Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,497
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 5, 2014 14:22:47 GMT -5
Howdy folks, Well, I got my work cut out for me now. The pebbleppups have restocked me with Rio Grande Agate big time Still have to wash, grade and sort everything. Huge variety of colors this time too. At least two pieces of palm and a couple colorful hunks of Rio Grande pet wood too. Hopefully, I will have enough great stuff for some more boxes. I know I have some really nice tumble and ten inch saw stuff between this weeks and last weeks batches. For those of you on my waiting list, I'll get a note to you pretty soon. Here's a quick pic of the unsorted pile and there's still twenty pounds or so of small stuff in water in the red bucket.....Mel  |
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Post by jakesrocks on Dec 5, 2014 14:43:20 GMT -5
Hey Mel, I'd be interested in the palm. If they stumble across any shrink wood, I'd be interested in that too.
Don
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,343
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Post by panamark on Dec 5, 2014 14:43:46 GMT -5
Envious!
Thx.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,497
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 5, 2014 14:53:30 GMT -5
Don, There's only a couple of pounds of palm I've found so far but I'm still washing off rocks. I'll start throwing palm into a separate pile to see how much I build up then 'll let you know....Mel
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Dec 5, 2014 18:04:17 GMT -5
Easy livin. They bring them to you ??
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Post by jakesrocks on Dec 5, 2014 18:23:28 GMT -5
I don't want to hog it all Mel. Just throw a couple nice chunks in a med box and top it up with whatever the kids have collected. Gave my tumblers to a friend a couple weeks ago, so anything larger than tumbling size. Try to get them pebble pups some Christmas spending money. LOL
Don
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,497
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 5, 2014 20:08:18 GMT -5
Don, Spent the afternoon washing a grading the agate. Palm turned out to be a darker example and with only a little nice fiber in the middle. Not good enough to sell. I might just chop off the end first to see if it gets better or I can get some small slabettes out of it. The second piece looks like root but is too fractured. Sorting yielded about 35 pounds tumbling stuff, 25 of small cutters suitable for a ten inch saw and about 25 pounds of larger cutters. I have to take care of a couple of other folks on my list before I get back around to you Don.
Unfortunately, most all the large agates they brought in were either sugary or that yellow brown moss and some were huge. Dang! One of the sugary ones had great pattern to the outside but I don't know if it will polish or not. May have to tumble some of it to see. Thought I had that big sphere agate for Scott too but the dang thing must be some kind of weird wood. it's just red brown with thousands of tiny white spots throughout in no discernible pattern. Kind of blah to me. Clueless on that one but not a giant Rio for ole Scott.....Mel
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723 
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Post by Fossilman on Dec 5, 2014 20:35:45 GMT -5
Liking my Rio's!
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Post by jakesrocks on Dec 5, 2014 20:37:42 GMT -5
That's OK Mel. Can't do any cutting until spring thaw anyway. Maybe the kids will find some better palm by then. Thinking about cutting a sphere out of a piece to make a gearshift knob for my hotrod. Got one chunk large enough, but it's my last piece from the green ash hills over by Calico. Kind of want to keep that one as a specimen.
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Post by pghram on Dec 7, 2014 18:16:54 GMT -5
Nice rock pile.
