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Post by holajonathan on Aug 10, 2021 22:06:50 GMT -5
Spent some time running smallish rocks though my newish HP lapidary 10" trim saw. Amazing saw. Fast, powerful, and the rollers that keep the blade straight make slabbing so much easier. Bad low light cell phone photos below, but the sun isn't coming up for another 8 hours and I wanted to share now. I know what the rocks are and where they come from, but if anyone takes joy in ID'ing rocks, I will take joy in reading your guesses. I must warn you that I love experimenting with cutting angle, direction, and orientation when slabbing rocks. This can make ID'ing some of them quite tricky indeed. I'll have to get a better photo of that last one. 1. Update: Berber agate from Morocco. Correctly identified by Rockoonz with 85.7% certainty. Well done, although this may have been the easiest of the group. 2.  3.  4.  5a.  5b.  6a.  6b.  6c.  |
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 10, 2021 22:33:14 GMT -5
OH MY GOSH! They're all gorgeous! That first one looks like Purple Passion Agate to me...or at least what I think it should look like!  |
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Post by holajonathan on Aug 10, 2021 22:47:03 GMT -5
OH MY GOSH! They're all gorgeous! That first one looks like Purple Passion Agate to me...or at least what I think it should look like! I can't afford that stuff (purple passion agate). It sure is pretty, though. When I want to spend too much on rocks, I've been buying the type shown in the last 3 photos. |
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Post by Rockoonz on Aug 10, 2021 22:51:21 GMT -5
1. About 85.7% certain it's berber agate from Morocco.
4 looks very willow creeksy, but with the agate?
6c really looks agua nueve to me, but 6a and 6b much less so, confusing indeed
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Post by holajonathan on Aug 10, 2021 23:05:37 GMT -5
1. About 85.7% certain it's berber agate from Morocco. I am 99.997% certain you are right. Just a little berber agate nodule. No pseudomorphs in this one, but better poppy-like orbs than I usually see in them.
4 looks very willow creeksy, but with the agate? It's agate, although what you see is opalized, in part. I can see why it reminds you of Willow Creek. 6c really looks agua nueve to me, but 6a and 6b much less so, confusing indeed 6a, 6b, and 6c are the same rock. Just different lighting. It's not agua nueva, but I see your point. Different color palette and bands are not as defined. It would pose a challenge for those "how agates are formed" experts. |
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Post by holajonathan on Aug 10, 2021 23:28:48 GMT -5
Two more slices from rock #6.   |
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 10, 2021 23:35:17 GMT -5
OH MY GOSH! They're all gorgeous! That first one looks like Purple Passion Agate to me...or at least what I think it should look like! I can't afford that stuff (purple passion agate). It sure is pretty, though. When I want to spend too much on rocks, I've been buying the type shown in the last 3 photos. I don't get the price point on that stuff. I'll agree it's gorgeous material, but I can't justify the asking price on it... Rockoonz - I was thinking Agua Nueva as well for number 6. Obviously it's not...I just didn't want you to feel alone! LOL |
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Post by holajonathan on Aug 11, 2021 20:29:14 GMT -5
Rockoonzjasoninsd1. Berber Agate from Morocco. 2/3. Mojave desert / Cady Mountain seam agate. Both were very thin seams (about 1" thick) with flat, parallel sides. They looked solid so I cut through the middle of the seams. You lose any sort of flame or plume pattern this way, but you get some other interesting patterns instead. 4. Swazi agate, I think. Or was it Mozambique? Or Malawi? I have some small chunks of water level agates with translucent pink and white opalized bands. Every third or fourth band is opalized. If cut parallel to the bands, a few millimeters above an opalized layer, you get slabs that look like this. 5a/b. Brazilian agate. The center of the nodule was full of bad quartz, so I sliced off the edges and found some nice orbs. 6a/b/c. Condor agate. I have cut about 15 pounds of these recently and this is the only one with a big plume area like this. The plume area appears to be as hard as the surrounding agate. It's not calcite, although it sort of looks like it.
