I thought Id try to do something a little useful for the newbies here. If you are an old hand, feel free to pass by. The photo is my rock ID kit. Its easy and cheap to put together. Excluding the hand lens, hammer and chisels, the rest of the lot should run about $30 maximum. Here is what is there and approximate cost: On the lanyard: 10x hand lens. I have a Bausch and Lomb Hastings triplett which cost me about $20. A non-fancy 10x lens can be had for about $5...they stock them at most colleges with science degrees. A 1 LED squeeze light to check for translucency. $2-3 at any outdoor store. A whistle. Ive never needed it, but its a carryover from pre-cellphone days, and I still go a number of places with zero cell coverage. Now from lower left: For hardness: a half dozen pre-1982 copper pennies, which are 95% copper (Mohs 3) and 5% tin. Or you can use a nice calcite rhombohedron, but Id rather not. Bottom of a glass bottle. Nice and thick and the sharp edges are chipped off. Mohs 5.5 and reference for conchoidal fracture. Tiny Swiss Army knife. Its good knife steel which should be about 6.5. About $8-9. Unglazed streak plate. Lab or teachers supply; you can get a dozen for $5, or go to a plumbing/hardware store and see if they have bathroom tile samples or broken pieces. Sometimes you can get them free. Two milky quartz pebbles. Other than topaz you are unlikely to find anything harder than quartz by accident, (If you are looking for sapphires or rubies add a broken piece of silica/tungsten/titanium carbide file or saw blade. Ive never been in sapphire country. Other things to pack your pack: Im in the sedimentary midwest, so I have an old nasal spray bottle filled with muriatic (hydrochloric) acid, which I carry tightly closed and up right in a front backpack pocket. MARK IT ON BOTH SIDES WITH A BIG XXX. Add a rock or brick hammer, goggles, 1/4 and 1/2 tempered chisels, some sample bags (cloth or plastic bread bags, or newspaper, a few old 35mm film cans or pill bottles, a couple of rags, a small first aid kit and a bottle of water to a sturdy backpack and you are good to go. P.S. I store my magnets on the refrigerator, because there usually is no need to field test magnetism. They are optional, as is lunch or a painters bucket, depending on your destination. IF you are going on a quarry trip , you may need a helmet and steel or leather reinforced ankle support style boots for their requirements. Someone will tell you if you do. At the beginning you can usually borrow helmets somewhere; look at flea markets for the boots and hat. Thin leather or gardening gloves are nice, but not required.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 05:01:23 +0000