FLrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2014
Posts: 343
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Post by FLrockhound on Jan 4, 2015 16:01:32 GMT -5
I think I have posted this rock before but I had a few questions about going any further with my hammer and chisel. I recently broke this rock in half and it weighs in around 40lbs estimated. As you can see I got extremely lucky with my strike but after inspecting it further and washed it off I became curious whether or not I should go any further. The main large pocket botryoidal goes roughly 5" in depth and 4" tall at the opening. the coloring darkens from a bright white to almost and blue tint as it goes out from the center or deeper depending on how you look at it. as I looked closer deep into the poctet I can see glimmers of drusy. My first question is should I leave it alone or push my luck and try to open the pocket of drusy? I noticed a line of crystallized chert traveling towards the outer layer(crust). Its a really fascinating specimen, it seems like when I break some chunks off it keeps giving me little surprises. I would really like an educated opinion before I do something that I will regret. Aas you can see in this picture the vein of crystallized chert travels about 6" towards the back (crust) which is really making me curious enough to attempt to open it it, but at the same time I'm fighting myself to just leave it alone and leave the rest to the imagination. maybe I can take another approach from the other side? in this picture you can really see the layers of growth. This little pocket has a little tunnel traveling down into the main pocket.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,553
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Post by jamesp on Jan 4, 2015 16:33:32 GMT -5
It needs a 24 inch saw fl. I would cut the face off of both viewing the first photo, like an inch or less. I am assuming they are sitting on a 2 X 6 and a 2 X 8. They are darn nice. saw worthy specimens.... Still looks like a mouth full for a 24 inch saw.
Looks like you were darn lucky that is split where it did. if you are not going to saw it, I would leave it be.
The Ocala ridge along I-75 and the quarry in Brooksville has a lot of massive chert that is quarried. I went w/a rock club into the Brooksville quarry. Chert boulders 30 feet across. They grind the monsters into road gravel. Cool place.Must go. The Ocala ridge chert is sitting in piles in the horse farm district on the west side of I-75 from Micanopy exit to Orlando. They use it for rubble to resist lake erosion. 30 -60 pound chunks, many with those botryoidal cavities in them.
You can ride gravel roads 20 miles around Brooksville and find that the gravel is the chert from the quarry, already broken up for you. With those cool colors already broken out from the crushers.
You need to have me over sometime fl. Your backyard would be full in 2 days 10 feet deep.
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FLrockhound
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2014
Posts: 343
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Post by FLrockhound on Jan 4, 2015 18:00:52 GMT -5
jamesp yep, they are sitting on 2x6 planks. I thought I heard them blasting yesterday, I live right down the road from one of the mines. Maybe one of these days I will see if I can get some access to look for some nice boulders. That's pretty damn big, I wouldnt expect such large rocks, I would love to relandscape my back yard, it would keep the sawgrass down. When it starts to cool down, I plan on taking walks with my wife so I can look for presents to bring home. After the rain I like to take little walks around my block to see of anything has been washed up. My whole neighborhood is full of chert lime rock. Maybe someday we could plan a hounding trip! I decided to work the back side of the large botryoidal and once again it delivered a nice pay off. Backside of cavity opened up from the front small 3inch chip that broke off in the process backside that broke off and another surprise
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,553
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Post by jamesp on Jan 4, 2015 18:26:16 GMT -5
The druzy coating of fine crystals formed on top of the botyroids, clearest in the 4th photo.
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