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.
Dallasite and Flowerstone cabochons!
Tag: rockhounding
Went to a river, found Dallasite
Dallasite is everywhere on Vancouver Island. It’s on the beaches, at the lakes and in the rivers. I had to bus from Nanaimo to Port McNeil and drive a car back for work recently and I stopped by a river near Woss.
Dallasite rockhounding video
I stuck a GoPro on my head on a recent kayak trip to a local Vancouver Island beach. My girlfriend and I hunted for Dallasite while the dogs swam, puked and played on the beach. There’s a giant Flowerstone we found on the beach near here that we will come back to later to haul…
Beach rockhound with a deer
I went on a quick trip to my favourite Vancouver Island beach as the sun came up one recent morning. This is the beach I found my first piece of Dallasite on. It still yields more than enough beautiful rocks for me and anyone else who would be interested.
Agate, Jasper, Chalcedony, Chert – How to tell the difference
The difference between agate, jasper, chalcedony and chert is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for people getting into the hobby of rockhounding or mineral collecting. I know because I was tripping over it for months, and I’ve seen other people struggle with it as well. The truth is, even the best rock identifiers can’t…
Sorting the rocks that are ready for round 2
Here’s a collection of all the rocks that have survived coarse grit in my rotary rock tumblers and are now ready to go in the vibe. They’re split up into groups of Dallasite, quartz, speckled opal, greenstone (some of it jasper), a few porphyries and Flowerstone, and a pile of river rock/gneiss/quartz/petrified wood.
Rocks and elk on Cowichan River
My girlfriend and I had a real wilderness trip to Cowichan River the other day, where we found a few rocks, smeared ourselves in clay, swam, threw rocks for dogs to catch and ran into a herd of elk.
Flowerstone haul, reason to go back
Just a few pictures today of the Flowerstone I found while hounding this week inland on Vancouver Island.
Stumbling on Flowerstone
Flowerstone is relatively rare on east coast Vancouver Island beaches, with just a few pieces expected to be found per trip. But I headed inland on a hunch and stumbled on a large deposit of the aptly named porphyry.
Glad to be a lonely rockhound
I went back to a local beach in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, this morning for a quick rockhound before the heat got too serious. I wasn’t the only one out there, and not even the only one after rocks.