Through the course of rockhounding, I’ve learned a few things about rocks. I went from total novice to now having a decent understanding at least of some of the rocks that surround me.
Rockhounding: Things I’ve learned as a beginner
Tag: dallasite
Rainy day hounding on Vancouver Island
It’s officially wet season on Vancouver Island and I managed to get a couple good trips in to my favourite rockhounding locations.
North Island Flowerstone hunting
I work at an auto shop part time. My favourite part of the job is delivering cars and auto parts to far-away locations. This time I got to deliver an auto part to north Vancouver Island, past Comox, which was a great excuse to rockhound in a new spot.
Tumbling away, short hound at the beach, defining “high grade”
Our special British Columbian rocks have been travelling all over the United States lately, and between that and my own tumbling, I felt justified doing a quick rockhound on the weekend.
Dallasite and Flowerstone slabs
It’s been rainy here on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. That and working has impacted my ability to take good pictures. So here are some not so great pictures of slabs I got from Tommy Lay.
Dallasite, inside and out
Here’s what Dallasite, our lovely British Columbian jasper of green, white and black, looks like rough on the outside and then cut up to reveal the inside. That’s all for today. These pictures and rock are thanks to Tommy Lay, who was generous enough to slab and cab some Dallasite for me.
Dallasite and Flowerstone cabochons and slabs
I received an early Christmas present from Tommy Lay, this fantastic lapidarist I connected with on a rock tumbling website. He was ridiculously generous. I opened the box with my mom and grandma and we were all oohing over every piece. I had inquired about getting some of my Dallasite and Flowerstone cabbed and slabbed…
Tumbling away, Dallasite out of the rotaries and into the vibe
I’ve just been tumbling away over here. I took my 24 lbs of Dallasite out of my rotary tumblers after about 10 days in coarse grind and put a different batch of Dallasite in my vibratory tumbler on final polish.
Late summer beach hounding
Between sending some rocks away and tumbling, I’ve actually managed to reduce my stockpile a little bit, unfortunately forcing me to rockhound more. I went to a local Vancouver Island beach for Dallasite and Flowerstone again, though I found much of the former and little of the latter.
Dallasite and Flowerstone cabochons!
We’re breaking new ground at BC Rockhound. I sent some Dallasite and Flowerstone to Tommy Lay, the best cabochon maker I’ve seen on the internet.