Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,490
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 29, 2021 11:35:57 GMT -5
Howdy folks, A member here wanted to see some Texas chert. Really, it's all over this part of Texas in many different forms. I usually only pick up stuff with neat colors or patterns and leave solid colors. I prefer the pre tumbled material out of the La Grange, Texas or Rio Grande gravels that has the white cortex worn off. The raw examples to the right in the pic still have the white cortex and are from the Amerind quarry on our hill. This "rootbeer flint" actually a banded translucent chert, was highly prized by the local tribes for tool making. Though a lot was heat treated before working it. We have three other deposits here on the ranch, Pedernales Chert which is banded horizontally and looks like earth-toned pet wood, Edwards nodular chert which is solid earth tones and full of small fossils and Austin Blue Flint (actually black) that occurs in thick veins. I didn't have any chunks of those on hand as most are in hunks too big to pack around. For the gentleman who asked the question, solid colors are usually pink, purple, blueish, greenish red or gold and of course all the various earth tones. The white cortex is usually weathered brown in the La Grange material and totally removed in Rio examples. Both the Rio and La grange cherts are so common here that many of our businesses use it for landscape rock.  DSCN1051Texas chert by lonerider652000, on Flickr |
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chandler
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2020
Posts: 105
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Post by chandler on Jan 29, 2021 14:49:30 GMT -5
Howdy folks, A member here wanted to see some Texas chert. Really, it's all over this part of Texas in many different forms. I usually only pick up stuff with neat colors or patterns and leave solid colors. I prefer the pre tumbled material out of the La Grange, Texas or Rio Grande gravels that has the white cortex worn off. The raw examples to the right in the pic still have the white cortex and are from the Amerind quarry on our hill. This "rootbeer flint" actually a banded translucent chert, was highly prized by the local tribes for tool making. Though a lot was heat treated before working it. We have three other deposits here on the ranch, Pedernales Chert which is banded horizontally and looks like earth-toned pet wood, Edwards nodular chert which is solid earth tones and full of small fossils and Austin Blue Flint (actually black) that occurs in thick veins. I didn't have any chunks of those on hand as most are in hunks too big to pack around. For the gentleman who asked the question, solid colors are usually pink, purple, blueish, greenish red or gold and of course all the various earth tones. The white cortex is usually weathered brown in the La Grange material and totally removed in Rio examples. Both the Rio and La grange cherts are so common here that many of our businesses use it for landscape rock. DSCN1051Texas chert by lonerider652000, on Flickr |
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Post by taylor on Jan 29, 2021 23:13:18 GMT -5
Thank you! Interesting stuff. No problem filling a tumbler in Texas!
I'm guessing this material is very hard? Harder than petrified wood?
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,490
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 30, 2021 9:46:31 GMT -5
Texas chert is a hard and tough material especially for knapping. Knapping material is best heat treated to alter the structure and make it more brittle. Certainly not harder than Rio Grande pet wood which is super hard because softer stuff had been tumbled off but I'm sure on a par with other pet woods that are silica replaced. Texas has a lot of opalized and calcified wood too which is softer. So much wood here in Texas that they have books of pictures of houses built from it. My wife is a Texas master naturalist and we often visit other ranches. Went to one nearby a few years ago where their whole hill was well preserved calcified logs. Not gem quality stuff but very cool looking.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 30, 2021 10:35:07 GMT -5
I could definitely see a lot of what you have pictured being amazing landscape rock. Around our area in South Dakota, we have deposits of river rock that get dug up and sorted which get used as landscaping rock. My wife and I picked up 21 tons of it last year and so far, we've found 3 Fariburn Agates in it...so there's always a chance for treasures in simple "landscaping" rock.  |
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,717 
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Post by Fossilman on Jan 30, 2021 10:39:58 GMT -5
Texas has some great material for sure..
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 30, 2021 10:41:36 GMT -5
My wife and I picked up 21 tons of it last year and so far, we've found 3 Fariburn Agates in it...so there's always a chance for treasures in simple "landscaping" rock. For realz?? 21 Tons?? Wow! |
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 30, 2021 10:52:09 GMT -5
My wife and I picked up 21 tons of it last year and so far, we've found 3 Fariburn Agates in it...so there's always a chance for treasures in simple "landscaping" rock. For realz?? 21 Tons?? Wow! Yep. 13 tons the first time and then another 8 tons a few months later. I still have 4-5 tons that needs to go around the front of the house, but I need to build the deck first. Gall bladder surgery and then Covid related delays in getting materials hampered the deck build this last summer/fall. |
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 30, 2021 10:53:45 GMT -5
For realz?? 21 Tons?? Wow! Yep. 13 tons the first time and then another 8 tons a few months later. I still have 4-5 tons that needs to go around the front of the house, but I need to build the deck first. Gall bladder surgery and then Covid related delays in getting materials hampered the deck build this last summer/fall. Color me impressed. My back hurts just thinking about it. |
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,490
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 30, 2021 17:22:23 GMT -5
Jason, That's funny! The wife and I had a few yards of Rio material dropped in our yard for landscaping too. Unfortunately, as the Eagle Pass quarry gets deeper the stuff seems to have less and less good agate and I got very little good stuff from the load. As I travel around locally, I find I can tell if their landscaping is "old" or "new" Rio Grande gravel by seeing the amount of agate included. I know of one store locally that has landscaping from the old, top agate layer that would make your eyes pop, with fancy agate all over the place. I saw one orbicular one in particular and actually went in and asked the owner if I could have a rock from his landscaping. The answer was No....Oh well and I was buying a lot of stuff there too. When we were first making our Texas move, we stayed at a motel under construction and they had a pile of tons of Rio material and I swear it was 20% agate, wood, and jasper. Lucky to find a couple now days in the stuff being quarried.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 30, 2021 22:21:43 GMT -5
Jason, That's funny! The wife and I had a few yards of Rio material dropped in our yard for landscaping too. Unfortunately, as the Eagle Pass quarry gets deeper the stuff seems to have less and less good agate and I got very little good stuff from the load. As I travel around locally, I find I can tell if their landscaping is "old" or "new" Rio Grande gravel by seeing the amount of agate included. I know of one store locally that has landscaping from the old, top agate layer that would make your eyes pop, with fancy agate all over the place. I saw one orbicular one in particular and actually went in and asked the owner if I could have a rock from his landscaping. The answer was No....Oh well and I was buying a lot of stuff there too. When we were first making our Texas move, we stayed at a motel under construction and they had a pile of tons of Rio material and I swear it was 20% agate, wood, and jasper. Lucky to find a couple now days in the stuff being quarried. It's amazing to see the amount of people poking around the parking lots of local businesses. They're constantly agate hunting...and generally without permission. I haven't found the need to do that as I have my own supply of river rock to poke around in! LOL The guy that delivers this for me let me know there's two local sources. One contains agate...the other not at all. I had to wait months in order to take delivery of the "good" stuff! LOL An hour after he dumped the load, I found this Fairburn just poking around the outside of the pile...well worth the cost of the 2nd load of 8-tons.     |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jan 30, 2021 22:47:44 GMT -5
 Wow, that is just awesome! Some people will landscape their yards with the finest gavels around!
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,490
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 30, 2021 22:57:09 GMT -5
Wow, that is a really nice Fairburn. I've only hounded up that way once many many years ago when I was a kid and all I ever found was one tiny little brown matrix nodule with a tiny little fortification. Back then ( 1950's) there was pet wood everywhere though. Could pick up a sackful on the roadsides right where we parked. Nice to see there are still good'uns out there.
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Post by jasoninsd on Jan 30, 2021 23:18:22 GMT -5
 Wow, that is just awesome! Some people will landscape their yards with the finest gavels around! Yeh...I'm thinking of surrounding all the trees in the yard with Ocean Jasper. LOL That was a total "lottery" hit with having that bad boy in the mix.  Wow, that is a really nice Fairburn. I've only hounded up that way once many many years ago when I was a kid and all I ever found was one tiny little brown matrix nodule with a tiny little fortification. Back then ( 1950's) there was pet wood everywhere though. Could pick up a sackful on the roadsides right where we parked. Nice to see there are still good'uns out there. I've been lucky that my father-in-law is a retired dairy farmer who knows practically everyone who owns ranchland on the western side of the state. I dedicated a thread to him and some of the private properties he's taken me. I've found several Fairburns hounding on the private property...but none of them as amazing as this one! LOL I've found a few places that seem to be leeching pet wood out of the hillsides out at Railroad Buttes. I'm starting to get quite a collection of that as well. |
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chandler
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2020
Posts: 105
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Post by chandler on Jan 31, 2021 19:36:18 GMT -5
That is an amazing stone!
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Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,512
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Post by Brian on Jan 31, 2021 20:56:03 GMT -5
How cow! That one is absolutely amazing! The colors and blue eye are phenomenal! |
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Post by stephan on Feb 1, 2021 1:46:08 GMT -5
  that’s worth buying 21 tons of rock. calculating, but i think the delivery charge to California might just be too much.
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Post by stephan on Feb 1, 2021 1:47:14 GMT -5
Howdy folks, A member here wanted to see some Texas chert. Really, it's all over this part of Texas in many different forms. I usually only pick up stuff with neat colors or patterns and leave solid colors. I prefer the pre tumbled material out of the La Grange, Texas or Rio Grande gravels that has the white cortex worn off. The raw examples to the right in the pic still have the white cortex and are from the Amerind quarry on our hill. This "rootbeer flint" actually a banded translucent chert, was highly prized by the local tribes for tool making. Though a lot was heat treated before working it. We have three other deposits here on the ranch, Pedernales Chert which is banded horizontally and looks like earth-toned pet wood, Edwards nodular chert which is solid earth tones and full of small fossils and Austin Blue Flint (actually black) that occurs in thick veins. I didn't have any chunks of those on hand as most are in hunks too big to pack around. For the gentleman who asked the question, solid colors are usually pink, purple, blueish, greenish red or gold and of course all the various earth tones. The white cortex is usually weathered brown in the La Grange material and totally removed in Rio examples. Both the Rio and La grange cherts are so common here that many of our businesses use it for landscape rock. DSCN1051Texas chert by lonerider652000, on Flickr There’s an owl at 11:00 o’clock! |
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Post by jasoninsd on Feb 1, 2021 2:12:39 GMT -5
Sabre52 - I feel like I'm hijacking your thread...so I'll stop after this one. stephan, miket, and Brian - here's a couple close-ups. Depending on how you count the fortifications, I come up with 36 different bands that surround the druzy (I think that's what it is) pocket...I've never seen another Fairburn with that many bands... Not too bad for a landscaping rock! LOL  
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,490
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 1, 2021 9:14:55 GMT -5
NO worries on the post. I have the Fairburn book and it's one of my favorites to read. In my opinion Fairburns are easily among the top ten fortification agates and that example is friggin awesome. Usually don't see too many black ones like that. Interesting how all those sedimentary agates seem to have highly identifiable patterns and matrix. Dryheads, Fairburns, TeePees, Bear Canyons etc have similar geology but such different color schemes. The Bear Canyons are probably the ones that seem most like Fairburns but still there are major differences in colors and banding.
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