chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,227
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Post by chris1956 on Mar 13, 2024 20:35:37 GMT -5
Just looking real quick basalt has a hardness of around 6 which is lower than the rock I have. Does basalt form harder material (glassy?)? I am not too familiar with basalt beyound the mass type material that you see from the old lava flows in the copper country of Michigan. The rock isn't like that material.
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titaniumkid
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2023
Posts: 181
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Post by titaniumkid on Mar 13, 2024 23:30:54 GMT -5
Almost looks like the remains of a burned Indian. Why would I assume that? This old lady I know, I was helping her move some stuff, after I was done, she was showing me some rocks etc.. she hands me a piece almost similar to that. Dark, dense, waxy appearance. Says you guess what that is? I’m like no clue. She tells me it’s the burned remains of a Native American. Goes into this story about how she obtained it, etc.. I don’t remember the details, but from what I do remember. Back when white man was fighting the natives, they piled the body’s up and burned them. It was like her great grandfather or someone found the spot and took a piece. I wanted to drop that thing and have nothing to do with it. In fear I was gonna get possessed 😂 I was hoping this was some sort of macabre joke but I'm also reading Blood Meridian and now nothing would surprise me. Now I find myself routinely checking the progress on this mystery rock thread and hoping please be an actual rock.
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aGates
spending too much on rocks
Building a silver studio
Member since January 2021
Posts: 463
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Post by aGates on Mar 14, 2024 0:26:46 GMT -5
Now.. I’m not saying that’s what it is. Just looks identical to that piece she handed to me lol. From what she had told me, it’s essentially the fats and everything like that, that had melted off and then cooled 😂 Upon reading many accounts of trappers who lived with natives, it was very common for natives to burn their enemies. That would be other natives as well as white man in the same manner you describe. I'm not sure of any rocks that were formed from bio matter. I assume it would just do like it does in it incinerary and become ash?
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Post by realrockhound on Mar 14, 2024 10:22:21 GMT -5
Now.. I’m not saying that’s what it is. Just looks identical to that piece she handed to me lol. From what she had told me, it’s essentially the fats and everything like that, that had melted off and then cooled 😂 Upon reading many accounts of trappers who lived with natives, it was very common for natives to burn their enemies. That would be other natives as well as white man in the same manner you describe. I'm not sure of any rocks that were formed from bio matter. I assume it would just do like it does in it incinerary and become ash? Yeah, I have no clue. From what I vaguely remember, she was saying it was all the fat and grease that had melted then formed the chunk she handed me. She could just be absolutely filling me full of crap. But on the flip side of things, knowing this lady, she’s exactly the type of person that would have something like that. Also very knowledgeable person. I dunno.. I just thought it’d be funny to share that. Make Chris question if he’s packing burned remains around 🤮
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,227
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Post by chris1956 on Mar 14, 2024 15:55:51 GMT -5
Almost looks like the remains of a burned Indian. Why would I assume that? This old lady I know, I was helping her move some stuff, after I was done, she was showing me some rocks etc.. she hands me a piece almost similar to that. Dark, dense, waxy appearance. Says you guess what that is? I’m like no clue. She tells me it’s the burned remains of a Native American. Goes into this story about how she obtained it, etc.. I don’t remember the details, but from what I do remember. Back when white man was fighting the natives, they piled the body’s up and burned them. It was like her great grandfather or someone found the spot and took a piece. I wanted to drop that thing and have nothing to do with it. In fear I was gonna get possessed 😂 I was hoping this was some sort of macabre joke but I'm also reading Blood Meridian and now nothing would surprise me. Now I find myself routinely checking the progress on this mystery rock thread and hoping please be an actual rock.
Pay no attention to that evil yoda (other than his last post). I cut three slabs off of it today (still have a little left). Pretty darn sure it is a mineral rock. Although I did start wondering today just how long does it take to petrify organic material?
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Post by realrockhound on Mar 14, 2024 16:08:19 GMT -5
I was hoping this was some sort of macabre joke but I'm also reading Blood Meridian and now nothing would surprise me. Now I find myself routinely checking the progress on this mystery rock thread and hoping please be an actual rock.
Pay no attention to that evil yoda (other than his last post). I cut three slabs off of it today (still have a little left). Pretty darn sure it is a mineral rock. Although I did start wondering today just how long does it take to petrify organic material? Evil? 🤣. I’m gonna make a plan to go out and visit this chick again. I’ll get picks of the (supposed) remains she handed me. Just so everyone can see this.
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,227
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Post by chris1956 on Mar 14, 2024 17:39:38 GMT -5
Pay no attention to that evil yoda (other than his last post). I cut three slabs off of it today (still have a little left). Pretty darn sure it is a mineral rock. Although I did start wondering today just how long does it take to petrify organic material? Evil? 🤣. I’m gonna make a plan to go out and visit this chick again. I’ll get picks of the (supposed) remains she handed me. Just so everyone can see this. OK, evil might have been a tad bit harsh. Trouble maker might have been better.
