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New Carver Agate Field Treasure Trove: Video and Pics

New Carver Agate Field Treasure Trove: Video and Pics

By /March 28, 2024 /0 comments /Cut Rocks

This is the latest joint compound bucket of rocks from The Carver. I have started cutting and polishing this material this week. First up: A rare color (green) agate geode, Rock #5578 A yellow /green/ blue geode, Rock #5572 A yellow banded agate nodule with sagenitic material (on right), Rock #5580 A translucent pink cab with sagenitic inclusions, Rock #5576 Below, you will see a four-band agate cab bordered by green quartz/agate and euhedral quartz, Rock #5569 and #5570, with lava matrix (on right). Click on each image for a larger version. Next, we see a perfect pink/blue/banded agate nodule, Rock #5558, and a cab from the center slab of that same nodule, Rock #5560, which gives a close-up view. Click on each image for a larger version. To my mind’s eye, Rocks #5561 and #5565 below, both from the same perfect pink/blue/beige/yellow agate nodule, represent the most spectacular find […]

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CARVER AGATE FIELD: Winter 2024 Finds and a new Photo Gallery!

CARVER AGATE FIELD: Winter 2024 Finds and a new Photo Gallery!

By /March 15, 2024 /3 comments /Cut Rocks

Following serious health problems in November, 2023, I have this winter gotten back to my ongoing exploration of the stones of The Carver Agate Field of Far West Texas. Be sure to click on each image below to see a larger version! The featured stones above, 5431 and 5432, are free form cabs that really captured my imagination. Here is a close-up of 5431: Rock #5431 Close-up Stones 5434 and 5370 below are red carnelian agates both cut from the same source stone: Stone 5499 is a fancy, free form oddball blue-green agate/jaspagate. The green being the jasper part of the jasp\agate. Stone 5433 is a second stone cut from the same source from which stone 5499 was cut. Stone 5502 is a deeply colored citrine geode with a crystal filled vug leading to/from the ‘fill tube’, so-called by some. Citrine is always difficult for me to photograph. So, the […]

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New Carver Report: Bullfrog Agate from Texas

New Carver Report: Bullfrog Agate from Texas

By /January 28, 2024 /6 comments /Geology

Bullfrog Agate, named by me, reflects the specific single and small location where this unique agate is found on The Carver Agate Field, located near Alpine, Texas. Bullfrog Agate has a formative process which is different from the geodes, nodules, agates and jaspers found throughout The Carver. Bullfrog Agate is characteristically identified by the soft white rind almost always surrounding a dazzlingly diverse array of colors and agate forms, which contain highly varied and spectacular sagenitic material. For the full geological report and many more photos of this rare and fascinating agate, see Bullfrog Agate Report, the latest of the Carver Reports.

Carnelian Agate and Sheaves of Wheat

Carnelian Agate and Sheaves of Wheat

By /December 6, 2023 /0 comments /Cut Rocks

Rock # 5370This carnelian agate is a likely candidate for a newly designed piece of jewelry. Rock #5364 Rock # 5364 This reminds me of sheaves of wheat and, when enlarged, shows hollow shaft-like crystals surrounded by agate swirls. While the ‘sheaves of wheat’ in this stone are interesting, they do not make this stone a candidate for jewelry. Rock # 5365What was the formative process that made this ‘mess’? Rock #5373This caught my eye because it is not visually similar to the other ‘stuff’ that I found on The Carver. I don’t know what it is but it is an interesting outlier. Rock #5379 Use your imagination! Isn’t agate great!? Rock #5369 Agate in basalt matrix. Rock #5374This is another cab from the agate in basalt matrix as seen in photo of Rock #5369. This stone looks ‘post-apocalyptic’! I love finding and highlighting the obscurities found in The Carver […]

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I liked this stone in May 2023 and have now featured it in a handmade sterling silver bracelet

I liked this stone in May 2023 and have now featured it in a handmade sterling silver bracelet

By /December 6, 2023 /1 comment /Bracelets

In my May 2023 blog posting, I featured this stone along with 5 others and said: “This stone may be in my next bracelet.” I loved this stone six months ago and still do. I make my bracelets to highlight the uniqueness and beauty of a particular stone. That is what this bracelet represents. Orange/yellow/red agate swirls frame a sparkling crystal-lined geode pocket—and a gold/black sagenitic formation that made this stone different from any other stone in the world. This is a Carver Agate Field original to be seen and enjoyed on only one wrist. I designed a sterling silver crown to highlight the colorful sagenite. Note also in the image below the small sterling silver ‘mirror’ in the geode pocket designed to reflect light out of the stone’s crystal-lined pocket back toward the eye. Everything about this new bracelet is thoughtfully, intentionally, yet subtly designed to enhance the reflectivity […]

