bcrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2014
Posts: 418
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Post by bcrockhound on Jun 20, 2014 16:06:07 GMT -5
Hello all, I have enjoyed reading this forum over the past few months and would now like to participate. I am a 25-year-old male living on Vancouver Island with regular trips to the mainland. I got into rocks after finding Dallasite (a jasper I've seen other members from the island post on here) at a favourite beach. I've found a lot of dallasite and similar rocks. I've also found a lot of Flowerstone. On the mainland, I've found a few river gravel bars for petrified wood and quartz. I have two rotary tumblers going (Lortone 66 and the 4 lbs one) but they have been a bit of a letdown. I think they are pretty cheaply made. I've found a lot of the beach rocks here are coated in gas and cause the barrels to bulge and leak if I don't clean them properly. I also bought a Thumler vibe but have yet to use it, still learning the ropes with all coarse loads for now. I've always looked for excuses to spend time in nature. I'm going out on my little boat to fish after I do this post. But rockhounding is a great new love. I just walk around in these beautiful locales exercising, picking up rocks, listening to the radio. I love it. I am astounded by all of the work you people do and all of the great rocks you find. I love seeing all the new pictures. Unfortunately the pictures I post below are bad, because I used my laptop camera. I have a good camera but I'm lazy. For any posts in future threads I will use my good camera. What I call Flowerstone. The pieces vary wildly. What I call Dallasite. This isn't as white as a lot of pieces, not exactly the same, but again a lot of variation in this general theme. Tumbling really brings out the black spots and borders. Have a good day. I look forward to learning more about rocks.
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Post by washingtonrocks on Jun 20, 2014 19:11:57 GMT -5
Welcome from your neighbor to the south! Nice rocks. I've always heard Chinese Writing Stone could be found on Vancouver Island. I'll occasionally find some on the beaches around here, but it's rare...Do you ever stumble upon any Nephrite on the beaches up there?
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roundrock
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Holding on to the Stone of Destiny
Member since June 2014
Posts: 91
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Post by roundrock on Jun 20, 2014 20:41:40 GMT -5
Welcome from down south in the hot and humid state of Mississippi
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bcrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2014
Posts: 418
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Post by bcrockhound on Jun 21, 2014 0:51:58 GMT -5
Thank you both. Washington, I have seen your posts and been intrigued. I am not informed enough to say I've found nephrite but I do think it's out here. Local rock shops say it is. I have found very tough dark green, speckled, 2.95 +/- specific gravity range but I am not sure enough to say what it is. Many tough pieces here resemble big sur and vulcan jade and some are very earthy/reddish/yellowish colours. I wouldn't guess they are jade but I think they're all of similar makeup. I believe there is a lot of serpentine here (banded, felty green) but again I am not sure about that. All I am sure about so far is flowerstone/Chinese writing and dallasite. I will post good pictures of all soon.
Round, I would love to go to Mississippi. I went to Utah last Christmas and absolutely loved it. What are good national park sort of areas?
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Post by snowmom on Jun 21, 2014 5:46:34 GMT -5
welcome from NE Lower Michigan. Beach rocks are best! (maybe I'm prejudiced because I hunt on Lake Huron). Those are good rocks with great contrast and pattern! Looking forward to seeing more finds and seeing what you do with them!
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juzwuz
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2010
Posts: 526
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Post by juzwuz on Jun 21, 2014 11:38:32 GMT -5
Welcome! When we visit Victoria, my kids and I usually can find some nice dallasite. The Rockhound Shop is also one of our stops. I have a chunk of flowerstone I got from a guy in Coquitlam. He mentioned that it can be found near Nanaimo (or even further North) but we never found any.
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bcrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2014
Posts: 418
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Post by bcrockhound on Jun 21, 2014 16:20:16 GMT -5
Thank you.
Snow, I enjoy your posts. I would love to rockhound on a lake and hope to soon. I like beach rocks but have also gained an interest in river rocks.
Juz, I haven't yet looked for dallasite outside of my area but plan to try Victoria. I would suggest Lantzville beaches for flowerstone. It is not as common as dallasite but you should find some if you look at low tide. There is a lot of lower quality stuff, not quite flower pattern, but a few really nice pieces and Chinese writing ones here and there.
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transcendental
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2014
Posts: 459
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Post by transcendental on Jun 21, 2014 20:22:07 GMT -5
Welcome from connecticut Beautiful stones! Can't wait to see more
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,676
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Post by Fossilman on Jun 23, 2014 8:23:49 GMT -5
Howdy and welcome to the forum....
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tkvancil
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2011
Posts: 1,546
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Post by tkvancil on Jun 23, 2014 11:50:33 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum. When I tumble self collected rocks that have oil, moss or any other contamination I pre-wash them in the tumbler. In a 6# barrel I'll put in 1/2 tbs. soap, 3 tbs. borax and 6 tbs. common sand. Let that roll for 3 or 4 hours and rinse. Seems to clean everything up pretty good.
