Rockhounds on Wayalife

WJCO

Meme King
I grew up in the AZ desert searching for rocks and fossils. In the late 80s, I got a Lortone rock tumbler and used it a bunch. I hadn't used it since the mid 90s. Now that I have kids, my oldest daughter is starting to like rocks and crystals. I pulled this tumbler out a few days ago and it still works after 20 years of use. Made in the USA. I decided to search a little on the web and this company still exists and even has YouTube videos on their website for instruction. When I first got this, it came with a piece of paper for instructions. Pretty cool. Hoping there are others on Wayalife with some interest in searching for rocks or polishing.

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Kalums

New member
Sweet great idea for a thread, my kids love finding interesting rocks and polishing them up. I I don't own a tumbler yet but I can see it in the near future (maybe for their b-day(s)) any suggestions for a beginner? They love finding quarts and similar colorful rocks.

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This is going to be an awesome thread!
Couple pics I have on my phone.

Prehistoric shark teeth.
IMG_0016.JPG .

Arrowhead I found while out hunting
IMG_0707.JPG .
 

Kalums

New member
This is going to be an awesome thread!
Couple pics I have on my phone.

Prehistoric shark teeth.
View attachment 248626 .

Arrowhead I found while out hunting
View attachment 248627 .
So funny little story about sharks teeth... Out fossil hunting with the boys last summer found a lot of nice plant fossils, got home and went to take off my shoes. I saw something imbedded in the heal of my shoe. I thought it was a goat head, ended up being a (about 1/2 inch) sharks tooth.

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KaPow

New member
My wife and I were just talking about getting a tumbler. Good to know there's a USA made one!
 

WJCO

Meme King
Sweet great idea for a thread, my kids love finding interesting rocks and polishing them up. I I don't own a tumbler yet but I can see it in the near future (maybe for their b-day(s)) any suggestions for a beginner? They love finding quarts and similar colorful rocks.

Sent from my LG-LS997 using WAYALIFE mobile app

My wife and I were just talking about getting a tumbler. Good to know there's a USA made one!

I honestly don't know much about tumblers because this is the only one I've owned. But after close to 30 years, it's still running.
 

JeepJeep75

New member
Great thread! I have a little piece of quartz from last summers Moab trip. It's been in the coin tray in the jeep since I picked it up on a trail stop. A few more years of rattling around with the coins and it'll be nicely polished. [emoji106]


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jesse3638

Hooked
Just wanted to share a tid bit of information to keep everyone out of trouble. Collecting arrow heads, antique pottery, any native American artifacts, or anything older than 50 years old (cans, bottles, etc.) on public lands is actually illegal. It punishable with fines and even jail time depending on the severity. The proper way to "collect" these items is to use a camera take a picture of it and leave it in place. If you have a GPS take down it's coordinates and provide them to your local land management (BLM, USFS, NPS, etc.) office. If they are not lazy they will take these coordinates to locate the piece you found, take further photographs, document it's location, collect it, and put it in a box in some collection room never to be seen again. Typically if you are caught collecting these items, unless you have a lot, the items will be just be confiscated and you asked not to do it again. However, if you are collecting these for sale or damaging them by trying to remove them from (ie..petroglyphs, mining equipment) you will most likely be cited, fined, and possibly arrested. This all being said it reminds me, I still have several items on my desk from years ago I meant to turn into my archaeologist, if I remember to before I retire..;). Some offices don't mind the collection as they would rather have people see them than them me tucked away never to be seen again. When in question contact your local field office. Be careful what you post on social media as this could be self incriminating. Know the area your in as you don't want to be trespassing on private property either. Hope his helps. Happy hunting!

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JAGS

Hooked
Just wanted to share a tid bit of information to keep everyone out of trouble. Collecting arrow heads, antique pottery, any native American artifacts, or anything older than 50 years old (cans, bottles, etc.) on public lands is actually illegal. It punishable with fines and even jail time depending on the severity. The proper way to "collect" these items is to use a camera take a picture of it and leave it in place. If you have a GPS take down it's coordinates and provide them to your local land management (BLM, USFS, NPS, etc.) office. If they are not lazy they will take these coordinates to locate the piece you found, take further photographs, document it's location, collect it, and put it in a box in some collection room never to be seen again. Typically if you are caught collecting these items, unless you have a lot, the items will be just be confiscated and you asked not to do it again. However, if you are collecting these for sale or damaging them by trying to remove them from (ie..petroglyphs, mining equipment) you will most likely be cited, fined, and possibly arrested. This all being said it reminds me, I still have several items on my desk from years ago I meant to turn into my archaeologist, if I remember to before I retire..;). Some offices don't mind the collection as they would rather have people see them than them me tucked away never to be seen again. When in question contact your local field office. Be careful what you post on social media as this could be self incriminating. Know the area your in as you don't want to be trespassing on private property either. Hope his helps. Happy hunting!

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Every party has a pooper! Lol.
 

JAGS

Hooked
Hey my stomach was hurting...haha.

Just don't want anyone getting in trouble. I never said don't do it. It was more of how to do it without getting in trouble by using your own judgement...;). As indicated with sarcasm in there too...haha.

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So you want to go rock hounding next Tuesday?
 

WJCO

Meme King
So, I'll add to this thread.......Post pictures of your findings and add the words 'found on private land' to the post. Then we'll all be good.
 

boardsurfer

Active Member
There is a dry creek bed on some private land that has been in the family for well over 30 years here in Southern Colorado. When I was a kid my dad would take me there to search for fossils, which wasnt much of a search because damn near anything you picked up had a fossil on it.

On this rock wall, you could pull out just about any slice of rock and find an imprint of a sea shell. On this occasion we had a local visitor:

IMG_9275.jpg

While the land sits at about 6000 feet elevation, it was once completely under an ocean. Hard to believe sometimes.
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