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I was there once years ago and didn't really know what i was doing or what to look for. My experience up until then was mainly creek and river hunting, never digging. I'm learning a lot just from your videos so much thanks for that.
I was just over there last week, and got some really nice browns and purples! It's fantastic to have public areas for digging, me and my buddy had the whole place to ourselves.
I was there with a big group and had gotten soaked in 45 degree weather. I brought some stuff back and can only home some of it is as nice as what you got. It looks like y'all had a great day.
14:23 I like that one. It has a lot going on. And the next one is very cool too with the layered tear drop shape going on in there. Also those that have tried to convince me to use epoxy and resin to fill cracks show me the rocks that you “can’t tell” on and I see it clearly haha 😅 they all need glasses
Great video bud!!..really liked the scenery. Nice finds!..and hey..lemme know where I can get one of those altitude watches..I've been wanting one forever!
How bout you take some SiO2, heat it up to 3120F and fill the cracks with that, then grind smooth. Very cool spot, looking forward to visiting one day!
Great video, thanks for sharing, maybe try getting your specimens hot/warm then apply the epoxy? Also an idea just popped in my head, maybe try putting a cut egg in a container with acetone and epoxy and let it evaporate leaving the epoxy left in the cracks and fissures, filling them, sort of how they stabilize turquoise🤷♂️
Very interesting site! That swirled look to the rhyolite is fascinating... After 15:29, I find it humorous the number of people telling you to put epoxy on your rocks! I'm in the early stages of testing a method to consolidate crumbly fossils for cabochon making. The specimens undergo a museum grade polyvinyl acetate bath (via dissolved acetone), and then get cut and polished. If I find that the PVA truly fills the cracks indiscernibly after the final polish, I'll let you know.
Looks like you might have gotten a few "leaverites" on this trip. Good luck getting a good polish on those. They won't polish as nice as Agate filled eggs. Getting a satin finish is about all you'll get. Also, you need to start digging more for better material and not pick up other's scraps. There's a reason they left it behind. Also, one year at a show (I don't recall which one), someone had a White Fir egg that was half filled with Jasper and the other half will filled with Amethyst crystals. it was a little bigger than softball size. I've not seen it displayed again since and this was about 15 years ago. Give that rock hammer a good workout, you should be able to find some good 5 inch+ eggs at that location.
Reading this comment it seems rather rude and its way more of reflection of your character than mine. Maybe its time for you go drive out there and "Give that rock hammer a good workout" rather than telling me that I don't know what I'm doing.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding I apologize if it sounded rude. It was not meant to be rude. I've been to White Fir a few times and dug a number of eggs like you. I've just not found many that were worthy of my collection. I was merely trying to let you know they don't polish out very well and the Rhyolite chunks, as you pointed out, are full of pits and won't polish at all. Again, sorry if this appeared rude.
Awesome video and I like those Thundereggs, very unique! I put mineral oil on my cracks. Heat up the rock (via oven), and then brush the oil on the entire face, let it soak for 5 minutes or so, and then wipe off. It tends to soak into those cracks, and blends them in better. Not a fix, but makes them look better.
Awesome, buddy. You are in OR. Some of the eggs that are odd shaped could be " dirt balls." Nothing inside. You are onto something with resin. If you get a good resin, pour a coue layers on, 24 hrs apart, then sand. Don't sand all off, you want your crack filled. Once you get an art resin, no need to really sand!
I have been keeping an eye out for a good used lapidary saw. After watching the channel for a while... convinced I have to have one now LOL! They open up a whole new world of rockhounding (pun intended).
Looks like an awesome location that I'm going to have to check out in the future! I cut one of these before I even knew about this material! Crazy neat stuff!
One of my first rockhounding trips was there. I had no clue as to what I was doing. Still had a great time and did end up with a couple of great thundereggs from there.