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Post by realrockhound on Mar 14, 2024 18:05:23 GMT -5
Evil? 🤣. I’m gonna make a plan to go out and visit this chick again. I’ll get picks of the (supposed) remains she handed me. Just so everyone can see this. OK, evil might have been a tad bit harsh. Trouble maker might have been better. It’s all good. I’ve been called worse 😂
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titaniumkid
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2023
Posts: 181
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Post by titaniumkid on Mar 14, 2024 18:15:52 GMT -5
I was hoping this was some sort of macabre joke but I'm also reading Blood Meridian and now nothing would surprise me. Now I find myself routinely checking the progress on this mystery rock thread and hoping please be an actual rock.
Pay no attention to that evil yoda (other than his last post). I cut three slabs off of it today (still have a little left). Pretty darn sure it is a mineral rock. Although I did start wondering today just how long does it take to petrify organic material? There are places where the mineral-rich water quickly petrifies things (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrifying_well), but that's not the same as this. The mystery twists and deepens. Is the mystery rock a mineral? Is the human remains rock (not sure if rock is the right word and even writing this feels a bit disrespectful) actually human? Is there a good reason to keep something like that and pull it out to entertain visitors, or is something else going on with that lady? Google probably knows, but that's a potentially disturbing rabbit hole.
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Post by jasoninsd on Mar 14, 2024 23:21:37 GMT -5
Pretty fascinating piece Chris! I thought some of the "possibilities" mentioned were interesting to say the least! LOL
I found a piece of material on the Cheyenne River here in SD, that I thought was Obsidian...kind of reminds me of your piece...a little. I was told it was petrified "burned" wood. Whether true or not, I don't know. I still haven't slabbed it. I doubt it was that "brecciated" look like yours has. That's super fascinating about your piece!
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,227
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Post by chris1956 on Mar 16, 2024 19:11:19 GMT -5
I had a chance to slab the rock in question and use the trim saw to make a couple cabs and a cross. I will try to get to polishing the cabs in the next day or two and the cross is going in the Lot-O tomorrow. Will see if I can get the cross polished before we leave at the end of the week for a short trip to Michigan. Slab. I was disappointed that the really black material kind of disapeared as I cut into the rock. You can see the black spots in the lower center of the slab and one spot up and left of that area. I cut the cabs and cross from the lower left area of this photo. One of the cabs was from the black area and one on the left side of the slab. The cross was cut in between the two (I know I should have taken a pic of that too). The slab is about a 1/4 inch thick. When I cut the cabs and the cross, it was pretty chippy as you can see from the photos. This looked good on the cross. Hopefully the cabs will polish without chipping. The first cab is from the black area. I think I caught the light reflection on the second cab (it isn't that light colored). The cab from the black area had a large clear spot in it as seen in this backlit photo. Will update when I have polished rocks. Thanks for looking, Chris
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dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,592
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Post by dillonf on Mar 17, 2024 15:19:25 GMT -5
Very cool.
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ThomasT
spending too much on rocks
Trying to keep the dust down.
Member since June 2022
Posts: 258
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Post by ThomasT on Mar 17, 2024 15:32:31 GMT -5
titaniumkid Perhaps if your embalmer fills you with water glass and your coffin is filled with sand and waterglass you too can be petrified ... eventually. But not any chances of turning grease into Obsidian without some powerful Voodoo. realrockhound
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Post by realrockhound on Mar 17, 2024 16:30:01 GMT -5
titaniumkid Perhaps if your embalmer fills you with water glass and your coffin is filled with sand and waterglass you too can be petrified ... eventually. But not any chances of turning grease into Obsidian without some powerful Voodoo. realrockhound To be fair though. That ain’t obsidian either. I have zero clue what that is, but it’s definitely not obsidian.
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titaniumkid
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2023
Posts: 181
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Post by titaniumkid on Mar 17, 2024 16:45:02 GMT -5
titaniumkid Perhaps if your embalmer fills you with water glass and your coffin is filled with sand and waterglass you too can be petrified ... eventually. But not any chances of turning grease into Obsidian without some powerful Voodoo. Hmm... ideas. Whoever tries to slab my petrified remains will be in for a shock when they find all the titanium in it
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Post by realrockhound on Mar 17, 2024 17:06:48 GMT -5
titaniumkid Perhaps if your embalmer fills you with water glass and your coffin is filled with sand and waterglass you too can be petrified ... eventually. But not any chances of turning grease into Obsidian without some powerful Voodoo. Hmm... ideas. Whoever tries to slab my petrified remains will be in for a shock when they find all the titanium in it Whoever tries with me aint gonna get very far. I'm rotten
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titaniumkid
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2023
Posts: 181
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Post by titaniumkid on Mar 17, 2024 17:16:20 GMT -5
It's a good way to guarantee they never forget you. Ever. No amount of therapy is gonna help with that memory.
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titaniumkid
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since June 2023
Posts: 181
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Post by titaniumkid on Mar 17, 2024 17:17:37 GMT -5
More seriously, I think the chips make the cross look cool. Hope it takes a decent polish, but if not, the rough look isn't bad.
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,227
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Post by chris1956 on Mar 17, 2024 20:47:26 GMT -5
More seriously, I think the chips make the cross look cool. Hope it takes a decent polish, but if not, the rough look isn't bad. Thanks. That is what I thought too. We will see how it looks polished. Maybe that will supply some clues, if not more laughs.
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Post by jasoninsd on Mar 17, 2024 23:09:49 GMT -5
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