My last outing, A Weekly posting Options

[mikeybrew]

1st pic is of the hole and straight ahead. The next is a picture of how the walls looked inside of the hole and still do on the right side. It also shows three nice cubes of Fluorite. I can’t wait to get them out. The next one is an enlarged pic of the straight ahead area. The last picture is of the roof area in the cavity as it turns hard to the right.

Wow, that's quite a productive hole, congrats on the finds! Some really nice plates in there still, good luck getting them out!

[Woody]

Thanks Mikey,

I did get back up there this weekend and cleaned out the hole as far as I could. It is still producing but I need to do a little hardrock mining and move about a foot of rock out of the way. I now am able to work inside the hole with nothing sticking out but my backside. However I have cleaned out everything I can access and the "good stuff" seams to be going straight away from me. The best stuff I have gotten out so far has been small plates of fluorite. Some mixed on combos of Microline. Maybe Feldspar is the correct name, "I'm kind of shakey on the seperation of the two sometimes". I will post up pics tomorrow of my finds and will be looking for advice on how to get them cleaner. Woody.

[Woody]

Here is a little Teaser!

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[kmontoya911]

Woody,

I have really enjoyed your thread. I am jealous of how much you are able to get out there. I think it would be funny to be hiking, and come across a hole with someones back side sticking out of it.

It will be cool to see these specimins cleaned up.

Thank you.

[Woody]

kmontoya911

I know what you mean. Trust me, due to recent events I am a little Heebe-Geebe from time to time working the hole that way. When your inside it seems like an amputheater, all sounds are amplified. I take a lot of breaks and come up for air often. But that would be spooky as heck to come up and see someone standing there looking at you with a half-crooked grin.

[Woody]

Well here are only a few of my picks, way too many to post them all. There is really not a lot of Fancy grade stuff here. A few well defined Smokies but mostly the pieces are only half dark at best. Some are only one or two sided. The Fluorite came along and kind of stole the show. Some of the specimens are very easy to clean and others will retain their secret identity for ever. I am not able to get the hard crust off any of the feldspar plates. I really had high hopes for these as they look awesome with some purple outlined Fluorite clusters on them. I tried the soaking in warm vinegar. Is there a certain type of vinegar one should use? Mine did not do much. I was told about some sort of micro-steam cleaner I can try but don’t remember quite what it was. I was also informed that using a weak solution of Muriatic Acid will also help. I have tried this method years ago and did not have good results as I ruined my specimens. I haven’t given up on a favorable outcome just yet. I really need to get set up with a rock cutting outfit. I have a nice Dremmel but don’t know what tools to use with it. I’ve decided to get a cut-off wheel and give er’ heck. I’m going to attempt to cut out some of the Smokie pieces and see what happens. I will practice on some of the less attractive pieces. If I get any results I will wait until winter and then try to make something. I can’t imagine it will look very good as I am horrible at such displays of art. I have often said that I don’t have a Gay bone in my body and it shows whenever I try to make something look nice. Oh well, We shall see. Woody.

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[Woody]

Here is a few pics of some of the individual pieces. I have gotten out maybe 20 or so of these so far.

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[Woody]

Lots of common stuff. Some of it even looks like it was been Heat-discolored.

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[Woody]

Here are some of my favorite pieces. They all contain fluorite.

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[Woody]

This last one must of had a wild and crazy time last night. When I found it this morning, it had glitter on its face.

Enjoy, Woody.

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[swizz]

Woody,
Those are definitely some worthy specimens. Have you tried soaking them in a solution of Super Iron Out? It can be purchased at the hardware or sometimes grocery store. Strong stuff and works really well. Otherwise, I would try hitting them with a textile cleaning gun. Next time we meet up at my claim or Dreamtime Mine I can bring mine and happy to loan it to you if you'd like.
Those two things can do wonders.

[Woody]

Thanks Swizz,

That is what I was talking about, the Textile cleaning gun. I will look into trying to get one. I'll ket you know how it works.

[Denise]

Very cool specimens and pictures Woody! Here is a link to the cleaning specimens thread. I think your pieces are perfect for a super iron out soak, especially if the warm vinegar didn't do much to them. After the iron out treatment and time soaking in water, then blast them with the textile gun. It does wonders!

Always remember to use distilled water, as tap water will leave mineral deposits on the specimen in the iron out.

[Woody]

Did the family outing thing this weekend,

Loaded up the trailer, family, & the dog and headed to Pueblo Lake for the weekend. This place is located very close to the Front Range but still offers everything from hunting small game in the winter to jumping off the cliffs in the summer. It also has several hidden talents as well. If a person knows where to look they could easily find fossilized Clams as big as Cantaloupes, a wide variety of Shark teeth, and even some Crystallized Iron Pyrite. This Pyrite is every interesting. It is commonly found in these thick layers of shale as a rusty inclusion that can be solid or crumbly. But occasionally it is a perfect round ball and solid pyrite inside. It seems that only the round ones are solid pyrite and the ones that are not perfect spheres are crumblier or only about half pyrite. I read or heard somewhere that the pyrite formed in deep, oxygen depleted seas. Interesting!

This set of pics shows the size of the clams and also shows some of the Pyrite inclusions.

Have a good one, Woody.

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[Woody]

Here are a few Clams and some casts. Inside one of the casts I placed one of the pyrite spheres. Although rare, some of the spheres have little crystals on their outer shell, this one is like that. The next pic shows how the balls look inside the thick layers of shale.

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