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Post by fantastic5 on Jul 17, 2013 17:48:58 GMT -5
After several years of serious collecting I have begun to see the downside to not parting with much of what I bring home. My first rock shelf is full, so my husband build me a second. Now it's full. Then we went out west for 3 weeks, and now...well lets just say we can't walk in the garage. I need to create a neat and orderly storage system for the yard. Someplace I can put all those rocks that are too pretty to leave behind but too big for my current slab saw. Also I don't want to spent much if any money on said system. Most importantly, I need this to not be an eye sore. I only have neighbors on two sides of me, so I can tuck the storage off on an edge near the woods. I would appreciate any photos or ideas of what you use as a storage system.
Thanks -Ann
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Post by jakesrocks on Jul 17, 2013 19:48:04 GMT -5
Welcome aboard Ann.
You could try the rock garden approach. It won't cost much. Just a couple roles of weed barrier cloth. Create low walls along sidewalks and paths. Also around the base of trees and flower beds. Myself, I have a big storage shed out back. Actually an old, recycled 1 stall garage, but I still have rocks around flowers, on the front porch, in the breezeway and living room, and in the basement. I swear rocks are related to rabbits. They just keep multiplying.
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,077
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Post by elementary on Jul 17, 2013 20:36:14 GMT -5
Most of my rocks are stored in buckets in the garage - labeled and sealed for when I'm trading or looking for samples.
Along my house a couple old wooden cabinets and I have about 5-9 buckets and 4-5 milk crates out there. Around back I have a rock garden.
It all depends on how you want these things organized. The stuff I have on the ground isn't labeled but I know it's too big for me to use anytime soon,
or just not interesting to me.
Do you care about organization by location and type, or are you just needing a place to drop your haul?
My wife bought one of those artificial wood, square gardening beds. She filled hers with mulch and plants. If you build/buy a 10x10 by 6 inch garden
bed kit, that would hold quite a bit of material and contain its movement to other locations. Just a thought.
I hope you find a solution.
Lowell
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Post by Pat on Jul 17, 2013 21:54:22 GMT -5
Since collecting rocks forever, they seem to go through steps from here to there. .
At first, all our rocks got to live in the house. They multiplied.
But now I'm getting persnickety
Some went outside so others could actually be displayed inside instead of merely stashed. Bigger specimens went here and there one at a time.
Then the give away pile emerged.
Now I have rocks to be slabbed in milk crates or lidded buckets in our shed.
Slabs waiting to be cabbed are in smallish plastic dressers sorted by color on shelves in a spare bedroom.
The displayed inside rocks are mostly confined to three lawyer 's bookcases. I don't really want them everywhere; that's when the individuals become indistinct and practically invisible.
Hope this helps
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Post by fantastic5 on Jul 18, 2013 8:16:22 GMT -5
I have already adorned all of my flower beds, deck, patio and porch with my large pretties and smaller groupings and I have two display cabinets for the nicer specimens in the house. But because I separate and mark everything I collect by mineral and locality and I enjoy collecting at new sites, things have gotten out of hand. It's the larger collections of slabbing material that I want to move outside; keep organized by mineral and location *AND* keep my husband and neighbors happy. I was thinking about making crates with pallet wood and stashing them across the creek at the edge of the woods. But I imagine these crates becoming a mecca for black widows, leaf debris and the like. Does anyone use wooden crates for this purpose? How do you handle the detritus and long term labeling? Pictures would be most appreciated!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2013 11:45:03 GMT -5
17 posts and she already has too many rocks!
Welcome aboard fantastic5!!
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Post by jakesrocks on Jul 18, 2013 12:13:22 GMT -5
If black widows are a concern, 5 Gal buckets with tight fitting lids would probably be your best bet. At least for rocks that will fit in the buckets. The buckets with lids attached can be stacked at least 3 high without problems. The black buckets made with UV inhibitors in the plastic are best. The clear or white buckets will start falling apart after a few years. I shipped over a ton of rocks from California to South Dakota back in 95. They have been stored in a shed, and most buckets are still in one piece.
Wooden crates that can be closed up tight would work too, but must be stored up off the ground to prevent the bottoms from rotting out. If you have field mice in your area, they may chew holes through the crates near the bottoms and use your rocks for nesting and raising families. Nothing like opening a crate and seeing little pink baby mice climbing over your rocks.
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Post by jakesrocks on Jul 18, 2013 12:14:58 GMT -5
17 posts and she already has too many rocks! Welcome aboard fantastic5!! LOL Scott. Those ain't rocks. They're fossil rabbits that haven't stopped multiplying yet. |
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Post by sheltie on Jul 18, 2013 12:15:52 GMT -5
I have encircled my fie trees in the front and back yards with a combo of slabs and faced rough. In the wells of the trees, I've added more of each plus some tumbled rock. It really looks good, especially after a rain. Anytime I want to use any of it, all I have to do is pick it up.