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 11, 2021 20:41:25 GMT -5
Rockoonz jasoninsd 1. Berber Agate from Morocco. 2/3. Mojave desert / Cady Mountain seam agate. Both were very thin seams (about 1" thick) with flat, parallel sides. They looked solid so I cut through the middle of the seams. You lose any sort of flame or plume pattern this way, but you get some other interesting patterns instead. 4. Swazi agate, I think. Or was it Mozambique? Or Malawi? I have some small chunks of water level agates with translucent pink and white opalized bands. Every third or fourth band is opalized. If cut parallel to the bands, a few millimeters above an opalized layer, you get slabs that look like this. 5a/b. Brazilian agate. The center of the nodule was full of bad quartz, so I sliced off the edges and found some nice orbs. 6a/b/c. Condor agate. I have cut about 15 pounds of these recently and this is the only one with a big plume area like this. The plume area appears to be as hard as the surrounding agate. It's not calcite, although it sort of looks like it. I'm kicking myself now for not speaking my mind on #5! I had just cut some Brazilian preforms yesterday...and I knew the "rind" and the area outside the orb area looked spot on for Brazilian...but I'd never heard of one having orbs! That one's really cool! And #6, I spent awhile last night trying to search some of the recent agates I'd been looking at. It was the color and the structure of the fortifications that looked familiar. It was the plume that was throwing me for a loop...but I totally missed looking up Condor Agate...but now that you say it...that's what it looks like! LOL |
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Post by holajonathan on Aug 11, 2021 21:30:59 GMT -5
I gave #3 a quick-n-dirty polish and it looks pretty good. Should be able to get one cab out of it. There are a few little holes, but the chaotic pattern and colors help hide them. The other photo is the same rock together with the rest of the seam. You can see why I cut it like I did. I don't see a lot of people cut Seam agates like this, and I'm not sure why. You lose some patters and gain others.   |
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Post by holajonathan on Aug 11, 2021 21:34:59 GMT -5
Gave this condor end up a quick polish as well. I didn't even get all the saw marks out apparently, but I got enough of a shine to see more details. These condor agates are going to be the ruin of me, or at least of my bank account.  |
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Post by Rockoonz on Aug 12, 2021 9:16:06 GMT -5
I gave #3 a quick-n-dirty polish and it looks pretty good. Should be able to get one cab out of it. There are a few little holes, but the chaotic pattern and colors help hide them. The other photo is the same rock together with the rest of the seam. You can see why I cut it like I did. I don't see a lot of people cut Seam agates like this, and I'm not sure why. You lose some patters and gain others. I look for thin seams that I can treat like slabs, often overlooked at the shows but it can offer some very nice stuff. I think that I posted one years ago from some holly blue, seam was so thin that the back was still the original rind from the seam. It's still around somewhere, if I can ever unpack. |
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Post by holajonathan on Aug 12, 2021 11:58:16 GMT -5
I gave #3 a quick-n-dirty polish and it looks pretty good. Should be able to get one cab out of it. There are a few little holes, but the chaotic pattern and colors help hide them. The other photo is the same rock together with the rest of the seam. You can see why I cut it like I did. I don't see a lot of people cut Seam agates like this, and I'm not sure why. You lose some patters and gain others. I look for thin seams that I can treat like slabs, often overlooked at the shows but it can offer some very nice stuff. I think that I posted one years ago from some holly blue, seam was so thin that the back was still the original rind from the seam. It's still around somewhere, if I can ever unpack. Same here. I got a bunch of Cady Mountain area thin seam agates cheap, somewhere between $1-$2 a pound. Apparently a lot of people have no interest in them. But I have found the thin seams are often more completely filled with agate than thicker ones. |
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Post by Rockoonz on Aug 12, 2021 20:02:51 GMT -5
Like this Frogskin from the Tahoma jasper claim?  Not mine, these are from my friend Charles, he was getting a lot of this from the claim and only sells finished now. I was fortunate to get some rough from him years ago, it's still stashed away somewhere uncut. Hope to change that soon. |
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Post by holajonathan on Aug 12, 2021 20:50:47 GMT -5
Like this Frogskin from the Tahoma jasper claim? Not mine, these are from my friend Charles, he was getting a lot of this from the claim and only sells finished now. I was fortunate to get some rough from him years ago, it's still stashed away somewhere uncut. Hope to change that soon. Wow, really nice, shiny rocks. I take it this rough is not available for sale anywhere? |
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Post by Rockoonz on Aug 13, 2021 1:45:02 GMT -5
holajonathan some people connected to the claim were in Q-site this year. I don't know if they are on FB or IG for sales.
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Post by holajonathan on Aug 13, 2021 2:44:35 GMT -5
holajonathan some people connected to the claim were in Q-site this year. I don't know if they are on FB or IG for sales. What is IG? Thanks. |
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 13, 2021 21:46:49 GMT -5
holajonathan some people connected to the claim were in Q-site this year. I don't know if they are on FB or IG for sales. What is IG? Thanks. Maybe Instagram... |
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Post by holajonathan on Aug 13, 2021 22:20:22 GMT -5
Could be. I've never used instagram. I don't think I've even been to the website. I will ask my 18 and 21 year old nieces. They are my social media consultants. They recently explained tik-tok to me. I still don't get it. |
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 13, 2021 23:16:13 GMT -5
Could be. I've never used instagram. I don't think I've even been to the website. I will ask my 18 and 21 year old nieces. They are my social media consultants. They recently explained tik-tok to me. I still don't get it. Yeah um...I've got NO clue about any of them! LOL - I don't instantly send any grams, while I tweet some snappy chatty thing on tic tac!    |
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