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Post by arghvark on Jan 5, 2018 10:46:23 GMT -5
Hi Y'all, Been lurking a bit, looks like a great resource and a great community!
My parents were 'hounds when I was a teenager (many,many moons ago) and I guess it's always stayed in the blood.
Moved to northern NV a couple years ago and have discovered that this region is incredibly rich in opportunities. In just a couple of months have collected several hundred pounds of agate, jasper, petrified/agatized/opalized wood, wonderstone and obsidian, of all sizes, all within a couple-three hours' drive, much within a half hour.
Was "loaned" (probably permanently) an old 10" Franton trim saw I'm refurbishing, and got a screamin' deal on an older Highland Plains 8" combo unit that had been nicely refurbished. 8" saw, two wheels (room for a third) and a polishing disk. Bought a Lortone 33B, and have discovered that I already have enough tumbling material to occupy it for about a decade, so I'm looking at another Lortone (probably a QT66). I'll use the rotaries for rough, and get a vibe for the other stages.
I tend to be a bit addictive in my pursuits and this is a lot better than online gaming. Baha.
'Hounds seem to be mighty friendly folk, and this forum seems to be best of the best. Looking forward to it.
Argh
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Post by MsAli on Jan 5, 2018 10:58:53 GMT -5
Good morning and welcome from California. Looking forward to seeing your finds.
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Post by gmitch067 on Jan 5, 2018 11:21:13 GMT -5
Welcome to the Forum from Northern California!
Of all my tumblers, I have found the QT66 the most useful. I have 2 of them... One dedicated to a 12 lb. drum and one running two 6 lb. drums... very versatile. Of course, with all those beautiful rocks surrounding you, a nice Thumler UV-18 (industrial grade) vibe would work well too... although it IS mega-noisy.
(Note: I have found running Obsidian in the UV-18 vibe with 50/50 ceramic media came out better than when using the UV-10... a smoother action with the UV-18. Both UV-18 and UV-10 process the harder stones - Jaspers and Agates, etc... equally well. Make sure you get the Industrial model though.)
Looking forward to seeing your tumbling results!
Glenn
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Post by manofglass on Jan 5, 2018 11:52:42 GMT -5
Welcome from Michigan
Walt
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 5, 2018 20:46:07 GMT -5
from Virginia! Great introduction! I can't wait to see some pictures.
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Post by Pat on Jan 5, 2018 20:55:15 GMT -5
Hi, from California. Welcome.
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 6, 2018 2:48:10 GMT -5
Welcome from Southern Nevada. Just got back from Reno yesterday. Did some rock hounding on the way back.
The area area around Washoe County was once known as Ormsby County and at the time was considered the mineral capital of the world.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jan 6, 2018 11:28:05 GMT -5
Welcome from Michigan. I have both a 33b and a QT66, and I like them both. Good choices. You should consider the Lot-O when you get a vibratory tumbler.
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,652
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Post by Tommy on Jan 6, 2018 11:42:39 GMT -5
Welcome from California! Northern and central NV is our favorite escape - maybe our paths will cross at some point. What's your favorite general region for hunting in?
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Post by arghvark on Jan 7, 2018 11:54:53 GMT -5
Welcome from California! Northern and central NV is our favorite escape - maybe our paths will cross at some point. What's your favorite general region for hunting in? Thanks Tommy! I'm pretty new to 'hounding in this area, so I'm mostly looking in the surrounding area (within an hour or so of Fallon, which is about an hour east of Reno) for the moment. Been up west of Mcdermitt a couple of times as it's on the route from my house to my parents' house. Seems to be a large and very rich site. Partial to central Oregon as I grew up in southwestern Oregon and we would go out there quite a bit. Argh
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lookatthat
Cave Dweller
Whatever there is to be found.
Member since May 2017
Posts: 1,360
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Post by lookatthat on Jan 7, 2018 12:15:14 GMT -5
I think you've got some pretty nice Amazonite in your area. Not sure about access.
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,652
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Post by Tommy on Jan 7, 2018 12:46:51 GMT -5
I'm pretty new to 'hounding in this area, so I'm mostly looking in the surrounding area (within an hour or so of Fallon, which is about an hour east of Reno) for the moment. That's awesome - I'm jealous Fallon is one of our favorite areas to hound out of. It's not as famous as Oregon collecting but you've got a ton of places to go around there - from Wonderstone mountain and surrounding area to the east, Dead Camel's and Lake Lahontan to the south, Soda Springs, Fernley and pipeline road to the west north west - not to mention the old man's store on the outskirts of town. I've found some nice stuff wandering his yard - but I also pissed him off and got us kicked out by trying to dicker with him on price He thinks his rocks are solid gold inside - I told him good luck trying to take it with him haha.
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,652
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Post by Tommy on Jan 7, 2018 12:49:49 GMT -5
I'm also told that there is a new location where they are taking beautiful blue fluorite out somewhere around Fallon. I've poked around trying to find out a location on that but with little success so far.