Rich
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Dec 18, 2014 8:26:48 GMT -5
Don, Spent the afternoon washing a grading the agate. Palm turned out to be a darker example and with only a little nice fiber in the middle. Not good enough to sell. I might just chop off the end first to see if it gets better or I can get some small slabettes out of it. The second piece looks like root but is too fractured. Sorting yielded about 35 pounds tumbling stuff, 25 of small cutters suitable for a ten inch saw and about 25 pounds of larger cutters. I have to take care of a couple of other folks on my list before I get back around to you Don. Unfortunately, most all the large agates they brought in were either sugary or that yellow brown moss and some were huge. Dang! One of the sugary ones had great pattern to the outside but I don't know if it will polish or not. May have to tumble some of it to see. Thought I had that big sphere agate for Scott too but the dang thing must be some kind of weird wood. it's just red brown with thousands of tiny white spots throughout in no discernible pattern. Kind of blah to me. Clueless on that one but not a giant Rio for ole Scott.....Mel For about a 10 mile stretch of the middle section of Lake Falcon the hill tops have the larger cobbles. Lake Falcon at 308 alt. At 360 alt pebble density increases, pebbles in the 2-4 inch range. The few hill tops at/above 370 alt the grass will hardly grow as it is so rocky. Cobbles yet bigger. And the very few hills above 380 alt are loaded with the 4-8 inch cobbles. i think the hills are 'point bars' in the ancient river. Theory has it that the point bars were slow to erode away and left as hills because of the rock density.  |
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,497
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Post by Sabre52 on Dec 18, 2014 10:39:25 GMT -5
Interesting comments James. I've been told some of the best Rio gravel deposits ( Actually called the Ulvalde Gravels in the books) are on the hilltops. This was true back in California too. The Creston gravels which contain jasper/chert that is essentially the same as Stone Canyon were all old alluvial deposits on hilltops and ridges too. Could be old pluvial period stream deposits too or maybe ocean shore stuff as there are also lots of fossils in the area. Think maybe stream meanders are more likely though as the gravel appears unsorted. If I'm remembering my geology correctly, ocean shore deposits are more sorted......Mel
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2014 16:24:20 GMT -5
8" cobbles?!?!?!? I'm in!
Let's pencil in October.
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Dec 18, 2014 17:26:07 GMT -5
Interesting comments James. I've been told some of the best Rio gravel deposits ( Actually called the Ulvalde Gravels in the books) are on the hilltops. This was true back in California too. The Creston gravels which contain jasper/chert that is essentially the same as Stone Canyon were all old alluvial deposits on hilltops and ridges too. Could be old pluvial period stream deposits too or maybe ocean shore stuff as there are also lots of fossils in the area. Think maybe stream meanders are more likely though as the gravel appears unsorted. If I'm remembering my geology correctly, ocean shore deposits are more sorted......Mel A simple correlation on goggle earth satellite images by dragging the pointer across to find hill tops along the Rio clearly shows lack of foliage on them. And I walked over enough of them to know they were dense in pebbles. The little ranch I was on had 3 high spots and a ridge or two. All covered in pebbles. One of the highest hills in the area, and it was covered deep in the larger cobbles. It is not surprising that the same thing happened in California and other western states where large washes existed. Some intermediate altitude shelves were covered in pet wood. |
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Dec 18, 2014 17:30:54 GMT -5
8" cobbles?!?!?!? I'm in! Let's pencil in October. Probably some good sphere candidates there Scott. Would like to share hotel room, cheaper that way. And if they let us in the gravel mine the large cobbles that they push aside would be a hot spot for sphere sizes. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2014 17:50:33 GMT -5
Sounds good. Thing of a trailer and metal drums for transport...
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Dec 18, 2014 18:59:18 GMT -5
Sounds good. Thing of a trailer and metal drums for transport... May drive the P/U. It will handle about all I need. Would be more selective this time too. I did some long hours for 9 days and collected about a 1000 pounds. Kind of a marathon. It's a long haul, like 18 hours. Says 22 hours from LA. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2014 19:29:19 GMT -5
Yeah, 22 hours for me. Two days there and back - $600 in gas, hotels...
Might be cheaper to drive my little car and have a pallet trucked back. Truck doubles gas cost, full of rocks even more.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2014 20:03:28 GMT -5
Man.if yall are serious about making a trip please count me in.ive been wanting to go for a while
Dave
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jamesp
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Member since October 2012
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Post by jamesp on Dec 18, 2014 23:41:07 GMT -5
Yeah, 22 hours for me. Two days there and back - $600 in gas, hotels... Might be cheaper to drive my little car and have a pallet trucked back. Truck doubles gas cost, full of rocks even more. Ha, that's why i drove my Honda Civic. loaded it up and then sent back 40 LFRB. Would have been better off doing the truck. The agate was better than I thought. Dave, you live out there. You don't hit the Rio ?? |
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