Thread: I Found It Over There

Oh I have already priced them. At the junk shop they have a 10" dewalt radial arm/chop saw for $125 but no wheel. By the way those are great big chert rocks. This part of Florida is littered with them

Grab up what you can of the chert, I've had good results with my source of it.

I've been thinking about trying to crack one of those great big rocks open. You have to get a really big one because of all the inclusions in the Florida chert. I'm not sure if it's very good for hones or not. A lot of the arrow points, spear points and other tools you find have a whole lot of inclusion in them. It's certainly worth a try though.
Here's a spear point I found years ago at a lime rock pit where I used to cliff dive.


I had probably almost stepped on it at least a dozen times. Dive, swim to the bank, walk up the path, repeat. Then one time I happened to look down and there it was sitting next to the path like someone set it there.
Anyway, see how many spots there are in it? That's how most of the chert you find here is.

My source of chert is colorful but very fractured and there can be voids.

However, some of the fractures are stable and not toxic at all. You almost have to study it like a diamond before you cut and even then you may end up with unusable pieces.
I was able to cut this 5 x 1 3/4 piece out of a different chunk. It turned out to be a good finisher.

Microcrystalline Quartz. It's very similar to flint which is why the Indians used it for arrowheads. Chert is usually found in Marine deposits throughout the Southeast. It works great for road building.

I know from experience that you have to be careful breaking it up. If you hit it with a pick ax or a chisel it can send razor sharp shards flying at a dangerous speed. I learned that trying to bust up a piece to get it out of the ground where we were making a garden.

Get together at my sister in law's house when...

Hmmm.....



I'm telling you it's a sickness

A very longstanding joke about rockhounds. They always look down at the ground whenever they are walking.

A little of topic but in the same vain.




Hmmm.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

A little of topic but in the same vain.




Hmmm.

Scales? If you try, let me know how you get on, pics.
I wouldn't say no to scales that cost just a couple of bucks if they work for ya.