Rock Hounds?

[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.

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.

[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

[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