moonmopus
starting to shine!
Member since June 2013
Posts: 45
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Post by moonmopus on Jun 18, 2013 14:16:13 GMT -5
hi folks- i was about 1 paragraph ito an introduction with my morning coffee when one of my little guys mercilessly started rattatattatting away at the keyboard. i've been gathering everything from unakite and assorted beach rocks to fossilized geodes and crystals in the midwest with my kids for the last 4 or 5 years. i view it as a fun, great way to get outside of our city life and at its most profound, the thought of holding or gazing at some of this stuff is nothing if not totally humbling. i'm happy to be here, have a lot of questions and a lot to learn.
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Post by jakesrocks on Jun 18, 2013 21:45:12 GMT -5
Welcome aboard from a South Dakota guy. Fire away with the questions. Even let your kids ask questions. You and your kids will get lots of answers. There's much to be learned on this forum.
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Post by paulshiroma on Jun 18, 2013 22:29:32 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum!
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RockIt2Me
has rocks in the head
Sometimes I have to tell myself, "It's not worth the jail time."
Member since December 2009
Posts: 668
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Post by RockIt2Me on Jun 19, 2013 5:31:34 GMT -5
Welcome from Arkansas!
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Post by manofglass on Jun 19, 2013 9:37:38 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from Michigan Walt
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marinedad
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since December 2010
Posts: 813
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Post by marinedad on Jun 20, 2013 10:15:39 GMT -5
welcome, from 65 miles west of Chicago.
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Post by Toad on Jun 20, 2013 13:53:25 GMT -5
Welcome.
Formerly of Schaumburg and Oswego.
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amgill0415
off to a rocking start
Member since July 2013
Posts: 2
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Post by amgill0415 on Jul 30, 2013 18:56:35 GMT -5
Hi! I'm new here and live in NW Indiana. I'm just starting out with this whole hobby and just trying to get an idea of what all it takes! I've been collecting neat rocks from places, usually around the beaches of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. A lot of the rocks I find I pick up because they look so neat when they are wet. I decided I wanted to have them look just as neat dry. Is getting a rock tumbler the way to do that? Is it possible to get the same type of "wet" look a different, less expensive way? I really want to know if investing in a whole start up kit for rock tumbling would be a way to get my rocks to look as pretty as they are when they are in water. Thanks for the help!
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grizman
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since July 2011
Posts: 878
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Post by grizman on Jul 30, 2013 19:38:43 GMT -5
Well Amgill0415, I am sure there are other ways of making your rocks look wet other than polishing them with a tumbler/vibe. Just keep them in a glass jar full of water! Some folks just spray their rocks with a clear lacquer, but in my mind, there is nothing that can truly compare to a well polished stone from the tumbler or vibe. The water helps bring out the colors and patterns, but the polishing process will bring out colors and patterns that you have never dreamed of.
Now, that is my tcw, but that has been the case with all of my rock polishing adventures. By the way, WELCOME from Montana and Arizona!
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amgill0415
off to a rocking start
Member since July 2013
Posts: 2
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Post by amgill0415 on Jul 30, 2013 21:34:35 GMT -5
Thanks grizman! That is kind of what I was thinking but before I invested the money, I wanted someone with experience to weigh in on the topic.
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moonmopus
starting to shine!
Member since June 2013
Posts: 45
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Post by moonmopus on Jul 4, 2014 15:14:32 GMT -5
thanks to you all for the warm welcome. i'm sorry it took me a year to get back aboard. if you've had young kids, perhaps you can understand!
since joining the board, we've had some stellar excursions north in michigan and will be returning that way again later this month (a bit outside of traverse city) for a week. my eldest son has really been bitten by the bug. i'm happy to be reigniting a passion that ended with my granddad. I still have these memories of the room in his basement that was devoted to tumbling, slabbing and cabbing. god only knows what became of all of that serious machinery when he passed.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on Jul 7, 2014 8:39:59 GMT -5
Howdy and welcome to the forum............
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Post by snowmom on Jul 9, 2014 12:39:57 GMT -5
welcome to the boards from eastern upper lower Michigan (really, that's what they call it!) Its the east side of the tip of the mitt.
I lived in Illinois all my life until we retired here last year. there's some good hunting around you.. have you checked out hunting for fossils in the Coal City area? I had bushels of rocks plucked from Lake Michigan as a kid, and in later years, a huge pile of rocks picked from Moraines in plowed fields in most of northern and central IL. glad you are with us.
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moonmopus
starting to shine!
Member since June 2013
Posts: 45
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Post by moonmopus on Jul 9, 2014 12:55:19 GMT -5
Howdy and welcome to the forum............ thanks, fossilman!
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moonmopus
starting to shine!
