Herkimer Diamonds ~ Double Terminated Quartz Crystals

[swizzle]

I just want to post a bit of joy from my claim. These are locked into the rock so bad that I've actually decided to try something a bit crazy. I'm working on cutting the whole pocket out. I'm gonna be cutting through at least a 4 foot radius around the pocket and then underneath it too. The crazy thing is there is actually 3 pockets and the one I'm cutting out is the middle pocket. If all goes well I want to put some color changing LED's in the back of the vug to highlight the diamonds. Right now I'm cutting into dolostone, damn tough stuff. I'm using a $9 dry blade on an angle grinder to cut the stone with and its working quite well. Anyone know if there's any blades that'll work on angle grinder that will cut a little faster. I know one of the miners uses a 14" stihl but I want to do the inch by inch deal rather then risk cutting diamonds in a pocket. I only live 10 miles from the mine so I'm there a lot. Its starting to look like its gonna take 3 days just to cut it out of the rock. I think its worth it though. I hit another pocket this morning starting the cut in on the left of the pocket. Looks like its the size of a large grapefruit but I can't see if there's anything behind the herks. They are locked in pretty good. I could have pried and prayed but I figure that I might better take it a little slower. I'm hoping for a decent cluster and hopefully the pocket opens up. Well that's what I'm up to and I love reading about other peoples fresh digs as well. Mainly crystals and stones. Anybody got a good story about a recent big pocket of joy?

 

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[Dustedyou]

ok so ther is a 3" and 4" diamond bit saw blade that fits a Rotozip,,, and oddly enough it will fit a grinder too ive even just bolted it to my cordless drill for action.. itll cut pretty much anything there 18$ in home depot. and 3.99$ at harbor freight

 

[swizzle]

I failed at trying to cut out the pocket. To many cracks and seams. Once I get down into the blue stone there's no seams so I should easily be able to cut out several pockets. Here's a quick video of my claim and I point out where the pockets are. Today the pocket on the bottom right was just a small crack under the rock that opened up and I pulled a 10 ounce double and I can feel another one underneath. Hopefully it opens up wider. Anyone know where I can get a good hard rock chisel that's not gonna break. I have a 1" thats about 4 inches shorter then when I first got it but I can't remember where its from and I keep busting the home depot and lowes cheap azz $12 chisels.

 

[Dustedyou]

lol HIT Harvor freight there even cheaper!!lol i go thru em often enough i bought the membership! lol

 

[swizzle]

Never been but I should the next time I have about $800 or $900 to spend and pick up a few things I've been wanting.

 

[Dustedyou]

* Harbor freight.. and ya im aloud 20$ my wife let me in there once with the credit card.. and now i have tools! but i only get to go with $20.00 forever more..lol

 

[gold tramp]

Try old drill steel for fabricating chisels that is what we fab our chisels from. Try betanamite for cracking out a block drill by hand to reduce shock to pocket material you can break out block shapes whith some practice. One inch holes x one foot or so deep. Nice doubles good luck....

 

[swizzle]

I'd love to get some of that non explosive stuff but its not cost effective for me at this point in time. I was considering having ma nature have her way with the rock when it starts to get colder out. Drill a bunch of holes and fill them with water and let them freeze. Just gotta figure out the best depth and spacing. I don't go up as much in the winter but I still make it up enough to make this method worth trying. I've been hitting a pocket or 2 on average everytime I go up to the mine. Just gotta hit some good ones.

 

[gold tramp]

I'd love to get some of that non explosive stuff its not cost effective for me at this point in time. I was considering having ma nature have her way with the rock when it starts to get colder out. Drill a bunch of holes and fill them with water and let them freeze. Just gotta figure out the best depth and spacing. I don't go up as much in the winter but I still make it up enough to make this method worth trying. I've been hitting a pocket or 2 on average everytime I go up to the mine. Just gotta hit some good ones.

That would probably work well i think or you could use a wedge n feather device ? As for spacing start with 6 inches I think that will work? Dont know your rock out that way. The guys want to try the redwood wedges ,i will get some pics of it when they try, they have to load a large rock up next time we go out . When hit the hard stuff I just try to find a hair line crack
I have a rock wedge it's fairly soft steel but will suck itself into just about any hard rock, we have to fab these tools ourself i don't think you can buy. talk to your local stone mason he might be able to help the older the better. Herb.....

 

[swizzle]

I got a set of 3/4" pin and feathers. I think we spaced them too far apart in our test. Figured with the time we spent drilling the holes and setting them we could do the same amount of work with the 4 1/2 rock saw. But with this rock its hard to say. I'm working between layers, Top layer shatter rock, break most of it up with a screw driver, then bigger pieces with a crow bar and then 200lb chunks with a splitting wedge and a rock bar. After that it starts to get harder and doesn't come out in pieces but in chips and small chunks. I figure about another foot down and I'll be right into the solid ledge, no seams or hairline cracks in that stuff. Then I think I'm gonna have to upgrade to a demo or breaking hammer to knock out the chips after I saw through some rock. One concern I do have is that I'm dry cutting silica rich stone and its really bad for you. I'm wondering what I should really be wearing for protect gear. I put my lungs through enough abuse when i was younger. I want to save them as best I can. As far as chisels go I just bought an 8" long 1" flat chisel on ebay that looks about like my favorite chisel did and I placed a bid on a lot of 75 chisels that has a few stubby ones in there too. I'm hoping to win that and have chisels for me and the cub scouts when they stop up.

