Rock Hounds?

[BWrangler]

Hello Everyone,

Any rock collectors? I know some of you guys grow them, but does anyone bag them and display them? :> )

I decided that since the bees are pretty sleepy eyed right now, I would shoot a few pictures of my fluorescent rocks. I fooled with all the settings on my digital camera but found that it did the best job when set to automatic and the flash turned off. :> )

I've posted the shots at:
http://wind.prohosting.com/tbhguy

I will eventually replace a couple of the pictures. But it's not too bad for a first pass.

Regards
Dennis

[This message has been edited by BWrangler (edited August 07, 2004).]

[Karl]

Dennis: I'm not into rocks but I did enjoy the photos. Your camera did a great job. Thanks for sharing.

[Hillbillynursery]

My dad was a big rock hound. When I was 3 years old I started cutting stones out of the slabs that my father had marked. Those diamond saws are weird in that they will not cut your skin but they will cut through your finger nails. When I was five it was one of my chores. The summer after I turn 5 we went to Mount St. Helens and dug volcanic glass. I think it was Wy where we dug Chicken Track. At one of the digs we did that summer I found 3 dino eggs. One had been broken and it must have been a bad egg because you can not see anything developed inside. The second one was nearly intact and when you held it up to a very bright light you could see a dark spot in one end. The third was My prize. It has a dino skeleton inside that can be seen when it is put under bright light. We spent 3 weeks going across the country. I wish I would have been older so I would have took more interest. I remember playing in the snow in a T shirt and shorts. At one of the campsites a bear shook our van and later in the day when I went to the outhouse the bear got between me and van. I was told we went to the ocean in N. Ca. but I do not remember it. I did remember driving through the big red wood. We bought a post card that was a early model chey pick-up gold and white with a camper. The thing that makes it special is our second vehicle was a chevy pick of the same color. They now will not allow cars to drive through the tree. All the rocks we gathered we used to make jewlry.

[denise_ky]

I may qualify as a rock hound of a sorts. My oldest daughter (7 3/4) likes rocks and I was wondering where her interest came from. Then one day as I was coming in from the yard I was looking around the house and I realized I had various rocks and crystals assembled on my porch rail and my kitchen window. Aha! The lights went off and I realized she was getting the interest from me.
There is a place on my property where the geodes seem to be just popping out of the ground. And after a good rain I'll occasionally peruse my yard to look for different types of fossils and see if I can't find anymore bits of Indian arrowheads.
I've been wanting to find out exactly how the geodes are formed--the crystals inside them and everything. If you know of a good site, Dennis, pass it on to me!
I never thought of putting some of my rocks under a black light. sounds like it would be a good science project for the girls and me.
Denise

[hoosierhiver]

aside from the rocks in trees,we've got some interesting geodes around here in southern indiana, you can find round pieces of granite from wisc/mich. left by the glaciers during the ice ages.i grew up in cincinnati,where you can easily find fossilised corals and shells in any creek,some neat stuff.

[BWrangler]

Hi Denise and Everyone,

My mother got me started collecting rocks at a very early age. She collected them about the same way you do. It seems like the perfect activity to do with children. It gets them outside and involved with nature. They can use their imagination, develop great observation skills, learn to appreciate colors combinations and textures.

And they can find their own special treasures and build some wonderful memories as evidenced by the other posts. Sure beats watching tv for another weekend.

Regards
Dennis

[hoosierhiver]

knowing bees see ultraviolet, have you ever noticed bees checking these rocks out?i wonder if you could put them on top of the hives to help the bees identify their particular hive and cut down on drifting.

[denise_ky]

Hoosier Hiver,
I live on one of the highest points of Hardin County. I find those fossilized sea plants and shells all the time in my yard. It amazes me that at one point in time this part of the continent was under sea water.
D.

[Michael Bush]

Every culture I know of believes the world was all underwater at one time. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif The Lakota say a pregnant woman was saved from the flood by the Eagle and we all decended from her.

[aufingers]

I have been interested in rocks as long as I can remember. I have several diamond saws up to 18" but the last few years I havn't done much cutting. I do take the grandkids out rock hunting and looking for arrowheads. I have taken them to Glass Butte in Oregon a few times and picked up some neat obsidian. The indians from this area most often used this for their points. If anyone would like I would be happy to send you some obsidian.

Rocks is what got me started in the jewelry trade. Now I am busy making gold jewelry and setting diamonds, hence not a lot of time for rocks.

