[Rockhounds] Why are we still living in the Iron Age???!

[Tim Jokela Jr.]

I wonder why field collecting of minerals and fossils has progressed hardly 
a jot since the Iron Age?

We continue to try to recover fragile crystals by using a heavy piece of 
iron to hit another piece of iron!

(Sure there are some alternatives like diamond chainsaws and gas-powered 
drills, dynamite and bulldozers, but the cost of these tools is prohibitive 
to perhaps 98% of collectors.)

Does anybody else find it rather amazing that in all the long centuries of 
mineral collecting, we haven't made any damn improvements?

Am I wrong to dream of a rock-cutting pocket-sized laser that costs twenty 
bucks?

Comments? Suggestions? Is there any hope for the future?

Cheers,

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