[Rockhounds] collecting herkimers at Crystal Grove?

[betdav97 at aol.com]

  When we were there, about twenty years ago, before kids,
there ws no wall. Unless you could call a two foot ledge a wall.
I did find one nice double terminated calcite crystal, which I
understand is unusal.
Dave


-----Original Message-----
From: Ted Kowalski <Ted at crystalgems.com>
To: 'Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem 
collectors' <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Thu, 15 May 2008 4:10 pm
Subject: RE: [Rockhounds] collecting herkimers at Crystal Grove?



Tim:
It's been several years (3 or 4) since I was last there. You can find
pockets from the surface down to at least 12 feet. (I've yet to see 
layers
without quartz pockets of some sort) Different layers have different 
quality
of pockets. The ones near the surface to 5-6 feet are mostly small with
druse and occasional small herkimers. The next few feet are mostly small
pockets (less than 1 foot in any dimension), but can have herkimers to 
large
walnut or small lemon size, often with anthraxolite. Under that, 
especially
along cracks you can find pockets with larger herkimers, but rarely 
perfect
clear crystals (mostly cracked). A caveat, my best and most perfect 
crystal
group mounted on druse came from a pocket on a vertical crack about 
eight
feet down from the surface. The day I was leaving camp I gave up the 
hole I
was working to a married couple; they broke into a pocket that had one 
large
(long lemon) crystal with perfect points. They carted the fifty pounds 
of
dolomite the crystal was attached to and gave it prime seating in their 
car
to be worked on later.

Most of the serious quartz hunters seem to work on the floor in various
places (no logic that I could see); drill down till you can start 
splitting
horizontally. Basically the choice is like other places, break the wall 
down
till you reach a good layer or start closer on the floor.

I highly recommend that you look into carbide tipped chisels
(http://trowandholden.com/cgi-bin/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=7627911.23441*e
52_
_7&product=cat1) (watch the link split across lines).

Crystal Grove dolomite (like much of the Herkimer area) has all of the
toughest features of limestone and sandstone and very few of their
weaknesses. It absorbs shock and blunts steel very rapidly; the carbide 
is
much better. The Smithsonian has a wonderful Herkimer pocket on display,
complete with car spring chisels bent curly que style and seemingly
permanently imbedded. Crystal Grove has a few vertical cracks and there 
are
weak areas horizontally that allow you to break a shelf of rock off. 
Turn
over any broken shelves to see if you have exposed crystals before 
hammering
them to pieces. Once loose, the shelves are easily broken smaller.

Bring play-doh. Whenever you find yourself working near an exposed 
crystal,
smack a good sized gob of play doh on it. The play doh will a absorb 
some of
the shock and more importantly prevent the crystal from leaving the 
rock and
joining ground detritus for others to find. (Trust me, when you smack 
the
rock with a good blow, exposed crystals vanish off into the distance). 
If
you do manage to smack the rock hard enough to bump the play doh off, 
the
crystal should still be in the play doh.

My last time there, there was a hole someone else drilled into the floor
that was subsequently filled with water and rocks. I bucketed the water 
out
and threw the rocks as far as I could. Yes it was muddy and messy, but I
loved the fact that I didn't have to drill down first. My best Herkimer 
that
day went to a little girl (about 6-7) who I promised the "next stones" 
out
of a pocket I had opened. I was reaching in and pulling out crystals, I
already had plenty and never thought a water clear large walnut sized
Herkimer would be the next stone pulled out after I made my promise. As 
I
sat there, more than a little dumbfounded, the little girl's mother 
told me
to keep it. Uh uh, nothing doing; a promise is a promise. Besides I 
still
had plenty of smaller nice crystals.

Once you hit a layer with pockets, that same layer should be good for 
more.

Enjoy!

Ted Kowalski
Fredericksburg, VA USA


-----Original Message-----
From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com
[mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of Tim Jokela 
Jr.
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2008 1:46 PM
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
Subject: [Rockhounds] collecting herkimers at Crystal Grove?

I'm planning a trip to NY sometime this summer, perhaps next week, to 
hammer

my brains out in search of "Herkimer diamonds" at Crystal Grove.

I know the basics, and have plenty of hammers, many pounds of spring 
steel
wedges, and the mandatory strong back and weak mind.

However, I've never collected at Crystal Grove, so does anybody have 
any
hints or tips? Concentrate on the wall, or try working down into the 
floor?
Where are the pockets concentrated?

  I'm also a fanatical fly fisher, so any trouty tips would be cool. 
Much
thanks for any help!

Cheers,

Tim Jokela Jr., tjokela at execulink.com
Business: http://www.element51.com
Pleasure: http://www.ontariominerals.com

--
_______________________________________________
Rockhounds at drizzle Mailing List
Subscription Services:
http://lists.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds
List Home Page, with a link to the List Usage Policy:
http://www.eclecticlapidary.com/Rockhounds/index.html

--
_______________________________________________
Rockhounds at drizzle Mailing List
Subscription Services:
http://lists.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds
List Home Page, with a link to the List Usage Policy:
http://www.eclecticlapidary.com/Rockhounds/index.html