donwrob
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2003
Posts: 509
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Post by donwrob on Jun 6, 2004 9:09:45 GMT -5
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Jun 6, 2004 10:11:03 GMT -5
Puppies, that's a nice lookin' bunch of rocks. Much prettier than our river rocks, which have no color at all!
Don't have the slightest idea what they are though!
llana
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Post by creativeminded on Jun 6, 2004 10:57:50 GMT -5
They are very nice. I don't have any idea of what you have either. Sorry.
Tami
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Post by puppie96 on Jun 6, 2004 16:45:22 GMT -5
Thank you for looking, and thank you for posting, Donwrob! I have a feeling that with all the knowledge there is on this board, sooner or later some board buddies will wander by and know what it is.
That pink stuff is so pretty and it really polished nicely, which I'm not sure is so evident in the photo.
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Post by puppie96 on Jun 6, 2004 17:01:32 GMT -5
llana, I'm curious about your river rock. Does it look like my last pic of back yard rock? I assume this stuff is local river rock and it is pretty much nothing but that dull brown that you see. Then it surprises you when it tumbles.
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Post by krazydiamond on Jun 6, 2004 17:07:41 GMT -5
nice looking finished rocks you found, a lot like prarie agate. wish i could find stuff like that around here. as far as your garden rough, no clue, good luck with them tho!
KD
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Jun 6, 2004 17:33:20 GMT -5
Can't say I know what those river stones are either, though some of them sure look like agates.
A couple things that might help people I.D. them...what is your geographical location, what river is it, and do you think the stones were part of the local bedrock, had weathered out of the local overburden, or had washed in from somewhere upstream?
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donwrob
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2003
Posts: 509
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Post by donwrob on Jun 6, 2004 17:59:10 GMT -5
Good point rollingstone, I was thinking the same thing. I believe I know what the pink stone is. But depending on location, it may not be. I'd say it is possibly Burlington chert. Are you anywhere downstream of Mo.? If you are there is a good chance that is what it is, also closely related to Burlington High Ridge or Cresent quarry. Regular Burlington is usually creme, tan, and pink. High Ridge and Cresent have more color usually pastels. Just a wild guess Puppies, sorry I can't do any better.
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Jun 6, 2004 18:17:24 GMT -5
I think I saw in an earlier post that he or she said they were in the St. Louis suburbs, but I don't recall that for certain...anyway, in case that is true, I did a search of Missouri rockhounding sites, and the Mississippi river is supposed to contain geodes, petrified wood, jasper and fossils. Some of the redder rocks, particularly from the photos they posted of the tumbled backyard rocks (May 25 posting) might be jasper? It is supposed to form when silica-rich solutions replace calcareous rocks, so that might fit with the limestone they mentioned at the collecting site. Just another thought anyway.
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Post by puppie96 on Jun 6, 2004 19:47:21 GMT -5
Sorry about the insufficient information! Jeesh I'm a dummy sometimes.
I'm in the St. Louis burbs, I picked up the rock along the bluffs by the Meramec river. There's lots of limestone around here and caves. I think this would be stuff crumbling away off of the bluffs. I agree that the bluff stuff and the backyard stuff do seem to contain jasper. I base this on the fact that it's hard, usually shades of orange/red/brown, and polishes great! I also wondered about prairie agate. I have some of that I bought from The Rock Shed and it has some similarities but the rock shed stuff is more sharp/jagged edged and a bit more glassy. Some of these rocks polished and looked like agate in some spots and soft/not polishing well in others. The pink is shinier than it looks in the photo.
Thanks -- hope you guys come back, this is really interesting. Sorry I was such a dork not remembering to post locale!
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donwrob
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2003
Posts: 509
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Post by donwrob on Jun 6, 2004 20:52:43 GMT -5
OK Puppies, I'd say without a doubt that you do have some good old Burlington chert in there, It is high in silica and that would explain the better shine on it too. If you look to the left, that small pic under my name is a Hopewell cache I made and those are all made from Burlington High Ridge. As for the other stuff??? But we have a start on it anyway. Talk to you later, Don
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Post by puppie96 on Jun 7, 2004 0:19:28 GMT -5
Donwrob,
Thanks...is Burlington chert called that because of the color?
If I understand correctly, agate/jasper/chert/flint are all quartzes, along with some number of others (chalcedony, I think would be one?) I think the rock I'm looking at by the rivers is primarily sedimentary since it has all the banding and so many fossils. I thought fossils would mostly be in limestone. So. Putting all this together, do the chert/agate/jasper type quartzy rocks somehow get interspersed in the limestone? I guess maybe if the limestone had cavities, which I know it often does, maybe then the chert/agate/jasper type rocks form in the cavities? I'm purely guessing here.
I'm making it complicated by tumbling all these found rocks instead of buying stuff. I have stuff I bought that I will work on eventually, but there's something really fascinating about working on all this mystery stuff that turns out so cool.
I have another batch of mystery rock I would love to post! I've looked and looked at websites and I can't find it. This is a bunch of rock I picked up in the Virgin Islands on a beach in St. Thomas. Most of the batch is the same stuff. Green with spots.
