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Post by stardiamond on Oct 31, 2020 13:05:20 GMT -5
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 31, 2020 20:02:11 GMT -5
I'm really transfixed by that clam shell material. You've done a couple pieces of that here recently and each one looks stellar!
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Post by stephan on Oct 31, 2020 22:21:32 GMT -5
That is some stellar MHPJ. It looks like most of the fractures are actually healed.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Oct 31, 2020 23:05:20 GMT -5
jasoninsd , I've always known the fossils in that stone as "Devil's Toenails", called such due to their broadly curved shape, which looks a bit like a claw. It is an extinct species of oyster Gryphaea arcuata that lived during the Jurassic Period.
A lot of info online about them being found across the pond (Europe - Scotland, UK, etc), but they are also found in the US, Wyoming (of course!), Texas and Utah being just a few locations.
When compressed into a slab suitable for lapidary use, folks call them Devil's Toenails Coquina. At least, that is one of the names used. 
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 31, 2020 23:13:12 GMT -5
jasoninsd , I've always known the fossils in that stone as "Devil's Toenails", called such due to their broadly curved shape, which looks a bit like a claw. It is an extinct species of oyster Gryphaea arcuata that lived during the Jurassic Period.
A lot of info online about them being found across the pond (Europe - Scotland, UK, etc), but they are also found in the US, Wyoming (of course!), Texas and Utah being just a few locations.
When compressed into a slab suitable for lapidary use, folks call them Devil's Toenails Coquina. At least, that is one of the names used.
Thank you thank you thank you for posting this! I was searching some old threads on the forum earlier tonight looking for mentions of crinoidal limestone. I just picked up two slabs off eBay and they'll get here in a couple days. I saw in several threads "devil's toenail" being mentioned, but I didn't relate it to this type of clam shell material! That's awesome! I found a rock on the Cheyenne River yesterday and I'll post it in a different thread. But, I'm wondering if it too is related... probably not. I'm probably overreaching. LOL |
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Post by stardiamond on Oct 31, 2020 23:42:20 GMT -5
I had an old slab of the material and made 3 cabs. I didn't know the name. I posted here and got an id. It is not easy to find on the web. A saw a couple slabs on ebay today and that is rare. No slabs and not many cabs on Etsy. On ebay it has fossil in the name. Doing a search usually gets a bunch of soup related hits. My source was greatslabs which is the same as coppercanyon. They are currently out of stock and I am partially to blame. I like the lighter color less red material. www.coppercanyonlapidary.com/Clam Chowder Stone Slabs from Mexico Clam Chowder Stone is a hard, dense limestone loaded with clam shells. It works easily and takes a fine polish with tin oxide or diamond. The base is yellowish color when natural, but when heated, it turns into a reddish color. |
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Post by jasoninsd on Nov 1, 2020 0:28:29 GMT -5
Google just led me to Etsy among other sites. I looked up both Devil's Toenails Coquina and Clam Chowder Stone. It would appear it's another case of the same material with at least two different names. I'm learning that is more common than I would have thought in dealing with minerals. Whichever name it goes by, I'm loving it!  |
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