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Post by Jugglerguy on Sept 6, 2020 16:40:04 GMT -5
That last one is great.
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megan528
off to a rocking start
Married
Member since August 2020
Posts: 21
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Post by megan528 on Sept 6, 2020 17:09:32 GMT -5
Thank you! I'm back home now, and the book you recommended, Lake Superior Rocks & Minerals arrived. Now hopefully I can figure out what half of these rocks are while I'm home for awhile. I know I found quite a few banded jasper... Would that be a good rock for my first attempt at tumbling? If not, what would be a good beginner rock to tumble? (Haven't purchased a tumbler yet!! Lol)
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Post by Jugglerguy on Sept 6, 2020 21:07:05 GMT -5
I don't tumble my Lake Superior Agates. They're cool as is and I can't bear to put them in the tumbler. I don't find banded jasper. I find plain red jasper, banded chert, and banded rhyolite.
Most people recommend agates or jasper for first rocks because they're hard and polish well. I tumbled a lot of beach rocks when I started. Did you pick up some unakite while you were in the U.P.? That tumbles well in a rotary tumbler followed by a vibratory tumbler, but I haven't ever done any in just a rotary tumbler. Other good rocks from the beach would be jasper, chert, quartz, banded iron formation (jaspelite), and probably a lot of things I'm not thinking of. Bad choices from the beach would be Petoskey stones or any other limestone, and granite.
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kozman
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since July 2020
Posts: 83
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Post by kozman on Sept 6, 2020 21:07:42 GMT -5
Hello there from across the big pond, Wiiiisconsin. I was up in the Superior/Duluth area a month ago. Found my first agate in an inland lake south of the city.
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megan528
off to a rocking start
Married
Member since August 2020
Posts: 21
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Post by megan528 on Sept 6, 2020 21:16:41 GMT -5
No, I agree... Won't be touching the agates. I guess what I am calling banded jasper isn't. It's red and dark burgundy, has some pretty banding formations.. I did pick up some unakite also along with a bunch of other stuff that looked very unique and beautiful to me. I will reference my book and see what all I have. I roughly sorted everything tonight into 2 piles. Things I think will tumble ok, and other (granite, deep pitted, Petoskey stones etc.) I'll be narrowing down which tumbler to go with in the next couple days and I think I'll pick up a vibratory one to finish as well. Thank you very much for all the information and help thus far. I've learned a lot already in just a couple weeks.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Sept 7, 2020 7:38:48 GMT -5
Your red and dark burgundy rock sounds like it might be banded iron formation (BIF) also called jaspelite. It’s jasper and hematite, so it is sort of banded jasper.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on Sept 7, 2020 10:49:08 GMT -5
Howdy from Oregon..
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Post by TheRock on Sept 21, 2020 18:37:28 GMT -5
Welcome from sw/Michigan .
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