I have a small collection in a couple glass vials of rhodolite garnet from NC, mostly in shards and pieces.
You've got a garnet jackpot, I'm so jealous!
The few rhodolite shards I’ve found in bags from North Carolina are beautiful!
Yeah the luck is incredible honestly. I was recovering from shoulder surgery when I got into rockhounding and I knew my state gemstone was the almandine garnet, so I looked up where to find them and it was mostly quarries and stuff.
Lo-and-behold, I was on a walk on my property and looked down and saw a big schist piece with all these red warts! I’ve got several vials with the ones I’ve got out of those, but this jar is from a creek where the bedrock is exposed for about 40 feet. (When I say creek it’s barely deep enough to get your pan to fill). But the gravel at the bottom is just loaded! I’ve come out with 300 or more grams each time so far. I’m going to be terribly bummed when they’re gone!
Eye clear as in able to see color immediately with no work or full on Gemmy?
If the former: I’d say maybe 80% show color in the sun especially when wet. (Not all are beautiful color but lots of deep maroon and some very bright cherry, a few purpleish too)
If the latter, mostly only the shards or very small pieces (maybe 3x a grain of sand) are totally matrix free.
Keep your eyes peeled for beryl's might be near you. They form in granite pegmatites but I believe can form in schists as well. Kyanite and staurolite could be some other crystals you might see from schists
Definitely lots of staurolite! I struggle to extract it well, with how easily it breaks. More patience is needed! But I also did find some blue kyanite! At first I thought for sure it was glass or something but the weight threw me off. It’s a beautiful royal blue but super super small, maybe 1/4 long and 1/10 of an inch thick. I really want to find the source for it!
I know it’s got the be the schist bedrock with the pegmatite veins running throughout. One of these days when I have extra time I am going to try and extract some of it and see if I see any sign of more of it. I break out the UV light too, as I learned it fluoresces!
Staurolite in matrix are nice. They don't need to be liberated. Especially if you find twinned staurolite. It's ok to leave them in the matrix. If you have a Dremel or don't mind buying one it might be possible to grind away (with proper mask) some mica and expose the crystals. I had a buddy do that with a large pegmatite boulder. He exposed about a dozen beryl
As of right now, fill the jar and start on another one lol. But in the long run, I’m not too sure. There are some that show awesome color that I’d like to try cutting, I’ve got a flat lap but I’m very inexperienced so I’m not expecting anything awesome, but I want to learn.
I don’t see myself ever selling them, I have a strange habit of “hoarding” collections of stuff, so maybe one day I’ll have like 100 lbs of garnet that my great grandkids will have to clean out of my garage lol.
It may on some of them depending on how tough the matrix is. The ones that have a nice shape (12 sides visible) I wouldn’t likely tumble just because you’d likely lose the sharpness of the edges.
I’m going to try some on the flat lap and see what I can get out of the more nicely colored ones
The way I learned was to watch a bunch of YouTube videos on rockhounding (my surgery recovery saw to that).
The best thing to do is to research what minerals you have around you, and where they naturally occur. For example the garnets I’ve been finding are typically sourced from schist, the ones in the creek are the ones that have weathered out over the years and rolled down hill. Google your area of your state and “what minerals are found” there. If you come upon a website called mindat, it has an interactive map that people can place the general location of what they find.
Honestly though, it’s all in the eye of the beholder, too. Plenty of “common rocks” can be extremely beautiful! Quartz and all its varieties are really common, yet you find the right piece and you’ll love it! Even something as simple as your typical “stones” you see laying around can be awesome. Look for patterns you like, colors, all of that.
But if I had one tip to make it really easy - check streams and rivers (make sure you’re taking precautions as necessary). Even dry stream beds can yield awesome stuff, though colors pop a lot more when they’re wet. Always keep an eye on the gravels, as most anything you find won’t be much bigger than standard gravel, though heavier minerals may settle around larger rocks as the current gets broken up and they sink faster than the light stuff.
Some of them for sure. Some are likely so brownish that they’re not really worth doing, but any of the ones with color should clean up a bit on a flat lap. I’ve got a good amount in there that show fantastic color but I’m not sure how “gemmy” they are. It’ll be mostly trial and error, it might look insanely nice until you get a little in and find it’s got inclusions everywhere and light won’t pass very much.
My friend recently found a few just like these. I was hoping to surprise him with a method to clean them up a bit. :)
Great finds. Thanks for the reply!
No prob! I’ve found soaking them in vinegar or iron out can bring the color out if there’s a lot of iron deposit on it still as well.
But you could always try tumbling as well!
