My last outing, A Weekly posting Options

[Woody]

Sorry guys,

Here it is again. "I think". I'm slow....er... I mean challanged by these high tec computer things.


http://youtu.be/zuYChrJEW-o

[lostnewb]

Woody, I will get it set up and then we can get together on a time. It is about a 20 minute drive south of here, and there's a little hiking involved that you should thoroughly enjoy! It's a little placer stream, and there's also some interesting rock around, according to the guy I talked with. Talk equipment later.

If y'all need an extra hand let me know. Would love to meet you Caveman. If not I completely understand.

Chris

[fenixsmom]

Don't worry woody, technology is expanding exponentially at this point! Now there is tethering devices, jailbreaking, plus things ive never heard of! not to mention kids are becoming app developers before they graduate high school! I'm from the age of technology and I'm freaking lost!

[NewRockHounder]

Woody, you cease to amaze me! Thanks for that video, really cool stuff. Great knowledge.

Are you guys headed up this weekend? Give me a buzz if I can join ya's - May be up there regardless working on my endless pocket. Probably just for the day though, not camping this time.

[Denise]

Very cool video Woody! Hated seeing the Fluorites scratched and crushed but they did make fine examples.

Yikes Mike, your first Fluorite story about had me in tears...hehe....I could almost feel your pain! Rough way to learn but helpful for future digging like you said.

[MikeS]

Awesome video Woody! I actually didn't know about the flashlight trick or the glow when being crushed. Very cool. Some of the fresh Fluorite that I have pulled out will glow just from the warmth of my hands. Nice collection!! Thanks for sharing!

[Woody]

Well it looks like I learned something also Mike,

I think the process you are describing is, "Incandescence", Light from heat. Which I find very interesting for two reasons.

- First, I did not know it could do that. So another properity if Fluorite, Yeah!

- Second, I have found that the warmer/hotter my pices of Fluotire are, the less they glow with the flashlight trick. I actuall put some in the freezer and they seemed to glow brighter until they got warm. Hum?

So now the question is, in my test does the fluorite glow from the release of absorbed light? Or is it simply displaying traits of Incandesence?

Conclusion: More test are needed. Light without heat / heat without light, I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the brain teaser, Woody

[Crusty]

Great video Woody! Now I need to go look at a few rocks I have that I wasn't sure what they are, but I think they might be fluorite!

[lostnewb]

I'm sure he will. His dad's name is Chris. The other day I took his dad along on a crystal hunt. He had been out with me a few times before but we had not really found much material. Earlier this winter I went on a duck hunt with Chris and his dad and I learned that the whole family shared the interest of rock hounding. So I decided to help them step it up a notch. I had been meaning to re-look at an area that I first dug into many years ago. At that time I was quite green and I can remember finding some stuff that looked kind of like quarts but wasn't. So I just tossed it down the hill with the rest of the overburden. I later learned that it was in fact low grade Fluorite.

I always meant to return to that area but keep saving it for a good cause and this seemed to fit the bill nicely. As we made our way up the hill I was picking here, poking there, and just shy of my intended hole I found a small area that held all the key indicators. A simple flick of the pick produced a few low grade crystals and lots of purple clay. So much purple material that later I would come to call this hole the Deep Purple Pocket. Together we worked that spot for a few hours and it became clear there was a lot more to be unearthed. I figured this would be a great stopping spot and we left it "ripe for the pickings". I knew him and his entire family would return the next day and had high hopes for them finding a few goodies.

That next day he brought along his wife, his son & daughter, "I think 4 and 6" and his dad. Together they worked that pocket and indeed pulled out some nice items. I had been in another area and met them just as they were getting to the car. What a sight we all looked. Everyone covered from head to toe with dirt and sporting Raccoon Eyes from the dust on their faces. We looked like the type of motley crew most folks would try real hard to avoid.