 

[Dustedyou]

I got a set of 3/4" pin and feathers. I think we spaced them too far apart in our test. Figured with the time we spent drilling the holes and setting them we could do the same amount of work with the 4 1/2 rock saw. But with this rock its hard to say. I'm working between layers, Top layer shatter rock, break most of it up with a screw driver, then bigger pieces with a crow bar and then 200lb chunks with a splitting wedge and a rock bar. After that it starts to get harder and doesn't come out in pieces but in chips and small chunks. I figure about another foot down and I'll be right into the solid ledge, no seams or hairline cracks in that stuff. Then I think I'm gonna have to upgrade to a demo or breaking hammer to knock out the chips after I saw through some rock. One concern I do have is that I'm dry cutting silica rich stone and its really bad for you. I'm wondering what I should really be wearing for protect gear. I put my lungs through enough abuse when i was younger. I want to save them as best I can. As far as chisels go I just bought an 8" long 1" flat chisel on ebay that looks about like my favorite chisel did and I placed a bid on a lot of 75 chisels that has a few stubby ones in there too. I'm hoping to win that and have chisels for me and the cub scouts when they stop up.

I'd get a good face mask at least... also you might just consider misting the area.

 

[swizzle]

I have a face mask but from what I hear I need a different type, just not sure what type it is or if its readily available in my local stores or not.

 

[Dustedyou]

Harbor Freight has one (down to .01 micron ) purple.. its pretty good it'd be perfect for the dust. i tdo believe its 29$

 

[swizzle]

Thanx man. I'm gonna need something good. I just saw the same blades that I have on my angle grinder that will fit a circular saw for only $15 so I'm gonna try that soon. Maybe tomorrow afternoon. I'm guessing bigger blade, more dust. Lowes has the dust mask that are rated for coal and ore mining for $25 for a pack of $20. I also read that if you smell or taste concrete then the mask is no good so I'm definitely upgrading safety gear soon. I also had an offer of a husqvarna 14" concrete saw for $250 and they have a water feed to stop the dust. I really don't want to go that big but I don't think they make any wet concrete saws in the 7" to 10" range. I really think I need to ditch the dry blades as soon as I get the money to get a wet saw. My one mining buddy has been running a Stihl TS 420 for a couple years, says he pays $300-$400 just for the blades?!? I hope I can get them cheaper then that!!

 

[Dustedyou]

A 7" diamond blade at Harbor Freight is 23$ a 10 inch is up to 68$ not any where near the Stihl price! just check the size of the hole in the center..and RPM.. you should be good
<<And if no one could tell I LOVE Harbor Freight! lmao

 

[Dustedyou]

@ Carbon Filter Neoprene Dust Mask with Replaceable Liners

 

[swizzle]

I'm liking that blue mask. I could never get a mask to fit me tight. I put an ad on craigslist and i'm working on a trade to get an old 14" makita. I just need to figure out how to hook it up to water and then dust should be a thing of the past. They have some kind of dust collection system for them too but I think I'll just stick with a wet set up to keep the blade cool. The blades are pricey. $189-318 at lowes. The saw is an older looking Makita DPC9501. I'll know more bout it on monday.

 

[Brian T. Booth]

I just want to post a bit of joy from my claim. These are locked into the rock so bad that I've actually decided to try something a bit crazy. I'm working on cutting the whole pocket out. I'm gonna be cutting through at least a 4 foot radius around the pocket and then underneath it too. The crazy thing is there is actually 3 pockets and the one I'm cutting out is the middle pocket. If all goes well I want to put some color changing LED's in the back of the vug to highlight the diamonds. Right now I'm cutting into dolostone, damn tough stuff. I'm using a $9 dry blade on an angle grinder to cut the stone with and its working quite well. Anyone know if there's any blades that'll work on angle grinder that will cut a little faster. I know one of the miners uses a 14" stihl but I want to do the inch by inch deal rather then risk cutting diamonds in a pocket. I only live 10 miles from the mine so I'm there a lot. Its starting to look like its gonna take 3 days just to cut it out of the rock. I think its worth it though. I hit another pocket this morning starting the cut in on the left of the pocket. Looks like its the size of a large grapefruit but I can't see if there's anything behind the herks. They are locked in pretty good. I could have pried and prayed but I figure that I might better take it a little slower. I'm hoping for a decent cluster and hopefully the pocket opens up. Well that's what I'm up to and I love reading about other peoples fresh digs as well. Mainly crystals and stones. Anybody got a good story about a recent big pocket of joy? YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_VZS50WzLo

If you are wanting to get the quartz out but wanting to do so without hurting the quartz why don't you just chemically break down the rock. Use HCl. Or also called muratic acid. You can buy this by the gallon in your local hardware store. It will take more acid and time with the dolostone since its a high mg calcite. less time if its calcium carbonate, but that's the best way to extract the quartz from the matrix carbonate without harming the quartz. It's also relatively cheap. Just be careful. The fumes are very dangerous.

 

[swizzle]

Chemicals are a no no for a few reasons otherwise I would have done it already. The claim is in a mine and the frown on toxic chemicals, of course the danger factor and I sell these crystals to the metaphysical, wiccan and pagan folks. They dont want any harsh chemicals on their crystals, some even want them untouched. I've done small scale test at home and for the amount of acid I would need it just wouldn't be efficient and would make the whole process dangerous. I'm dealing with ledge so I can't just dip the ledge in a bucket, I'd have to dump the acid on the ledge. I like the way you think.