jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 8, 2014 18:13:26 GMT -5
Heated botyroidal. Heated after tumbling. Not heated. If heated, his one would have much more variation. Posted before, but for comparison. Mangrove root casts. Mangroves grew right where the fossilized coral occurs. Some were 1.25 inches in diameter. Local river rat artifact hunters educated me on this fact. They make necklaces out of them. Ho hum material. This may be a palm. Will ask Mel (better photo). Whatever it is it is rare in my ramblings. Some oysters. From a high plateau creek. Lacks mineral coloring like the ones down in the river, so not cooked. Some weighed 4-5 ounces. Small holes are probably from sponges. Thanks for looking.
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Fossilman
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Post by Fossilman on Feb 8, 2014 18:38:10 GMT -5
WOW! Great stuff James!
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carloscinco
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Post by carloscinco on Feb 8, 2014 19:12:15 GMT -5
Lotsa neat looking stuff! The botyroidal looks really promising.
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 8, 2014 19:54:11 GMT -5
Yep, palm on that one. I went through my slabs and found a Texas palm example very much like yours: Really like your botryoidal specimen. I have some slabs like that I got from a guy one year at Nipomo. He said they were coral and I wasn't too sure till I saw yours.....Mel
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 8, 2014 20:18:23 GMT -5
Really like your botryoidal specimen. I have some slabs like that I got from a guy one year at Nipomo. He said they were coral and I wasn't too sure till I saw yours.....Mel Read more: forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/64232/mangrove-casts-oysters-treated-botyroidal?page=1&scrollTo=725894#ixzz2smbQWv5EMine is split along the 'tubes' as yours is sawn along the 'tubes' i suppose. If i find palm like your piece or that was silicified by the same color as the coral it would be great. Where is good Texas palm found ? George West/Live Oak county? I found very little in Zapatos area. But tons of wood. On a high hill (ancient Rio Grande river turn).
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Thunder69
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Post by Thunder69 on Feb 8, 2014 21:33:33 GMT -5
That first one is the bomb....All nice ...John
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 8, 2014 23:32:29 GMT -5
James, yes, the area I hunt wood is from east of Tilden down towards Simmons and George West...Mel
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 9, 2014 4:18:47 GMT -5
James, yes, the area I hunt wood is from east of Tilden down towards Simmons and George West...Mel I looked at Mat Dillon's stuff specifically for palm. He has a lot of palm from Lake Falcon/Zapata. He goes to gravel pits around West and does well w/palm. It is common in Louisiana; as you get to Alabama it is poorly silicified. The gravel operations along the Rio in S. Texas are great spots to collect.
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 9, 2014 9:16:08 GMT -5
James, Yeah, I have a buddy who imports gravel from the Eagle Pass pits for landscaping use. He lets me hunt his piles from time to time. Lots of wood but palm is not real common in that stuff. I more commonly find palm in the gravel from La Grange, TX. It's often opalized rather than agatized but in really large pieces and palm root is more common there too.....Mel
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tkvancil
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Post by tkvancil on Feb 9, 2014 11:16:40 GMT -5
Always like the coral. This also answers an un-asked question. Heat treating after tumbling is an option. That first botyroidal... so good.
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Post by kap on Feb 9, 2014 12:29:55 GMT -5
Awesome!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 9, 2014 12:49:52 GMT -5
Always like the coral. This also answers an un-asked question. Heat treating after tumbling is an option. That first botyroidal... so good. tk, it is a bit complicated. If you heat them as rough tumbles the skin can get colored say 1/8-1/4 inch deep.Especially if you cut the heat short, just the skin will change. Then when tumbled the deeper colored skin wears and eats into the inside color at the wear points. Creating bi tone from a single colored stone. Or multiple layers of color happen. If you heat soft ball chunks and then break them into tumble rough the color may just be on the edge and the center a boring mono color. If you heat tumbled stuff then you usually get a monotone color coating. And most all heat treated stuff has a thin rind of darkness like a ham. That can be brown and is deceptive and a very thin layer. My favorite is to chip the rock into wallet size 'slabs' and then cook. After cooking then break them again to tumble size. That gives the most variation. The coral break like obsidian and is very easy to break .
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 9, 2014 13:12:04 GMT -5
James, Yeah, I have a buddy who imports gravel from the eagle pass pits for landscaping use. He lets me hunt his piles from time to time. Lots of wood but palm is not real common in that stuff. I more commonly find pal in the gravel for La Grange, TX. It's often opalized rather than agatized but in really large pieces and palm root is more common there too.....Mel The owner of the property i hunt on in Zapata has an uncle that owns a gravel pit 4 miles down the road. It took me 5 minutes to pickup the greens reds and yellows. The large pile in the back ground is the rejects. They are 4"-12" and coated w/caliche That was the pile i should have been hounding. But i was inexperienced. This is a close up of the road gravel. They washed it. I wet it for hounding. 5 minutes work. i was picking color. Like 2 years ago. I did not even know what palm was then. I was freaked out by those colors. Never rock hunted west of Alabama.
