Derk
Jr. Member
- Sep 30, 2018
- 45
- 45
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
While arrowhead hunting, I came across this smooth, black, semi-shiny rock, that I originally picked up as a meteowrong. At first I didn't know if the smooth black surface was fusion crust, and didn't see obvious any regmaglypts, but upon handling the stone thats size and shape are almost identical to a medium Gatsby style hat, my immediate observation was how incredibly heavy it was for its size(I'd estimate it at least 12-15 lbs).
Once I got it home, I first tried some small strong magnets, which only weakly stuck just enough to hold their own weight(seen in some pics below). Next, while beginning to grind a small window into the surface(which I found exceedingly more difficult than with any other material I've handled), I succeeded in ruling out a fusion crust, as the interior that I was only just able to expose due to the apparent density and/or hardness of this material, was essentially the same color with very little difference from the outer surface.
And following those efforts, It served for a few months as a doorstop outside the garage, before my partial attempt to saw it in two with my smallish wet saw with diamond blade. I decided, after 20 minutes or so, of sawing into it, that the progress was going much too slow, and was probably at the expense of my diamond blade, so I quit for the time being with a line cut only about an inch deep at the thickest, covering only about a quarter the circumference during the whole time on the saw. So from that point, the piece migrated with me to a friends place where there was more cutting options available.
We hit it hard with a heavy duty circular saw and much larger(albeit not diamond coated) cutting disk. And finally, after quickly devouring mostly the entire cutting disk, the grand "Black Gatsby" globule remains, yet still, ONE single notable nodule! That's right. Although it has been cut about 3/5 the way through, the project has been stalled for the better part of a year, since that second attempt to cut through it.
So obviously, I still have yet to see what is inside this thing. And I am still eager to get that far at least. As heavy and hard as it is, I almost half-expect it to have a core of some kinda like solid metal(highly doubtful, lol) at its center.
And I know that any kind of positive ident is not possible based on some pictures alone(no matter how riveting a yarn I spun to go along with them), I have one question, should it please the sages whose pool of knowledge plumbs the depths of things relevant to this matter.
Is it at all possible to tell if there be any chance of this very dense and abnormally heavy stone is a type of Black Jade or not?
I appreciate any and all feedback I can get from this forum. I thank you all for your thoughts.
(((Note: These pictures were taken before any cutting attempts. Also, the flat portion visible in some images was not a window made by me, and is natural as far as I'm aware, or at least was how I found it. Although some scratch marks can be seen that WERE made by myself using a metal file in one of the earliest attempts to grind and polish that already "naturally" flat portion into a window.)))
Once I got it home, I first tried some small strong magnets, which only weakly stuck just enough to hold their own weight(seen in some pics below). Next, while beginning to grind a small window into the surface(which I found exceedingly more difficult than with any other material I've handled), I succeeded in ruling out a fusion crust, as the interior that I was only just able to expose due to the apparent density and/or hardness of this material, was essentially the same color with very little difference from the outer surface.
And following those efforts, It served for a few months as a doorstop outside the garage, before my partial attempt to saw it in two with my smallish wet saw with diamond blade. I decided, after 20 minutes or so, of sawing into it, that the progress was going much too slow, and was probably at the expense of my diamond blade, so I quit for the time being with a line cut only about an inch deep at the thickest, covering only about a quarter the circumference during the whole time on the saw. So from that point, the piece migrated with me to a friends place where there was more cutting options available.
We hit it hard with a heavy duty circular saw and much larger(albeit not diamond coated) cutting disk. And finally, after quickly devouring mostly the entire cutting disk, the grand "Black Gatsby" globule remains, yet still, ONE single notable nodule! That's right. Although it has been cut about 3/5 the way through, the project has been stalled for the better part of a year, since that second attempt to cut through it.
So obviously, I still have yet to see what is inside this thing. And I am still eager to get that far at least. As heavy and hard as it is, I almost half-expect it to have a core of some kinda like solid metal(highly doubtful, lol) at its center.
And I know that any kind of positive ident is not possible based on some pictures alone(no matter how riveting a yarn I spun to go along with them), I have one question, should it please the sages whose pool of knowledge plumbs the depths of things relevant to this matter.
Is it at all possible to tell if there be any chance of this very dense and abnormally heavy stone is a type of Black Jade or not?
I appreciate any and all feedback I can get from this forum. I thank you all for your thoughts.
(((Note: These pictures were taken before any cutting attempts. Also, the flat portion visible in some images was not a window made by me, and is natural as far as I'm aware, or at least was how I found it. Although some scratch marks can be seen that WERE made by myself using a metal file in one of the earliest attempts to grind and polish that already "naturally" flat portion into a window.)))
Attachments
Last edited:
