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Gem collecting,rocks and minerals geology
- Thread starter brad sweet
- Start date
Your collection sounds amazing, especially with all those garnets, gold, and staurolite!
Nice. Not a collector, but I've always thought rockhounding sounded fun.
I know there are some guys that look for stones in the wild that are good for sharpening or honing. That appeals to me since there is an element of experimentation involved.
I know there are some guys that look for stones in the wild that are good for sharpening or honing. That appeals to me since there is an element of experimentation involved.
Nice finished concrete works well as does a fine cut granite.. any smooth stone over a 6 hardness will work
Funny how much variance there is within just one type of stone. .
Arkansas stones can be soft/coarse or hard translucent finishers. There is one called the Lily White that was supposed to be good for razors. From what I understand, they don't mine it anymore because it is too expensive to harvest/cut and there isn't enough demand.
German Thuringian and Belgian Coticule stones are famous razor hones.
There is one guy selling small Jade sharpening stone necklaces.
Wish I knew of a good flint source around here. I would like to learn flint knapping some day.
I'm a bit of a rock hound myself, although I'm just getting started. I've been checking out spots around my area for cool rocks and minerals, but nothing too fancy yet.Around here, I mostly find quartz and some neat fossils if I'm lucky. I haven't done much trading yet, but I'm hoping to get into it soon. As for hiking, it's a must! Some of the best finds are off the beaten path, right?I recently stumbled upon this guide on rocks for tumbling types, and it's been super helpful in expanding my knowledge. It's got some great tips on finding and identifying rocks. Here's the link if you're interested: https://rockstumbling.com/guide
I had a lot of luck as a kid talking my grandparents into going for a drive in the north GA mountains after a good rain. I would look for recent washouts, or gullies and get them to let me dig through them. I still have a chunk of fools gold about the size of a cantaloupe, and also found a lot of clusters of garnets and other quartz gemstones.
