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 Post subject: The rock swap
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2016 10:04 pm 
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Location: N Dakota
Its seems as though the rock swap is on. We have Lefty and Shifter55 down under and Dan&Sally stuck in the middle. Geographically anyway. Rugby ND is the geographical center of North America or the middle of nowhere depending on how you look at it. We are within an hours drive. The initial thought was to find some new uses for Knife river flint. A dark rootbeer colored flint the local natives used for thousands of years for tools and weapons. It has since evolved into a bit of a rock swap. Im sending local stone/gems their way and in return will receive local Ausie stone/gems. Since my pile only contained a some Dendritic agate and flint, I dug up some mica xtals and even found 2 small arrowheads. Then I tossed in about a dozen 5mm Montana sapphires each. probably too small to facet but maybe not. In return I get cool stones and gems that I would likely never have access to. And they are authentically Australian! This has the potential to grow into something bigger. We limited the weight to about 1 pound or 1/2 kilo maximum so we dont break the bank on shipping costs. Then limited to only locally found materials. This wasn't what it started out as but it seems to be a nice turn of events.

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 Post subject: Re: The rock swap
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2016 10:59 pm 
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Location: Central Queensland, Australia
Rugby? I didn't think you guys played Rugby over there :)

It's a damn fine idea, an international rock swap club. You can never have too many rocks (my missus would disagree but that's another story) and the more you get, the more you want and from further and further afield.

Everything the package will contain was found by myself, with the exception of the Agate creek nodules - those were found by a member of my club. I really have to get up to Agate creek someday and grab a drum of nodules myself, it's just that the place is so isolated.

Got some of that Springsure labrodorite - like many faceted stones, you have to see it with your own eyes to really appreaciate how lively it looks. Will send this piece I facteted plus some rough....

Image

Got some of those dark pyrope garnets, some smokey amethyst crystals, some small sapps - all from Central QLD. Only the Agate creek nodules are not from this region, they are from Far North QLD.

Should be fun.


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 Post subject: Re: The rock swap
PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2016 11:47 pm 
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Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2014 5:21 pm
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Location: Morden, MB, Canada
Dan i will arrive to Williston, ND next saturday 21st of May with my wife Angelina. On sunday we will go to the best location for Montana agates, that location should not be posted online, becouse of liability problems. owners can close acecss any time becouse of prevues stuped behavior of some visitors. for expample one guy entered without permision, got stuck and after this suid the land owners for this. just a lot of very stupid people that make problems for everyone.

send to PM your phone number, i will call you today or tomorow! you can pick us up in Williston sunday morning and we will go together!

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 Post subject: Re: The rock swap
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 7:46 pm 
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Maybe next time I'll have some self-found materials to swap- sadly my fossicking efforts consist of looking for interestingly weathered quartzites and breccias around the road, and picking the transparent carnelians out of the pile of material that they don't want to sort properly outside. Since I'm trying to set my career path straight it's becoming hard to even go to shows due to schedule conflicts.

I really do appreciate those sapphires - smaller rough suits my energy levels more and there is a lot you can do with them outside of merely cutting them. The mica is going to be interesting to work with as it doesn't look like it will be as messy as the piece that turned up in one of my old boxes.


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 Post subject: Re: The rock swap
PostPosted: Sat May 14, 2016 11:12 pm 
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Im not sure of what if anything you can do with the mica it's sooo soft and layered. It is a curiosity for sure.
I keep staring at a baseball sized pink quartz I've had since I was a kid. Picked it up in iron mine tailings in Babbit Minnesota. Its been a door stop, a shelf item, a paper weight. It might make some very soft pastel pink earrings, but Im afraid the color will wash out to a milky white instead of the pink if its cut thin.

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 Post subject: Re: The rock swap
PostPosted: Sun May 15, 2016 3:14 pm 
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Location: Central Queensland, Australia
Dan&Sally wrote:
Im not sure of what if anything you can do with the mica it's sooo soft and layered. It is a curiosity for sure.
I keep staring at a baseball sized pink quartz I've had since I was a kid. Picked it up in iron mine tailings in Babbit Minnesota. Its been a door stop, a shelf item, a paper weight. It might make some very soft pastel pink earrings, but Im afraid the color will wash out to a milky white instead of the pink if its cut thin.