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Unusual black chalcedony geode and other anomalies

Unusual black chalcedony geode and other anomalies

By /October 26, 2023 /0 comments /Cut Rocks

This is only the second black geode I have encountered on The Carver. This is dense black chalcedony, not basalt. Other photographs shown here are of the cabs which I cut from this black geode. Rock #5343I have never before encountered pitch black chalcedony in a Carver geode. Chalcedony is a micro-crystalline quartz (silica) common in many agates. It can be many colors but is most often translucent or transparent. Pitch black coloration is, from my experience, very rare. Click on the images below to view enlarged versions of this examples. Rock #5336 Rock #5248 Rock #5241 One stone yielded a slab that I turned into this fancy-cut designer free form cab (Rock #5325), as well as stone #5258 below. Rock #5325 Rock #5258 Last but not least. . . This small flat-topped cab features a crystal filled vug and the ‘fill tube’ (term likely not geologically correct) all from […]

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Newest cuttings reveal four agate nodules, one geode, and one fortification agate in a single cabochon! ...And many more cool stones

Newest cuttings reveal four agate nodules, one geode, and one fortification agate in a single cabochon! …And many more cool stones

By /October 24, 2023 /3 comments /Cut Rocks

Click on the images below so you can zoom in on the details! Here we go: Rock #5300See enlarged photo below Detail of Rock #5300See four agate nodules, one geode, and one fortification agate in a single cabochon Rock #5291Reminds me of Lloyd Bridges and Sea Hunt — an underwater scene (for those too young to remember Sea Hunt) Rock #5293A fancy free-form agate Rock #5299Looks cracked but it is not. It’s brecciated jasper with silica between the fragments Detail of Rock #5299 Rock #5298My favorite type of stone for cutting — jasp-agate with crystal lined vug Rock #5305The white top and bottom of this stone evidencing another ‘Bullfrog’ agate, named by me Rock #5337Geode in vein agate Rock #5338Designer free form agate cab cut from the above vein agate (Rock #5337) Rock #5308Spectacular flat topped jasp-agate cab with two blue fortification agate inclusions The three stones below — #5317, […]

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Blue Light Refraction

Blue Light Refraction

By /September 21, 2023 /6 comments /Cut Rocks

Rock #5258Light refraction causes electric blue agate I have never seen anything quite like this before from The Carver Agate Field.  The presence of the sagenitic growth seen in this specimen no doubt is largely responsible for the electric blue color.  While the sagenitic golden material obviously is not blue, I believe that it captures certain wave lengths of light that enter the stone, while in this case leaving the blue light wave lengths to refract back out of the stone and make it appear deep blue.  The refraction of light by the internal characteristics of a stone is not unusual—think of diamonds and opals.  On page 27 of his book Gemstones of the World, 1977, Walter Schumann explains as follows: “color is produced by light;  light is electromagnetic vibrations at certain wave lengths.  This visible light falls into six parts, each of a particular color (the spectral colors: red, orange, […]

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Summer Harvest from The Carver Agate Field: 15 Stones

Summer Harvest from The Carver Agate Field: 15 Stones

By /September 1, 2023 /2 comments /Cut Rocks

These beauties show the wonderful and unique geological agate varieties I have been fortunate to ‘happen upon’. This variety is illustrated, once again, by these 15 different stones which I cut in August, while not needing to tend my garden or mow grass. These stones were particularly fun for me because I hit a hot streak of remarkably interesting stones while simultaneously cutting rough material with two separate diamond saws. These beauties seem to appear one after another (sure, I have lots that I cut that go to the reject pile for many various reasons). But, my August work had very little rejected material and kept me busy doing what I really like to do—making stones shiny. Here are the results of my August harvest. To get started: Both of the stones below, #5208 and #5215, were cut from the same piece of rough. Eye popping beauty or just interesting? […]

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More Brand New Geodes from The Carver Agate Field and My Bullwheel

More Brand New Geodes from The Carver Agate Field and My Bullwheel

By /July 28, 2023 /4 comments /Cut Rocks

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. […]

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