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Post by Tweetiepy on May 12, 2008 7:46:03 GMT -5
You know how most agates are very hard - lots of jaspers are hard too.
Anyone who's cabbed organic rocks knows the smell, turritella, coral, dino bone, dino poop - you know what I mean - they give off some sort of smell right. I was wondering if jaspers are organic too? For example, porcelain jasper stinks when you grind it, as do picture jaspers - anyone think these could be made from organic plant life of some sort?
Just wondering as I noticed this while grinding - I'd be interested in what you think
Thanks
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Post by johnjsgems on May 12, 2008 9:01:56 GMT -5
All of those were organic before they were replaced by agate or jasper. Once the mineral replacement takes place there is no organic matter left.
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on May 12, 2008 9:53:00 GMT -5
I agree with John. The smell of any of those materials is probably due to impurities that got incorporated when the replacement occurred, and not due to any organic matter. If you grind a rock with manganese in it the smell is pretty bad, even though there is no organic matter. Try grinding coal if you want to know what fossil organic matter smells like.
I think it should be mentioned here that if you are smelling the grinding dust on a regular basis, you should get better ventilation in your grinding area. The occasional whiff probably won't hurt anything, but regular breathing of fine silica dust from grinding can mess up your lungs with silicosis.
-Don
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rallyrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2005
Posts: 1,507
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Post by rallyrocks on May 12, 2008 10:31:16 GMT -5
"Jasper" is probably one of the least specific rock names in mineralogy, a lot of the so-called "picture Jaspers" are essentially "petrified mud", so some of them probably do have organic components, depending on the flora of the locality and era when they formed.
As for smelling stuff when grinding, I use enough water that that usually isn't an issue, unless I'm burning my belt (the binding resin on true-circle belts has a very distinctive odor when its shedding) cutting oceanic or beach rocks with algae all over them, or cutting high quality Lapis Lazuli, which smells kind of "sulfurous", but I've never really noticed much of a noticable smell with any jaspers or agates.
I haven't yet done much cutting on dino bones or other fossils, have to give those a try...
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rockdewd
has rocks in the head
Member since October 2007
Posts: 605
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Post by rockdewd on May 12, 2008 14:48:29 GMT -5
In my experience when cutting Turintella on my 18" saw it smells like rotten eggs. My teenage son tries to blame the smell on me. When it first happened I thought the oil had gotten rotten. I've heard that bacteria can grow in saw oil. But it was the turentella. Once I started cutting a non-turentella stone the smell went away.
Rick
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Post by bobby1 on May 12, 2008 18:12:03 GMT -5
Grinding on Marcasite has a sulphurous smell from the Iron Sulfide in it. It can smell slightly like rotten eggs.I would imagine that some jaspers could have a bit of pyrites (like the Lapis[ though it is classified as a rock]) or marcasites in their composition that could smell.
Bob
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Post by deb193redux on May 12, 2008 19:52:09 GMT -5
The silica in cherts is most often transported from marine fossil skeletons. Many jaspers like pet wood and fossil bog are fossil replacements, but still I think the silica was transported from volcanic ash and not organic sources.
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cutter
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since February 2008
Posts: 129
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Post by cutter on May 12, 2008 22:16:29 GMT -5
Ain't it bad enough that we gots to lick em, now we gots to sniff em too.
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Post by cpdad on May 12, 2008 22:33:49 GMT -5
hahahaha @ cutter......i thought that was funny...kev.
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Post by texaswoodie on May 14, 2008 7:03:40 GMT -5
Some of the wood I work with is partially coal replaced so you would expect a smell. However the rotten wood I recently discovered also has a smell. It seems that the harder the pet wood is, the less smell it has. Don't have a clue what this means, just thought I would mention it.
Curt
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,494
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Post by Sabre52 on May 16, 2008 11:14:36 GMT -5
Interesting topic! I do know some of the fossil wood and bogs have organic material present that is not totally replaced by silica as do many of the materials containing fossil shells. I've not noticed a lot of odor with the wood but the shell materials often have that distinct calcium carbonate odor like you get when grinding abalone shell. Some other rocks definitely give off sulfurous odors or tin can smells probably due to presence of metallics ie pyrite etc. Nipomo Marcasite agate is definitely in this catagory. Hmmm. I guess discussing rock BO is a subject only us rock addicts could love *L*.....Mel
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Post by krazydiamond on May 16, 2008 15:34:18 GMT -5
yeh, only rock addicts could go on about the "nose" of particular materials like wine snobs at a tasting. cutter's comment got a luagh out of me, too.
KD
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snivlem
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since February 2008
Posts: 167
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Post by snivlem on May 16, 2008 23:43:37 GMT -5
I actually used a hair conditioner the other day, aussie sun protection something or another, and it smelled just like picasso marble being cut. When I realized that I was correlating smells of rocks and my personal hygiene i worried for like 3 seconds, then laughed.
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