A thick, high-domed cabochon would probably retain the colour.


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 Post subject: Re: The rock swap
PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2016 10:42 pm 
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Well boys, Timur invited me to chase down some Montana agates this weekend. Ha! I have no idea where he is taking me other than his special spot. That is great!!! So I will wait to ship rocks until I return, and maybe I will get lucky enough to find a really special moss or dendritic agate. There are occasional geodes found in the area as well. I tried to convince him to run the Yellowstone river in Kayaks and hunt the gravel bars, but he has his heart set on His place. Ok by me, I have a tough time not fishing when I hit the river anyway. That really interferes with finding agates. So as a general rule when invited to anyones special spot, bring the drinks and the food. Then if the hunting gets tough there is always food and drinks to end the day. Hopefully we have a good day and Timur can return to Canada with a bucket full to keep him busy all winter. I think that starts again next week, it just ended last week. :lol: A big thank you Timur for sharing and lets hope I can help fill that bucket.

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 Post subject: Re: The rock swap
PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2016 10:55 pm 
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Given my own experiences looking for agates in eastern Montana, I think you'd have to be awfully selective to only fill a bucket. I hope you guys have a great time! Even the plain 'ol clear agate from there cuts amazing cabochons if you get a high polish on the front and back. It has a very fine glowey look to it thanks to the translucence and very fine banding.

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 Post subject: Re: The rock swap
PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2016 11:00 pm 
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Good luck! Look forward to seeing the results :)


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 Post subject: Re: The rock swap
PostPosted: Mon May 23, 2016 12:29 am 
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Location: Morden, MB, Canada
Just came back from the field... We found some really nice staff but not too much. A one can not make living picking up montana agates and selling it as raw material, now i understand why they are sold at Tuson show per slab and are not cheap. ( i am talkng about really nice ones). Sally and Dan will follow up with some with some photos soon. We had a really great time. Dan and Sally are really nice guys. Than you very much for dinner and fish from Alaska.

Now i am still in williston at my friends place, i will need another 8 hours of driving tomorow to get back home to Manitoba, Canada. I hope crossing the border will go smooth. We spent 1 hour on the border on the way here, those guys are very strict. US officer asked my wife "Have you been involved in prostitiution in the last 10 years" and she joked back "not in the last 10 years" and they got really mad.

P.S. Now I am a big fan of pulsating jig for prospecting :-)

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 Post subject: Re: The rock swap
PostPosted: Mon May 23, 2016 10:27 am 
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At my age I would have told them "Not since the Going Out Of Business Sale!"

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 Post subject: Re: The rock swap
PostPosted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 7:29 am 
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Hey Dan, the parcel pick-up notification was in my mailbox when I rolled in this afternoon - the rocks are here! :D

Post office would have been shut by the time I got there, I'll grab them tomorrow on my way home.

Cheers


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 Post subject: Re: The rock swap
PostPosted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 7:34 am 
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Tracking service is still saying Brisbane is the last recorded point. If nothing is added soon or if it doesn't arrive soon, I'll phone them to find out what's going on.


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 Post subject: Re: The rock swap
PostPosted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 4:03 pm 
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Update: your package has touched down in New York.

I was getting worried that nothing was happening there but she's made it to US soil.


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 Post subject: Re: The rock swap
PostPosted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 7:17 pm 
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Hey thats great!
I havent had time to spit let alone check mail. Just trying to save a job, my son got cut Wednesday but had another job in an hour. First time we havent worked together in years. Now no one has my back and the new guys arent qualified to run a squirt gun. I know smarter 8 year olds that are more dependable! :shock:
On a side note, Fathers day yesterday. I gave each of my sons a obsidian Ulu Knife and then we went to the north pasture and shot 200 rounds of .45 at a piece of bent metal. We live by the American way, if you put enough lead down range you are bound to hit something. :D The way I see it, anything in front of the barrel is safe as long as it doesnt move into a bullet. It was a good end to a lousy day.

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