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 9, 2014 17:14:29 GMT -5
Wow! Now that's a big ole rock pile to hunt through.....Mel
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 10, 2014 7:10:57 GMT -5
Wow! Now that's a big ole rock pile to hunt through.....Mel The ranch that i have permission to hunt on is close to Mat Dillon's hang out Mel. I was walking/hounding the gravel roads down there. The border patrol kept stopping and checking me out, telling me to watch my back. Gravel trucks kept stopping by and asking me what i was doing. And the game warden kept stopping and telling me to be cautious. And a land owner stopped and asked me what i was doing. Well, gregarious me asks them all to look at the rocks i am finding. They were quite interested. Ended up the land owner was related to the gravel pit owner and the gravel drivers were related to half the other land owners. The gravel truckers told me to check out the gravel pit. The land owner told me where his gate is. And the property west of his was mine to hunt on too(again,his relative). The land owner's property had 100 acres deep plowed on 3 of the higher hills for several miles along the river. They were capped with larger cobbles as they were ancient river terraces/turns. The rain had exposed them. The agate was every where. Venerable gold mine of newly exposed agate/wood/jasper. Real hot spot. About thursday the land owner visits me on his property and invites me to the bar on Friday in Zapatos. Well the bar was part of the hotel i was staying at. So i meet him in the bar and half the gravel truck guys were there w/there ladies and i partied w/them. Ended up one of their relatives owned the hotel. It was late and i headed to my room and an hour later some one was knocking on my door. It was an attractive lady and she wanted to come in to my room. I told her i was a married man and need to behave myself. And she understood and left. Well, those guys had sent her(i think). Saturday i got another invite and one of the drivers had his sister set up w/me as a blind date. Again i told them i am loyal to my wife. And we had a good time drinking and eating. So i was overwhelmed w/the hospitality. And was treated like never before. I figured out what the dynamics was. These families had all owned properties along the Rio(Lake Falcon). They were lake homes and small ranches. The natural gas companies had found gas along the river and had bought their mineral rights and turned the area into a ghost town as owners/gas companies fenced every thing off to keep the area kind of sterile so the gas company's equipment would be undisturbed. So these families were filthy rich. Like new money. These guys were just average folks that got rich. And hadn't changed their ways much. Except they were spending money as they desired. So i finally figured out what was going on- nat gas $$$. There was another relative i met when i arrived in town-the bait shop owner. I always go to the bait shop and get a lake map when i rock hunt(often hunt in lakes when the water is low). I asked the bait shop owner where big rock bars are in the lake and where public boat ramps close to such rock bars. Of course, he wanted to know why i was asking these weird questions and i told him. He knew an older lady that recently lost her husband and was selling his 50 year collection and lapidary equipment. I never got around to visiting her. He was also at the bar. ha what a crazy trip that was. Rock hunting nurd turned into party animal-totally not. I feel certain if i see those guys again we will pick up where we left off. The lay of the land and the ground prep- www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/sets/72157632959424187/with/8545068886/ MY TRIP TO TEXAS THE END
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 10, 2014 8:00:19 GMT -5
Great story James! During my years with the AG Dept, working with farmers and ranchers, I came to know farmers and ranchers , especially those in rural areas, are the best folks ever. When we came to own our own ranch and I met my ranch neighbors, I found the same thing to be true. It's great to get to know those fine folks......Mel
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 10, 2014 9:11:31 GMT -5
Great story James! During my years with the AG Dept, working with farmers and ranchers, I came to know farmers and ranchers , especially those in rural areas, are the best folks ever. When we came to own our own ranch and I met my ranch neighbors, I found the same thing to be true. It's great to get to know those fine folks......Mel They make life a whole lot nicer.
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Post by pghram on Feb 10, 2014 9:50:08 GMT -5
James, that first one is a home run, I often wondered about heating polished material, I thought it might shatter.
Rich
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grayfingers
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Post by grayfingers on Feb 10, 2014 9:57:24 GMT -5
Yikes, that was a dramatic change in the boyt. Great story, I have dreams sorta like that sometimes. . .
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 10, 2014 10:28:56 GMT -5
James, that first one is a home run, I often wondered about heating polished material, I thought it might shatter. Rich Helps to run them back thru the polish Rich. If you cook them in dirty sand carbon deposits stick to them.
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