Beautiful area! Worth the trip just to hike around. The Thundereggs are definitely very different. I still think they are very unique and cool. As for filling, I know people have said all kinds of ways. But, I swear by a specific 2 part epoxy that I use. There is a method of madness to do it right. Even to the point where there is no need to sand and polish it after. When finished, it looks just like someone high polished it. I use this method for Rhyolite. If you want my secrets, just message me. Too long to type here. Lol. Thanks so much for the adventure. Love this episode. Love your channel. Stay Crystal 💫 Mari
No thunder eggs here in Missouri but… we do have similar looking chert nodules. They’re Union road agates. I do know of a creek in St. Louis where they can be found and we just got a freak 10 inch rainstorm! Yep Jeff HuntingRocks and I will be hitting that creek soon. And yeah fracturing 🤷🏻♂️ It’s a bummer. Still a cool looking egg though 👍🏼
You put the epoxy on the crack and stick the rock in a vacuum chamber, when it returns to room air pressure the epoxy will be sucked into the crack. It's similar to windshield crack repair. When I built space satellites we degassed the epoxies to remove air bubbles that could expand in the vacuum of space.
You know that larger egg you cut with the fractures.. Brush coat a layer of clear epoxy over it. The fractures will disappear and it’ll have a nice protective finish. 👍
I’ll give you the same piece of advice I gave to my son. Get a cordless angle grinder with a diamond cutting blade and a diamond grinding disc. It’s not necessary to buy an expensive one and the 4” discs and blades are relatively inexpensive as well. What it allows you to do is selectively identify and chop out the desired material in the field, and collect a fraction of the actual material to haul home.
You might try out that rock countertop epoxy resin. I have had some luck with CA glue that comes with the spray activator. The CA glue also comes in different colors now (I think it's called StarBond or something like that 🤷♂️). Thanks for another great informative video. I love your vids, especially since I can't get out much right now. Thanks bro. You da man, man! 👊🐻
I hope you can find something to repair the rocks. When you do, let us know what works. Those were really nice. I tried mineral oil, epoxy and super glue. Not working for me.
Those are very pretty and no less interesting than the usual star of Chalcedony type you cut and polish, just different. Thanks for showing me another beautiful corner of your country.
I was just out there this past weekend! It was so hot but the digging was fantastic! I also recommend, if you are into some tougher digging, as in pulling thundereggs out of rock, you can try the T,N,T Beds that are just a little further up the road. They are also known for rarely having amethyst in the eggs. If you get any White Fir eggs with Agate, be sure to check for fluorescence to. I have one from the beds where the agate lightly glows green under UV.
@Nathan Cornelius Gotcha, I am a member of club but didn't realize it was owned by us. Was just out there digging on a group field trip to the Ochocos.
Those are really cool, very different thundereggs! I really like those! The variations of color and translucence, make them really unique. And in true thunderegg fashion, no two will be alike! Im really interested in the percentage of the material, how much of it was good? I dont want to go and have to take 5 gal of material, to get 3 decent pieces! But if 90% of what you collected was viable material, then heck yeah, im going! Its really interesting material and if i could collect a 2 gal bucket full and have even half of it good, then im happy! Thanks for sharing. Seeing this helps people to know what they are looking for!
@@CurrentlyRockhounding I totally understand. I think its worth a trip to find out. I kind of blew my knee out and it will be at least a month before i can walk again. How hard is the terrain to walk on, to get to the collection site?
Hi Jared- thank you for another great video. If you are looking to experiment with saving some less than ideal polishing material, I recommend checking out Jason’s videos over at rock hounding life. He uses epoxy on the face of fractured or mixed hardness rocks like petrified wood and fractured seam agate. It’s not for everyone but if it can divert a specimen from ending up in the garden or driveway then something has been gained. Like I said not for everyone but it might create a germ of a new idea to explore. One video is titled ‘Making Old PETRIFIED WOOD Shine | Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Cordaites’. His friend Terry shows him what to do in another video.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding 2nd video called “check out this agate”, Rockhounding life video from 7 motnhs ago. Show set up and epoxy pour techniques - then results of course.
That's a good amount of material for a cold day in December. I prefer the larger egg you cut, the best. It speaks to me in a way, whispering "I am not a pear". Were the fractures healed or recent, like in the last thousand years. Most resin crafts I've seen look like a waxed floor to me. It can be hard to tell the resin from the material. Some tests like hardness could be thrown off if it is too thick, or could be mistaken for fake. It's a conundrum for sure.
