My last outing, A Weekly posting |
My last outing, A Weekly posting |
May 1 2011, 04:55 PM
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#1
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Rock Bar! Group: Members Posts: 637 Joined: 5-April 11 From: All of Colorado Member No.: 15,615 |
Looking for Amazonite and Crystals
It was suspossed to be a real cold & crappy day around here according to the weather station so I was all set-in for a boering weekend. . I got up and it was cold but clear. Then I listened to the weather report again and it said the snow should start falling around noon. I figured I had about 5 good hours of usable time so I headed up to the local spot in the hills. I wanted to work a spot that I had found the week before and know there is still some "items of interest" left in it. It was a little chilly but that hill will turn up the heat quick. I never made it to my intended spot. As usual, I don't take the same path up the hill twice. I kind of zig-zag up it to the height I want to be at then shoot straight accrossed. This time I stumbled into a different area that hadn't been worked and showed good amazonite. I figured to shoot my entire 5 hour wad at this new sight and call it a day from there. But the expected fowl weather did not set in as expected. So after working that area for awhile I set off in another direction. This time I went prospecting for crystals. By prospecting I mean, randomly digging a small hole here and there and see if something looks good. I trapsed up and down the hillside and found two more spots that had been worked for Amazonite but did not look promising for any good grade specimens. One hole I dug did produce some crystals. I brought back around 70 bits and pieces. All in all I was very satisified with my Saturday. I got to put in around 10 hours of hill time on what was suspossed to be a crappy day and found more areas that need worked. In the pic you can see the Amazonite clearly but the other crystals are, well kind of lumpy. I believe they are "Pseudo-morphed" or something. Not sure. Anybody got any guesses?? Later, Woody -------------------- Proud CP Lifetime Member
(currently working hard in the procurement department) |
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Jul 26 2011, 09:18 PM
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#2
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Rock Bar! Group: Members Posts: 637 Joined: 5-April 11 From: All of Colorado Member No.: 15,615 |
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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-------------------- Proud CP Lifetime Member
(currently working hard in the procurement department) |
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