My last outing, A Weekly posting Options

[swizz]

I have a feeling there's gonna be some cool show-n-tell pieces at the outing this weekend.

[Woody]

I did not make it up to the Club meeting this weekend. Last minute change of travel plans and both me and my travel partner having to work late meant I opted to stay closer in to home and hopefully reschedule. I spent most of the weekend rafting down the South Platte River. I was able to get up to my Rabbit Hole for about 3 hours but still did not get to the bottom of it. I opened the opening up quite a little and then cleaned up everything that my new opening allowed me to reach. With my entire upper torso inside the cavity I was able to work the hole by hand in four separate directions, hard left, upper left, straight ahead, and hard right. Hard left and upper left are easy working but seem to have long stopped producing crystals. Straight ahead looks like it is going to “peter-out” quickly into straight hard rock. The right side however is still producing, I just need to widen out the hole again and get better access so I can continue down that way and see how it goes. Some of the crystals come out shinny and smooth and clean up is fairly easy. However most of the material is covered by what could be best described as a hard encrustation. I have found nothing that is effective in removing this outer layer. Soap, hot water, and a stiff bristle plastic brush works the best so far.

One thing that I am kind of excited about is the possibility this pocket or vein will start producing Amazonite Crystals. That is the reason I started to scratch around in this spot in the first place. About 5 yards in front of where I am working is an old outcropping of Amazonite. It has been well worked-over but I thought I would go below it a little bit and see if there were any good leftovers. That’s when I found this pocket. Maybe I will get lucky yet. Later,Woody.

[Woody]

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.

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[Denise]

Great update Woody, looks like you hit a sweet vug! Nice how it's not too far from the surface either!
I really like your underground working pictures!

[CP]

Nice finds Woody for sure! I'll be looking forward to seeing some pics of those cleaned up later too, the fluorites are going to look awesome I'm thinking.

CP

[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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