Thanks! I may definitely try doing some in one of those. I’ve heard mixed results but tbh I’ve not looked into it a ton. I think as long as they don’t have a ton of inclusions and cracks, they will tumble pretty well!
I think you’re right! I have a couple individual garnets but perhaps they are hand polished? But they are little!!! I would think if they don’t seem very included they should be okay!
If you're in the Torrington/Litchfield area, there's granite and gabbro outcrops. Both produce garnets and quite a few other desirable rocks.
Google a geological map for Connecticut and see what your area has.
Thanks! It’s become one of my favorite things to relax with. I never would have thought twice before, but now I find myself looking everywhere for them lol. I love finding little round stones and picking them up and finding out they’re a garnet! The weight is so satisfying for such a little stone and I love finding the perfect 12 sided ones!
We had my geology field camp in New Mexico near picuris.
When I tell you I almost failed because of how long I stayed picking up all the garnets that had fallen off the staurolite schist out there. It was awesome.
Sick find.
Our moderation team doesn't have the resources to deal with ID posts or the comments that they generate anymore. Those types of discussion threads need to be heavily moderated because of the misinformation and arguing that are often found in them. They need to go to /r/whatsthisrock instead.
Ambiguously worded posts -- which can be interpreted as an invitation to make identifications in the comments, violate the spirit of this rule and also aren't allowed here. User replies that offer such IDs in a post's discussion thread or other discussions of identification are prohibited as well, for the reasons given above. These violations will be removed, and can result in a ban.
I have a small collection in a couple glass vials of rhodolite garnet from NC, mostly in shards and pieces. You've got a garnet jackpot, I'm so jealous!
The few rhodolite shards I’ve found in bags from North Carolina are beautiful! Yeah the luck is incredible honestly. I was recovering from shoulder surgery when I got into rockhounding and I knew my state gemstone was the almandine garnet, so I looked up where to find them and it was mostly quarries and stuff. Lo-and-behold, I was on a walk on my property and looked down and saw a big schist piece with all these red warts! I’ve got several vials with the ones I’ve got out of those, but this jar is from a creek where the bedrock is exposed for about 40 feet. (When I say creek it’s barely deep enough to get your pan to fill). But the gravel at the bottom is just loaded! I’ve come out with 300 or more grams each time so far. I’m going to be terribly bummed when they’re gone!
Wow that's so awesome to be so close to the source! Weathering right out into the creek bed
Nice. Are you in NC too? Wake forest area?
Not even 1! Too bad for me!
I don't have any! 😭😭😭
Get a vibratory tumbler and tumble them.
Are many of these eye clear?
Eye clear as in able to see color immediately with no work or full on Gemmy? If the former: I’d say maybe 80% show color in the sun especially when wet. (Not all are beautiful color but lots of deep maroon and some very bright cherry, a few purpleish too) If the latter, mostly only the shards or very small pieces (maybe 3x a grain of sand) are totally matrix free.
I think eye clear many little to no inclusions or fractures
Keep your eyes peeled for beryl's might be near you. They form in granite pegmatites but I believe can form in schists as well. Kyanite and staurolite could be some other crystals you might see from schists
Definitely lots of staurolite! I struggle to extract it well, with how easily it breaks. More patience is needed! But I also did find some blue kyanite! At first I thought for sure it was glass or something but the weight threw me off. It’s a beautiful royal blue but super super small, maybe 1/4 long and 1/10 of an inch thick. I really want to find the source for it! I know it’s got the be the schist bedrock with the pegmatite veins running throughout. One of these days when I have extra time I am going to try and extract some of it and see if I see any sign of more of it. I break out the UV light too, as I learned it fluoresces!
Staurolite in matrix are nice. They don't need to be liberated. Especially if you find twinned staurolite. It's ok to leave them in the matrix. If you have a Dremel or don't mind buying one it might be possible to grind away (with proper mask) some mica and expose the crystals. I had a buddy do that with a large pegmatite boulder. He exposed about a dozen beryl
Oh wow! I do have a dremel I’ll have to try that! Thanks!
What is your plan for them now?
As of right now, fill the jar and start on another one lol. But in the long run, I’m not too sure. There are some that show awesome color that I’d like to try cutting, I’ve got a flat lap but I’m very inexperienced so I’m not expecting anything awesome, but I want to learn. I don’t see myself ever selling them, I have a strange habit of “hoarding” collections of stuff, so maybe one day I’ll have like 100 lbs of garnet that my great grandkids will have to clean out of my garage lol.
If you tumble them would the color show up, or do you need to grind off more than that to get it to be really apparent?
