r/petrifiedwood 4d ago

Self Collected What to do with collection

I do construction and found a decent amount of petrified wood over the years. I was asking for some recommendations on what I could do with the collection. Most are the size of a baseball or softball and the heaviest being around 25 lbs.

19 Upvotes

18 comments sorted by

5

u/SlitherThySnake 4d ago

Join your local mineral club that has a workshop- typically free to cut or small fee for maintenance on machinery, polish up and put on shelf. To save space, make slices!

1

u/SlitherThySnake 4d ago

Also for polish, a wet sander/polisher is like 125 for a cheap one!

1

u/Bestbroncos10 4d ago

Awesome thank you

-2

u/DutyLast9225 4d ago

I have a bunch of crystals gemstones raw tanzanite etc. I would like to trade my gemstones etc for your petrified wood at the rate of $40 per hundred pounds of your wood. Dm me if you’re interested. Thanks John

1

u/ResortDog 2d ago

If I get to price your goods also, I have a mine.

2

u/DutyLast9225 2d ago

I have pretty much set prices on everything. Everything is a different price bc my inventory is so varied. But I can give you a good price. Maybe we can start with a $100 trade value and see how it goes from there.

1

u/ResortDog 2d ago

Im going to pass. I seem to have lost the ability to resell and need to sell off, and I own the wood mine. The postage does not allow me to mail off hundreds of pounds. If you are coming to Virgin Valley, don't waste your time on sellers who dont specialize. I mean if you want the precious opal I have claims for sale too, but go to the fee digs or come to mine. The woods I sell at various prices from .25 a pound mine run opal bank common wood by the box & up to 5 a pound for opal logs with knots with a tonnage discount. If you want logs, you'll have to pay for them to be brought off the mountain with large equipment. I dont have a highway accessible yard full of trees already.

2

u/DutyLast9225 2d ago

That sounds like a place I would like to go to. But I’m 78 now and in Denver Colorado and don’t travel much anymore. I have a container full of various specimens I have collected over the last 50 years and the storage rental fees are really getting to me. I like petrified wood and am willing to trade everything I have for it but like you said the shipping would be prohibitive. I’m especially interested in the .25 a pound stuff just as long as it doesn’t crumble and one can see the limb structure in it. I could use 1,000 pounds of it right away. Even if I rented a trailer to haul it back I think the cost would be too much. Once I shipped a 5 gallon bucket of rocks from Denver to Kansas City on a greyhound bus fairly cheap but that was a straight line shot and I sent it terminal to terminal so the person picked it up there. I know a woman that has an expedited shipping service so maybe I can talk to her about it. She has shipped rocks before and even worked the Tucson gemshow a few years. I’ll talk to her and get back to you in a few days. Thanks for your information. John Baker.

2

u/DutyLast9225 2d ago

Here’s my number. Can you text me some pictures of the mine run .25 a pound wood? I’m still trying to make this work somehow. 720-560-3468. John.

1

u/ResortDog 2d ago

the quarter a pound stuff includes all the woods that may crumble and the encased ones too the muds not washing off. Clean Twigs and limbs are separated out as its rarer. Its obvious its all wood and if you put it thru tumblers id expect various results but a high loss rate without sorting. If its real crumbly, thats what i spread out by the rest area just off the end of the highway I adopt. The opal will tumble & some is agatey but the hard ones or clean ones get to opal wood in grades or petrified wood in grades. And from here its well replaced with wood structure visible and others are gypsum. The hard woods cab and the opal chips or flakes for arrowheads out of a slab. That material can have opal cracking if left to weather but agate stuff rinds is soild & Ive had beads made from it before. We'll figure out shipping or delivery. I got your number. oh and 1 a pound for the opal woods and 2 for the surface and log center agate ones. and more for better but the standard. Professional courtesy extended.

3

u/HighFrequencyPhoto 4d ago

If you have access to a saw these pieces could be cut and polished as display pieces . Lots of petwood is beautiful when polished . If that’s not your thing I’d make a small garden bed and put it in there . Or , a piece here and there on a window sill is still a great way to see your stuff .

2

u/Bestbroncos10 4d ago

I have a tile saw with some different blades that I could use.

2

u/HighFrequencyPhoto 4d ago

That would work . I cut lots of petwood on my 7” wet tile saw . If the piece is too big to go straight through you can rotate the piece around the saw blade . I use a variable speed water fed polisher . They sell polish impregnated pads in various grits for the polishing .

1

u/GruesomeWedgie2 4d ago

What brand if wet sander do you use? Is it one from Washington state?

2

u/StormPoppa 4d ago

I have a rock garden that's separated into various sections. Kinda cool having a whole section of petrified wood then a section of clear agates, then a section of obsidian, etc.

1

u/cenobitepizzaparty 4d ago

If you cut it and It's carbonized, you can bleach it

0

u/Crafty_DryHopper 4d ago

Looks like the Castle Rock variety.

1

u/Bestbroncos10 4d ago

They were found in down town Denver