Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Nov 3, 2022 17:06:48 GMT -5
Wow, those snails are really cool. Look like freshwater bog species to me which would make sense if palm bog is around too.
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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 Nov 3, 2022 17:03:57 GMT -5
Travertine polishes easily as a cab but you have to avoid over heating on the polish pads or it will often fracture. I tried tumbling it once with little luck due to its softness. 'm sure someone ore skilled than I can do it but, even starting with only fine grind mine got all pitted and eaten up due I think, to varying hardness.
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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 Oct 24, 2022 17:15:36 GMT -5
*LOL* I'm kind of an odd duck and seldom use maps as I have a great memory for trails, landmarks etc. Can't remember where I stumbled across this map but since the area was new to me, I kept it in my notebook. Most places, I can drive there but giving map directions etc would be problematic. Not to mention the changes to sites (many totally exhausted) roads etc that happened over my sixty years of hounding. *S*.
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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 Oct 24, 2022 16:55:23 GMT -5
Really nice set. I love fossil cabs.
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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 Oct 24, 2022 16:51:25 GMT -5
The pink and green stone is "Wyoming Pink Jade" which is supposed to be nephrite and zoisite.
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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 Oct 23, 2022 16:05:04 GMT -5
I agree with rmF. Definitely looks like stromatolite on the exterior with an odd core. June Culp Zeitner, in her Southwest Gem trails book, calls similar material agatized algae.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
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Post by Sabre52 on Oct 23, 2022 15:59:14 GMT -5
Looks like a nice cycad to me too.
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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 Oct 23, 2022 15:58:08 GMT -5
I'd agree it does look like sagenite. Maybe aragonite spray.
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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 Oct 23, 2022 15:55:36 GMT -5
Definitely a quartz filled cast but I'm not sure it's wood. Might be some kind of marine fossil. Really odd and neat find.
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Sabre52
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Member since August 2005
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Post by Sabre52 on Oct 23, 2022 15:52:45 GMT -5
I'm thinking pet wood too. South of San Antonio brings you well into the south Texas pet wood zone. A lot of the types are unusual tropical forms.
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Sabre52
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Member since August 2005
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Post by Sabre52 on Oct 23, 2022 15:50:27 GMT -5
I'm thinking a pseudo fossil most likely a form of orbicular rhyolite. Not fern. Fern vascular bundles are kind of "C" shaped, not round.
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Sabre52
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Member since August 2005
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Post by Sabre52 on Oct 20, 2022 20:55:54 GMT -5
Looks like quartz infused with or coated with copper salts of some kind. Gem silica is chalcedony colored by copper minerals.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
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Post by Sabre52 on Oct 20, 2022 16:59:13 GMT -5
Howdy Khara, Float is the tern used for material that has broken or eroded from the deposit and is found downslope from the actual outcrop. When hounding a new site, one usually looks for the scattered pieces of float and follows the trail uphill or upstream etc until one finds where the float originated. Actually, this is the lesser quality boulder my wife captured for her rock garden, I gave a wonderful huge very agatized one to a friend to cut a sphere from and never got the saw scraps back. It was probably 75 pounds and very solid. The one pictured is more solid than it looks but the material tends to be somewhat full of crystal vugs due to being composed of tiny thundereggs. The densest bands of tiny, compressed, t-eggs tend to be the best sections to cab so yes, one must pick and choose his spots. Some of the nicest material at the site was in the float which was composed of small pieces of some of the densest, more solid section eroded free of the host vein.
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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 Oct 20, 2022 16:35:50 GMT -5
Wow, very nice, and no fractures either. That agate is often full of fractures.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
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Post by Sabre52 on Oct 19, 2022 16:14:41 GMT -5
Wonderful scene in the round Gary Green!
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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 Oct 16, 2022 15:42:55 GMT -5
My wife has captured that boulder along with many others for her rock garden, so no.*L*. Too big for my saw and I don't cab anymore these days anyway.
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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 Oct 16, 2022 14:59:07 GMT -5
Howdy folks, Here are some pics I promised that show the material from the big vein at the T-egg matrix site in Washington state. This piece of rough from my wife's rockgarden is the last hunk I have left, about 30 pounds or so and five inches thick mined straight from the roadside vein. The large cab is one I cut from a piece of float small enough for my 10 inch saw and shows the more golden brown type rather than the green matrix. Very well agatized. There were also lots of tiny t-eggs in the soil. Matrix shot from the top, side, macro of the side and of course, the cab. T-egg matrix top by lonerider652000, on Flickr t-egg matrix side by lonerider652000, on Flickr t-egg matrix macro by lonerider652000, on Flickr WA t-egg matrix cab by lonerider652000, on Flickr
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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 Oct 16, 2022 14:00:46 GMT -5
The rock identification section of this site has an agate database Lowell Foster built and there are pics of Manhatten Mine Lace included under the California agate section. Really a beatuful type of lace.
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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 Oct 16, 2022 13:56:17 GMT -5
In much of the gold country in California the gold bearing ores can be sulfides like marcasite or pyrite. Hornitos poppy jasper and Sierra brecciated jasper often contain gold bearing sulfide inclusions with enough gold that the included marcasite crystals do not oxidize. Gives some of the cabs a nice sparkle. I actually got permission to hunt poppies on one piece of private property which had some of this gold bearing jasper and made the owner a belt buckle from the material. Had a nice "stars in the purple sky" effect.
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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 Oct 15, 2022 23:28:22 GMT -5
Little Naches River thunderegg matrix map: From Naches , WA take hwy 12 west to 410 go right on 410, turn right on Little Naches Rd, take another right on forest service rd 1901, you will stay on FR 1901 for several miles but will see turns for FR 715, 716, and 676 don't take them, stay on 1901. You will come to a junction of FR 1901 and FR 723, 723 is a left turn, do not take it, stay on FR 1901. Matrix t-egg site is 2.1 miles from this junction on 1901. The instruction I got said the deposit was on the left side of the road, down slope but I found the best material on the steep muddy bank on the right, uphill side of the road. it is kind of on the high part of FR 1901 so if you start to descend into a canyon, you have passed the site. It was spring when we were there with a little snow but it was a good gravel road and though we had four wheel drive and a high clearance, we really did not need it. I suspect summer would be a piece of cake but a wet spring, you might need that fourby. If you take a left on FR 723 back at the junction, that takes you to the regular thunderegg beds at the end of 723 but we were after the matrix so did not go there because what eggs I had seen were not all that showy and the matrix stuff is pretty cool. I would get the forest service map if I could as the turns are kind of tricky and tend to lead you astray off 1901. It took me awhile to find the 723 junction. Second time I went it was easier. It should also be noted that the Little Naches River gravels you will see along the way contain pet wood and jasper. Suggested gear: I had a long heavy bar and chisels to work the big vein. Rock picks do not do much good in the muddy ash soil, there was a little float when I went but the good stuff required some digging.Probably better in summer as the mud was really bad . Might take rubber boots, rain gear, and mudding clothes at wet times of the year. One of the prettier sites I've ever visited. My wifes sister has a place nearby and the area is beautiful volcanic country.
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