Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
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Post by Sabre52 on May 19, 2011 16:06:43 GMT -5
Howdy folks, Well, got a little time today and cleaned and took photos of some of yesterdays finds. Here are the pics.....Mel About 80 pounds of raw stuff. As you can see, everything is covered by caliche, a sort of dusty limestone and sand crust. Man, after cleaning these I realized I left a lot of real nice stuff behind.  Some sticks off pet wood:  As it turned out, about 15% of my finds were palm, some very brightly colored.  A huge hunk of that George West type wood which is totally agate replaced and mossy inside:  Another view:  Small tumble stuff. Lots of this is palm too:  Weird woods. This is what I left behind a lot of and I'm heartbroken. There's snakewood, that viny stuff, some kind of roots etc. real exotic looking stuff but was so darn hard to spot among all the other rock when covered with that white gunk. Chunk on lower right shows some of the gold and black hexagonal fracture pattern. Showed not a thing until chipped.  More George West type wood:  Of all things, a banded agate nodule:  Various jaspers and flints. There was a ton of this stuff but I only picked up a little to try in the tumbler. Much was very like that banded Polish flint except in color. The little red jasper nodules were all over the road.  And finally the "what the heck are theys" I don't know if this is some sort of pseudomorph after wood or what but in one area they were all over. Some were botryoidal, some tubes, some mossy inside, even one you can see in the pic very much like crazy lace agate. Just odd to find them scattered around the hillside with pet wood.  |
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Post by catmandewe on May 19, 2011 16:15:34 GMT -5
Looks like there will be another trip back there soon!
Some real nice stuff there.
I am cutting some TX pet wood for a customer right now, the inside looks alot like Biggs.
Never know what you might find out there.
Thanks for the pics Mel............................Tony
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snuffy
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2009
Posts: 4,319
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Post by snuffy on May 19, 2011 16:50:18 GMT -5
Nice stuff,Mel. Be about a 500 mile round trip for me,I'll just have to keep looking at your pics.  snuffy |
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723 
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Post by Fossilman on May 19, 2011 17:05:27 GMT -5
Awesome finds!!!! The banded flint or agate is totally awesome............Well worth the hunt!
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Digforcrystals
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2008
Posts: 351
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Post by Digforcrystals on May 19, 2011 18:13:49 GMT -5
That palmwood and the hexagonal fractured one are deluxe! Where ( in general ) were you digging at?
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
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Post by Sabre52 on May 19, 2011 18:51:33 GMT -5
Dig: Just south of Choke Canyon Reservoir and near Three Rivers, TX......Mel
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Digforcrystals
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2008
Posts: 351
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Post by Digforcrystals on May 19, 2011 19:10:35 GMT -5
Hey, was this near house ranch? I paid my $20 and had a look around but only found one piece ( but a good one ). This was south of choke canyon and near 3 rivers. House ranch is right behind that fish camp/hotel that faces near the entrance to the state park.
Back in February it was during that cold snap where it was down to six degrees in three rivers.
Now I am tough and a real rock hound and I can deal with six degree temps but that texas wind was a-howling. I had spent the day before at the headwaters to choke canyon in tilden and was still cold from the day before. I just couldnt take that cold.
In fact, when I left three rivers I rode right thru kerrville toward Llano. Record cold there too but I geuse that is another chapter.
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Post by paulshiroma on May 19, 2011 20:34:15 GMT -5
Quite the haul, Mel. The "what the heck are they" category is especially interesting. What do you plan on doing with those three? Cool stuff!
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Post by texaswoodie on May 19, 2011 20:41:51 GMT -5
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snuffy
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2009
Posts: 4,319
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Post by snuffy on May 19, 2011 20:49:10 GMT -5
Curt,stop by and pick me up some afternoon when you go down there. ;D snuffy |
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
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Post by Sabre52 on May 19, 2011 20:55:36 GMT -5
Curt: Yep, I had googled snakewood before and came up with that info. Some of this stuff is definitely in that group of wood because it shows the bands alternating with the small palm like vascular bundles. I only hit two locations this trip , have a whole bunch more I've researched and will check more spots next time as if they are no good I can still hit these sites I hit this time all over again, especially if it rains.
Dig: I didn't even know the house ranch was till open but no need to pay fees as there is wood all over for free.
Paul. All those will fit the vice in my new saw ( barely) so I reckon I'll at least cut them open and if they look good, slab em up. The large George West wood specimen is way too big for the saw so I may have to break that one before I slab it......Mel
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Digforcrystals
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2008
Posts: 351
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Post by Digforcrystals on May 19, 2011 21:03:37 GMT -5
Those are some nice specimens for sure. Maybe next year you will share some locations with me once I head back your way? No worries about me wearing it out , as I only pass thru once a year.
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Post by Toad on May 19, 2011 21:16:12 GMT -5
Awesome variety. Do you really believe it was all just randomly there??? Some old rockhound died a couple decades ago, and when the grandkids were going through his stuff, they didn't know what to do with all the 'stupid' rocks - so they got dumped late one night for you to find many years later.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
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Post by Sabre52 on May 19, 2011 22:03:18 GMT -5
*L*Toad in some cases you're not far off. A lot of the wood was hauled in from gravel pits as road fill and weathers out along the roads. In one location we found though, the wood was actually weathering from a layer in the hillside and much was still in situ. If it had been an old rockhound's collection he sure would've had to have had industrious kids as they flat threw out that wood and agate for miles *L*...Mel
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Post by roy on May 20, 2011 0:26:26 GMT -5
nice haul mel you found some choice stuff
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Post by tandl on May 20, 2011 9:12:03 GMT -5
Awesome bunch of finds ! Those whatheheckers , look alot like what we call geodes up here , some are solid with agate sometimes . They are all after fossils . devonian and silurian age .
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,504
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Post by Sabre52 on May 20, 2011 11:01:13 GMT -5
Ted: I was wondering about that too. The area these came from is, of course, much younger in age than your region ( 20 million or less years old I think). Kind of hard to figure what the heck those formations are, I'd guess sort of a big desert rose type agate nodule but the river drainage that deposited all this gravel was huge and stuff rolled in from all over a huge part of south Texas so it could have come from far away. Matt Dillon seems to think they are agate casts after wood and they may be as some of the pieces I have that definitely show wood exterior, have botryoidal agate inside so those nodules could simply be that sort of wood with all the exterior worn away. Can't wait to head down again and explore some more sites.....Mel
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Post by BAZ on May 25, 2011 21:21:11 GMT -5
I usually don't say this to another man but what the heck, "Nice wood!"
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,790
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Post by adrian65 on May 25, 2011 22:11:42 GMT -5
Beautiful finds, what a variety!
Adrian
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rockwizz
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since May 2007
Posts: 971
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Post by rockwizz on May 27, 2011 13:04:07 GMT -5
Mel, super sweet finds.. I love those smaller branches....let me know if you would be willing to trade for some geodes from Dugway..
Ozzy
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