Found nice quartz crystal hill, but I'm a noob so I need harvesting tips.

[Shoesnsocks]

I found this hill with a couple nice patches of quartz, and with potential for possibly more patches since I definitely have not explored the whole thing yet. I'm attaching a few pics from an hour or so spent out there last time.

I would like to know what people think about cleaning the crystals. I actually like the look of them with the dirt just cleaned off, but with the staining still on them. Is it normal for people to sometimes leave that staining on them?

Also, a lot of the crystals are still bound to the host rock, which I believe is quartzite. I would like to know about some of the best methods for removing the clusters without damaging them too much. Is this a thing people do? Everything I read about just talks about people digging loose crystals from the ground.

The second to last pic is of a pocket in the host rock that has some very nice crystals in it. I would love to find a way to remove them, but am afraid to break them. I didn't have a brush with me so I just got as much dirt out as I could and then poured some water on them so they would show up in the pic better.

The last pic is of a specimen I found that has a rough texture on the crystals. It doesn't come off when I try to wipe it off with water. Does anyone know what this is? I kinda like it and will probably leave it either way, but I'm curious about what it is.

 

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[DDancer]

Got some nice clusters there. As to cleaning, the orange indicates iron staining so try Iron Out or CLR and soak them for a while. The dull material might be calcite in which case CLR will remove that but the gloss may not come out on the crystals depending on when the new layer met the original crystal. As to the smaller clusters on host rock careful cuttting with a tile saw can remove most of it. Most people leave clusters intact but if there's a nice crystal careful chipping can free it. As to the ones in the ground still a 5lb hammer, chisels and pry bar are about the only options. Just dont start hitting it to close to the cluster, if it breaks you can still glue it back together.

 

[Shoesnsocks]

Got some nice clusters there. As to cleaning, the orange indicates iron staining so try Iron Out or CLR and soak them for a while. The dull material might be calcite in which case CLR will remove that but the gloss may not come out on the crystals depending on when the new layer met the original crystal. As to the smaller clusters on host rock careful cuttting with a tile saw can remove most of it. Most people leave clusters intact but if there's a nice crystal careful chipping can free it. As to the ones in the ground still a 5lb hammer, chisels and pry bar are about the only options. Just dont start hitting it to close to the cluster, if it breaks you can still glue it back together.

Thanks for those tips, that's pretty much exactly what I wanted to know.

 

[DDancer]

Hope to see some more come outta there. Luck to ya.