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noob
having dreams about rocks
Member since January 2014
Posts: 51
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Post by noob on Jun 24, 2014 8:52:32 GMT -5
Welcome from Western NY. Enjoy the wealth of information.
Jon
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bcrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2014
Posts: 418
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Post by bcrockhound on Jul 3, 2014 21:02:19 GMT -5
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Post by snowmom on Jul 4, 2014 6:14:54 GMT -5
wow, you have a lot of great breccias and I'm jealous! The purple and white one may be travertine( a kind of marble)... we find it around here too, some of it can get really purple. It is softer stuff but can get a good polish on it. the swirly grey one with the yellow stains might be rhyolite, which I find in greys, swirls, brecciated, and also sometimes a bit striped. how hard would you say it is.. does it look at all quartz before it is polished or is it very flat looking? Hopefully somebody who really knows rocks will chime in here. you might try posting these in the general rocks board or the Rock identification section where more people will be sure to see it. best wishes.
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bcrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2014
Posts: 418
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Post by bcrockhound on Jul 4, 2014 9:45:10 GMT -5
Thanks, snowmom! Does your marble have that sandpaper texture too? I suspect I do have rhyolite among these rocks. It's pretty hard and the rocks really didn't round much in a week of coarse. Found naturally, it breaks like slate into chips and sheets, whereas most of the other stuff I collect like dallasite is in ocean-worn balls that are very difficult to break.
These pics give a great view of my dirty windowsill, yikes. I will take your advice on future posts to start new threads.
Speaking of Lake Huron, my grandparents had a farm there that we would visit (from Vancouver) every year. I find myself wishing I had been into rocks in the past now. I spent so many days at that lake, even looked for crawfish, but never really looked at the rocks! I bet there were beautiful ones. Have fun over there.
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bcrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2014
Posts: 418
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Post by bcrockhound on Jul 4, 2014 10:30:58 GMT -5
Washingtonrocks, if I knew how to tag you, I would. These are dry pictures of two pieces that fall in the 2.9-3.05 range. Look anything like nephrite to you? The first one especially feels sticky sometimes and is very hard to break. 1 2 Whoops, apparently these disappeared. Well, I'll be back after work to re-upload these and flowerstone pics. Poppy?
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donkeyrokman
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since June 2014
Posts: 78
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Post by donkeyrokman on Jul 4, 2014 14:18:00 GMT -5
Washingtonrocks, if I knew how to tag you, I would. These are dry pictures of two pieces that fall in the 2.9-3.05 range. Look anything like nephrite to you? The first one especially feels sticky sometimes and is very hard to break. 1 2 Whoops, apparently these disappeared. Well, I'll be back after work to re-upload these and flowerstone pics. Poppy? That's a well formed example of Chinese writing rock. Probably a basalt porphyry. I have a self collected sphere cut from similar stone found in Northern California years ago, and it's one of my favorites. The other one has more of the look of fossilized bone. Love the barnacles! Thanks for sharing!
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Good Earth
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2010
Posts: 155
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Post by Good Earth on Jul 4, 2014 15:55:07 GMT -5
Hey there! Welcome from across the straight in Sequim!
That one is definitely a poppy. Probably attached to the host andesite or basalt where the vein was. I find it by the cart load over here, but yours is the first I've seen from the island. Did you find it on the west or east side?
Nice looking rocks! I'll dig up a photo of our beach jade later for you to compare. Definitely has a chalky soft feeling rind..
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bcrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2014
Posts: 418
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Post by bcrockhound on Jul 5, 2014 11:15:14 GMT -5
Thanks for the help, all. Good Earth, I'm jealous of your poppy supply! That's one of only a few I've found. You must get some dallasite down there? I'd love to see your jade. I'm around Nanaimo, on the east side of the island. It's interesting to me how different rocks on either side of the Georgia Strait are. I've gone to beaches around Vancouver/Lions Bay but the rocks are just not as good as on the island. Seems like the island is full of interestingly designed rocks. Another Chinese writing
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bcrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2014
Posts: 418
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Post by bcrockhound on Jul 5, 2014 11:25:59 GMT -5
These are what I thought were closest in my findings to nephrite, but are they just a glob of basalt or similar? I have yet to notice the "rind" thing. They fall in the 2.9-3.1 range. Edit: Apparently reuploading these pics brought them back to life in my other post. I fail at the internet sometimes. Sorry for pic repetition.
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donkeyrokman
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since June 2014
Posts: 78
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Post by donkeyrokman on Jul 5, 2014 11:51:05 GMT -5
These are what I thought were closest in my findings to nephrite, but are they just a glob of basalt or similar? I have yet to notice the "rind" thing. They fall in the 2.9-3.1 range. Edit: Apparently reuploading these pics brought them back to life in my other post. I fail at the internet sometimes. Sorry for pic repetition. Top pic: I'd guess it's either more of your basalt porphyry without well defined crystals or it's a serpentine. I've collected a ton of California serpentine that looks very similar to it. Bottom pic: Looks like limestone typical of west coast beaches.
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