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 9:25:38 GMT -5
Agree with rockjunqule. Not Teepee, crazy lace.
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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 29, 2021 20:05:46 GMT -5
Nice. I have to go over San Saba way too get into the older rocks.
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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 29, 2021 20:03:08 GMT -5
Man, it shows how old you are when you can rememeber a lot of collecting sites now gone Jeez, here are just a few offhand. Horse Canyon Agate, a huge RV park and subdivision now. Howardite- he old pink and gold stuff Alibates Flint. State Park now Canadian River Plume- pvt ranches Baker Eggs. if it's still open it's all commercial now. How I used to love digging there. Big Diggins.. Deming rock club and I've heard they high grade it before others are let in on field trips Berkeley Hills Thundereggs.. Built over Old red and white Hornitos Jasper, exhausted Flora Claim Hornitos Jasper buried? exhausted Hornitos Cosmos, Strawberry and small orb veins. New home on top of the deposit Sierra Hornitos brecciated Jasper. Still occasional finds but main pit exhausted and what's left under claim As mantioned above Indian paint Rock is now in Seath Valley Park Edison Palm Root Under a college Youngite gone as far as i know. Dryhead Agate.. pvt rch closed. Man that was an awesome dig site! Dulcote Agate from Great britain Austin Blue Agate. was always rare? if any left Union Rd Agate. Missouri.. uptown now Needles Blue.. again always has been scarce? Paisley Plume from SE CA exhausted Owlhead Mtns/ Owl Hole Plume and sagenite unsure if accessible due to increased size of Death Vally Park Nipomo Marcasire and sagenite, CA. Mostly private less ya trespass Pope Valley Poppy Jasper.. all pvt ranches Lead Pipe Springs T-eggs. military Reservation Hog Canyon Jasper. Near Parkfield. pvt Ranch Stone Canyon jasper from the JV ranch at Parkfield. The Varrians let some of us in for a fee once but i think it's closed now. Bicycle Lake Plume- military reservation Santa Cruz Island Plume. park, closed California Tiger eye..mine closed Webb Rch poppy.. Had a ranch near there 14 years and never found a local who knows where it is Mulligan peak Agate, AZ.. beautiful but access??? questionable Merlinite. psilomelane plume from AZ Rose Jasper and Spiderweb jasper from Heppner, Ore? Rose Agate from Ludlow, CA...gone as well as some incredibly weird moss/plume from there Carey Plume, OR Summit Prarie and Eagle Rock Plume, OR? Woodward Ranch Plume etc but there are similar areas open Palm sites near Choke Canyon in Texas.. Don't know of any fee sites still open Oaxaca Travertine/Ocean wave Dolomite in Mexico. Heard Chinese have the claim Layton Rch Rose Agate, Okla...closed or worked out? Snake River dendritic, Idaho??? Probably lots more that don't come to mind too. *sigh*
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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 29, 2021 16:31:08 GMT -5
Yeah, I've never seen anything like that second one but what I find interesting about it is the perfect looking half circle in the concave side. I could almost make a wild guess that it was used to smooth a one inch round shaft but from the pic I cannot tell if the object has abrasive qualities. I have found pumice stones with perfect half circle channels that were plainly used to smooth or shape arrow shafts.
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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 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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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 29, 2021 10:28:16 GMT -5
Wow, nice hunk of jade. Is that Washington state material? Has the look of some I've seen from Chromoflec Mine in the Darrington region....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 29, 2021 10:20:00 GMT -5
Did some research in my library and found pics of very similar grooved net weights. Only thing different is rather than the concave side, the pictured weights are drilled though. Others pictured though are just grooved and not drilled. Can't explain why the one side is concave. That has me stumped. Unless, since the stone seems fairly rough, it was used as some kind of sharpening of grinding tool or the concavity was used to grip the weight in the throwing process which does seem like over engineering. Perhaps secondary use for sharpening bone or wood implements like fish hooks or bone points of fish spears? Native Americans were very efficient at finding multiple uses for items they made. I do discount the idea it might be the upper part of a bow drill set because for that sort of thing,the concavity would be of very smooth stone as would most stones for ornamental use. Bola weights I've seen have usually been round.
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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 29, 2021 9:53:51 GMT -5
Howdy folks, Still trying to figure out the pics with my new camera so I'll try again. Hope the size is OK this time. This is the good agatized Texas turritella from the Rio Grande gravel. Better contrast and extremely hard chert matrix. For scale , the longest shells here are about two inches DSCN1050 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 Jan 28, 2021 16:18:41 GMT -5
Could be a chert nodule too. They all have weathered white cortex on the exterior and solid silica of various shades inside. Come in many different colors here in Texas.
