indian paint rock so happy

[rockhoundrich]

aquired these beauties the other day had to share one is 31lbs and other is 17lbs

 

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[Eu_citzen]

What is "Indian Paint rock"? Looks either like some kind of Rhyolite or chalcedony to me.

 

[rockhoundrich]

Indian paint rock is a sedementary rock. it is a sandstone found in Nevada and California. The interesting paterns and colors are created by trace amounts of iron and manganese being drawn into the rock by capilary action through minute cracks in the stone

 

[rockhoundrich]

I can maybe see ryolite based on the pictures but chalcedony not a chance also it has a mohs of 3-3.5 which takes ryolite out also I know when where and by who it was collected

 

[Eu_citzen]

Thanks, was not familiar with that term.
Yes, was just going by first impressions. Is that the weathered surface, or a freshly exposed surface we see?

A hardness of 3 - 3.5 also takes out sandstone.

Weathered "halleflint" can also resemble it.
But the hardness ruled out all above.

 

[rockhoundrich]

ok after talking with a couple geologist friends they say it is concidered a type of jasper but the grains are so loose it has the aperance of having a lower mohs the light color is a sandstone sedimentary where the black is manganise red is iron there is varying hardness depending on where its scratched ive been working this type of stone for several years and have some smaller chunks left over from some of my sculpting the person that collected it got it from death valley ca back in the 70s but in 1992 the area was closed to collecting also ive heard that the area was almost completely hunted out some other deposits have been found but are few and far between and closely guarded due to its high price ive seen it selling on ebay for as much as $40 per pound for the higher quality material the term indian paint rock is a common name due to the color paterns not the actual name due to the many minerals that make up its composition

 

[Bajahunter]

The softer material could be ocher.
Ochre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I have found similar material down here but yellower and much smaller veins.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Jasper does not have any grains. Sandstone does.

Now, if they fall off when doing a hardness test I can see one can mistake it for having a lower hardness then it actually does.

 

[rockhoundrich]

Slabed a few pieces off today

 

[rockhoundrich]

Oops I put the same picture twice

 

[ScribbleMuse]

That looks really pretty inside! Can't wait to see what you do with it.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Looks nice, better then I thought it would!

 

[rockhoundrich]

Freehand end cut

 

[rocksnsilver]

Very nice cab! Love Indian Paint Rock!

 

[Eu_citzen]

What do you use to polish it? Never cut it, so I'm curious.

 

[Sklybones]

Thats some cool rock, And I know Iv'e walked over it a time or two and may even have some here at the house, Never thought to cut it, It didn't look like it would take a polish..Showed youre pics to my brother and we both agreed on where we had seen it, so we will be going to get some and see how it turns out...Thanks for your post and showing us what we've been overlooking

 

[rockhoundrich]

Made a pen

 

[Bajahunter]

I am really amazed at this rock. Because of the colors in the rock, but also that is appears fairly easy to work. All your work has been both beautiful and unique.
How hard is it?
I have also seen rock similar to yours down here in Baja. Not sure if it is the same. But I plan on picking some up the next time I come across it and polishing it up.

 

[rockhoundrich]

Thanks for the compliment the hardness varies the grey/white areas are around a 3 the red is near 4 and the black is 5.5-6 making it a little difficult to work unless using diamond grinding wheels sometimes I prefer to work stone by hand but with the hardness variation it creates almost a 3D effect