Fossil coral or wood? Also, what is this rock?

[velodromed]

Happy Monday!
We find a lot of fossilized wood here in Texas, but as I learn more I’m discovering some may be coral instead. The rock in the first four pictures below I’ve always assumed was petrified wood, possibly palm. But as I learn more, it looks like it may have some coral like features?

The second couple of pictures are of a light weight rock we’ve come across a few times. Out of curiosity, I cut one in half and cleaned it up with high strength vinegar followed by CLR. I now can see what looks like a branched chalcedony vein running through it and a druzy or two, I think they’re called. Is it volcanic? A fossil? Or just a kinda cool rock.

My wife, 10 year old daughter and I got into rock polishing a year ago and now we’re trying to learn about fossils because we’re constantly running across them. I appreciate any opinions on both rocks as it’s helping us learn. Have a great week everyone!

 

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[Blackfoot58]

I can’t give advice, but I’m in the same boat. Finding rocks to polish and a good share of fossilized items. Welcome to the club!

 

[velodromed]

I can’t give advice, but I’m in the same boat. Finding rocks to polish and a good share of fossilized items. Welcome to the club!

Thanks! I like it here. Been perusing through everything I can find on Texas fossils and learning so much. I’ve been rock tumbling a bit over a year now. We, as a family, find it and I tumble/polish it. We have over 150lbs of collected rock from all over Texas and another 10lbs in purchased rock. What do you like to polish?

It all started because we kept noticing rocks while bashing our RC cars. Then we got a small tumbler and I was hooked. I slowed my RC purchases and now have a 6lb tumbler, 3lb tumbler, 5lb vibratory tumbler, 7” wet saw and an electric microscope. Got a ton of jewelry making supplies also and am working on learning that. We’re about to get a 17lb tumbler for my bday next month, then I’ll get to go really crazy. Here’s a few things I’ve done this last 6 months. Mostly self collected rock with a few crazy lace agats I bought. I’m slowly but surly getting better…

 

[Blackfoot58]

I’m collecting rocks to polish, but haven’t bought a tumbler yet. I’ll get one soon. Trouble deciding. I want a durable, fair priced starter unit. You have some beautiful rocks in the photos. I have about 12 pounds of various “creek finds”, quartz, agates, etc. thanks for sharing your activities!

 

[Kray Gelder]

I think all shown in your first picks are petrified/fossilized wood. Lying buried in the ground for millions of years, mineral saturated fluids will leave those crystal deposits in any void.

Your polished specimens are beautiful!

 

[velodromed]

I’m collecting rocks to polish, but haven’t bought a tumbler yet. I’ll get one soon. Trouble deciding. I want a durable, fair priced starter unit. You have some beautiful rocks in the photos. I have about 12 pounds of various “creek finds”, quartz, agates, etc. thanks for sharing your activities!

I bought a Wire Jewelry, double 3lb barrel for $125 early last year. It’s decent enough, but if I did it over I’d get a Thumbler, double 3lb barrel for around $220, or Lortone for $185. Kingsley North has good prices I’ve found. Amazon also for some things (beware of poor quality grits and polishes though). I like the double 3lb barrel tumblers a lot. I used one barrel for course grits and the other for polish only. I just got a Ray-Tech vibratory tumbler for polishing though, so they are both for courser tumbling now. I run them all 24/7. Best hint I ever picked up is buy 10 times more course grit than the others. I run them in course for months over and over sometimes getting them how I like.

Here’s the link to their tumbler selection below. Whatever you do, stay away from cheap Harbor Freight type models, there are a lot of their rebrands on Amazon for 60-90 bucks. They suck though. On YouTube, Scott Wilkins (austin, tx) and especially Ron of Michigan Rocks have great beginner tumbling videos. I’m still a beginner but have learned much this last year. If you have any questions as you go, feel free to ask. If you ever want some good Texas rocks and petrified wood, I do trades also. It’s a great hobby and sharing is good.

Rotary Rock tumblers

Rotary rock tumblers for rock polishing. Choose from Lortone, Thumler's tumbler, Covington Engineering, and Diamond Pacific.

kingsleynorth.com

 

[velodromed]

I think all shown in your first picks are petrified/fossilized wood. Lying buried in the ground for millions of years, mineral saturated fluids will leave those crystal deposits in any void.

Your polished specimens are beautiful!

Thank you! I appreciate the compliment very much. In the pics up top, that one piece I’m finding has a lot of coral characteristics, especially at 30x magnification. We just bought an electronic microscope to look even closer at it. Below is a picture of another really nice piece of petrified coral we found. Can’t wait to see it under the scope. The other rock I cut in half I’m pretty sure is not wood. It’s looking like a sponge the more I research it.

