| Show The Herald Journal Logan Utah Sunday January 5 A affair with gems a steady hand and keen eye have made a stone carver life-lon- g out of Wendell Smith River-dal- e The Idaho resident carves mostly big game animals into flat pieces of polished Jade and turquoise Once finished the small stones are usually set in a belt buckle or arranged in a picture frame for a wall hanging by the jewelry maker Smith who is still a licensed civil engineer in Idaho Utah and Wyoming developed a love for the area’s geology and rock formations while studying engineering at Utah State University a half century ago "Besides studying about geology we learned about stones incident to the Intermountain area and I guess that's where I first got started in gemology” he said Immediately upon graduation from Utah State University Smith in 1937 started working near Yuma Aria on the Canal where Indian turquoise jewelry and rock were plentiful "Being exposed to that kind of beautiful jewelry and stonework during the early part of my career helped further my interest in gems and making jewelry It all just kind of grew on me at that time in my life” he said during an interview in a jewelry shop in the basement of his home stint with the Following a seven-yea- r Army Corps of Engineers during World War II and the constant travel associated with it Smith decided to return to southeast Idaho and the Preston area and work as a private engineer He did a lot of work in the Stanley Salmon and Challis areas of central Idaho soon after and made friends with Harold and Ruth Neyman of Salmon The Neymans helped Ruth’s father operate a rock shop in Salmon and Smith said they knew where all the jasper garnet and petrified wood deposits were in the area “My wife Wavel and I went with the Neymans frequently on their rockgathering excursions We collected a lot of rough (natural) stones” Smith said "But after a while I had a lot of rocks In order to make my hobby worthwhile I decided to purchase an diamond rock saw grinders and polishers and to polish my collection” Smith also made friends with Bud Petersen a Logan resident who was a jade expert "He’s the one who ingrained into me that every stone has a characteristic of its own You don’t treat turquoise like jade and jade like turquoise" he explained Smith's hobby evolved into making jewelry “My large supplies of rough rock were being utilized and I felt good about the cutting and polishing I was doing But I was getting a lot of cut and polished rock and had nothing else to do with it I asked myself 'What now?”’ he said self-taug-ht gem-quali- ty rock-collecti- 18-in- Wendell Smith shows off one of his eagle carvings carefully cut from jade 1986 Smith who owns a ranch in Riverdale befriended Myron Frederick of Oneida Station Frederick was "quite an expert in silversmithing” who taught Smith in the late 1960s and 1970s how to make silver rings bracelets and other jewelry utilizing his polished stones Smith said he became fascinated with this and started taking winter trips to Arizona to renew his acquaintances and learn about Indian jewelry techniques He was introduced to a Hopi Indian woman named Meriom Chuyate who was living on a reservation 20 miles south of Parker Ariz She makes her living making and selling jewelry according to Smith "She has shown me a great deal about how to design lay out and solder jewelry pieces together She taught me how to grade and purchase turquoise I’ve probably learned about as much from her as from anyone” Smith added While in California five or six years ago the gemologist saw flat pieces of polished rock that had intricate figures carved into it "The pieces were being sold as belt buckles from around I was fascinated by it and purchased a couple of items” he said When Smith purchased those carvings he said he had no intention of ever carving stone himself "I’m no artist" he said “But I kept looking at the pieces and finally said to myself ‘Why not try it?’” 1206-110- That launched him into his latest venture with rocks He has been carving jade turquoise Idaho garnets Mediterranean red coral Mother of Pearl and opal for the last couple of years After carving and polishing a select slice of stone Smith makes quarter-inc- h a sketch on a piece of paper and transfers the drawing to the stone comes the carving He uses a hand-hel- d d drill about the size of a large marking pen to carve silhouettes into his rock He said he prefers to work with turquoise and jade because it is relatively soft material The carving takes at least four hours and sometimes longer depending on detail he added “You have to have a keen eye and a steady hand when carving” he said Smith said he thinks he's taken his hobby about as far as it can be taken “I'm to the point now that I can pick and choose what I want to do If I get bored with carving I quit for awhile and do some jewelry work When I get tired of making jewelry I start carving Then he said portion time-consumi- ng — high-spee- again” MERRIL PHOTOS: TIM RASMUSSEN TEXT: ROBERT stone Using a precision drill Smith cuts the image of a deer onto a Smith is proud of the detail in his home style buckles Using a portable torch Smith solders a clasp on one of his latest works |
