Cool Rocks

It’s okay cleavage at best.

I didn’t know what to do with them all, so I made this with chain, copper tape, solder and a piece of wood.

We got some smokey quartz, regular quartz, and I think some gneiss.

I was referred to this sub and told to share my picture. I got most of these at local rock swaps.

When I discovered the beige rocks on the left side, which had been in the tumbler for about two weeks, weren’t going to be interesting, I switched them out for the smokey quartz and a few other things I’m not sure of on the right, which have been in for less than a day. The quartz in the middle were tumbled with the beige rocks. I included those in the new batch, too.

They started rough and now they’re not. I’ll separate out all the large and small pieces for other batches and start adding grit and ceramic balls to the mix.

This is the most satisfying part because the rough edges wear down quite quickly at the beginning. After one day, all the sharps are gone.

I found it hiking near Lethbridge, Alberta years ago, just found it again while going through old boxes. The wavy lines look kind of organic, but I don’t know about the rest.

Amethyst, citrine, and jade I think? I’m not sure about the reddish ones, but I know there are garnets out here.

Hope this ok. If not I’ll remove. This is a cool rock. With a cool name. And a cool story.

I will downvote anyone who says salt.

Some kind of quartzy marbly thing? I found it by a hardware store in Northern Ontario.

Said that they are petrified wood. I guess they look like it. $5

I bought a rock tumbler specifically for grinding down minerals for pigments. I didn’t expect it to come with a big bag of cool rocks and all the stuff to tumble. I know I know - the first hit is always free.

I found this in the dirt today. All one piece of whatever it is. Mostly greyish translucent with very oriented lines of brown in the corner section that makes it glow orange in the sunlight. The edge looks like it breaks like flint or obsidian. But the larger surfaces are like very smooth bark on a tree branch. Any ideas what it is?

So we have this rock that looks like a potato. I think everyone will agree that Kevin here looks like a potato. We found him on a long walk. Our first strategic use of Kevin, we scrubbed him and put him in a pile of potatoes that my mother was peeling for potato salad. Yara yara yara, much hilariously was had by all. I am trying to think of other pranks we’ve done on each other with Kevin. It’s usually that one, we always find it hilarious (like the rubber lizard we put in each other’s sinks. It’s about time, and my wife’s turn to prank someone, for that to happen I should get ready) you’d think we’d get tired of it but we love this rock.

I recently posted about the lapis lazuli a rockhounding buddy sent me.

Type, shape, historical significance, scientific merit…

Don’t remember where I found it but it’s cool!

I hope this isn’t cheating… even though I made the rules. I definitely cheated by ordering this in to test in my endless experiments with earth pigments — thus why it’s in my mortar.

What could it be? A few other gem species are forming what I think are hydrates. They’ve been in a room temp, somewhat humid environment and are growing yellow crystal material.

It sheds green sparkles every time I touch it. Mica mines operate near here, which makes me think this is a chunk. Very shiny.

Found it on the coast of France during a vacation a while back.

ANYWHERE

Not sure what type, but it took a while to get all of the clay out of it…

A friend and avid rock hound sent this for my natural pigment experiments.

Magnified view

Not sure if rules allow for painted rocks but this one from my kid is the coolest rock ever!

(side view to show off his layers)

From the other side:

A subset of rocks we found at our beach.

Wonder what it was….

In fact I get a lot of my rocks from rooftops. Not all by any means but a lot. It’s about 20mm wide or 7/8”.

Picked this bad boy up from a local oddities expo. Aurora quartz is natural quartz that has been bonded with metal vapor in a vacuum chamber to give it an iridescent shine

A friend gifted me these years ago after a visit. They had permission from an elder to take them, so they’re extra blessed.

edit1: Some more photos of this selfsame rock through a micro scope (somewhere between 10x and 45x, didn’t write it down)

Here’s another cool rock in my collection. Again, I have no idea what it is nor do I remember if I found in Oklahoma or here in northern California. I think it was Oklahoma?

… and biscuit tins, I was too lazy to crop the picture. I have some really cool rocks that just aren’t on display yet. might get some pictures of them for here later

Seen down by the river

Found this cool rock back in 2010 on the Sylamore Trail in northern Arkansas. I thought the stains looked like a cave art figure with arms raised.