I have one grandson (seven year old) that is nuts over rocks, when I take him in my old camper I have a hard time getting him to sleep, he is so excited about the comeing day.
Winter well,
Earl White

[WeaverBro]

Heh all, I'm also into rocks. Someone above asked how geodes form....from what I understand, voids or empty space in limestone are slowly filled in by silica and/or calcium carbonate rich ground waters. Due to the atmospheric changes the ground water goes thru when it hits these void spaces, these supersaturated ground waters precipitate out these geode forms.

Also, as an FYI - the metamorphic rocks (granites, slates, etc) found in the midwest were carried down from the canadian shield by the glaciers.

The limestone bedrock rich in fossils found beneath the glacial debris (here in IN between 0 to 500 feet in thickness) or south of the southern most glacial advance, points toward the shallow sea history that use to cover parts of the midwest approx. 300 - 500 million years ago.

[aufingers]

Hey Dennis, You have a beautiful collection. I truly enjoyed vewing your display. Reminds me of a lady I knew in California. She received a black light from her boyfriend for Christmas. They would go out in the Mojave prospecting. She said took her black light with her one evening and shined it on an outcropping with a pile of rocks in the surface and got a strong reading. They took samples and sent them in for assey and it turned out to be toungston. They put a claim on it and sold it to a large mining company for ten thousand dollars. She said that was the most they ever made with their adventures in the Mojave.
On another note I have some very interesting geodes I dug out at the Richardson Rock Ranch in Oregon. The ones at the bottom of the deposit are hard to dig but when you get them manyh have like strings where the mineralized mater trickeled in and formed string like formations. I am told they will show up under black light, if you would like one I would be happy to send you one. I am sure they won't be as dramatic as the ones you displayed.
Winter Well
Earl White

[John Buckner]

I am glad to see all you rock hounds comming out of the closet. LOL

I have been a prospector for the past 30 years,most of it working the Pegmatites of western NC. It has been a gerat learning process for me. I hardrock mined Pegmatites for Beryl, for over 20 years.I don't do that anymore because,after drilling and shooting thousands of holes over the years, I found out I would have to go to school to learn how to use powder before I could buy anymore.
I have worked hydrothermal veins for Hiddenite, Emerald and Rutile crystals.
I have dug all colors of corundum, Quartz,(smokey and amethyst)and too many minerals to list in this post.
I have learned to cut cabochons,to facet stones and to cast gold ,(old steam cast method)which I have found.

All I can say is,It's been great and when God made Bees,Gemstones and Flowers, He outdid himself.

Best of luck to all you rockhounds.
Look for the beauty in your finds, not the value.


PS:
I do not buy or sell Gems or Minerals.

[BWrangler]

Hi Earl,John, Weaverbro and Everyone,

You guys have some great places to do some rockhounding. The western volcanics are a great area. I've always been fascinated with the obsidians and thunder eggs. The different sheens are as beautiful as any gem. I've always wanted to knap a large tool. I even watched a video on it a few times but haven't tried any knapping yet. The obsidian and geodes in Wyoming are pathetic.

I've also enjoyed working pegmatites in the Black Hills and central Wyoming area. We get quite a few rare minerals but not much in the way of gems like in the pegs back east and down south. A little gem quality heliodore was the best I've found. But the beauty of any of the large crystaline minerals is spectacular. Always lots of fun!

Wyoming has lots of fossils but not the kind you guys have back east. Most of ours are land based with very few good sea fossils. Trilobites are rare here. I've never found one.

Waiting for warmer weather.

Best Regards
Dennis

[Hillbillynursery]

How many duckbills dinos have you dug up?

The person that looked at my eggs said they thought that was the type of dino but would have to have further test run to be sure. I need to dig them out of the barn and have them displayed but I am afraid of my son breaking them.

[BWrangler]

Hi Guys,

Check this site out:
http://www.fourth-millennium.net/fl-minerals/fl-adventures.html

Be sure to click on the pictures and read about the adventures.

I think I'm getting cabin fever just thinking about getting out and doing some exploring.

Regards
Dennis

[BWrangler]

Hello Everyone,

Check out the picture of fossil comb on page 129 of the February 2004 American Bee Journal. It's easy to see how the mineral replacement occured.

Regards
Dennis

[carnica bee]

Hey b-wrangler, I do a bit of gold mining here in california. I have a drywaher, & a highbanker. Is there any gold in Wy?

[BWrangler]

Hi CB

Not much gold here. Lots of energy type stuff but precious and base metals are scarce.

