed the “Billy Set” he even uses scripturGraham of the Pine-Sal references to occasionally make his point For instance when talking about his book “Who Says It’s A Woman’s Job to Clean?” Aslett says God told Adam in the Garden of Eden to “clean and take care of this place” That was before Eve appeared on the scene “The first commandment in the Bible is to clean and it was given to men not women” he said Speaking of men Aslett said they not only can and should do housework but they are actually better at it than women Sure that’s chauvinistic statement he said but he uses it at every seminar and it never fails to get a reaction And before women get too upset with him Aslett reminds them he is on their side in the war on housework He is on a crusade against men who throw their socks in the hamper inside out who leave dirty glasses everywhere but in the dishwasher and who refer to every household appliance with a peculiar sex bias — her washer her stove her vacuum her sink “My whole mission is to get men to do cleaning” Aslett said Yet even this super cleaner admits he’s a to the housework scene Despite cleaning commercial buildings for a living Aslett said he just started doing such mundane household chores as making the bed a few years ago Most men don’t clean because of ignorance not chauvinism he said “They really don’t know what it takes to run a judges intent on exposing by microscope-wieldin- g even the most minute flaws The main criteria for judging are: Symmetry Facets on opposite sides of the gem should be the same size Precise meets The meets are the places where the gem’s facets join They should come to a common point The most critical part of faceting is getting these points to meet according to Bybee Polish There should be no scratches on the gem’s surface Easier said than done according to most facetors who list polish as the most difficult part of the process In addition Giismann said the overall quality of the gem is judged Flaws in the stone hurt its quality Also the critical angle of the stone is important Each type of gem has a different critical angle -the smallest possible angle of incidence at which light rays are totally reflected If the angle is incorrect the facetor gets what is called a fisheye or a dead stone Giismann estimated there are some 20 facetors in Ogden while the Intermountain Facetors Guild includes about 60 members in the Southeastern n Utah area Between shows most facetors keep their exhibits in vaults or museums Idaho-Norther- The guild will be displaying faceted gems at the 38th annual Gem and Mineral Show to be held Friday through Sunday at Union Station 2501 1 Wall Avc For information call 773-732- Aslett who appears regularly on the new ABC “Home” show wrote his first book in 1981 and it became a best seller (He likes to point out that for 10 days “Is There Life After Housework?” was more popular than “The Joy of Sex” and “30 Days to a Beautiful Bottom") Since then a string of books has followed tackling every cleaning issue from window washing to dusting The cleaner’s newest book is “Pet Geaning Made Easy” which proved to be more of a challenge than the author anticipated “I thought I’d do a few things on how to get dog doo out of the carpet and boy there’s so much more (to pet cleanup) — fleas spraying feeding hair ” Aslett said his cleaning methods work because they are practical He decries old wives’ talcs (using toothpaste peanut butter and vinegar as cleaners) “mirand tells audiences to avoid acle" solutions Modern cleaning solutions purchased at a janitorial supply store are efficient and economical he said adding “It’s not patriotic to make your own cleaners" To Aslett the bottom line of his work is to teach homeowners to clean quickly and effectively “You house is to live in" he said “not to live home-concocte- d for” Aden's Life After Housework " seminars will be Friday at 7 pm and Saturday at 9 am and 1 pm at the Raintree Inn Tickets are $5 at the door For information call Susy Parker 73 FI 224 or Shirley Parker 731-610- 5 I |