Rock tumbling

[steve garro]

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I cranked up a new/old hobby from my childhood this last winter - nature's art revealed - I love rocks

Anyone else?
Anyone want to start?

- Garro.

[VertigoCycles]

My 11 y/o got a kit from their grandpa a few years ago and I helped get everything going. We were both surprised at how much the rougher grits reduce the overall size of the rocks. Other than running the tumbler for weeks, it was quite an enjoyable process and seeing the excitement of a then 8 y/o as they unpack and rinse the ultra-polished rocks from the final round of sludge is well worth it.

[j44ke]

Arizona is definitely the place for colored rocks. Found some nice turquoise in an old mine rubble pile once. Those rubble piles are fun to dig around in. There were some rocks that looked like they had yellow lichen on them. Turned out it was sulfur. Found an array of black rocks strewn across a section of desert south of Tucson. They were really heavy for their size, dented when hit with a hammer and were mildly magnetic. I thought maybe they were asteroid particles and took them to the asteroid lab at ASU. Scientist there wasn’t interested until I handed one to him. Then he got excited and we ran some tests and made a few slices. But they were just blobs of magnetite. Still cool.

Never thought to have a rock tumbler in AZ but would have been a great thing to have there.

Nice collection Garro!

[Too Tall]

Fun stuff G. The last time I did that was in Petoskey Michigan. Bring the fun bub :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petoskey_stone

[steve garro]

Fun stuff G. The last time I did that was in Petoskey Michigan. Bring the fun bub :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petoskey_stone

Ah, yes - Petoskey Stones - here I have a lifetime supply of fossilized glass sponges but they are much softer than the chert they are deposited in so I keep them as-is

Of course I have an amazing fossil collection as well............

- Garro.

[steve garro]

Arizona is definitely the place for colored rocks. Found some nice turquoise in an old mine rubble pile once. Those rubble piles are fun to dig around in. There were some rocks that looked like they had yellow lichen on them. Turned out it was sulfur. Found an array of black rocks strewn across a section of desert south of Tucson. They were really heavy for their size, dented when hit with a hammer and were mildly magnetic. I thought maybe they were asteroid particles and took them to the asteroid lab at ASU. Scientist there wasn’t interested until I handed one to him. Then he got excited and we ran some tests and made a few slices. But they were just blobs of magnetite. Still cool.

Never thought to have a rock tumbler in AZ but would have been a great thing to have there.

Nice collection Garro!

Yeah !
I got some nice quartz from a mine in Cherry, AZ recently - nice of them to dig it up & leave it there or you
- Garro.

[steve garro]

My 11 y/o got a kit from their grandpa a few years ago and I helped get everything going. We were both surprised at how much the rougher grits reduce the overall size of the rocks. Other than running the tumbler for weeks, it was quite an enjoyable process and seeing the excitement of a then 8 y/o as they unpack and rinse the ultra-polished rocks from the final round of sludge is well worth it.

I was born in Oregon and lived there through 1st grade and that's where I picked it up, OR has great agates and obsidian and so many other cool rocks - other GP's were from Idaho and were way into lapidary work, ID is the "Gem State" after all

- Garro.

[Mark Kelly]

I cranked up a new/old hobby from my childhood this last winter - nature's art revealed

- Garro.

Ha, that takes me back. I grew up in Wahroonga (Sydney) long enough ago for there to be a small mine in the locality (? Chrysoprase maybe: it was a long time ago).

It's not there any more, possibly due to the depredations wrought by my self and my siblings*. One of my brothers got right into the whole thing and produced some lovely pieces.




* More likely due to the >$2M average house prices these days. My parents sold this house: https://www.onthehouse.com.au/proper...-2076-11776029 in 1970 for $22,000 (about $175 k adjusted for inflation).

[Too Tall]

At the place where we camp the most there are abundant water sources. Apparently, there was a tiny gold strike close to the turn of the century. I was able to find the gold bearing quartz vein and followed it downhill to a waterfall. Soooooooo being the goofball what I am I got a gold washing pan and did some proof of life :) After a few pans I was able to find a few micro specks of gold. It was enough to prove to the other campers I was not completely FOS. You can find minute amounts of gold in a zillion places, you just have to do the work and trust me it is alot of work.

Still, the business of amateur rock hounding is fun stuff.

Steve-O If we ever meet up I'll give you a fossilized giant snail that I dug out of a creek bed in S. Maryland. Using some old rock hunting articles I found references to the snails. It took a pause to realize exactly what I was looking at because the d@mn things are huge....but there it is a solid strata of snails!!!!

Of course here in MD we have Calvert Cliffs where with a very small amount of luck you can find pockets full of sharks teeth, mollusk shells and maybe even a bone.
.
Yeah, it's fun. I'd love to do some panning some place where there is gold worth panning. It's a blast.

[steve garro]

At the place where we camp the most there are abundant water sources. Apparently, there was a tiny gold strike close to the turn of the century. I was able to find the gold bearing quartz vein and followed it downhill to a waterfall. Soooooooo being the goofball what I am I got a gold washing pan and did some proof of life :) After a few pans I was able to find a few micro specks of gold. It was enough to prove to the other campers I was not completely FOS. You can find minute amounts of gold in a zillion places, you just have to do the work and trust me it is alot of work.

Still, the business of amateur rock hounding is fun stuff.

Steve-O If we ever meet up I'll give you a fossilized giant snail that I dug out of a creek bed in S. Maryland. Using some old rock hunting articles I found references to the snails. It took a pause to realize exactly what I was looking at because the d@mn things are huge....but there it is a solid strata of snails!!!!

Of course here in MD we have Calvert Cliffs where with a very small amount of luck you can find pockets full of sharks teeth, mollusk shells and maybe even a bone.
.
Yeah, it's fun. I'd love to do some panning some place where there is gold worth panning. It's a blast.

Yeah.......see, I got two collections going, or I should say three - fossils, cool stones not for polishing, and cool stones that can be polished

- Garro.

[steve garro]

Just took out some obsidian from Oregon - man, this was trying but elegant
- Garro.

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[ides1056]

Years ago I visited the Livermore's ranch in CA: Montesol, by name. Old family place. Arrowheads were abundant and took no effort to find. The best obsidian had little white blossoms.