Regards
Dennis

[topbarguy]

Hi

Here's another great collecting adventure. Check out:
http://www.luminousminerals.com/greentrip/ilimaussaq.stm

It's pretty good reading for snow bound fluorescent mineral collectors.

Enjoy
topbarguy

[topbarguy]

Greetings,

The weather getting better and another season of rock hunting is unfolding. I've updated my fluorescent mineral page.

Good Hunting

Regards
Dennis

[resbum]

****o All
I spend alot of time digging through old stone fences and rock piles at my parents whenever I go home and I might have something that will interest someone out there.
I have a one of a kind sedimentary rock with fossils in it that has been uniquely split due to frost action to form what I call a puzzle rock. You can disassemble this rock and reassemble it like a puzzle. The rock is essentially square measuring 11-12 inches and is about 8 inches tall. It has 12 pieces and when it is assembled the pieces fit so well that it is difficult to tell it even comes apart. I will take pictures and email or post them somewhere if there is any interest in a rock of this type.

[Zeke]

I offically started "rock hunting" at the age of 25 ( when i was growing up i had a incurable habit of puicking up odd looking rocks ).
after i had a accident with a farm tractor
i needed a a way to excercise and walking
creeks and rivers seemed to be a reasonable way to get back to rock hunting .
i look mainly for arrowheads and other indian artifacts as geodes are quite scarce in s.c. Iowa, though i do stumble across once in a great while .
these days i take my 2 boys and the wife
out on weekends to the river and rock hunt while they are busy splashing around in the water,occasionally they catch me off guard
and splash me .

[topbarguy]

Hi Zeke

I can't think of a better way to enjoy the heat of summer.

My son was bored and decided he wanted to go prospecting with his dad. That was quite a shock, so I loaded up the ultraviolet lamp and we headed out the door to Casper Mountain. It's just about 15 minutes from home.

Besides having a blast, we found some very unusual material. You can see some photos of the rocks and read about our adventure at:
http://www.websamba.com/topbarguy

or
http://tbhbguy.0catch.com

I hope everyone is cooling their heals during the hot weather. There will be time enough to lift those supers when the weather is cooler. I'll bet a few other bee/rock wranglers have found a few buried treasures. :> )

Regards
Dennis
When I was a boy, I dreamed of walking down the creeks around Keokuck Iowa and finding lots of geodes, berries, etc.


[This message has been edited by topbarguy (edited August 01, 2004).]

[DanO]

topbarguy,

I hope your eyes aren't itching too bad this morning. You should always wear safety glasses when using the high power UV light. Get the glasses that block UV so you don't end up with sunburns on your eyeballs. And it's a good idea to either were gloves or sunblock on your hands because you will constantly be holding rocks close to the light.

Also, you may need to roll the window down to spotlight with the UV from the car. Newer auto glass is designed to block UV light.

Where exactly did you say this spot you found on Casper Mountain was?

[chemistbert]

All borosilicate glass blocks UV. Only fused quartz in transparent to UV. I assure you cars never had that in them. Each windows would be a couple of thousand. Safety glasses made of lexan work good to shield your eyes from UV too. Cost about 10 bucks for good ones.

[topbarguy]

Greetings,

I never thought of shining the light out the open window window! I would probably be worse than a drunk driver :> )

Regards
Dennis

[DanO]

"All borosilicate glass blocks UV"

I'm trying to look up the UV properties of auto glass and all I find are adds for films to block the UV coming through the windows. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/frown.gif

I finally found a transmission curve for borosilicate glass and you were right. The short wave UV below 300nm is almost completely blocked. However, the long wave UV is passed just as well as visible light. That explains why glass will block UV and need UV blocking films at the same time.

While browsing the web I came across a 100 watt UV spotlight. I may need to see about mounting one of these on a remote control base on top of the car.

[chemistbert]

Yeah, regular glass does allow some, but you will notice that it filters it all to some extent. Films are nice but over rated, it's the short (read high energy) wavelengths that you are most concerned about anyhow. This is starting to sound like a science forum. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif

[topbarguy]

Greetings,

I got out my UV lamp and did a little more prospecting. You can read about it at:
http://wind.prohosting.com/tbhguy/rock/black.htm

Regards
Dennis

[topbarguy]

Hi Guys,

I revamped my fluorescent pages. They now include animated sequences showing the minerals transitioning from daylight to ultraviolet light.

You can see them at:
http://wind.prohosting.com/tbhguy

Prospecting with my UV lamp has opened up all kinds of opportunities as a completely new dimension has been added to my collecting. Areas I had previously scouted out and found rather worthless have a whole new value.

