Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 8, 2021 11:26:49 GMT -5
Sold... Thanks Brian
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 8, 2021 11:18:51 GMT -5
Howdy Folks, Here's a lot of George West Texas wood that are larger hunks suitable for a six to ten inch trim saw, probably more the ten. This is hard colorful material. Look at the previous post for a more detailed description of the types, patterns etc. 20# MFR box $65.00 delivered in US. Pal Pal and I don't ship out of US. Thanks.....Mel George West wood by lonerider652000, on Flickr
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 8, 2021 11:08:53 GMT -5
Howdy folks, I have a 20# box of petrified wood from George West Texas for sale. These hunks are primarily for tumbling, but some can be sliced for cabs. Some can go straight in the barrel but, since the exteriors are often rough, I prefer to slab them up on a trim or tile saw and then throw them in. George West wood is really weird stuff and many of the wood types are tropical and no longer found in Texas. Very colorful and may show wood grain, shrinkwood patterns, or even be full replacement agate casts after wood. The casts often show moss agate, stringers, plumy stuff etc. One of the more interesting Texas wood types and growing more scarce as development of the oil fields now has most the good collecting sites covered with caliche road base. MFR box stuffed with 20#...$55.00 delivered. Just drop me a note. I take Pay Pal and do not ship out of US....Mel George West wood tumble by lonerider652000, on Flickr
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 8, 2021 9:39:40 GMT -5
The green one without the streaks looks to be nephrite jade. The last streaky green and black one could be quartzite of some sort.
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Sabre52
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Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 7, 2021 9:39:24 GMT -5
Quartzilla, Yep, my pop was a central valley kid and knew where the chrysoprase mines were and we went on a hunt but the stringers we found were very tiny. In recent years the Porterville Gem club went on a trip there and I heard one member found a nice hunk in the taiings. Too bad it's so scarce as that was nice material.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 5, 2021 17:40:28 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm thinking that's definitely not wood and more likely quartz. To me, chert usually appears more fine grained, though chemically both are pretty much the same. Here in Texas some of the "chert" has that same sort of layering though, almost like an intergrade between quartz and chert. And, some of the chert is virtually indistinguishable from agate.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 5, 2021 9:38:06 GMT -5
Horse Canyon agate comes in a multitude of colors and patterns. The most famous moss type is a green-greenish gray type but I've also seen white moss, yellow spaghetti type moss/tube agate, red moss and sort of a flesh toned type. There is also really nice plume agate in red and creamy colors ( a buddy of mine found a great red plume on a collecting trip we went on). I've also seen some orby stuff and a lot of banded types. Also earth toned palm root. The caretaker of the fancy recreational park where we were allowed to camp on our field trip had an incredible collection of Horse Canyon cabs and many were of varieties I'd never seen before. Field trip was a one off as we had a combination to go through the gates and afterward some jerk used the combo to sneak in and cut the guys fences and was caught, thereby shutting down collecting access to everyone.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 4, 2021 8:47:32 GMT -5
Those Prairie agates are outstanding. I've always thought those are a very under rated agate that often show nice color combinations and even scenic patterns in addition to the nice banding. Very hard and take a high polish too...Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 2, 2021 12:45:50 GMT -5
Looks like it could be chert. Some chert seems to be not as silica rich and glassy as others are. What we have here in Texas is mostly very fine grained and glassy and really takes a fine polish. Even the coarser textured examples will polish well most of the time. The big difference seems to be that some regions have chert that is much more colorful than others while others have mainly earth tones.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 1, 2021 18:55:07 GMT -5
Just another possibility re the chert piece. It could be natural. Here on the ranch we get a lot of really strange and often symmetrical chert nodules that formed in mollusc burrows or eroded water channels and then weathered from the native Edwards limestone. I can't find any tool that looks like than in all my books. I guess it might just remain a mystery.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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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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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 31, 2021 17:44:21 GMT -5
Yeah, Horse Csnyon agate from CA is a nodule and vein agate location famous for fancy moss, plume, sagenite and other types, even some pam root. Not to be confused with picture jasper sites like Wildhorse.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 31, 2021 9:39:31 GMT -5
Just a wild guess depending on where your beach is but darker forms of jade appear slick and black and are a booger to break even with a rock hammer because of their fibrous nature.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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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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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 30, 2021 19:02:36 GMT -5
Rockstock: I checked John Sinkankas' book ans closest jade to you would be Wisconsin, no gem serpentine, jade etc in Michigan.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 30, 2021 17:29:04 GMT -5
Yeah, all my jade hunting experience was primarily on the Porterville region of Tulare county and we did not encounter gem serpentine at those locations, nor were there actinolite and tremolite. We just had the regular old Sierra foothill sepentine and soapstone. Nail and tink worked swell there.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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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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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 30, 2021 17:07:58 GMT -5
Love that last Woodward agate but got to say I'm a bit pissed that I visited the ranch a number of times and Frank Jr never sent me over to that side of the road for some of that material....Mel
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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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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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 30, 2021 9:37:00 GMT -5
Since jade is usually associated with serpentine, it's easy to tell jade from serpentine. Serpentine scratches with a common nail while jade does not and if tapped with your rock hammer, jade rings or tinks and serpentine thunks or thuds. Way we hunted jade at Tulare, CA was to tap boulders and lenses and listen for the ring. Jade nodules in situ often have a red or white rind too....Mel
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