CATEGORIES

Bench Tips

Getting a High Dome on a Cab

Major Specimen Localities, Part IV: Copper From Cornwall To Upper Michigan

This is a superb example of very well crystallized native copper from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Bench Tips

Working Cabs from the Back, Part II

What To Cut- Covellite

Covellite is one of those materials that has no real use, except to a rock collector or lapidary!

A Rockhound's 80-Year Mineral Odyssey

A Visit to the Not-So-Dark Continent

Caribbean Larimar

Larimar is a very beautiful and distinctive-looking stone found in the Caribbean. The stone itself is actually a pectolite (calcium-sodium silicate); however, its blue, blue-green and white hues, as well as the fact that it stems from one location, make it a one-of-a-kind stone.

West Coast Jade

Metamorphic Deposits from Canada to California.

North Carolina's Minerals

Visit a Museum & Rock Shops in Spruce Pine.

Birthstones

Stick with the Standards Or Choose Your Own

On The Rocks

Federation Education

Herkimer Diamonds In Spades

Collectors Rake in Water-Clear New York Quartz Crystals

Malachite, Part II- Banded Beauty From Russia And The Cargo

One of the earliest-known sources of malachite was mined by the Egyptians in the Sinai Desert thousands of years ago. Since that time, this lovely, green hydrous copper carbonate has been mined in quantity all over the world.

Arsenic Family Minerals

Part II: Erythrite, Realgar, Orpiment and Scorodite Add Rich Color to a Collection

What To Cut

Kirinite Acrylic

The World's Finest Azurites

Part I: Electric Blues from the Milpillas Mine

Bench Tips

Working with Synthetic Quartz

Rock Science

Malachite: The First Ore

What To Cut

Aurora Opal

Is it Calcite or Dolomite?

These Carbonates have Chemistry.

Fluid Bed Sluices

How Well Do They Work?

Flat Lapping Basics

Lapidary Mike Hahn Shares His Tips and Tricks.

The Stone That Strikes Fire

Pyrite Is a Common Sulfi de Mineral And a Collector Favorite.

The Games Miners Play

Contests Display Drilling, Mucking & Spike-Driving Skills.

Collecting Minerals In Estonia

Calcite Crystals from the Kukersite Oil Shale.

An American Carver In China

Seattle Native Nathaniel Cook Receives a Special Invitation.

Silver-Rich Cobalt, Canada

An Accidental Discovery Opened Up Mining in the Canadian Shield.

UCLA Meteorite Gallery Is Out Of This World

Within their collections, many a rockhound has at least one sample of a space rock, better known as a meteorite. Meteorites are truly rare. One meteorite researcher has been contacted by 2,100 people who claimed to have discovered one. Of the 2,100, only seven had found a true meteorite. The rest of the specimens mailed in were hematite or magnetite (iron ores), heavy minerals such as galena, slag from smelting, or just common rocks.

Colorado's Great Sand Dunes

Visit North America’s Tallest Dunefield

On The Rocks

Uncommon Minerals

Bench Tips- A Fanciful Project

Sometimes, when I am sorting through my slabs and trim saw cutoffs, I come across a particular piece that I know I want to make something with, but at that time I can’t picture exactly what.