Post by mountainmama on Sept 18, 2007 10:48:44 GMT -5
Here is a photo of the 'pretty green rock' from around our cabin in the Sierra Nevada that I spoke of in my intro post. At first I thought it was green jasper, then I was saying 'travertine' but in my mind I think I meant serpentine (insert picture of me slapping myself upside the head :
. I think I can make a light mark in it with my stainless steel steak knife and with quartz. Now, mind you, when I say I think I can make a mark I mean I can get white powder and a little mark, not a deep etching or anything like that. Either this material really is hard or I'm not pressing hard enough when I try to scratch it?. Maybe someone can 'splain rock scratchin' to me like they're 'splainin' it to a four-year old 
The second photo is what is in the tumbler now. It is a mix of what I thought was just two types of rock -- red and green (green from above).
After 11 days of tumbling, it's clear that there's more to it. The red rocks on the bottom left (the ones that look like an uncooked beef roast ) are harder than the red ones on the right. I think the beef roast rocks are jasper. The red rocks on the right are softer and more porous. The white banding is obviously harder than the red portion and the red portion is wearing away much faster. Any ideas on what they are?
The light and dark green rocks are all from the same bucket of green rough. I threw the top group in a few days after the tumble began but you can see they're not wearing very quickly. In any case, I'm now guessing they're serpentine?. They're not getting torn up though like the softer red rocks, so ...?? They look like pictures someone posted on this site of 'black jade' and 'dark green jade' from another place in California. Not sure of the difference between serp and nephrite or jadeite, so I dunno. Ideas?
. I think I can make a light mark in it with my stainless steel steak knife and with quartz. Now, mind you, when I say I think I can make a mark I mean I can get white powder and a little mark, not a deep etching or anything like that. Either this material really is hard or I'm not pressing hard enough when I try to scratch it?. Maybe someone can 'splain rock scratchin' to me like they're 'splainin' it to a four-year old 
The second photo is what is in the tumbler now. It is a mix of what I thought was just two types of rock -- red and green (green from above).
After 11 days of tumbling, it's clear that there's more to it. The red rocks on the bottom left (the ones that look like an uncooked beef roast ) are harder than the red ones on the right. I think the beef roast rocks are jasper. The red rocks on the right are softer and more porous. The white banding is obviously harder than the red portion and the red portion is wearing away much faster. Any ideas on what they are?The light and dark green rocks are all from the same bucket of green rough. I threw the top group in a few days after the tumble began but you can see they're not wearing very quickly. In any case, I'm now guessing they're serpentine?. They're not getting torn up though like the softer red rocks, so ...?? They look like pictures someone posted on this site of 'black jade' and 'dark green jade' from another place in California. Not sure of the difference between serp and nephrite or jadeite, so I dunno. Ideas?