What I have been seeing is epoxy mixed in Acetone and the pressure chamber. Theory is: The epoxy is deluded in the Acetone. The vacuum chamber forces the Acetone deep into the cracks of the rock and evaporates leaving the epoxy filling the crack. I have yet to try it, but there are some videos on YT showing people doing this.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding just sharing what I found out. Maybe look for random brittle rocks as test subjects while your out and about rock hunting This way you don’t rune your good stuff
To each their own I guess. I like this material, its not something you typically see which I find interesting. With tons of beds producing similar chalcedony filled eggs in this area they start to have less interest to me personally over time.
Did you enjoy this video and find it to be informative? You can help ensure that more videos just like this get made by supporting the project on Patreon. www.patreon.com/currentlyrockhounding
Had to pause really quick..that piece Sara found at 7:42..had a little window I could see..looks really interesting 🤔..I'm wanting to see that cut
I was there once years ago and didn't really know what i was doing or what to look for. My experience up until then was mainly creek and river hunting, never digging. I'm learning a lot just from your videos so much thanks for that.
I would think some folks are possibly collecting for knapping also. Not sure. Thanks for the ride along!
I love the way you say "SHE NODDED"!! Been to that spot going again day after tomorrow...have a good one
Went there a couple of years ago.great fun and great specimens. The smaller broken chunks polished up beautiful!
I was just over there last week, and got some really nice browns and purples! It's fantastic to have public areas for digging, me and my buddy had the whole place to ourselves.
It was a beautiful place and I'm glad you picked up a few beautiful rocks.
I was there with a big group and had gotten soaked in 45 degree weather. I brought some stuff back and can only home some of it is as nice as what you got. It looks like y'all had a great day.
I can't wait to see your video from up there and I'm glad it wasn't 45 and raining for us.
I like the fracture in that one it makes it look like a tree cut in half
14:23 I like that one. It has a lot going on. And the next one is very cool too with the layered tear drop shape going on in there.
Also those that have tried to convince me to use epoxy and resin to fill cracks show me the rocks that you “can’t tell” on and I see it clearly haha 😅 they all need glasses
I know.... I really do not want a coated rock so its something I'm really going to have to play around with this fall.
Great video bud!!..really liked the scenery. Nice finds!..and hey..lemme know where I can get one of those altitude watches..I've been wanting one forever!
Thank you!
How bout you take some SiO2, heat it up to 3120F and fill the cracks with that, then grind smooth.
Very cool spot, looking forward to visiting one day!
That might be a little hard for me to but I like the idea of it.
Great video, thanks for sharing, maybe try getting your specimens hot/warm then apply the epoxy? Also an idea just popped in my head, maybe try putting a cut egg in a container with acetone and epoxy and let it evaporate leaving the epoxy left in the cracks and fissures, filling them, sort of how they stabilize turquoise🤷♂️
Very interesting site! That swirled look to the rhyolite is fascinating... After 15:29, I find it humorous the number of people telling you to put epoxy on your rocks! I'm in the early stages of testing a method to consolidate crumbly fossils for cabochon making. The specimens undergo a museum grade polyvinyl acetate bath (via dissolved acetone), and then get cut and polished. If I find that the PVA truly fills the cracks indiscernibly after the final polish, I'll let you know.
Please do let me know what you find! :)
Looks like you might have gotten a few "leaverites" on this trip. Good luck getting a good polish on those. They won't polish as nice as Agate filled eggs. Getting a satin finish is about all you'll get. Also, you need to start digging more for better material and not pick up other's scraps. There's a reason they left it behind. Also, one year at a show (I don't recall which one), someone had a White Fir egg that was half filled with Jasper and the other half will filled with Amethyst crystals. it was a little bigger than softball size. I've not seen it displayed again since and this was about 15 years ago. Give that rock hammer a good workout, you should be able to find some good 5 inch+ eggs at that location.
Reading this comment it seems rather rude and its way more of reflection of your character than mine.
Maybe its time for you go drive out there and "Give that rock hammer a good workout" rather than telling me that I don't know what I'm doing.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding I apologize if it sounded rude. It was not meant to be rude. I've been to White Fir a few times and dug a number of eggs like you. I've just not found many that were worthy of my collection. I was merely trying to let you know they don't polish out very well and the Rhyolite chunks, as you pointed out, are full of pits and won't polish at all. Again, sorry if this appeared rude.
I agree with you.
Awesome video and I like those Thundereggs, very unique! I put mineral oil on my cracks. Heat up the rock (via oven), and then brush the oil on the entire face, let it soak for 5 minutes or so, and then wipe off. It tends to soak into those cracks, and blends them in better. Not a fix, but makes them look better.