I love petrified wood the most and have buckets of it. I cut/polish mini slabs for making jewelry type things. Looking at the second set of pictures; #4 is a Texas Jasper agate combo I collected, #6 and 9 are Mexican crazy lace agate I bought, #10 is a batch of desert and fancy Jasper I bought and the rest are self collected petrified wood. #8 and 9 are front/back of the most beautiful petrified wood piece I’ve found so far. It took near 3 months to tumble. I have a few others I’m working on that I think will turn out nearly or as good. The others are mini slabs of a dozen or so different types of petrified wood I collected.

 

[Blackfoot58]

Thanks for the insight on polishers. I appreciate it!

 

[ToddsPoint]

I bought a Wire Jewelry, double 3lb barrel for $125 early last year. It’s decent enough, but if I did it over I’d get a Thumbler, double 3lb barrel for around $220, or Lortone for $185. Kingsley North has good prices I’ve found. Amazon also for some things (beware of poor quality grits and polishes though). I like the double 3lb barrel tumblers a lot. I used one barrel for course grits and the other for polish only. I just got a Ray-Tech vibratory tumbler for polishing though, so they are both for courser tumbling now. I run them all 24/7. Best hint I ever picked up is buy 10 times more course grit than the others. I run them in course for months over and over sometimes getting them how I like.

Here’s the link to their tumbler selection below. Whatever you do, stay away from cheap Harbor Freight type models, there are a lot of their rebrands on Amazon for 60-90 bucks. They suck though. On YouTube, Scott Wilkins (austin, tx) and especially Ron of Michigan Rocks have great beginner tumbling videos. I’m still a beginner but have learned much this last year. If you have any questions as you go, feel free to ask. If you ever want some good Texas rocks and petrified wood, I do trades also. It’s a great hobby and sharing is good.

Rotary Rock tumblers

Rotary rock tumblers for rock polishing. Choose from Lortone, Thumler's tumbler, Covington Engineering, and Diamond Pacific.

kingsleynorth.com

I have a couple of questions. I have a thumbler tumbler I use for brass ammo tumbling. I’ve never tumbled rocks. How many different grades of grit does it take? Where can I get some grit?

 

[newnan man]

Those polished rocks are very nice. Lot's of coral here in Florida you could polish!

 

[velodromed]

I have a couple of questions. I have a thumbler tumbler I use for brass ammo tumbling. I’ve never tumbled rocks. How many different grades of grit does it take? Where can I get some grit?

I’ve been rock hunting and tumbling for a bit over a year so my method is still coming together, but basically I do the following, with good success, when using a rotary tumbler-

60-90 SiC (silicon carbide) grit or similar Course stage 1 for as long as it needs (in 8-9 day increments between changing) to shape the rocks and remove blemishes. Anywhere from 1-3 months typically so I go through considerably more course grid than the anything else.

120 grit or similar stage 2 for removing scratches etc left by stage 1. Typically 7-8 days.

500 grit or similar stage 3 for removing more scratches etc left by stage 2 and 3. Typically 7-8 days.

My pre-polish varies from 700-1200 SiC for a week or so or I may use 1200 AO (aluminum oxide, followed by 1-2 micron size AO for anywhere from 1-3 weeks.

Then I got a vibratory tumbler about a month ago. So now I’ve only been using my rotary tumblers for the course stage and then the rest is done in an 8 to 10 day polishing process in the vibe.

I strongly suggest searching for Michigan Rocks, YouTube channel. He has some extremely good videos for rock tumbling (the beginner ones are fantastic) and they have helped me immensely over this last year. I like the Rock Shed and Kingsley North for grit and polish supplies. The Gem Shop is perhaps my favorite for rocks. Haven’t tried their grit supplies yet. I tried Amazon, grit and rocks, and it was hit or miss, but mostly miss. I tried Etsy for rocks and got burned more often than not. So I stick with the dependable rock stores now, as mentioned above. I’ve also learned a lot on RockTumblingHobby.com.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Thanks for your reply. Lots of good info. I didn’t realize it took months of turning to get a polish started.

 

[newnan man]

I bought a cheap tumbler at Harbor Freight. Didn't know squat about tumblers. I figured a day or two, ha! After a week the rocks looked exactly like when I put them in. I was using small chunks of Coral I found on various artifact hunts. The tumbler is now just sitting in the garage. I love polished rocks but I'm not going to be the polisher!