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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 28, 2021 16:12:06 GMT -5
When I lived in California we would often find grooved stones like that around lakes and marshes. The consensus there was fish net or waterfowl throw net weights. They were usually made of common local rock rather than fancier materials like steatite or soapstone used for more ornamental purposes as they were often lost and had to be replaced.
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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 28, 2021 15:53:49 GMT -5
Actually there are a number of gastropods folks label as Turritella. Te Wamsutter , WY material is actually Goniobasis, a brackish water snail, kind of a salt marsh species. I think this particular one may actually be a Turritella sp. because around here it's all lower Cretaceous seabed but we also have a lot of Cerethiumn sp. and Mesalia sp. with the Cerethium sometimes being quite large. The shells themselves are silica replaced and I love the way the acidic water often etches the limestone away from the shells.....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 28, 2021 12:20:22 GMT -5
Just a small word of caution. Clear creek is home to a large deposit of asbestos. I doubt just a little digging would give you much exposure but you might want to wear a dust mask if you dig very much. Lots of rattlers around in warm weather and often annoying motorcyclists.
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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 28, 2021 12:04:11 GMT -5
Very cool, looks like a halfway mix of puddingstone which would contain smoothly rounded pebbles and brecciated jasper where the broken sections would be more angular and sharp edged. Great color mix too.
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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 28, 2021 11:58:43 GMT -5
Jadedvision. The Texas Turritella here on the ranch is not agatized, it's limestone and doesn't show a lot of contrast. It's more like the New Mexico material. I've cut a couple of slabs just to test it out because there is quite a lot of it, but to me, it doesn't look like great cab material. Don't think it will polish as well as the high silica limestone "Texas Toenails" from the Rio Grande. Mostly interesting as specimens. I do find nice agatized stuff from the Rio grande gravel but my wife snatches all those for her flower beds *L*. I'll have to post a pic of one of the hunks she claimed...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 28, 2021 11:50:33 GMT -5
Thanks guys, Sorry for the large picture size. I've had two cameras with issues lately and had to buy a new one that I am still learning my way around. Guess it takes huge pics so I will have to resize everything. Between that and the horses, I've not had much rock time but I hope to spend a bit more time on rocks now. Have been getting a little more Rio Grande material and some nice George West wood too so hope to post some for sale again soon along with some other stuff I've been cleaning out of my shop.
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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 28, 2021 10:03:38 GMT -5
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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 12, 2021 14:54:13 GMT -5
For kids, Lavic Siding just east of Barstow CA about 40 miles off old Route 66 that parallels Hwy 40. It's in all the California Gem site books and you can drive right to it with any vehicle. Tons and tons of good multicolored tumbling jasper, good moss agate and mixes of the two materials. It's not necessary to go south of the RR tracks. You can go south from RT 66 on Lavic Siding rd and hit the frontage along the north side of tracks, go east a mile or so and you will hit all kinds of material in patches on the desert. Don't even have to do any digging. if you want a place a bit closer, Hector Hills are off the same road about ten miles closer to you. Just go south o the Hector rd till you hit a dirt road heading west parallel to RT 66 go a couple miles and the hills dropping off into the basin to the south are full of agate of various types, most is not super colorful but if you look hard these is a bit of everything including dendritic, plumey stuff, breccia and chapenite. Another great easy site for kids.
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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 Dec 30, 2020 18:12:01 GMT -5
Anyplace between Carrizo Springs and Falcon Dam where there is an exposure of the Uvalde gravel. These are unsorted river gravel deposits that appear as large cobble beds. There are a couple of quarries near Eagle Pass that sometimes allow collectors but mostly, look for exposed gravel in roadside ditches or on gravel roads. Spring before last we hit a good site along a road where road construction had made a big newly graded cut alongside the paved road and another real good roadside ditch full of gravel. Be careful though as this is not the safest place in the country to collect. Zeta cartel country just across the border.
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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 Nov 30, 2020 10:26:09 GMT -5
Could be Jelly Bean/ Haystack Butte Jasper from Oregon too. It comes in many patterns and colors but I've seen some similar to your example I'd have thought low quality Ammey sage too except Ammey sage is noduler so the slabs are usually more rounded in outline...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 Nov 30, 2020 9:16:43 GMT -5
Just my humble opinion but some years ago I spent a bunch of money and bought a lot of that gem mine gravel mail order. As the above gentleman said, it is a exotic mix of foreign multi hardness material. Soft stuff won't polish well and pretty much disappears as it's small hunks and the actual corundum gems are opaque and take forever to shape and polish because they are super hard and wear out your grits and polishes. I found the whole effort a big ole waste of time and money that would be much better spent on some high quality agate or jasper poundage for making an incredible tumble with ease. Back then I could have bought high quality ocean jasper and such for the price I paid for essentially junk...Mel
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