🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Large, brown-red jasper

Blackfoot58 · Jun 25, 2025

This is one of the larger jasper’s I’ve found.
At least I believe it is chert/jasper. This weighs in at 13.58 oz. Cannot scratch it with a nail nor a stainless steel knife blade.
Definitely cryptocrystaline. It has a couple of lighter-colored streaks running through it. Hoping to polish it, but kind of larger for my tumbler. I may get it saw-cut.
Any opinions that vary from the chert/jasper ID?

tamrock · Jun 30, 2025

Im not thinking that be considered the same as a microcrystalline mineral known as Jasper to which arrowhead were made. That rock looks to have a pretty high compressive structure based on that smooth surface caused by many years of extreme erosion. That stone might be very difficult to knap the finer details necessary to produce an arrowhead or any type of cutting edge that you could be produced from the brittle type of red mineral commonly referred as Jasper. Your stone looks to be a metamorphic mostly quartz type that was moved along from a great distance and settled out in Iowa in a glacial alluvium deposit long ago.

galenrog · Jun 30, 2025

Quite frankly, it is a bit small, compared to what I used to find in East Oregon, South Idaho, and a lot of Nevada.

Will it take a polish? If so, you have a real winner, in my opinion.

ToddsPoint · Jul 1, 2025

Blackfoot58 said:
This is one of the larger jasper’s I’ve found.
At least I believe it is chert/jasper. This weighs in at 13.58 oz. Cannot scratch it with a nail nor a stainless steel knife blade.
Definitely cryptocrystaline. It has a couple of lighter-colored streaks running through it. Hoping to polish it, but kind of larger for my tumbler. I may get it saw-cut.
Any opinions that vary from the chert/jasper ID?View attachment 2214115 View attachment 2214116

Do you still have my address? Send it to me and I’ll cut it however you want.

Blackfoot58 · Jul 1, 2025

ToddsPoint said:
Do you still have my address? Send it to me and I’ll cut it however you want.

I’ll message you. Thanks!

unclemac · Jul 2, 2025

galenrog said:
Quite frankly, it is a bit small, compared to what I used to find in East Oregon, South Idaho, and a lot of Nevada.

Will it take a polish? If so, you have a real winner, in my opinion.

indeed, if you want to just hunt rocks, northern NV is worth the trip. You have no idea! Imagine going beach-combing on a beach that never ends...But! bring water and wear a hat!

tamrock · Jul 2, 2025

unclemac said:
indeed, if you want to just hunt rocks, northern NV is worth the trip. You have no idea! Imagine going beach-combing on a beach that never ends...But! bring water and wear a hat!

I do miss going out there at times when I worked for an outfit that had a location in Carlin.

Blackfoot58 · Jul 2, 2025

unclemac said:
indeed, if you want to just hunt rocks, northern NV is worth the trip. You have no idea! Imagine going beach-combing on a beach that never ends...But! bring water and wear a hat!

Public access?