Member since June 2013
Posts: 45
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Post by moonmopus on Jul 9, 2014 13:44:17 GMT -5
welcome to the boards from eastern upper lower Michigan (really, that's what they call it!) Its the east side of the tip of the mitt. I lived in Illinois all my life until we retired here last year. there's some good hunting around you.. have you checked out hunting for fossils in the Coal City area? I had bushels of rocks plucked from Lake Michigan as a kid, and in later years, a huge pile of rocks picked from Moraines in plowed fields in most of northern and central IL. glad you are with us. thanks for the message, snowmom. so you must now be near lake huron. would love to hear how that varies from lake mich. i've only been hunting rocks and fossils for about 5 years as an adult and in the beginning it was really during trips to bloomington, indiana and heading out to brown county for geodes with my eldest son who was 2 1/2 at the time. we had friends in the area so it made for a nice side excursion. in the face of the immediate impact of the recession -with houses being abandoned and businesses on our nearest main thoroughfare going belly up and car lots going wild through the cement- i wanted the boy to see a different story especially because city kids tend to fear 'nature'. rocks, fossils, mushrooms, gardens, cool bugs, wild edibles all help sustain that wonder and then i realized just how much I needed that also. now that he is 7 1/2 , the boy craves excursions for rocks and, especially, fossils. it's pretty edifying to be able to play off one another like that. it was something my granddaddy always tried to encourage in me as a kid. i have fond memories of sleeping with a gerber jar filled with fire agates he gave me in water on my bedside table in grade school. alas, there was the generational problem of old southern men with very few words. he sent me an old giant tumbler (wish i could remember which...it was hexagonal like the thumler b) and some rough. the rest was, well,up to me. i plugged it in once and thought i broke it. the noise it made terrified me. since we lived a good 16 hours away and since my dad was never very hands on with objects, i just walked by the room tumbler was put in guiltily. i did have a great specimen box that my granddad gave me. carelessness and siblings ultimately lead to its untimely demise. i'm not a native of illinois or the midwest and still have so much to explore. we have, of course, known for years about morris, il. and the tully monster but tend to hear more stories of frustration, sunburn and disappointment so i've never bothered trying to push for a trip. we're going to get involved with esconi this fall and the eldest is going to do their merit badge program - geo juniors, i think it's called - so that should expand our horizons and links to rockhounding. anyhow, please, if you remember any of your old hunting grounds or have suggestions for us, please pm me. mm
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moogie
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since December 2013
Posts: 77
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Post by moogie on Jul 10, 2014 13:28:57 GMT -5
Welcome to you both from a recent Maine transplant. I already have my 19 month old grandson squirting water into the vibe. He looooves rocks, so I'm going to encourage the corruption. We went fossil hunting all the time when I was a kid. Fortunately my son in law is also a rock/fossil junky, so he'll support my turning the kids into same.
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moonmopus
starting to shine!
Member since June 2013
Posts: 45
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Post by moonmopus on Jul 11, 2014 12:43:46 GMT -5
Welcome to you both from a recent Maine transplant. I already have my 19 month old grandson squirting water into the vibe. He looooves rocks, so I'm going to encourage the corruption. We went fossil hunting all the time when I was a kid. Fortunately my son in law is also a rock/fossil junky, so he'll support my turning the kids into same. that's great, moogie. are you on the coast of maine or inland? it's a breathtaking part of the world. mm
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moogie
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since December 2013
Posts: 77
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Post by moogie on Jul 11, 2014 13:22:59 GMT -5
I live on Penobscot Bay, which is referred to as "Mid-Coast". Really gorgeous and unspoiled. I was just on brief beach rock hunt, and several people asked me what the heck I was so intently looking for! I explained, and they were supportive, hee hee.
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moonmopus
starting to shine!
Member since June 2013
Posts: 45
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Post by moonmopus on Jul 11, 2014 13:39:46 GMT -5
I live on Penobscot Bay, which is referred to as "Mid-Coast". Really gorgeous and unspoiled. I was just on brief beach rock hunt, and several people asked me what the heck I was so intently looking for! I explained, and they were supportive, hee hee. i know the area. you are in a great place! people don't tend to ask us questions on our excursions on the beaches here but, then again, i'm not asking anybody else about their --ahem- extracurricular activities along those same shores either. live and let live! when we do our trips to michigan, what always surprises me is the sheer volume of people hunting rocks on the beaches. i suspect it's mostly the allure of the petoskey stone.
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moonmopus
starting to shine!
Member since June 2013
Posts: 45
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Post by moonmopus on Jul 12, 2014 7:58:38 GMT -5
I live on Penobscot Bay, which is referred to as "Mid-Coast". Really gorgeous and unspoiled. I was just on brief beach rock hunt, and several people asked me what the heck I was so intently looking for! I explained, and they were supportive, hee hee. i don't know if you're from the area but the natives have their own very, very dry but good natured humor!
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