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Post by Jugglerguy on Jul 4, 2016 19:30:14 GMT -5
Later this month, I'm headed to Michigan's U.P. I'm going to be driving right through the small town of Champion, where there is a mine tailings pile that is mostly specular hematite. There's a post office right across the road. Last year I sent a box to captbob , who was very happy with it. I'm planning to bring some medium boxes and a couple rolls of packing tape and fill the boxes right at the site. Then I'll drop them at the post office immediately. The only thing that would stop me is rain or someone kicking me off the site. I'm pretty sure no one cares if some is removed. Here's a picture of my daughter on the gigantic pile last year. It's not all super high grade, so I have to pick through it a bit, but it won't take long to fill boxes.  This is what it looks like.  Honestly, I'm not sure what it's good for. It's very heavy and little sparkles fall off it all the time. The roads around the piles are all super sparkly. I don't think you could make a cab out of it. There's a gift shop up there called "The Yooper's Tourist Trap" that sells it coated in some sort of polyurethane or other clear coating. With that sales pitch, if anyone wants some, I'm going to charge $25 per medium flat rate box, shipped. That's about $11 for my trouble of packing it and taking it to the post office. Last year the box for Bob was over 36 lbs. |
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Post by fernwood on Jul 4, 2016 19:50:26 GMT -5
If possible I would be interested in 1/2 smaller pieces, say 1-3" along with the larger ones. I can use those for jewelry focal pendants after coating.
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Post by vegasjames on Jul 4, 2016 20:50:04 GMT -5
Yes it can be cabbed. Here is a piece I was working on but have not finished of some specular hematite I collected in Southern California.  It does sparkle when moved around in light. Yours looks a little more fine grained so it will be a little different in look. |
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jul 4, 2016 22:18:44 GMT -5
If possible I would be interested in 1/2 smaller pieces, say 1-3" along with the larger ones. I can use those for jewelry focal pendants after coating. I don't know if there are a lot of small pieces there. Most stuff is bigger. I can look though. |
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jul 4, 2016 22:20:12 GMT -5
Yes it can be cabbed. Here is a piece I was working on but have not finished of some specular hematite I collected in Southern California. It does sparkle when moved around in light. Yours looks a little more fine grained so it will be a little different in look. Does yours leave your hands sparkling after touching it? I really have never tried doing anything with it. Does it saw well? |
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Post by captbob on Jul 4, 2016 22:22:05 GMT -5
Rob's rocks from here are very nice material. Haven't done anything with them yet, so I can't comment about working with this stuff. But my goodness is it sparkly! That's a pretty neat cab vegasjames ! Wonder if one could make a sphere out of it - @shotgunner |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2016 23:04:51 GMT -5
captbob is right. Thank you Bob. If you find a big hunk 4" plus in all directions count me in. Should cut and sphere fast at class. Fill the box with whatever. Lfrb ok too! Pm me for postage if it work out
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Post by vegasjames on Jul 5, 2016 3:58:50 GMT -5
Yes it can be cabbed. Here is a piece I was working on but have not finished of some specular hematite I collected in Southern California. It does sparkle when moved around in light. Yours looks a little more fine grained so it will be a little different in look. Does yours leave your hands sparkling after touching it? I really have never tried doing anything with it. Does it saw well? It has been a while since I cut it or cabbed any of it. But from what I recall it was easy to cut. Used a 10" tile saw. Don't recall how messy it was cabbing, but generally hematite makes quite a mess. |
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Post by vegasjames on Jul 5, 2016 4:15:16 GMT -5
Rob's rocks from here are very nice material. Haven't done anything with them yet, so I can't comment about working with this stuff. But my goodness is it sparkly! That's a pretty neat cab vegasjames ! Wonder if one could make a sphere out of it - @shotgunner It would make a pretty neat sphere but hard to find large chunks out there. Most of the pieces tend to be only a few inches thick. I would have to look around and see if I have any larger chunks if someone wants to try and make a sphere. I have been trading with a guy on another board where I send him material and he makes two spheres. One for himself and one for me. If anyone here would be interested in doing that I have some really nice wood jasper I would like to have done in to spheres. And I have some really nice sized pieces including one 43 pounder. If interested I can post some pics in a new thread. Also have some other interesting things that I would would like made in to spheres. Garnet amphibolite, garnet anorthosite, various copper ores, etc. |
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jul 5, 2016 7:39:50 GMT -5
captbob is right. Thank you Bob. If you find a big hunk 4" plus in all directions count me in. Should cut and sphere fast at class. Fill the box with whatever. Lfrb ok too! Pm me for postage if it work out I'll see what I can do, Scott. I think there are a lot of big pieces. |
