Minnesota Daniel
freely admits to licking rocks
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Post by Minnesota Daniel on Apr 18, 2012 18:24:43 GMT -5
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rockingthenorth
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by rockingthenorth on Apr 18, 2012 18:34:45 GMT -5
Cool!!! Nice size you going to cut it and show us whats inside
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Minnesota Daniel
freely admits to licking rocks
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A COUPLE LAKERS
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Post by Minnesota Daniel on Apr 18, 2012 18:46:38 GMT -5
I don't have the saw for it myself, but I think I can get it cut.
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Post by gr on Apr 18, 2012 20:33:43 GMT -5
If you can get it cut Daniel, be sure and post a pic. I'd like to see the inside too
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Post by jakesrocks on Apr 19, 2012 8:39:26 GMT -5
Bummer you posted this today. My brother in law just left Minneapolis for a weekend visit. He could have brought it with him, and I would have opened it up for you.
He lives in Burnsville, and is a manager at the Menards near there. Don
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2012 11:27:19 GMT -5
If you ship it to me I will cut it up for a couple of slices for me. I do not have much use for stone from outside Wyoming because the tourists want local stuff but I love to cut stone that I have never seen before. I am interested in stones from the north (Minnesota, Wisconsin) because I have seen stones posted from there that look very similar to what I find. The stone that you are holding looks similar to a yellow, black agate that is fairly abundant here. Most of it has some druzy pockets and some of it has yellow lace.
I can slice it down to a 1 1/2 but and I will send all of it back except for two slabs if it is good and all of it if I have something similar.
PM me if you are interested. Jim
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Post by drocknut on Apr 19, 2012 13:10:18 GMT -5
Great find. Hope to see it cut some day.
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Apr 19, 2012 15:59:48 GMT -5
Hey Daniel,
Let me know if you'd like to set up a time to cut it. Looks like a nice moss.
Chuck
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Minnesota Daniel
freely admits to licking rocks
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A COUPLE LAKERS
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Post by Minnesota Daniel on Apr 20, 2012 12:41:56 GMT -5
Chuck,
Yes lets. Sent email.
Dan
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Post by helens on Apr 20, 2012 15:01:25 GMT -5
This is a really helpful post.... I wouldn't know a great rough rock if I tripped on it and broke my ankle. If you don't mind... WHY did you stop and pick it up? Is it the holes? The color? The fact that it's gnarly and lumpy?
In an area full of rocks, what makes you guys stop and go... OH! THAT is a rock I want to take home and cut?
I mean now I know there are obvious things to look for... such as if it's ROUND and gnarly/lumpy, if it's got a shape and gnarly lumpy. If there are obvious patterns showing (like fairburn agates). But yours has none of that.
I am NOT insulting your rock! I just don't know why you picked THAT rock up, instead of the rock laying right next to it on the tracks. I ask because I can't tell what a rock with real potential looks like vs a rock with no potential. Further, I have no idea what a no potential rock looks like on the inside (aside from the obvious agates and picture jaspers) ... because cut, all rocks look really neat.
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Minnesota Daniel
freely admits to licking rocks
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A COUPLE LAKERS
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Post by Minnesota Daniel on Apr 20, 2012 18:02:53 GMT -5
Helen, that's a great question. Here's a dramatization of how I found it: Look at the first pic, and this one. See how flat and smooth the top of this is? ![](http://i1242.photobucket.com/albums/gg524/Daniels_videos/agate4.jpg) 1. It had rained, it was wet, so the color showed a little better. The flat side that shows the most pattern was up. 2. The muddy crushed limestone wasn't sticking to it. The smoothest part next to the hole especially. Had to be very smooth surface, or it should have been dirty. 3. The pits are a clue too. You have to remember that there is/was a "husk" surrounding the whole agate. Try to picture such a stone with an interior and a husk. Try to visualize this stone that way -- part interior, part husk. It fit. The husk is often white too. 4. I think too much. What was a big "clean" rock that clearly wasn't limestone, doing sticking out of a crushed limestone trail, when everything around there was limestone? 5. I can't let it go, what's the explanation? Wait a minute, underneath is a rail bed, yes, that could make it possible that it's something I could cut and polish. GO BACK! See if that might be something you can use. I should point out, there was no obvious evidence that the trail was built over an abandoned rail line. You can just tell by the width and uniformity, that the trail is nearly straight, gradual curves, very slight grade, it goes on forever like that, it obviously wasn't the natural terrain, and it would have taken a tremendous effort to build this for just a trail. There were no other rocks from the rail bed exposed anywhere. I did not know it was agate until I rinsed it off and looked at it with my 10x hand lens. Never go anywhere without a hand lens. Even if it isn't a rock you can use, it might look neat anyway, and it helps you to learn and understand the "look" of all kinds of rocks. Focus. Learn to just look for one thing. Anything that isn't "right", ignore. If you are where there are places that might have agates, look for them in sunlight, not your own shadow. Sunlight, especially low angle, helps make the smooth surfaces and translucent edge "pop" out. It takes time, but once you start finding agates and jasper (in river rock/glacial outwash around here), they get easier and easier to see. It becomes almost intuitive. Lastly, and maybe the most important point -- don't stop looking, wherever you are. The one that finds the most agates is probably the one that looks at the most rocks.