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Jun 7, 2004 0:38:41 GMT -5
I have another thought on some of the material you might have from your backyard rocks...carnelian (also called carnelian chalcedony)...yet another type of quartz. I think that might be what the translucent amber rocks are. I don't see it in the photos at the top of this thread, but looks like lots in your May 25 photos.
As for how all this stuff ends up in limestone rock, that's a mystery to me also. That's why I wonder if some of it washed in from elsewhere, but maybe it does form locally in the limestone voids...jasper can form by silica replacing limestone I believe.
Looks like you are on to some great rocks, and many of them from your own backyard no less. Wow, home delivery!
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Post by stoner on Jun 7, 2004 1:23:01 GMT -5
Hey Puppie. Excellent job on the polish again.The pic of your backyard rock in the rough looks alot like some jasper that I found alongside a lake here in Calif. Not sure of a name, but it is some type of jasper. The river rock really looks cool polished. There are a couple of pieces that look like strawberry salt water tafee(but I bet they'd be jaw breakers).
Seems you really got a handle on getting a good polish. This batch looks as good as the last you posted.
How's the experiment coming along and also have you had a chance to try that back-lighting thing yet?
Great job, Ed
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Post by puppie96 on Jun 7, 2004 3:41:11 GMT -5
Hi Ed, Rollingstone, and everybody, thanks so much for your comments! Ed, I have been really lucky with polishes, I guess, since I've had very few go bad, other than those damn rubies and sapphires! The backyard rock was polished in a Raytech vibe but the river rock was in barrels start to finish, partly because some of it felt so fragile and thin, I was afraid it wouldn't survive the vibe. The vibe's been really good with the back yard rock, but cerium isn't the way to go, much better results with the Raytech proprietary product, which is apparently an aluminum oxide. I used cerium oxide on the river rock.
Carnelian is a thought.... The backyard rock (polished version in my earlier photos) actually came from 2 backyards -- the regular, rounded, very shiny ones came from a family member's yard. They take next to no grinding and polish beautifully every time.
Can't believe I'm mining the back yard like this. So much rock, so little time. There's gardens in the yard that I keep working on, rocks are everywhere, now I am getting sidetracked by rocks every time I go outside, I go rockhounding out there and nothing gets done, it's all part of the sickness.
I am not thrilled with the experiement at this point. Got a few pieces out today, they are dull. However, I am persevering.
Another "found rock" experiement I've got going now is a bunch of gravel from Crater of Diamonds. I brought a lot of washed-down gravel home with me. Unfortunately I was so focused on diamonds that I have very little good rock or larger pieces for tumbling. However, I have a few interesting bigger pieces and threw in a random selection of pea gravel size crater rock. Some of it is obviously jasper and here and there is a small crystal that looks like it might be a peridot.
Haven't gotten onto the backlighting, but I got lots better results with the photos this weekend -- I had no idea I could get a close up like the fossil picture -- also took these outdoors. Maybe taking the ruby outside and trying to get a closeup against a white background would be enough to bring it out.
Sorry this is so long, I don't get out much.
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Post by sandsman1 on Jun 7, 2004 4:15:19 GMT -5
hey puppie you got some real nice rocks there i like the gray sorta banded ones and the pink ones could pass for candy haha
do i see a cab shaper in the pic, if it is how do you like it i was lookin at one of those it was a dome shaper, i didnt put it in favs and i cant find it again hahaha cant remember the name of it hahaha
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MichiganRocks
starting to spend too much on rocks
"I wasn't born to follow."
Member since April 2007
Posts: 154
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Post by MichiganRocks on Jun 7, 2004 7:14:51 GMT -5
Hey puppie, have you tested any of these rocks for hardness? Some of your local rock looks like it could be dolomite. Dolomite often occurs in the same vacinity as limestone. It's hardness will only be around 4.
Ron
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llanago
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2004
Posts: 1,714
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Post by llanago on Jun 7, 2004 8:29:08 GMT -5
Hey Ron! It's good to see your posts again! Barbara and I were talking about you the other day. Wonderin' where you been and missin' your posts.
Puppies, the river rock here are mostly rounded, almost white and smooth from rolling in the river for ages. I have thrown a handful in the tumbler a couple of times, but after tumbling, they look much the same as they did before tumbling. Not much good for tumbling, but great for landscaping!
I, too, have been really lucky with the polishing. Very few of the rocks I have done have not taken a good polish. I don't even know what kind of polish I use. Got it at the rock shop and when I asked what kind it is, they said it just an inexpensive, generic polish. I have some aluminum oxide and cerium oxide but haven't used either one yet.
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lotarocks44
having dreams about rocks
Member since April 2004
Posts: 54
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Post by lotarocks44 on Jun 7, 2004 8:39:47 GMT -5
It looks like the chert I pick up it comes out of the river beds and it is embeded in the limestone
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RiverOtter
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2004
Posts: 339
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Post by RiverOtter on Jun 8, 2004 0:09:57 GMT -5
Puppie, an idea for your back lighting problem....have you tried taking a pic with your ruby sitting on a small flashlight, like a mini mag light? We do that alot to see through a rock (like the emeralds). I don't know how well it would photograph but it might be worth a shot.
Otter
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