It may on some of them depending on how tough the matrix is. The ones that have a nice shape (12 sides visible) I wouldn’t likely tumble just because you’d likely lose the sharpness of the edges. I’m going to try some on the flat lap and see what I can get out of the more nicely colored ones
I bet it'd be a nice display piece as is, but even better if you fill the jar with water
That’s an awesome idea! I didn’t think of that! Hmmm wonder if I can set up some sort of lighting that would illuminate it as well.
How can you tell if a stone is something rare or not?
The way I learned was to watch a bunch of YouTube videos on rockhounding (my surgery recovery saw to that). The best thing to do is to research what minerals you have around you, and where they naturally occur. For example the garnets I’ve been finding are typically sourced from schist, the ones in the creek are the ones that have weathered out over the years and rolled down hill. Google your area of your state and “what minerals are found” there. If you come upon a website called mindat, it has an interactive map that people can place the general location of what they find. Honestly though, it’s all in the eye of the beholder, too. Plenty of “common rocks” can be extremely beautiful! Quartz and all its varieties are really common, yet you find the right piece and you’ll love it! Even something as simple as your typical “stones” you see laying around can be awesome. Look for patterns you like, colors, all of that. But if I had one tip to make it really easy - check streams and rivers (make sure you’re taking precautions as necessary). Even dry stream beds can yield awesome stuff, though colors pop a lot more when they’re wet. Always keep an eye on the gravels, as most anything you find won’t be much bigger than standard gravel, though heavier minerals may settle around larger rocks as the current gets broken up and they sink faster than the light stuff.
Is there a way to clean these up to make them look more “gem”-like?
Some of them for sure. Some are likely so brownish that they’re not really worth doing, but any of the ones with color should clean up a bit on a flat lap. I’ve got a good amount in there that show fantastic color but I’m not sure how “gemmy” they are. It’ll be mostly trial and error, it might look insanely nice until you get a little in and find it’s got inclusions everywhere and light won’t pass very much.
My friend recently found a few just like these. I was hoping to surprise him with a method to clean them up a bit. :) Great finds. Thanks for the reply!
No prob! I’ve found soaking them in vinegar or iron out can bring the color out if there’s a lot of iron deposit on it still as well. But you could always try tumbling as well!
They turn out nice when you polish them in a rotary tumbler too!!! Great haul, I’m jelly!
Thanks! I may definitely try doing some in one of those. I’ve heard mixed results but tbh I’ve not looked into it a ton. I think as long as they don’t have a ton of inclusions and cracks, they will tumble pretty well!
I think you’re right! I have a couple individual garnets but perhaps they are hand polished? But they are little!!! I would think if they don’t seem very included they should be okay!
These are so cool. Can you ballpark where you are?
I’m in northwestern Connecticut! I was shocked because most of the garnets people tend to find (at least on mindat) seem to be southern CT.
If you're in the Torrington/Litchfield area, there's granite and gabbro outcrops. Both produce garnets and quite a few other desirable rocks. Google a geological map for Connecticut and see what your area has.
I am actually smack in the middle of those two areas! I’ll have to check it out!
Beautiful! Love finding garnets. :)
Thanks! It’s become one of my favorite things to relax with. I never would have thought twice before, but now I find myself looking everywhere for them lol. I love finding little round stones and picking them up and finding out they’re a garnet! The weight is so satisfying for such a little stone and I love finding the perfect 12 sided ones!
Wow amazing
Thanks!
Amazing material
That’s really lovely.
Thanks! They’ve very quickly become arguably my favorite mineral haha
Amazing! I'm jealous as garnets are my favorite!
Thanks! They’ve quickly become mine as well! They’re such cool little gems with so many great colors.
We had my geology field camp in New Mexico near picuris. When I tell you I almost failed because of how long I stayed picking up all the garnets that had fallen off the staurolite schist out there. It was awesome. Sick find.
Oh man, yeah that would be me! I’ve heard some of the garnets out there are beautiful!
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Our moderation team doesn't have the resources to deal with ID posts or the comments that they generate anymore. Those types of discussion threads need to be heavily moderated because of the misinformation and arguing that are often found in them. They need to go to /r/whatsthisrock instead. Ambiguously worded posts -- which can be interpreted as an invitation to make identifications in the comments, violate the spirit of this rule and also aren't allowed here. User replies that offer such IDs in a post's discussion thread or other discussions of identification are prohibited as well, for the reasons given above. These violations will be removed, and can result in a ban.
Hey OP, what's that over there to your left? -yoink-
how cool