Through the winter, I have cut many geodes and other cool stuff. You have seen many of the cabs that I have cut and polished but the geodes, while cut open, have not been yet been published here yet. This is because the cabs are small enough to process on my Cabking, but the geodes are in many cases too large for processing and polishing except on my Bullwheel.

The Bullwheel

Because of the larger size of the geodes, they do not easily polish well on the Cabking, which only has a 2-inch wide polishing surface. The Bullwheel (see photo above) has a 4-inch wide abrasive belt which is much better for the larger specimens. The Bullwheel takes interchangeable 4-inch wide belts in 80, 100, 220, 320, 400, and 600 grits. The polishing of the larger specimens occurs utilizing increasingly finer grits, beginning with 80 and ending with 600 grit. The Bullwheel also has a leather polishing lap which can be used to achieve a higher level of polish if desired.

Generally speaking, however, specimens are finished at the 600 grit level using a well worn belt which achieves what I would guess to be about a 900 grit appearance. This blog highlights many of those rocks cut throughout the winter and just finished on the Bullwheel. The Bullwheel does not get much use during the winter because it utilizes a grinding process without water lubrication and therefore creates rock dust which I do not want to breath unnecessarily and don’t want inside my shop. Accordingly, I use the Bullwheel outside on an outdoor covered porch when weather allows, usually late spring through late fall. So here are the best of the agates and geodes previously cut during the winter and now polished on the Bullwheel for your viewing.

Rock #5173
Note agate nodule cross-section shape with the flat bottom

This is a fragmented filament agate nodule and because it has no open void in the middle it is not technically a geode. The cool stuff seen on the bottom is the rind which was inside the lava pocket (bubble) in which the nodule was formed. Part of this rind fell to the bottom of the lava bubble where it was later encased in a liquid or semi-liquid silica which entered the bubble and subsequently hardened. Fragmented filament agates are quite common on The Carver Agate Field. Several of them are featured in this blog. Some are extremely interesting, see Rock #5183.

Rock #5183
Interesting fragmented filament agate

Sometimes these agates can be beautiful—at least to me. Sometimes they are interesting and sometimes they are beautiful, see Rock #5205.

Rock #5205
Beautiful fragmented filament agate cab

Rock #5181
Crystal lined geode

Rock #5182
Fortification agate geode

Rock #5187
Carnelian geode

Rock #5185
Real pretty carnelian agate geode

Rock #5174 and #5178
Geode with crystal lined ‘cave’
Click on the image for a larger version

Rock #5186
Crystal lined green agate geode

Rock #5191
Freeform geode cab

Rock #5206
Another freeform geode cab

Rock #5196
Fragmented filament agate

Rock #5199
Fortification agate freeform cab

Rock #5203
Fragmented filament agate cab

Rock #5204
Freeform agate cab

Rock #5201
You have to love this rare and fascinating stalk-aggregate agate cab

Note that the tubes running through this stone appear to be hollow like a cross-section of a drinking straw. I believe that these straw-like structures were created by gas bubbles rising through the semi-liquid silica gel that formed the nodule inside the gas bubble in lava. I have only seen this formation a handful of times in The Carver agates. The pattern created in this case makes the specimen all the more interesting.

I have really enjoyed the continued exploration of geodes and agates of The Carver Agate Field and I may be the luckiest rockhound alive! It is my pleasure to share them with you all.

And for future reference, this posting has been published as a Carver Report. You can find all of the Carver Reports at the top of each page of this website, in the Main Menu.