Along Lower Mainland river basins I find a lot of what I assume is petrified wood, with the odd piece from the ocean. Some look perfectly like wood and are very striking, but many look quite dull and are harder to positively identify. But tumbling stones can bring out the beauty in them.
I put this petrified wood batch on coarse grind in my rotary rock tumbler last week. I pulled a few pieces that were done enough for now and put some others in. These rough petrified wood pieces don’t look too hot in this picture.
As I’ve written, opening the rock tumbler is like Christmas. I opened this batch a day early and took out some pieces that looked done to me. I added others and new grit to let them tumble for another week.
This was a dull batch and I was hoping a tumble could bring something out in one or two. Here are some shots of the petrified wood pieces I took out of the tumbler today.
A few petrified wood pieces I took out of coarse grind in my rotary rock tumbler. They look a whole lot better to me now!
Closeup of a piece of what I believe to be petrified wood.
This piece probably isn’t done tumbling but I took it out because I loved the gold specks so much.
This was the prettiest one in my opinion.
This is a good example of a rock that looked ugly on the outside and much nicer once tumbled.
I’m not sure if this is solely petrified wood or if it is part of something else? Two distinct patterns/materials going on. I love the colour.
How does one tell the difference between petrified wood and a rock? All looking very beautiful.
Petrified wood is a rock! It is wood that has been replaced by rock-forming minerals. The best pieces maintain their wood look and stand out easily. But a lot of pieces lose the wood look to certain degrees. This batch was of some ugly ones that I wasn’t even sure all were wood. That’s my favourite part about being able to tumble stones, seeing if they look better underneath. I have and should upload some pics of more attractive pieces. I haven’t tumbled them as they would lose any bark-like feel and become smooth.
Costco has a rock tumbler but i figured it was just a cheap make and wouldn’t last. Can you link me to a reputable rock tumbler that can take a beating. I’d be tumbling for the rest of my life lol. You tumble for a week….more than a week? It must insanely noisy???
In your last pic, it looks to me that it’s a mix of tree and resin that eventually became this rock.