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Post by stardiamond on May 26, 2015 16:13:40 GMT -5
I live in Northern California and have a big pile of river rocks that were used at one time for landscaping. Any chance they would be worth cutting?
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Post by Peruano on May 26, 2015 16:30:51 GMT -5
The value in cutting them is in learning what to look for on the outside as a predictor of rocks to pick up and cut based on what you will find on the inside. I see some granite here. Probably not what you want to slab, but it does tumble. Pay attention to what seems to be microcrystalline, or cryptocrystalline rather than crystals as found in common quartz (or granite), and grainular structure (like you find in quartzite (which I suspect you have some here) or the grit of sandstones etc. (not what you want to saw either. Me I go for texture (does any part of the rock seem to be really smooth? and Color (does it have a combination of colors that speak to an interesting pattern when 1. highlighted by polishing, and 2. exposed by the saw? Only experience sawing them up will provide the answer to your questions, but many river rocks are indeed keepers You just have to recognize them. I hope this helps.
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,352
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Post by quartz on May 27, 2015 0:49:49 GMT -5
I cut some pieces for a friend about a year ago from ~same area that look to be just like the two green ones at bottom of bottom pic. Both are very solid and took a good polish. Nice looking stuff. A little spot polish will tell you a lot, before cutting.
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