Colorado Thundereggs Options

[Denise]

Here is a sweet find Carol made here in Colorado. Looks like several eggs stuck together.







Sure will be cool to see whats inside after she cuts it.

[Denise]

Here is a little lovely that a neighbor said he found in his yard, and was wondering if it would be worth cutting.
I took one look at it and knew right away that it was worth picking up.

Can anyone tell me what indicators are showing that would make this a good find?
Hint- It might help to click the larger image for a closer look...

[swizz]

I know very little of Thundereggs and have never found one, but.... looking at that one, I would think that the bubbly Quartz oozing, possibly several different mineral inclusions, and a nice symmetrical shape might be good indicators.
I also see a natural fracture but not sure if that means anything.
Post a pic when you guys cut that one, can't wait to see what's inside!

[Denise]

Good eye Swizz, those are definately indicators! One can also see the pressure ridges in this stone. I asked the man that found it the same question......What made you think this was a good rock to pick up and have cut? His reply was the shape of the rock, and he could see in a spot where it had broke, that there was something very different inside. Here is the face that he was looking at.




I handed him the 20x loop and told him to take a look at the face I was showing in the first pic. His jaw dropped when he looked through the loop and saw the small pinkish clear botryoidal bubbles. That just hightened his excitement to see it cut to reveal whats inside.

Me.............. I kind of want to go look for the sourse of this new undiscovered Thunderegg bed. Weather is perfect for it!



Ok, lets cut this baby and see whats inside. One never knows, it may be a dud.........but then again, it may have amazing beauty just waiting to see first light.

Stay tuned while we cut this find.......

[CP]

Dodging the weather is tricky but we did have one day that was nice enough last week before several days of -20 to -30 lows that followed.....BRRRR!
I agree good eye on that Swizz, those pressure ridges (seams) you noticed are a dead give away on the T-eggs. The ridges form from the slow filling of the silca (quartz) material into the gas bubble of the rhyolite flow. Over a very long time the layers formed enough to swell the bubble beyond it's original size causing the pressure ridges to crack the shell of the bubble.
First pic is on the saw for cutting, alignment is just about how Denise has it in the first pic above. Ironically enough the cut ended up right between the bubbles on the outside in that picture too.






Another 30 minutes later or so here is what showed it's pretty face to the sun for the first time ever seen, we'll be looking for more of these soon to verify this might be a new thunder egg bed locality for Colorado too!
Nice contrasting colors/blend of banding and small plumes with a very solid form. Not to bad at all for a surface/aluvial find......enjoy.

[Denise]

So now we can go look for the source?

[Denise]

Neighbor wasn't so hip on digging up his yard "yet", so that source will have to wait. Amazing how we are still working pieces from that Thunderegg chunk that Tim found. This is a piece that we are going to work into another key chain for my brother Dean and a heart for his love Kristen.
He plays guitar so I made him a guitar pick from a piece and wrapped it so he could wear it but he hung it on his wall because he said "it's too beautiful to use". This piece for a key chain will work great for him when finished.

[Crusty]

Great thread!

I posted this on our Facebook page, but hadn't gotten to posting it here. Here's my haul from Rockhound State Park in Deming NM. Don't have a saw, so I need to figure out to crack these goodies open to see what treasures await!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/17031449317...1/?stream_ref=2

[Denise]

You like this thread....your really going to like the other thread we have going with the New Mexico eggs!
We really like the Teggs and they have some pretty nice one there. Thanks, post up those pictures in that thread when you get a chance. We would love to see them.


Just don't crack them open with another rock or a rock hammer..... .......Not only is that really dangerous for you but destructive for the inside of the Thunderegg.
Not to mention I would have to turn you into the Thunderegg abusers cop squad.

[Crusty]

You like this thread....your really going to like the other thread we have going with the New Mexico eggs!
We really like the Teggs and they have some pretty nice one there. Thanks, post up those pictures in that thread when you get a chance. We would love to see them.


Just don't crack them open with another rock or a rock hammer..... .......Not only is that really dangerous for you but destructive for the inside of the Thunderegg.
Not to mention I would have to turn you into the Thunderegg abusers cop squad.

I did find a very cool one that someone had "ruined" by cracking it open. I think it can still be cleaned up, so I kept it. I guess that is the difference between someone doing it for the love of it instead of trying to find commercially valuable specimens. I've picked up some of the coolest stuff I have from other people's tailings.

Need to do some learnin' on what saw to get to buzz them open.

[russau]

Some people i know use a cast iron pipe cutter to cut these geodes in two. does anyone here use one of these?

[Caveman]

What about a tile saw? One that is of the top cutting persuasion should do nicely.... Expensive, though.

[Crusty]

What about a tile saw? One that is of the top cutting persuasion should do nicely.... Expensive, though.

Might look in to seeing what I can get at a rental joint.

Off to read the NM thread and post my pics there, since that is where I found them :)

[CP]

We definitely would not recommend cutting geodes or thunder eggs with a pipe cutter.
Thunder eggs and geodes are not the same thing, which is which depends on what situ it forms in. Either way though, T-eggs nor geodes would turn out good at all if you want to polish it after opening using pipe cutters.
Tile saws will work though with the water for dust control. Trick is to keep that stone absolutely still while the cut takes place, other wise every slight movement will cause a wave or inconsistency in the cut surface. With thunder eggs which are normally solid (but not always) this makes more of a difference on the cutting. Geodes which are normally hollow with a crystal pocket (not always though) can be a bit more forgiving in that sense because it's only the outer rim that gets polished after cutting usually.

Small 4 or 6 inch rock saws are not all that much either, for those of you who like to see what's inside those finds. I'd definitely say a small saw would be worth having around.

[Denise]

Here is a cap to a busted Colorado Thunderegg. Looks pretty normal on the outside till you flip the piece over revealing the Agate star points (3 in this pic.)






Pretty plain but still a keeper in my book.