kbrocks
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2006
Posts: 78
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Post by kbrocks on Jan 17, 2007 15:21:07 GMT -5
Okay, first of all, sorry for the pool pic quality. My father found these two stones on some land where one of his oil wells is located. My mom took the pic to email, and asked if I wanted this one and said my dad could get much more. It's hard to tell from the picture, but she says that the dark color is Purpleish/Blueish, and the lighter is a white/cream color, and she says there are little round spots of quartz. Of course I said "Yes please, send me some" I'm curious though, can anyone identify this with these pictures? I have given her instructions on how to use the Macro function and lighting, so as soon as I have better pics, I'll post them. They were found in West/Central Texas, in a remote area of Brown County. Clickable
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rallyrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2005
Posts: 1,507
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Post by rallyrocks on Jan 17, 2007 18:10:26 GMT -5
The pictures are a little bit blurry to say for sure, but they look like either some kind of banded agate/jasper or possibly wonderstone. If agate or jasper, they should have a hard almost glassy finish wherever they might be chipped. Wonderstone might almost be a bit porous or granular in surface appearance.
Even fuzzy they are nice looking pieces., If there is enough quartz in their composition to form crystals, they probably will polish up real nice!
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Jan 17, 2007 18:21:08 GMT -5
Yep, pics are definately not clear on my monitor but the material looks real interesting and the colors show good contrast so it may be a really excellent find. We need better pics *S*....mel
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kbrocks
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2006
Posts: 78
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Post by kbrocks on Jan 29, 2007 9:47:07 GMT -5
Okay, here are the new pics. They are shown wet. Maybe a little too wet on some, the light makes some glare on them. Anyway, they are a yellowish cream color with maroon bands. A couple of pieces also have little flecks of some kind of quartzy type stuff. The specks are so small though that I can't really tell what color they are. The maroon almost looks like some kind of iron ore. They are fairly soft but not brittle. I have a couple of pieces in the tumbler now and they shaped up nicely after only 5 days in 60/90. Clickable
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desertdweller
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2006
Posts: 1,803
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Post by desertdweller on Jan 29, 2007 17:22:03 GMT -5
Looks kinda like some wonder stone, looks like rhyolite.
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Post by freeform on Jan 29, 2007 21:01:01 GMT -5
could be an Ironstone, may Boulder from the land down under. I dont see any flecks of opaline, but that maybe the quatz your seeing. If its messy when cut, and soft.
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kbrocks
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2006
Posts: 78
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Post by kbrocks on Jan 30, 2007 8:56:26 GMT -5
Is ironstone found in Texas? This was found in a field in West/Central Texas. Actually, my dad who is in the oil business, said there is one piece of land where he found this. The landowner had a bulldozer come in and cut some terraces in his field. Where one of the terraces were cut, he said there is a ton of this stuff and some other similar looking material. He said he's only found it in that one spot so far. As for the specks, it's really hard to tell what they are. They are pretty small, and I can't tell if they are colorless and just look dark because of the surrounding material, or if they really are some kind of dark material. Sunday I'll take a pic of this stuff coming out of 120/220.
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Post by akansan on Jan 30, 2007 17:29:24 GMT -5
I'm wondering if it's just banded caliche. I've been told there's a spot near me where the caliche is in swirling patterns instead of just the typical whitish/cream colored rock. How soft is it?
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yogi
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2006
Posts: 175
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Post by yogi on Jan 30, 2007 17:47:43 GMT -5
that looks alot like Iron ore to me. From you discription of the hardness I would bet it is. Bill
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kbrocks
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2006
Posts: 78
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Post by kbrocks on Jan 31, 2007 13:58:46 GMT -5
Okay, here's one more pic. These are a couple pieces that were found a day or two ago at the same spot. As far as hardness, I would guess they are around a 5 or so, maybe a bit less.
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Jan 31, 2007 14:05:59 GMT -5
Boy I really want them to be an agate- But it just does not fit- With a hardness of 5 I would say probably a wonderstone (rhyolite) Very cool patterns and such- Have you tried to work any of it yet?
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kbrocks
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2006
Posts: 78
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Post by kbrocks on Jan 31, 2007 15:42:46 GMT -5
Well, I got a package last week from them with about 5 pieces ranging from golf ball size and one baseball size. Since I have no saw, I just busted them up with the hammer. They broke well, didn't get powdery or flakey, just nice smooth breaks. I put them in my running batch of 60/90 on Tuesday, and on Sunday pulled them out. In that time they smoothed up nicely, didn't discolor my slurry or anything like my iron ore pieces do. So I put them in 120/220 and that's where they are at now. I'll probably check them tonight or tomorrow night. I am going to get pictures of their progress as well, so I'll post a couple. My dad keeps asking, "Is it an agate?", he really wants it to be. I told him I doubt it but a cool find no matter what. He's hoping that he found something new that no one has seen before,
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yogi
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2006
Posts: 175
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Post by yogi on Jan 31, 2007 18:43:29 GMT -5
Really nice pattern in there. Even if it won't polish, it would make some nice costers or bookends. It might be worth your time to seal them with Opticon and get a polish that way. Bill
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kbrocks
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2006
Posts: 78
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Post by kbrocks on Feb 1, 2007 9:08:30 GMT -5
Okay, so I decided to take a look at them last night. From Sunday to Wednesday night I think they have come a long way. Here are the pics of them, wet of course.
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Feb 1, 2007 12:21:33 GMT -5
Those are looking good-
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
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Post by stefan on Feb 1, 2007 14:15:28 GMT -5
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kbrocks
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2006
Posts: 78
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Post by kbrocks on Feb 1, 2007 15:05:40 GMT -5
Wow, good call. Mine is not quite as nice but the colors sure do look the same. My dad said he put about another 10 pounds in the mail, plus he said there's more than he could ever pick up in this one place. Maybe I'm on to something,
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Post by akansan on Feb 3, 2007 12:31:34 GMT -5
You said it rounded really nicely in the tumbler in about five days? The pics you've posted - that's after a rotary tumbler grind of 60/90 and 120/220 totaling two weeks, correct? That's way too soft for the Texas Picture Jasper Stefan posted.
Is there a possibility of a collapsed cave near by? I'm now wondering about some sort of travertine...
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firewalker45
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since August 2006
Posts: 929
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Post by firewalker45 on Feb 4, 2007 20:58:31 GMT -5
Do not have any idea what it is but the piece on the right is beauiful.
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kbrocks
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2006
Posts: 78
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Post by kbrocks on Feb 4, 2007 22:51:19 GMT -5
Not really sure about a nearby cave. I haven't personally been to the site, but from the description it sounds like regular pasture land with a few terraces cut into it. Yeah, 2 weeks did a good job. I had it running with some Flourite, just comparing the hardness. It's definitely harder than the flourite, but like I said, not terribly hard like quartz.
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