emme
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2019
Posts: 1
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Post by emme on Apr 21, 2019 11:22:33 GMT -5
Hi. I am new to the rockhound hobby. Newly retired. I hunt where I can,lucked across a piece of brick red jasper that fills my palm, as large as my fist.Questions: is this size uncommon to find? And should I cut it for a rock tumbler or leave intact as a specimen? It is plain jasper with no banding or dendrite-like inclusions or veining.Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions on this.
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jasperfanatic
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2019
Posts: 456
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Post by jasperfanatic on Apr 21, 2019 12:01:56 GMT -5
Hey emme ! Not sure of your general location, but around my area, I frequently find orange to grapefruit-sized chunks of Jasper. Almost always they are red or yellow, with red being more frequent than yellow. Color is usually closer to brick/maroon, but some have been brilliantly red and every now and again I'll find one with something interesting going on like agate seems or other colorful patterns. More often than not it's just plain Jasper as you describe. I've seen some folks pull some small boulder-sized chunks out of the rivers around here as well. The point being, size ranges from grain of sand to grape to small Volkswagon, so yours is in the spectrum of "normal" I feel like the decision on what to do with it is really a personal preference, if you like how it looks now then why not leave it as-is? If you're worried about destroying something of value, without a picture it's impossible to know, but if it truly is just a plain red jasper with nothing going on then it's probably not worth much, but there are a lot of variables there as well and having a proper ID would probably help any decision around cutting in to it. There are many (most) on this site with more experience and knowledge than me, so I'm sure you'll get some great info. Post up some pics of what you found and let us see! Always love seeing cool finds.
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Post by vegasjames on Apr 21, 2019 15:33:23 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum.
Not that uncommon. If you like tumbling then I would tumble it. Maybe drill holes in the pieces you make first so you can strong them on a necklace after tumbling.
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Post by arghvark on Apr 24, 2019 8:37:04 GMT -5
Welcome! One of the really cool things about rockhounding is that your tastes, preferences, and criteria evolve over time. I still have a couple hundred pounds of stuff that I collected in my first year that I can't bring myself "return to the wild", but by my criteria today don't really have any interest in doing anything with. Another wonderful thing about collecting is we are often surprised by what's inside. As previously mentioned, in some areas chunks of jasper are pretty common. In others, not so much. If you have access to a saw, cutting might be fun to see if there are any patterns inside. Or hit it with a big hammer. Or try to "window" by hitting a glancing blow on the edge. Is it water polished? Might also be cool to leave as is, tossed out in the yard? I mean, "start of a rock garden".
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Post by greig on Apr 24, 2019 22:12:10 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum. I think you asked me about this because of my Youtube channel and I directed you here. ;-) Perhaps post a picture for more inupt. Greig (meMiner)
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