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sdgoldpanner
starting to spend too much on rocks
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Post by sdgoldpanner on Apr 20, 2012 22:23:16 GMT -5
Helen, FYI, I live in the Black Hills of S Dak. I spend more time hunting Fairburn Agates than I do eating or sleeping. Daniels 1st question response tells the story. "The rock was wet showing its pattern and composition. I take many rock hunters out rock hunting every year. My first bit of advice to them is bring water to wet down your find. With a specimen wet, if there is a pattern, it will stand out like a sore thumb. Some people I take out refuse to use water to see the patterns, and they go home empty handed. On the other hand, I wet down every rock I pick up and usually go home with from 2 - 6 Fairburns every trip, because I "wet" them down so I can see the patterns. A wet rock is the answer. Too many, way too many Fairburns are still laying out there because the hunter refused to wet them down to look at them. My collection continues to grow because of that. Their ending words are "always next year". Spend the time to take a spray water bottle along, and you will soon be finding the good stuff. I wish you luck. This is a really helpful post.... I wouldn't know a great rough rock if I tripped on it and broke my ankle. If you don't mind... WHY did you stop and pick it up? Is it the holes? The color? The fact that it's gnarly and lumpy? In an area full of rocks, what makes you guys stop and go... OH! THAT is a rock I want to take home and cut? I mean now I know there are obvious things to look for... such as if it's ROUND and gnarly/lumpy, if it's got a shape and gnarly lumpy. If there are obvious patterns showing (like fairburn agates). But yours has none of that. I am NOT insulting your rock! I just don't know why you picked THAT rock up, instead of the rock laying right next to it on the tracks. I ask because I can't tell what a rock with real potential looks like vs a rock with no potential. Further, I have no idea what a no potential rock looks like on the inside (aside from the obvious agates and picture jaspers) ... because cut, all rocks look really neat.
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Post by helens on Apr 20, 2012 22:24:33 GMT -5
Thanks for the explanation... to clarify, good rocks to pick up are flat and have holes? I can see that the holes might mean something... most rocks don't have holes, so what could make a hole? That's curious in itself.
If you picked that rock up just because it was different from the neighboring rocks, how does that tell you that something neat is inside if you cut it?? Was it just because it was harder than the neighboring rocks??
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Post by jakesrocks on Apr 20, 2012 23:45:21 GMT -5
Agates usually for in one of three environments. Gas pockets in lava, holes similar to gas pockets in limestone, and seams between layers of bedded rock, (seam agate). The first two would form more or less rounded agates.(Thunder eggs, geodes, Fairburn agates, etc). Seam agates are just like they sound. More or less flat, banded layers of rock. Agates form in these openings by millions of years of minerals leaching down through the host rock. Growth is measured by molecules per thousands of years. No two agates are ever the same in pattern. This is what holds the interest of us hard core agate hunters / collectors. Bob is lucky in that he lives right in the midst of some of the rarest and most beautiful agates in the world. The Fairburns. Real hard core Fairburn collectors seldom cut and polish their agates. In most cases, cutting and polishing them reduces their value. If you want to see agates from all over the world, check this link. snr.unl.edu/data/geologysoils/agates/agatedatabase.aspIt's a fairly easy site to negotiate, and many of the agates are pictured in their natural state. It will give you some idea of what to watch for. As Bob said, it helps to take a spray bottle of water with you. An old Windex bottle works great. Or in a pinch you can spit on them and wipe the spit over them with your finger. Don't lick them as some do. You don't know what sort of germs may be lurking on them. And some rocks also contain naturally ocuring bad stuff like arsenic. The main thing is to just go out and look. The first few times you may bring home junk rocks. What we call leaverites. (Leave er right where you found her). But with a little practice, you'll soon be bringing home your own treasures. Practice around shopping malls, or anywhere they use decorative landscape rocks. You may get weird looks from passers by, but they have no idea of the beautiful rocks they're walking past. Carry one of those canvas store bags to put your treasures in. They get heavy in pockets, and wear holes in them very quickly Since you're in Florida, watch for fossil sea life. Shells, coral, fish and other types of bone and shark teeth. A megalodon sharks tooth large enough to cover your hand is a real treasure, and can be worth several thousand dollars, depending on its condition. Donnie sent me several pieces of fossil coral dug from a building site. The stuff is beautiful, and sparkles with quartz druse.
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Minnesota Daniel
freely admits to licking rocks
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A COUPLE LAKERS
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Post by Minnesota Daniel on Apr 21, 2012 21:38:28 GMT -5
Bob's (SDGoldpanner) first sentence is also key - he spends more time looking for rock than sleeping.
The rock I found was wet, but I couldn't really see a pattern -- I wasn't bent over looking for rocks. I was only paying enough attention to the ground so I wouldn't step on a dog turd. Literally. What I saw, without intending to even look, was a big rock with no dirt stuck to it. Like you'd expect a piece of glass to look on a dusty dirt road after a rainfall. Flat by itself is not a clue, there are a lot of flat rocks. Flat and smooth and shiny with no dirt sticking to it when it's wet -- that combination triggered the switch. I rinsed the rock off in a puddle of water a few feet away. That's when I knew it was an agate. Agates look waxy. See how it kinda looks like a big chunk of dirty wax? That "look" is what you start noticing, even when you're not paying attention.
Once you figured out what to look for, and you start finding stuff, then you have to train yourself to look up once in a while so you don't walk into something like a signpost. Low hanging branches are my nemesis.
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Post by jakesrocks on Apr 21, 2012 21:53:57 GMT -5
LOL. Gotta look out for those sneaky low hanging branches.
Got the chance to spend a day hounding with Bob a couple years ago. The things you have to watch for in his favorite spot are rattle snakes, mountain lions and big old buffalo turds.
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