Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 30, 2010 9:11:16 GMT -5
Howdy folks, Just a few cuts from yesterday. Been rooting around in the bins some more and am still finding stuff from the California move. Anyway, here ya go and thanks for looking.....Mel Had to finish the Prairie agate in the vise before moving on to the next rock. As I got more towards the other end it turned more pink and purple in color. This is the wood my wife found in the Eagle pass, TX gravel pile. These are cut with the grain. Don't know what kind of wood it is but I suspect some kind of odd palm as it shows tiny eyes in the end of the piece. The tubules are much more dense than in normal palm though. Next cuts, I'll do in that direction. Closer shot: Guess what popped out of one of the bins, another hunk of Wingate Plume I'd forgotten about. ( actually found three new pieces). Very cool! Finally, a few cuts off one of the nodules I mined on our old Hornitos ranch back in California. ( I miss mining those poppies!) It was sad to leave a whole hillside full of boulders containing this pretty material but it was hard rock mining and I only had time to remove a few before I moved. This one has the poppies contained in pure purple/black silicified hematite. Closer shot showing the odd poppies in a couple of the slabs. Kind of ghost poppies that seem to be sunken into the hematite. Still wish I knew just how the heck this stuff forms It sure seems it's simply little beads of hematite that have been replaced by silica as some of the specimens I found actually still have separate beads that are barely attached to the matrix.
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NorthShore-Rocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since December 2008
Posts: 1,004
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Post by NorthShore-Rocks on Jun 30, 2010 10:13:09 GMT -5
Wow Mel! Fantastic!
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rons
spending too much on rocks
Member since March 2010
Posts: 450
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Post by rons on Jun 30, 2010 11:06:22 GMT -5
Nice slabs Mel, really interesting material..keep on slabbing
Ron
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Post by deb193redux on Jun 30, 2010 13:42:52 GMT -5
great poppy
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Post by frane on Jun 30, 2010 19:49:56 GMT -5
Great slabs but that wingate and poppy! WOW! Fran
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carloscinco
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2008
Posts: 1,639
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Post by carloscinco on Jun 30, 2010 20:25:06 GMT -5
That poppy is pretty neat looking stuff and those Wingate colors really pop!
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NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on Jun 30, 2010 23:06:33 GMT -5
OMG this stuff is gorgeous Mel! Thanks for showing us.
Nate
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Wolfden
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2007
Posts: 1,368
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Post by Wolfden on Jul 1, 2010 0:20:44 GMT -5
Dang Mel !! sweet slabs .. love the Wingate Plume and the Hornitos poppy
Thanks for sharing Wolf
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,077
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Post by elementary on Jul 1, 2010 10:59:51 GMT -5
Dangnational poppy (almost wrote poopy) material you got there Mel! I don't think I've seen a specimen that purty of dat stuff! Makes me want to dig deeper in the crate of that stuff you left behind when you moved that's been sitting by the sit of the house collecting spider webs and snail shells! (Your move gave me the best rockhunting I'd done up through the Harris house sale last year!) So - here's my poppy eyes for your poppy jasper: Lowell
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Jul 1, 2010 12:19:15 GMT -5
Lowell, I felt I needed a break from cutting only Texas stuff lately so have been back foraging through my bins. I've found a couple of new poppy type specimens I have waiting in line for saw time and hopefully, I can add a bunch of new varieties to my cab collection soon. One bunch I dug out is from the old Hornitios Brecciated Jasper ( Sierra Jasper ) pit and appears to be an intergrade between poppies and breccia. Looks real solid too and appears to have fairly dramatic colors. I also found a huge boulder that appears to have dramatic pink poppies but it's too darn big for my saw. I remember the specific day I found that one and that I almost had a heatstroke dragging that big bastich out of the manzanita and a few hundred yards up a steep slippery deer trail. Kind of tickles me how you'll dig out a dirty old rock, wash it, and it will immediately trigger a memory of the particular hunt on which is was discovered. I'm sure if you dig through the stuff you got from my backyard you'll find something interesting in the way of poppies. I forget who got it but there was about a forty pound nodule of this red poppy on hematite stuff that I didn't move that was sitting beside the raised garden. Maybe it's in your haul...Mel
PS: Left the black widows behind in Ventura County and traded up for monster centipedes, striped bark scorpions and recluse spiders. I'm beginning to miss the black widders *L*
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Post by Bejewelme on Jul 1, 2010 13:04:20 GMT -5
Mel that poppy is just fantastic, and the palm wood in those pastel shades is really cool! Awesome cuts
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,077
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Post by elementary on Jul 1, 2010 17:50:21 GMT -5
Mel,
I agree about the memories triggered by specific stones. I can be pulling out a bucket of stuff and find a piece that suddenly pulls me back to a desert tortoise sighting, a field of flowers, an unusual find, etc.
I enjoy hunting near Castle Butte because usually I'm allowed an air show of some type (it being north of Edwards AFBase). A few years ago, my wife was working on a project to bring the MV-22 to the military bases out here in California (can't remember for which branch, though). Her firm was doing the envir. impact reports. So I was hunting on the hill overlooking the Boron Wood site and here comes an MV-22 roaring down the valley. Dang things are LOUD. I watch it turn and make another run. It does this for a while. Now I'm thinking, is this thing supposed to be in the state yet? I call home as I watch and ask Karen - "Uh, are those planes of yours supposed to be here yet?" Turns out these belonged to a different branch and already had their go ahead to be flying. So, (how does this story relate everyone is now asking) as I stand, I put my hand on a chunk of jasper, and it has some interesting color and patterns in it. Probably the most interesting find of the day. I haven't cut it yet, but each time I run across it, I remember that day and that oddball plane's flight across the sky.
Lowell
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NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on Jul 1, 2010 21:40:18 GMT -5
Cool stories guys!.... off to google MV-22...
Nate
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,077
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Post by elementary on Jul 2, 2010 10:57:55 GMT -5
I should have said V-22 (Which is the Osprey - the tilt wing aircraft seen at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-22_OspreyThe M designates I believe Marines. The air force version would have (as my limited understanding allows) would have had a different beginning letter.) Lowell
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dbrealityrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2010
Posts: 1,084
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Post by dbrealityrocks on Jul 2, 2010 17:25:29 GMT -5
oooh that wingate makes me drool
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stoneviews
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since April 2009
Posts: 1,864
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Post by stoneviews on Jul 4, 2010 22:15:36 GMT -5
Another super batch Mel, love the poppy.
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