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Post by fantastic5 on Jul 18, 2013 12:53:39 GMT -5
Thank you for the welcome!! And yes, only 17 ... well now 18 posts, but I have been haunting this site for awhile now. Taking everything in and bookmarking a lot of ideas!! Thanks for all your advice, and yes, we have mice and their larger cousins due to our turkeys and chickens. I didn't even think that i would be creating more nesting sites for the vermin  This is just the kind of thoughts that made me want to bounce this off everyone first. Has anyone used larger lidded storage bins? How long to they hold up? I really do have more than I could put in buckets very easily. |
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Post by jakesrocks on Jul 18, 2013 13:07:38 GMT -5
The storage bins would probably work as long as they're the heavy duty types, with UV inhibitors included in their makeup. Heavy duty truck boxes (Not the cross bed tool boxes) would probably work good.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2013 13:22:09 GMT -5
The standard plastic storage bins from sterilite and rubbermaid DO NOT have UV inhibitors. Thus, if you go to buy a bin and it does not brag that it has UV protection, then it does not have it.
You would be surprised at the number of buckets some folks have labelled and stacked in their garage/sheds. I have a friend that has four horse stalls FULL of buckets!
My solution is different than you ask. I bought a saw so I could cut them all up and make stuff. The more I cut up, the more rocks I can get and still use the same outdoor space. The finished stuff goes indoors! New storage! lol
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Post by jakesrocks on Jul 18, 2013 14:39:05 GMT -5
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Post by sheltie on Jul 18, 2013 14:39:58 GMT -5
I use the semi-clear plastic boxes to store my slabs but they are kept inside. If I put them outside in the central Texas sun, they wouldn't last three months! Perhaps the heavier colored ones might be ok.
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Post by jakesrocks on Jul 18, 2013 14:44:31 GMT -5
I use the semi-clear plastic boxes to store my slabs but they are kept inside. If I put them outside in the central Texas sun, they wouldn't last three months! Perhaps the heavier colored ones might be ok. Yup. My wife works at K-Mart, and brings home a new supply for me every time the college back to school sales are on. My basement is filling up with those darned plastic boxes. |
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Post by Peruano on Jul 18, 2013 16:31:13 GMT -5
Your thread prompted me to offer up a couple of ideas I have employed in recent months. 1. Labels on paper, or other degradable substances that blow away, fade or otherwise disappear are frustrating. I recently started using copper plant labels available at your local nursery. (I'll append a photo). They are soft enough to write on with a ball point or nail, and will not blow away, rot or disintegrate.  You may not be able to read this due to the angle of the photo but in hand the depressions made by the stylus/pen are easy to read and durable even when bumped by rocks and subjected to weather. 2. Plant pots (plastic) from the nursery. They come in various sizes, 5 gallon, 1 gallon, and smaller, they are UV resistant, and if you are planting or have friends who do so they appear to be free or easy to obtain to recycle. Too many plastics degrade rapidly in strong sunlight, so select alternative containers carefully. Metal milk cartons are great but now becoming rare. Rocks don't move with the wind so stacks without containers are stable if you have enough of the same kind to make reasonable aggregated piles with a label. We all understand your problem and wish you luck with an innovative solution that works for you. 3. I'm looking at building plywood containers (14 x 14" sides with sloping bottoms and stackable). Designs are elsewhere on this forum. Because they are individual, and yet stackable, they provide a great deal of versatility. Welcome. Tom |
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darstcreek77
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2011
Posts: 673
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Post by darstcreek77 on Jul 19, 2013 7:56:02 GMT -5
I will come pick them up I have 12 acres you can come visit whenever you like ..pet wood may just happen to fall on my saw though it does happen tragic as it seems its for the best .. agates and jasper are not safe either .lol
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Post by fantastic5 on Jul 22, 2013 19:22:25 GMT -5
Thanks for everyone's help! This is what I ended up with. I was able to get three heavy duty plastic shipping pallets from the hospital I work for (for free  ) and opted for the neat and orderly piles between the woods and chicken coop. I will get the copper plant markers (I've been wanting them anyways) and label each area, thanks Peruano for giving them a dual purpose! The only bin that is back there is full of geodes that we picked up last month from a new road cut that is going in middle Tennessee. I've attached a picture of one of the nicer ones that is already opened.  Geode: quartz, dolomite and calcite  |
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This is just the kind of thoughts that made me want to bounce this off everyone first. Has anyone used larger lidded storage bins? How long to they hold up? I really do have more than I could put in buckets very easily. 
) and opted for the neat and orderly piles between the woods and chicken coop. I will get the copper plant markers (I've been wanting them anyways) and label each area, thanks Peruano for giving them a dual purpose! The only bin that is back there is full of geodes that we picked up last month from a new road cut that is going in middle Tennessee. I've attached a picture of one of the nicer ones that is already opened.
