One of the finest specimens of Holley Blue Agate that I have ever come across! This is an extremely rare, 2.6 pound museum quality piece of rock.

Just got in some exceptionally nice looking Pixie Turquoise. This material is very rare and getting difficult to obtain. This material has not been dug for several decades and is not likely to ever be in production again due to gold mining activity in the vicinity. This is the stabilization process, we use a vacuum to suck the resin into the stone effectively making the material stable enough to work and to take a polish. Typically, turquoise is very soft and crumbly and will not take a shine in its raw state. By introducing resin into the stone, it allows for stable working opportunity and it helps to achieve a good shine when polished.

And here is the finished results after stabilization and polishing.

Some recently polished Holley Blue Agate from Sweethome, Oregon. This material is truly some of the most stunning blue/purple Agate in the world! No longer available for digging, this stuff is getting very difficult to find at this quality anymore. Due to a fatal accident that took place on the privately owned land, the original location has been covered up and closely watched since 1997, the timber company that now owns the land does not allow the public access anymore.

This is the same kind of story that has closed access to numerous different rockhounding sites across the board, so all of you rockhounds out there, be careful, fill in your holes when you are done digging, clean up after yourself(pack your trash out with you) and be respectful, responsible stewards for this amazing hobby!

As a Rockhound, one must learn to trust your inner feelings when finding and identifying a piece of unusual material! Here is a classic example that we recently found on our last trip out, the first photo is what the rock looks like on the outside (it was actually dry and dirt covered when I found it), it looked like a big hunk of Basalt with little specks of agate strewn across the surface. Weighing in at around 10 pounds, this was a tough decision, put it in my pack and continue hiking around looking for better materials or pass it up because it really was not promising to look at. I trusted my gut and stuffed it in the pack, I carried this extra 10 pounds around for the rest of the day since I was nowhere near my truck to unload it.

After a great adventure in the Central Oregon high desert, we made it back with a bounty of new materials to work with including a big hunk of curious Basalt, low and behold, after the first cut on the saw, I was utterly astonished at what I had found, it turns out to be an incredible piece of colorful, dendritic moss agate that looks nothing like what we expected to see once it had been opened up!

So this is why you study hard, learn as much as you possibly can and have faith in your instincts when the natural world reaches out and gives you a great big hug. Mother Nature has a lot of hidden treasures just waiting to be discovered, get out there and see it for yourself!

Cheers, Tut

This is one of the finest specimens of Morrisonite Jasper ever mined! A very rare material, Morrisonite is no longer being mined and material of this quality has not been dug since the late 70’s.

This is a great example of some really rare and unusual Jasper known as “Batcave Jasper”. This beautiful material is from a cave in the Ochocos of central Oregon. Mined out many decades ago, this stuff made up the floor of the cave, the old timers would scale down the cliff to the mouth of the cave and chisel it from the floor, then pack it out on their backs. Not a lot of this material was discovered, just the single deposit. It is a porcelain Jasper and takes an incredible polish!

Carrasite Picture Jasper

Another beautiful specimen hot off the saw, this is a porcelain Jasper very similar to Morrisonite, mined in the same area!

From time to time I am just astonished at what I find when cutting rock! This is a red and orange moss Agate with a layer of bright orange Opal inside. This is old stock material from an old rockhound estate near Idaho/Oregon border.