Regards
Dennis
Hoping everyone has got a lot of rock kicking time in before the cold freezes them down :> )

[topbarguy]

Hi Guys,

I've taken some fluorescent closeups. See them at:
http://wind.prohosting.com/tbhguy/rock/cmtnser.htm

Regards
Dennis

[This message has been edited by topbarguy (edited September 17, 2004).]

[ox]

Is all serpentine phos? I live in an area that is serpentine for miles and miles.

------------------
the ~ox-{ at www.singingfalls.com (http://www.singingfalls.com)

[topbarguy]

Hi Ox,

I don't think so. The only way to really know is to get a lamp and check it out.

Regards
Dennis

[topbarguy]

Hi Guys,

Earl W. sent me a beautiful piece of fluorescent selenite from Mexico. I've added it and some other rocks to my web pages at:
http://wind.prohosting.com/tbhguy/rock/rock.htm

It's on the North American Minerals page.

Regards
Dennis

[aufingers]

Topbarguy.
Hey Dennis, you are getting a real nice collection of UV mineraals. I get a little more excited about them each time I check your posts. I will see what else I can dig up for you.
Have a great week
Earl White

[topbarguy]

Hi Guys,

I added some daylight to uv animations on the Casper Mountain pages.

Also, I checked these pages using Mozilla and they looked ok. But under IE they were awful. So I've done a little cleanup there as well. I switched to Mozilla to avoid some security problems but didn't think they would handle image files much differently. Wrong :> )

If a graphic looks ok in IE it seems to be ok in Mozilla.

Well, my stomping grounds are snowed under for another year. So I'd better make sure there's a nice glow in the wood stove.

Regards
Dennis

[tyobu]

Dear Dennis,
My mom looks for rocks all the time in freshly plowed fields and is a great rock hound. I guarantee she has over ten thousand rocks. Most of them are Indian artifacts of some kind. And if there not that than there very magnificent in some way.

Sincerly,
tyobu

[topbarguy]

Hi Tyobu,

I've found the only real value a rock has is the value someone puts on it. It has no real value of its own. I learned that fact when collecting rocks with my own children, when they were very young.

After awhile, the rocks became representative of the experience much like a photograph or journal entry might be. And to me, they became an extension of the person itself, their tastes, appreciation of form, texture, color and uniqueness.

Very valuable indeed, they are! Happy hunting with your mother.

Regards
Dennis
Happ

[D. Murrell]

Hi Guys,

I've just added a few more shots of another specimen to my fluorescent rock web page.

Check out:

http://wind.prohosting.com/tbhguy/rock/2518.htm

Regards
Dennis

[Dave W]

Hey . . . NEAT!

[D. Murrell]

HI Guys,

Herb Y. visited Greenland, in 2004, and has a neat photo journal of the fluorescent rock collecting trip. Check it out at:

http://simplethinking.com/greentrip2004/index.shtml

Regards
Dennis
Thinking that melting snow is feeding the blossums but also exposing some new rock!

[D. Murrell]

Hi Guys,

I've updated and moved my fluorescent rock website to:

www.bwrangler.com/rock (http://bwrangler.farvista.net/qmar.htm)

Regards
Dennis
Thinking the winter blizzards are a great time to work on e-rockhounding.

[Barry Digman]

Dennis, I love it when this thread resurfaces. Thanks. It also makes me wish I'd paid more attention out in the oilpatch and in the Sunnyside Gold Mine in Silverton, Co. when I was working in those places.

[George Fergusson]

Not Bad Dennis, thanks for sharing.

I'm a rock hound from way back but never collected any fluorescent specimens. It's been a few years but I used to spend a good bit of time pawing through old feldspar mines, pegmatites mostly, in western Maine. A lot of tourmaline of various colors, garnets and beryl, amethyst, a wee bit (very wee bit) of gold from the Swift river, etc. I started with my Mom's collection which she put together as a young woman in Arizona and California.

I'll have to make a point of getting out this year and doing some scrambling. My lifestyle over the past 8-10 years hasn't really been conducive to rock hounding. I used to head out with a 5 gallon pail strapped to an old back pack frame and a bag of hammers in my hand, then struggle back down the mountain with a hundred pounds of rocks on my back. Dunno if I could pull off that trick now smile.gif

George-

[Barry Digman]

<Dunno if I could pull off that trick now>

And don't forget to get a big floppy hat...


http://www.blm.gov/az/whb/whbadopt.htm