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Post by arghvark on Jan 7, 2018 13:20:57 GMT -5
That's awesome - I'm jealous Fallon is one of our favorite areas to hound out of. It's not as famous as Oregon collecting but you've got a ton of places to go around there - from Wonderstone mountain and surrounding area to the east, Dead Camel's and Lake Lahontan to the south, Soda Springs, Fernley and pipeline road to the west north west - not to mention the old man's store on the outskirts of town. Yeah, there are some great things around here. Wonderstone Mountain is very well known and heavily frequented,so need to dig to find extraordinary stuff, although there is lots there. Picked up some small stuff to tumble and a few interesting pieces to cut last week. Been to a decent site south of Fernley where the ground is just littered with small pieces of jaspery agate; need to explore more. Haven't found much amazing sh er stuff around Lahontan yet but have mostly stumbled around picking up a few pieces off the ground here and there. There's a cool spot east and south of Sand Mountain that has a lot of agate seams and nodules (mostly clear, but some nicely banded stuff) as well as tons of red, yellow, and some multicolor jasper, some of it agatized. The agate is extremely rough, so if you want to tumble it, it really takes a lot of rough. I kinda like the site though, because it's pretty easy to pick up a couple pounds of small-to-tiny agate "tumbling media" in just a few minutes. The wood photos I shared a couple days ago are from just a few miles south of Fallon. I'd be interested to hear more about Soda Springs and Dead Camel's sites. Pretty sure the old man's store is no longer there? Seems he died a couple years back. Apparently a relative took it over for a while but it didn't last long.
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Post by arghvark on Jan 7, 2018 13:32:10 GMT -5
I'm also told that there is a new location where they are taking beautiful blue fluorite out somewhere around Fallon. I've poked around trying to find out a location on that but with little success so far. Very cool! I've started getting to know the folks at the Rock Chuck in Schurz. Very friendly and they do a lot of prospecting. Perhaps they know something about it.
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,652
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Post by Tommy on Jan 7, 2018 13:57:41 GMT -5
Pretty sure the old man's store is no longer there? Seems he died a couple years back. Apparently a relative took it over for a while but it didn't last long. I don't know all the history of it but there's an old broken down outdoor shop on the west outskirts of town. Looks abandoned but if you knock on the door of the trailer the old dude is eager to sell stuff. From experience just don't call anything a "garden rock" I meant "Silver Springs" not soda. The area north of there towards Fernley is worth exploring - there's a lot of crappy "desert varnish agate" as I call it but if you're really patient and do a lot of windowing there are colors to be had. Just off pipeline road I found a chunk of plume agate that rivaled Oregon graveyard point material. Most of the decent surface material around Fernley and the racetrack is gone but I am told that there is plenty more to be found by digging.
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Win
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2017
Posts: 336
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Post by Win on Jan 8, 2018 9:19:00 GMT -5
Welcome from SW Utah, sounds like you're in a great area. Looking forward to some photos.
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bevsmith1960
starting to shine!
Member since January 2018
Posts: 48
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Post by bevsmith1960 on Jan 8, 2018 10:11:24 GMT -5
Hi Y'all, Been lurking a bit, looks like a great resource and a great community! My parents were 'hounds when I was a teenager (many,many moons ago) and I guess it's always stayed in the blood. Moved to northern NV a couple years ago and have discovered that this region is incredibly rich in opportunities. In just a couple of months have collected several hundred pounds of agate, jasper, petrified/agatized/opalized wood, wonderstone and obsidian, of all sizes, all within a couple-three hours' drive, much within a half hour. Was "loaned" (probably permanently) an old 10" Franton trim saw I'm refurbishing, and got a screamin' deal on an older Highland Plains 8" combo unit that had been nicely refurbished. 8" saw, two wheels (room for a third) and a polishing disk. Bought a Lortone 33B, and have discovered that I already have enough tumbling material to occupy it for about a decade, so I'm looking at another Lortone (probably a QT66). I'll use the rotaries for rough, and get a vibe for the other stages. I tend to be a bit addictive in my pursuits and this is a lot better than online gaming. Baha. 'Hounds seem to be mighty friendly folk, and this forum seems to be best of the best. Looking forward to it. Argh I'm jealous of where you live. I had a friend who lived out there and would send me jasper and petrified wood. Sadly, we're not friends anymore. You are right about this being a great forum! I feel smarter already and it hasn't even been a week that I've been here! ☺
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Post by arghvark on Jan 10, 2018 0:18:19 GMT -5
[quote author=" bevsmith1960" I'm jealous of where you live. I had a friend who lived out there and would send me jasper and petrified wood. Sadly, we're not friends anymore. You are right about this being a great forum! I feel smarter already and it hasn't even been a week that I've been here! ☺[/quote] Well, when I arrived here in 2015, I would have said there is NOTHING to be jealous of. Until I started getting back in to 'hounding, my current surroundings were not exactly, uh, thrilling me. But it's pretty amazing for rocks!
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lookatthat
Cave Dweller
Whatever there is to be found.
Member since May 2017
Posts: 1,360
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Post by lookatthat on Jan 10, 2018 11:23:08 GMT -5
I visited some relatives in Hawthorne, and I thought, "This is surely an out-of-the-way place." Hawthorne show up big on the map, but they pretty much have a library, a post office, and of course a Dollar General. (There is probably one on the moon by now.) They have to drive 70 miles to Fallon to get groceries. Then I saw the rocks in their yard. Hmm, maybe not so bad after all... And they're not even 'collectors'.
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