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jul 5, 2016 7:44:00 GMT -5
If possible I would be interested in 1/2 smaller pieces, say 1-3" along with the larger ones. I can use those for jewelry focal pendants after coating. Could you send me your address in case I can find some small specular hematite? How big do you want the pieces in the other half of the box? I will have to wrap the pieces so they b against each other and crumble. Your box might be lighter since there will be more small pieces wrapped. |
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Post by adam on Jul 5, 2016 9:14:56 GMT -5
Nice cab. lol
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jul 19, 2016 6:40:39 GMT -5
I'm still at my sister's place near Houghton. My daughter and her boyfriend are with me on this trip. On Friday, we stopped at the mine and filled boxes. We had six to do. My daughter wrapped each piece in newspaper while her boyfriend and I gathered nice specimens. When she had about three boxes full, I switched to box taper. It was a nice little production line. We were hurrying to get them packed up before the post office closed. We got to the bottom of the hill to the post office by about 4:30 to find that it had closed at 2:00. Fortunately, we were able to repack my Jeep Wrangler to fit the three of us, the rocks, and our luggage. I got them out in the mail Monday morning. I felt a little bad dropping off six heavy boxes, but the post office guy was super nice about it.
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Intheswamp
Cave Dweller 
Member since September 2015
Posts: 1,910 
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Post by Intheswamp on Jul 19, 2016 6:53:51 GMT -5
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor Rob's heavy boxes of rocks stays these couriers from the swift completion of
their appointed rounds."Cool looking rocks, Rob. It will be interesting to see what folks do with them. vegasjames, that cab is looking good!!!
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Post by fernwood on Jul 19, 2016 21:14:44 GMT -5
Cannot wait for arrival. PM me payment info. IE check or Paypal.
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metalsmith
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 1,537
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Post by metalsmith on Jul 21, 2016 13:26:24 GMT -5
Well I went off looking all doubtful, but yes, the rocks do seem to fit the description of specular haematite / specularite: colour silvery and colloquially 'grey haematite' (Mindat). I guess I was just spoiled as a kid. A school Geology trip took us to Florence Mine in Cumbria near the English Lake District. I filled my boots, as they say round these parts - certainly my pockets and when I ran out, I wrapped a load in my t-shirt. Given the prices here I lucked out. The mine is flooded now, though occasionally samples do float up on ebay. I imported my last one from the states. |
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Post by captbob on Jul 21, 2016 14:37:38 GMT -5
Hey metalsmith , Hematite from England is one of my passions. Hope you kept what you found in your youth! While both Rob's pieces and what you found may both be called "specular", they are really quite different animals. You are right in that nice pieces from the Cumbria area now demand interesting prices. Some of my pieces from England -  There are several here on this shelf shelf  I know I have more pictures as I have a lot more pieces, but no time to go find the pics. Do you have photos of your specimens? |
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metalsmith
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 1,537
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Post by metalsmith on Jul 21, 2016 15:12:11 GMT -5
Wow you have some spec(tac)ular - see what I did there? samples. I don't have pictures to hand I'm afraid. Yes, I kept them and there's a (small) box full. I'll take some pictures later, but it will be later. I'm about to depart for France for 3 weeks. I've just taken one of the small botryoid I brought home from the states. I'll put it up in a mo. And here it is (underwhelming by comparison) ...  |
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Post by captbob on Jul 21, 2016 15:21:06 GMT -5
Enjoy France, but please be careful! My sister and BIL just got back from Paris and a trip down the Rhone and said there were no problems, but ya never know.
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metalsmith
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 1,537
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Post by metalsmith on Jul 21, 2016 16:55:10 GMT -5
Enjoy France, but please be careful! My sister and BIL just got back from Paris and a trip down the Rhone and said there were no problems, but ya never know. Thanks  We're headed out to the coast near Bordeaux. Its about 70km out of town. My guess is the biggest risks lie at the port / crossing the Channel. Once we're there, its a quiet enough venue. I'll be hoping to pick up some (proper) black onyx and geode vugs on the beach. My sympathies to France. The papers reported that flowers were being left at the site of the killing in Nice, but I had to laugh when they said that rubbish was being piled at the site the murderer was shot. Now back to anyone wanting to buy specular haematite and sorry for the distraction!  |
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