I think im going to have to experiment with that some. Thank you!
Awesome, buddy. You are in OR. Some of the eggs that are odd shaped could be " dirt balls." Nothing inside. You are onto something with resin. If you get a good resin, pour a coue layers on, 24 hrs apart, then sand. Don't sand all off, you want your crack filled. Once you get an art resin, no need to really sand!
Thank you for the tips.
I have been keeping an eye out for a good used lapidary saw. After watching the channel for a while... convinced I have to have one now LOL! They open up a whole new world of rockhounding (pun intended).
Having a saw is really a big change.
1ST...omw to work but will view it again when I get home. Love that area~
very nice stuff
Thank you!
My kids think you are blippi from the blippi youtube channel.lol😁
Looks like an awesome location that I'm going to have to check out in the future! I cut one of these before I even knew about this material! Crazy neat stuff!
It's really cool material.
One of my first rockhounding trips was there. I had no clue as to what I was doing. Still had a great time and did end up with a couple of great thundereggs from there.
Its a good spot for sure.
Beautiful area! Worth the trip just to hike around. The Thundereggs are definitely very different. I still think they are very unique and cool.
As for filling, I know people have said all kinds of ways. But, I swear by a specific 2 part epoxy that I use. There is a method of madness to do it right. Even to the point where there is no need to sand and polish it after. When finished, it looks just like someone high polished it. I use this method for Rhyolite. If you want my secrets, just message me. Too long to type here. Lol.
Thanks so much for the adventure.
Love this episode.
Love your channel.
Stay Crystal 💫
Mari
I would love to see a video of the method you use. Or an email would be amazing! :)
No thunder eggs here in Missouri but… we do have similar looking chert nodules. They’re Union road agates. I do know of a creek in St. Louis where they can be found and we just got a freak 10 inch rainstorm! Yep Jeff HuntingRocks and I will be hitting that creek soon. And yeah fracturing 🤷🏻♂️ It’s a bummer. Still a cool looking egg though 👍🏼
Dang man that is quite the rain storm.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding Yeah supposedly an once in 1000 years storm. Crazy stuff!
You put the epoxy on the crack and stick the rock in a vacuum chamber, when it returns to room air pressure the epoxy will be sucked into the crack. It's similar to windshield crack repair. When I built space satellites we degassed the epoxies to remove air bubbles that could expand in the vacuum of space.
You know that larger egg you cut with the fractures.. Brush coat a layer of clear epoxy over it. The fractures will disappear and it’ll have a nice protective finish. 👍
Don’t sand and polish, thin brush coat. Gotta use clear artist epoxy. Anyways 🤷♂️ beautiful finds. Lmk ahead of time if you come down. ✌️
I will look into it. Is there a brand you like?
I’ll give you the same piece of advice I gave to my son. Get a cordless angle grinder with a diamond cutting blade and a diamond grinding disc. It’s not necessary to buy an expensive one and the 4” discs and blades are relatively inexpensive as well. What it allows you to do is selectively identify and chop out the desired material in the field, and collect a fraction of the actual material to haul home.
That would really decrease what comes home.
You might try out that rock countertop epoxy resin. I have had some luck with CA glue that comes with the spray activator. The CA glue also comes in different colors now (I think it's called StarBond or something like that 🤷♂️).
Thanks for another great informative video. I love your vids, especially since I can't get out much right now. Thanks bro. You da man, man! 👊🐻
Wow. This reminds me so much of bruneau jasper. Not quite as beautiful, but same theory in creation. Did you ever cut the one I gave you?
I have not cut that one yet but I need to!
I hope you can find something to repair the rocks. When you do, let us know what works. Those were really nice. I tried mineral oil, epoxy and super glue. Not working for me.
Those are very pretty and no less interesting than the usual star of Chalcedony type you cut and polish, just different. Thanks for showing me another beautiful corner of your country.
I like see some different things like this.
I was just out there this past weekend! It was so hot but the digging was fantastic! I also recommend, if you are into some tougher digging, as in pulling thundereggs out of rock, you can try the T,N,T Beds that are just a little further up the road. They are also known for rarely having amethyst in the eggs. If you get any White Fir eggs with Agate, be sure to check for fluorescence to. I have one from the beds where the agate lightly glows green under UV.
