Steve's Rock Shop and

Miscellany

 

Rockhounding, Prospecting, and Lapidary Resources

This is where you begin.  You want to know where to go and what's out there.  These guides will get you started.  There are two main series of books - Rockhounding... and Gem Trails of....Most western and various other states are covered.  I get copies of each to the states that I visit.  Please note that some of the areas mentioned get heavy use and material my be scarce.  This is where it pays to educate yourself.  Learn the geology of the land and try to find areas that are similar and maybe you'll find great spots that aren't in the book.  And if you do find a great spot, take the GPS reading and mark it on your map with notations of what you found and start your own collecting file.

Okay.  You're travelling to a collecting site, maybe just travelling, or stopped someplace out on the road.  You see a rock formation out there and want to know what it's all about.  These guides will tell you.  Hey, learn the geology of your favorite collecting site and see if you can find other places just like it.  The Roadside Geology series covers a majority of the states.

Learn as much as you can about the planet you live on and what it can produce.  I'm always looking for an additional publication that can add another bit of knowledge for my areas of interest.

There's only so much collecting you can do if you only don't have tools.

Get your co-ordinates from the 24 GPS satellites in orbit around the Earth, get out your map, and plot your position.  When you find that previously undiscovered agate or fossil location, pinpoint it's exact location for future reference.

Well you've found some places you'd like to go.  Now what roads do you want to take?  Get the road atlas for that state to help with the planning!  There are two main series (it always seems there are two).  Benchmark and DeLorme.  I prefer the Benchmark maps but started out using the DeLorme guides.  No doubt there are good arguments for each.  Either way, the more recent the edition, the more likely it will have GPS information.

Is there anyone out there that hasn't dreamed of finding buried treasure, shooting gold nuggets, or at least finding a few pieces of the past?

Lots of literature on the subject.  Use that metal detector, gold pan, sluice, or whatever else you can think up.

The search for gems doesn't have to stop just because it's night.  They're all over the sky.  All you have to do is look up!

For those that want to know what they're looking at and where certain celestial objects are.

There are many places where collecting is not allowed but still should be visited or areas of interest that have nothing to do with collecting at all but will enhance a trip or add a valuable piece of knowledge.

Coffee mugs, shirts, that type of thing.

Now that you've found some collectables, throw them in a tumbler and in a month turn them into jewels!  Here you'll find tumblers, polishing supplies, and how-to books.

This is for more advanced work.

If there is more than just yourself on your trip, take along some good two way radios.  I started doing this about three years ago and am not sure how I did without them.  If you get separated from your buddies or if you just want to find out what they're finding, these will save you from having to walk up and down hills just to get to them.  And if you have more than one vehicle on your expedition, being able to confer on the fly is a MAJOR time saver.  A good weather radio should make the trip also.

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