Tom Fordyce rocks

By Pat Stinson
Sun contributor
Call it cabin fever or, as Tom Fordyce recalls, “I wanted something to do to keep myself busy and thought it was really cool.” After building his last contracted home through Thomas Fordyce Construction a couple of years ago, he discovered he had some idle hours beyond the 40 to 50 hours per week he spends doing home repair around Glen Lake and the two to three nights per week he performs with the local bluegrass band Cabin Fever. So, Tom began burning a little after-hours fossil fuel in his former woodworking shop, now metamorphosed into a workspace for stone cutting and polishing, with a bench for jewelry making.

“I get carried away out there,” he says of his new hobby. “I glance at the clock, and it’s 2 or 3 a.m., and I think, ‘Oh, geesh, I have to get up at six!’”
Tom’s obsession for rocks and gemstones began in earnest almost two years ago at the Grand Traverse Area Rock and Mineral Show in Traverse City. Meeting like-minded people, joining the club and attending classes gave him the nudge he needed to turn one large rock collection he inherited from his grandfather, Perry Fordyce, into truckloads of natural treasures — mostly North American fossils, minerals and gems obtained from the estates of collectors.
Perry Fordyce’s agates and crystals, including a beautiful specimen of Desert Rose, a.k.a. sand rose, from Oklahoma, had always fascinated his grandson, who remembers gazing at the contents of a three-foot wide by four-foot tall display case in Grandpa Fordyce’s house in the little town of Vermont, Illinois. Tom also remembers his grandpa’s place had lots of stones in the sidewalk and rocks in the gardens. After retiring from 55 years as station master for Burlington Railroad, Grandpa Fordyce liked to travel to Florida in his RV. One of his favorite stopovers included Crater of Diamonds State Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the world’s only public diamond mine. For a whopping five dollars, a person can still hunt for diamonds in a rainbow of colors, as well as 40 rock and mineral varieties. Whatever the value of the find, it’s finders keepers for the mine’s serious collectors, vacationers or retired visitors.
Tom, not ready to retire at 58 but, in his own words, “slowing down,” says he’s forever taking his dogs Jake and Ziggy for walks at Empire beach. He also takes trips with the Grand Traverse Area Rock and Mineral Club to places like Thunder Bay, Ontario, to comb the amethyst mines, or to the Upper Peninsula’s Keweenaw County for copper or dolomite. He shares that the best time to go rock hunting above ground is during or after a rain, when it’s easier to see the patterns and colors. Local beachcombing efforts have netted Tom some nice slag, such as “Frankfort Green” and “Leland Blue,” remnants of past iron-smelting operations. He’s even found a couple of mysterious pieces at the Empire beach he dubbed “Empire Green.” The smooth specimens of dark, variegated green are thought to be a type of basalt from north of the Arctic Circle which were deposited here by a Canadian glacier, or so says Kevin Gauthier, one of the area’s notable rockhounds, author of “Lake Superior Rock Picker’s Guide” and owner of Korner Gem in Grelickville.
In fact, it was Kevin who taught Tom how to cast pieces in sterling silver and another Grand Traverse Area Rock and Mineral club member and silversmith, John Matz, who trained Tom in flatwork techniques he uses to fashion his jewelry. From jade to jasper, opals to fire and leopard skin agate, rainbow petrified wood to Fordite, (layers of paint from the River Rouge Ford Plant), Tom’s list of cabochons he cuts himself from slab or rough goes on and on. “What’s not so good, anything with fractures, becomes a display piece or goes out to the garden,” he said, matter-of-factly.
With three five-pound coffee cans of fire agates alone, Tom’s in no danger of running out of stock anytime soon. Pieces of equipment (slab saws, trim saws and polishing machines) for cutting and polishing his wares have outgrown the shop and are quietly appearing in the garage. Tom’s eyes light up when he talks about someday expanding 20 feet out the back for a separate display room for his collection, a “clean room,” he calls it, with an outdoor courtyard. He thinks about hanging a simple sign on the highway in front of his house that reads, “Petoskey Stones.”
Of pounds and pounds of gloriously colored and patterned stones, many he found on the beach, many from astounding collections, and special, smaller crystals from a Munising friend’s visits to Hot Springs, what is it that most people ask to see and want to use in jewelry? “Gosh, Petoskey stones. Always,” he answered. If people don’t find them on the beach, or they want ones they did find polished or mounted in a piece of jewelry, they tend to find their way to Tom.
“A lot of the stuff I get, I get it so cheaply. I trade a lot with my rock club partners or people who have stones I don’t have.”
One of Tom’s prized possessions is a fossil John Boomer found in his cherry orchard down the street. He also loves the agates: Lake Superior, red plume, fire, leopard skin, crazy lace. He’s also partial to rainbow petrified wood. “It’s hard to have a favorite when they’re all so beautiful,” he said. He’s particularly proud of his collection of Centuryite, the only of its kind in the world. Centuryite? Tom breaks into a wide grin as he explains that the striped slabs are layers of paint from the famed, former Century Boat Works of Manistee. “People will say, ‘There’s my boat!’” Tom says with a mischievous laugh.
A fellow obsessee wants to know how he can bear to let any piece, nevermind his favorites, become someone else’s property. “It’s hard to part with, sometimes, but you see people wearing them. That’s even cooler.”
He does have some favorite moments in his shop, such as the time he opened a geode and found mammoth-sized crystals inside. Then, there are new ways of doing things that bring surprising results, such as the discovery of a buffing compound that puts a shine on Petoskey stones like no other he’s seen. New ideas have come to mind there, as well. As a homebuilder for 30 years, Tom envisions other uses for his colorful slabs. He’s talked to local people about creating custom, gemstone accent tiles. Tom’s kitchen island is decorated with stone, as is his bathroom vanity. A mosaic of pebbles and stones surrounds his garden tub.
“It’s a great hobby. You can stay at home, learn with others or take trips.”
He’s an enthusiastic ambassador for the local geology club, too. “It’s a lot of fun,” he says. “These people are great; they taught me a lot.” With a membership fee of $15 per year and $10 classes of three to four sessions, it’s well within the average person’s budget, too.
For more information about the local rock club and the annual Rock and Mineral Show at the Grand Traverse Heritage Center on Sept. 29-30, visit www.tcrockhounds.com Great information about Michigan rocks and rock-hunting opportunities can be found at www.dayooper.com.