@Nathan Cornelius Gotcha, I am a member of club but didn't realize it was owned by us. Was just out there digging on a group field trip to the Ochocos.
Thank you for point that out. That's why we didn't go out there but perhaps we will get the approval for a visit sometime.
Those are really cool, very different thundereggs! I really like those! The variations of color and translucence, make them really unique. And in true thunderegg fashion, no two will be alike! Im really interested in the percentage of the material, how much of it was good? I dont want to go and have to take 5 gal of material, to get 3 decent pieces! But if 90% of what you collected was viable material, then heck yeah, im going! Its really interesting material and if i could collect a 2 gal bucket full and have even half of it good, then im happy! Thanks for sharing. Seeing this helps people to know what they are looking for!
That's going to be a hard question for me to answer at this point. Really I would need to cut all of this and then look at it all to judge that.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding I totally understand. I think its worth a trip to find out. I kind of blew my knee out and it will be at least a month before i can walk again. How hard is the terrain to walk on, to get to the collection site?
@@largent45 Its pretty mellow to walk around. I hope you feel better soon.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding thanks!
Might have found fossilized coral of some sort today. Definitely has parallel porous structures... And maybe a bone...
And you didn’t even say hi when you came through my neck of the woods. 😂👋
Oh man it was really a quick trip where we hit as many spots as we could as quickly as we could.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding I was just kidding with you, I know you guys are on a schedule. 🙃
Hi Jared- thank you for another great video. If you are looking to experiment with saving some less than ideal polishing material, I recommend checking out Jason’s videos over at rock hounding life. He uses epoxy on the face of fractured or mixed hardness rocks like petrified wood and fractured seam agate. It’s not for everyone but if it can divert a specimen from ending up in the garden or driveway then something has been gained. Like I said not for everyone but it might create a germ of a new idea to explore. One video is titled ‘Making Old PETRIFIED WOOD Shine | Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Cordaites’. His friend Terry shows him what to do in another video.
Thank you for the tip I will give it a watch.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding 2nd video called “check out this agate”, Rockhounding life video from 7 motnhs ago. Show set up and epoxy pour techniques - then results of course.
That's a good amount of material for a cold day in December. I prefer the larger egg you cut, the best. It speaks to me in a way, whispering "I am not a pear". Were the fractures healed or recent, like in the last thousand years. Most resin crafts I've seen look like a waxed floor to me. It can be hard to tell the resin from the material. Some tests like hardness could be thrown off if it is too thick, or could be mistaken for fake. It's a conundrum for sure.
I feel like in the summer I'm just stashing away nuts for the long winter to come.
Auto body putty works great, need to color match
I have dug lavender and purple jasper out of that dig. You have to be persistent. Lot of leverite.
I’ve been to this spot a couple times with my kid. Fun rocks to smash
How could I get me one of those high speed sanders you got?
Richardson rock ranch sells them. Go to the website $395
@@mattrichards1492 thanks a bunch!!!
I tend to think the cracks and fissures just add more personality to the piece.
👏👏 Another beautiful day …
:)
What I have been seeing is epoxy mixed in Acetone and the pressure chamber.
Theory is: The epoxy is deluded in the Acetone. The vacuum chamber forces the Acetone deep into the cracks of the rock and evaporates leaving the epoxy filling the crack.
I have yet to try it, but there are some videos on YT showing people doing this.
I do plan on trying it this fall and figuring out some good methods for it. Right now its far too hot in the shop for me to be able to use it.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding just sharing what I found out. Maybe look for random brittle rocks as test subjects while your out and about rock hunting
This way you don’t rune your good stuff
@@jmsdvs5 Oh yeah I will be doing a bunch of testing trying any of the good stuff.
I live 30 min away from there
You should go check it out.
Kind of a quantity over quality spot, I am sure there are some better colors somewhere nearby. That one you cut looks like a cantaloupe
To each their own I guess. I like this material, its not something you typically see which I find interesting. With tons of beds producing similar chalcedony filled eggs in this area they start to have less interest to me personally over time.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding I can see that, most tend to be waterline, so these are a change.
Ha! Last time I was there on the Maxwell fire in 2006….. shoulda had my head down looking for rocks in my free time 🙂 🪨