- Joined
- May 21, 2007
- Messages
- 1,432
Last week I was being shown some sites around McDermitt after we finished digging for the Purple Cow Jasper. So my partner told me a good way to find stone is to find holes others had dug and walk out about 100 yards to see if you can find some evidence of what was being dug.
So, we are out in the hills looking for Petrifed Wood and I run into a deep hole about 10 feet across and 3 to 4 feet deep. I couldn't even find a chip of what they found and the hold was overgrown so I figured it was probably at least a decade old and perhaps decades old.
I decided to try out what I was told and took off in the direction where my partner was last seen by me. On the way over I ran into a badger den with two entrances I could see so I decided to keep a bit away even though they are night hunters I believe. I was in a deep and steep draw when I started to find a interesting colored Jasper/Chert so I picked up about 20 pounds of the stone. Right about when I was picking up a good piece I got a Walkie Talkie call from my parner telling me he was moving the van about 1/3 mile further down the road and I should track back that way.
I climbed up the draw and marked the trail where I came out - forgetting to GPS the location I actually found the stone. So I trudged down the road with the bucket of rock and showed what I found to him and asked if we should go back to see if we could find the source. Well he indicated that Heck yes we should go back!
I found the mark in the road but could not find my tracks back down the hill in the brush and I was starting to feel pretty stupid that I had not taken out the GPS and marked it. Fortunately I could see the deep hole and after a few tense minutes I found the Badger Den and my tracks. I went back to where I found the stone and had my partner come down. He is about a decade older than I am and he has bad knees so it was not an easy trip down for him but he quickly determined where we should concentrate our efforts. I had him highgrade while I hauled up the steep hill to the van - a bit over 300 steps up at very near 5350 feet according to my GPS.
For the next few hours I kept hauling up the hill with stone and eventually down the hill with the pick, sledge and pry bar. We figured I hauled 800 pounds up the hill and my legs were starting to go all jello like so we called it a day.
I am just now working the first piece and it cuts like a porcelain Jasper and has nearly no cracks to worry about. What looks like cracks are the patterns in the stone. I only have a couple of pictures of one piece but I am doing 4 knives with the stone and cutting more of it now so more pictures will be coming soon - maybe tomorrow if I remember to take the camera to the shop.
So, we are out in the hills looking for Petrifed Wood and I run into a deep hole about 10 feet across and 3 to 4 feet deep. I couldn't even find a chip of what they found and the hold was overgrown so I figured it was probably at least a decade old and perhaps decades old.
I decided to try out what I was told and took off in the direction where my partner was last seen by me. On the way over I ran into a badger den with two entrances I could see so I decided to keep a bit away even though they are night hunters I believe. I was in a deep and steep draw when I started to find a interesting colored Jasper/Chert so I picked up about 20 pounds of the stone. Right about when I was picking up a good piece I got a Walkie Talkie call from my parner telling me he was moving the van about 1/3 mile further down the road and I should track back that way.
I climbed up the draw and marked the trail where I came out - forgetting to GPS the location I actually found the stone. So I trudged down the road with the bucket of rock and showed what I found to him and asked if we should go back to see if we could find the source. Well he indicated that Heck yes we should go back!
I found the mark in the road but could not find my tracks back down the hill in the brush and I was starting to feel pretty stupid that I had not taken out the GPS and marked it. Fortunately I could see the deep hole and after a few tense minutes I found the Badger Den and my tracks. I went back to where I found the stone and had my partner come down. He is about a decade older than I am and he has bad knees so it was not an easy trip down for him but he quickly determined where we should concentrate our efforts. I had him highgrade while I hauled up the steep hill to the van - a bit over 300 steps up at very near 5350 feet according to my GPS.
For the next few hours I kept hauling up the hill with stone and eventually down the hill with the pick, sledge and pry bar. We figured I hauled 800 pounds up the hill and my legs were starting to go all jello like so we called it a day.
I am just now working the first piece and it cuts like a porcelain Jasper and has nearly no cracks to worry about. What looks like cracks are the patterns in the stone. I only have a couple of pictures of one piece but I am doing 4 knives with the stone and cutting more of it now so more pictures will be coming soon - maybe tomorrow if I remember to take the camera to the shop.