And good for us! We had all just spent the entire day rooting in the ground trying to find some minerals, old and young alike. I admit we probably would have had a hard time blending in with even the local Wal-Mart, but we were part of an exclusive club none the less. If wealth was judged by the width of a smile then our pockets were full of gold. The young'ens were priceless. Sure they looked as if they had been gnawing on pine sap but they were very excited to show me what they had found and you could tell they had fun. For the second time in a week I was thanked for sharing in good, quality family fun and it felt great.

The Deep Purple Pocket is still producing. I think it will kind of blend in with another pocket and became one. There should be enough material to get in several outings with my new digging partners. I'll post up a few pictures as digging continues. I can't wait to do it again, Woody.

This cyrstal came from that pocket and has yet to be cleaned. It is about the size of a Mason Jar.

Woody,Here is a pic of that crystal all cleaned up.
Chris

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[Crusty]

Woody,Here is a pic of that crystal all cleaned up.
Chris

NIIIIIICE!!!!

[Woody]

"Conclusion: More tests are needed. Light without heat / heat without light, I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the brain teaser, Woody"

Ok so I performed two separate test;

1st Test, I placed a piece of Fluorite in total darkness, directly in front of a hair drier and let the hair drier run on high for 30 seconds.
Results ..... I could see no visible glow. Repeated test again..... Still did not get a glow. (Stone was very hot to the touch).

2nd Test, I placed the same piece of Fluorite about 6 inches away from a low-heat LED flashlight and turned the flashlight on for 10 seconds.
Results..... Instant Glow. (Stone still felt similar to room temp).


Conclusion.... I have often found that different pieces of fluorite display a wide range of results especially when trying to get them to glow. I.E. some glow brighter and some simply do not glow at all. This could be the reason that particular piece did not glow when subjected to heat. I will continue to conduct experiments with heat and fluorite. It might be as simple as, pieces from a certain area have characteristics that are unique to that area. I hope that is the case. That would be interesting. Woody~

[Caveman]

Ok, Woody - I bought a map from the BLM and there are a couple of areas that interest me - Copper Gulch Road, and Venable Creek. Now, I need instruction on how to use LR2000. I have tried on my own, and it's feature seem to work haphazardly, and sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't..... even in the same session!

I would like to get out to these areas, before the real cold hits!

[lostnewb]

Ok, Woody - I bought a map from the BLM and there are a couple of areas that interest me - Copper Gulch Road, and Venable Creek. Now, I need instruction on how to use LR2000. I have tried on my own, and it's feature seem to work haphazardly, and sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't..... even in the same session!

I would like to get out to these areas, before the real cold hits!

Let me know if you need any help. Would be more than happy.

Chris

[Caveman]

Let me know if you need any help. Would be more than happy.

Chris

I will get back to you tomorrow..... Thanks!

[Woody]

Thanks for the helping hand Chris,

Caveman a long time ago Chris gave me a tutorial on using the LR2000. Very impressive. He would defiantly be the better man for the job. I could get you on the site and we could cruise around finding pretty much what we were looking for but still today I often feel as if I haven't quite got 'er up to top speed. At times I let technology "bully" me around a little too easy and LR2000 can do that to you.

Here is my best analogy; If it were a mechanical part and it broke a person could easily fix it if they knew what it was supposed to do. If on the other hand, a person had only a vague idear what the part was expected to do, then the task becomes more difficult. If you knew that the two pieces must fit together to make the part work, then you would find a way to get the two parts to come together. If you weren’t sure how the two parts fit together then that task becomes more difficult. With LR2000, I first have to first determine if the site is even up and running correctly. If it is, then I can get out of it what I want. More than just a few times I find the site is only running at half speed or not at all. Then try to punch in a few numbers and see what happens, "I don't mean to punch my computer but sometimes it is just asking for it!"

With Chris, he has the confidence to know, "Oh, Well the site is just not working correctly." With me....... I just start handing over my lunch money :(