johnnyu
starting to shine!
Member since January 2011
Posts: 27
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Post by johnnyu on Jan 8, 2011 21:15:25 GMT -5
Here is a photo of a nice piece of Grossular Garnet (massive form) taken from the Northern Cascades of Western Washington. This piece exhibits three distinct colors - green, white and brown in one piece. This boulder weighs 77#. Hope you like it!
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Post by tandl on Jan 8, 2011 21:28:27 GMT -5
looks pretty nice .
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Post by Donnie's Rocky Treasures on Jan 8, 2011 21:33:17 GMT -5
Wow! Are ya going to cut it?
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johnnyu
starting to shine!
Member since January 2011
Posts: 27
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Post by johnnyu on Jan 9, 2011 17:45:59 GMT -5
This one is too big for my 18" saw (won't fit the clamp). However, I found a piece that is about the size of a large coffee can that I'm planning on cutting up when the weather warms up. Right now its too cold - the mineral oil in my saw is really thick. I'll post a pic once it hits the saw. Here's a picture of another large piece of grossular I found last spring. This one is more gem quality than the above. It is nearly the same in weight at 79#. When people claim they find jadeite in Washington State they nearly always have found gem quality grossular garnet. I've never seen Jadeite confirmed in WA but some say its here - there is plenty of Nephrite jade however!
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Post by Toad on Jan 13, 2011 9:32:15 GMT -5
If I saw those in the field all covered with dirt and crud, I'd just think big rock. Who cares?
Shows what I know...
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Post by rockrookie on Jan 13, 2011 10:04:52 GMT -5
can't wait to see some ''after '' pictures . --paul
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johnnyu
starting to shine!
Member since January 2011
Posts: 27
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Post by johnnyu on Jan 14, 2011 13:10:56 GMT -5
I can see your point about not being too impressed by the raw form of these stones. I put these photos under Specimen Photos because I wanted to show people a little bit about what the raw form looks like. Some of it is due to my lack of photography skills - the second piece of grossular, when I first saw it in sunlight, it looked like a huge green frog that absolutely glowed with bright green crystal qualities. All of the rocks I've shown under the Specimen heading are river run and from thousands of years of abuse in raging mountain streams they tend to get exteriors that are beat up and look very little like their interiors. Getting to know what they look like in the wild is the biggest part of the hunt. I've gone out with people who have walked right past beautiful pieces of jade that I've been able to collect and sell for significant money. Both grossular garnet and nephrite take effort coupled with a trained eye to find; not because they aren't around but because they look "almost" like every other river rock on the outside. I even know of a pure jade boulder located less than 100' from a major road - it weighs 4-6 tons and I doubt anyone else even knows it is there. (I'm still putting together a plan on how to get that one out!).
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Post by jakesrocks on Jan 14, 2011 13:22:34 GMT -5
I had a friend from Aberdeen, Washington who used to take a battery powered Dremel with him to hunt. He had a diamond wheel mounted on it, and would grind a small window on suspect stones right in the field. It saved him from hauling home many hundreds of pounds of useless material. Don
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