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Post by pegmatite on Jul 23, 2009 21:01:40 GMT -5
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Post by lizziebird on Jul 23, 2009 21:08:47 GMT -5
Very nice pictures of that fluorescence!
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Post by lee on Jul 23, 2009 21:27:22 GMT -5
I know you had a lot of fun gathering and "lighting" these rocks. Did you collect them at night or while you were under a tarp? Boy they display nice color. I see why you are drawn to this location when ever you get a chance. These are some of the brightest rocks I have ever seen. Congratulations.
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Post by amythestguy on Jul 23, 2009 22:59:25 GMT -5
very cool steve..some of those look excellent...
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Post by saskrock on Jul 27, 2009 2:05:40 GMT -5
Great rocks.
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Post by pegmatite on Jul 27, 2009 5:27:09 GMT -5
To answer Lee's question; These were found during daytime collecting. The museum has two shacks set up to test your material. The one at the top of the hill has uv lights set up in them. The one down by the dumps is just a dark room and you use your own light. Good material isn't too hard to spot once you test some material and get a sight image of what to look for.
Steve
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Post by alittlegoofy1932 on Jan 21, 2010 22:50:18 GMT -5
WOW Those are some colorful specimens!!! Wish I lived closer I would have to make a trip to find some of my own. Now for a dumb question, SW or LW? At present I am focusing on LW specimens as I will be working with a 7 yr old for one, we already have the black-lights for halloween, and SW lights are a bit out of my price range at the moment. If these are SW how do they look under LW? (sorry guys I'm new to this so be kind to the newbie)
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Post by pegmatite on Jan 22, 2010 18:05:47 GMT -5
The pieces shown above show little reaction to longwave uv. There are some minerals that do react well to longwave uv, these just aren't some of them. I'll do a little research and see if I can find a list of some good longwave minerals for you.
Steve
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Post by alittlegoofy1932 on Jan 23, 2010 12:34:37 GMT -5
That would be great, I am very excited to begin my collection. I just told my wife that I wished we lived closer to Franklin, NJ and after she saw the pix she agreed. But I live in Utah, so will do collecting here and other western areas, but will put Franklin on my list of things to do, along with getting SW. Thanks for your help. - Jeff
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Post by pegmatite on Jan 23, 2010 13:34:41 GMT -5
It's not nearly as much fun as collecting it yourself, but material like this is available for sale by the Sterling Hill Mining Museum and Ebay (search for fluorescents). What I've been able to turn up is that more minerals react to shortwave than longwave and from the photos I've seen the reaction is much more striking with shortwave. Some minerals which "sometimes" react to longwave uv are sphalerite, barite, apatite, fluorite, opal, and meionite to name a few.
Although I am much more interested in crystallized minerals I now routinely check all my specimens for reaction to UV. It can be helpful in identifying some minerals and I have frequently found minerals of interest that I have overlooked by just casual examination, such as autunite, opal, and micro apatite crystals. It's another way to appreciate the wonder of some specimens.
Thanls for getting your seven year old involved. Hope you can save for an economic uv unit with shortwave and uv light waves and insure more quality father/child time. Sounds like a great investment in more ways than one.
Steve
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Post by lizziebird on Feb 5, 2010 13:48:47 GMT -5
We have a LW light that we use sometimes to look for interesting things in our yard. The minerals I have that work well with it are:
A few pieces of fluorite. Interestingly, not all my fluorite reacts to LW light, but some do fluoresce.
Calcite - lots of calcite in my yard and much of it looks pretty with the LW light (calcite clams from FL, calcite in matrix from various places...)
ALabaster - my husband brought back some chunks of alabaster from Egypt recently and it fluoresces nicely under the LW light.
Hyalite Opal - wow, bright green.
The best ones if you want to have some fun with it (my kids love this) is some fluorescent painted gravel, like what you sometimes see for sale as fish tank gravel, we have some of that sprinkled in our yard mixed in with other gravel, and when you're out at night, it glows VERY brightly under the LW light. Kinda fun.
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Post by lauriesrocks on Mar 12, 2010 12:49:59 GMT -5
I have specimens of the brilliant red and green franklin material for sale if anyone is interested. (Plus other fluorescent stuff too) PM me.
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Post by lizziebird on Mar 12, 2010 18:10:16 GMT -5
It looks like Franklin NJ actually has 2 public access fee sites - the Franklin Mineral Museum and the Sterling Hill Mine Museum. I am thrilled that it looks like I"ll have the chance to visit one (maybe both if I'm lucky, depends on available time) of these places. Has anyone been to both? Thoughts on the minerals available for collecting at each? Looks to me like the minerals and actual collecting areas are pretty similar. The Sterling Hill Mine museum does a mine tour too, and that would be pretty neat to see as well. I'm laughing at the idea of crawling around on the rockpiles in the daylight under something dark with my UV light, but it sounds like that might be the quickest way to find stuff.  |
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Post by bobrock on Mar 30, 2010 14:17:30 GMT -5
I've been to both many times as I used to live about 45 min. away, about halfway between there and New Street Quarry in W. Paterson. As far as mineral selection goes, I think that there are over 300 different minerals available. Best bet is to contact Sterling Hill and the Franklin Museum and find out when they are having a nightime dig. Both places are awsome at night. Defenitely go on the Sterling Hill mine tour! I have a couple hundred pounds of stuff from both places combined. Hard to believe NJ has so much to offer for the rockhound. Good hunting, Bob
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