bandmenter
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2019
Posts: 12
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Post by bandmenter on Sept 18, 2019 1:33:49 GMT -5
I joined the forum very recently, went through file upload process, jumped through all of the hoops and now I can post photos. I mentioned in my greeting that I hunt rocks along farmers fence lines to collect glacier candy which has been deposited all over the countryside. I have a couple of items that I would like everyone to look at. One of the fun things about collecting rock is if you don't know what it is, you can just make up something. I call these Potato Agates, they truly look like a potato. Once you cut them open, you find the beauty within. The first one I picked up, it was rust stained and appeared to be a rounded piece of quartz. So I washed it in some Iron out which is when I realized whatever it was, it looked like a rock again. Now, I am a very curious fella, I had already expended some effort on cleaning up this rock so now I must cut it open. I did so and found some cool results, now I'm excited. The first one contained some material which looked like a milky Opal. It appeared to be like a common Opal material with spots of colors, really quite pretty. Now I will need to take a picture of that rock for a later post. Others have had a crystalline structure, but all have a hard shell encapsulating it like you would find with a traditional type agate. I went back to my highly classified top secret location to collect some more goodies. I have collected about 2 dozen of these thus far so I have lots of cutting and slabbing to do. Please evaluate my glacier candy and see if you can help me to ID this farm out stuff. (Pun of Far out stuff) Hey, I thought it was punny. Bill     |
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agatemaggot
Cave Dweller 
Member since August 2006
Posts: 2,195
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Post by agatemaggot on Sept 18, 2019 4:07:53 GMT -5
I check out the fence line freebies here in Iowa quite often, always looking for Knapping material and always looking to find a Lake Superior Agate the size of a Softball or bigger. The way my luck runs the pieces suitable for Knapping are too large to lift into the back of the Wagon ! I did find a Laker that weighed 4 Lbs. watching T.V. once , but , that's another story !
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Post by Peruano on Sept 18, 2019 6:53:37 GMT -5
You may want to check out the quartz page (just google it) and learn all of the variants of the quartz permutations. Wildly guessing, I'd say the rock illustrated is either a chalcedony (not colorful enough to be jasper or agate), or very fine quartzite. You would need to study how it chips and surface texture. Check the edge of your cut or hold a thin slice to a bright light to check translucency. No matter what it is; the price was right, is interesting, and you are having fun. That's a great combination. Oh. and show us more of your finds please.
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Post by rmf on Sept 18, 2019 8:06:23 GMT -5
Do you drink Spudweiser when you work with "Potato Agate"? My guess would be quartzite.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723 
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Post by Fossilman on Sept 18, 2019 9:10:21 GMT -5
Quartzite, or as we call it "Sugar agate"...
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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 18, 2019 11:10:53 GMT -5
Yup, you'll fit right in.  |
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bandmenter
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2019
Posts: 12
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Post by bandmenter on Sept 19, 2019 21:26:24 GMT -5
So if it's called a Sugar Agate, maybe I'll call mine a Sweet Potato Agate. I grabbed up 6 more today.
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Post by Pat on Sept 19, 2019 21:43:58 GMT -5
PUNS are a good thing—-a true sign of an intelligent rock.
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NRG
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,688
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Post by NRG on Sept 20, 2019 19:35:39 GMT -5
So if it's called a Sugar Agate, maybe I'll call mine a Sweet Potato Agate. I grabbed up 6 more today. Make vodka agate. |
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