Getting Started - A Lighthearted Approach for Beginning Rockhounds

By Bradley Grant

New to the world of Rocks and Minerals or are you a born again Rockhound, then hopefully this article will be of some help to you in learning more about Rocks and Minerals or getting back into the hobby. You probably have lots of questions so let me try answering a few of them.

1.Not sure if I trust you, but OK, where do I begin?

There are lots of ways to get started in our hobby and no one way is the right way.  You may want to go start right out and start collecting anything interesting that you find in your yard or wherever your travels might take you. Then again, you might not want to deal with the mess and muck of collecting, cleaning and identifying your specimens (and your spouse yelling at you for dirtying the newly cleaned carpet). Instead you might just want to go to a local mineral show and buy a specimen or two. Either way is perfectly fine.

What I would suggest though is finding a one or two good books before you start hording all the Pyrite from The Havre De Grace Quarry.

The book I would recommend and this was my first book is one called Rocks, Gems and Minerals by Paul Shaffer and Herbert Zim. This book was originally published back in the 1950’s and has been republished as part of The Golden Guide Series by St. Martins Press.  The book is a very easy and informative read and gives you a real good introduction to Rocks and Minerals and would be very useful before you purchase that Silver Mine on the Eastern Shore of Maryland (Trust me, there isn’t one!!!).  After this, there are many books and magazines you can choose from depending on what you are really interested in. Don’t buy them all, think about what it is you like about Rocks and Minerals and use that as your guide to what books you buy next.

 2. I got a book smarty pants, now what?

Read it!!! After reading the book, I would buy a set of study minerals.  This should not be an expensive set, but something that you can study and experiment with. I would suggest finding a kit that has the first nine minerals in the Moh’s scale of hardness. Not sure what the Moh’s scale of hardness is?  Well in a nutshell it is a series of 10 minerals that go from real soft (Talc) to real hard (Diamond) as you move from Talc to Diamond each mineral gets harder.   The minerals are; Talc, Gypsum, calcite, fluorite, apatite, orthoclase, quartz, topaz, Corundum, Diamond. This scale is one of the tools that will help you to identify a mineral. Examine these minerals and observe their characteristics, learning the attributes of different minerals will help you identify specimens that you find in the field and don’t know anything about.

Now you are thinking how come I said buy a kit with the first nine minerals from the Moh’s scale. Well, young Jedi Master the reason for that is no one is ever going to put a diamond in one of these kits. Trust me, from experience; I know what I am talking about on this one.

3. Your writing style is boring and your mean, so can I go collecting now?

Fair enough young Jedi Master, to go out in the field collecting you will need to buy the following items.

-          A  Geologist Hammer.  Best bet is to look on EBay. They also make great walnut crackers.

-          Goggles

-          A chisel

-          Steel Toed Boots

-          A backpack or knapsack

-          Gloves

-          Hard Hat for collecting in a quarry

-          Fluorescent  Vest  for collecting in a quarry

-          A first aid kit in case you drop a rock on your hand (I know about this type of thing)

-          A magnifying loupe

Some other items to think about getting down the road would be:

-          Fluorescent Lamp.  You will use this to test to see if a mineral fluoresces.

-          Microscope – To examine really small crystals in your specimens

-          Geiger counter - To see if the mineral is radioactive.

You also might want to buy a rock tumbler to polish some of the specimens you collect.As far clothing goes anything that you would use to do yard work in would be good.

 

 4. Is there anything else I need to know before I report you to the authorities?

Yes there is, before going collecting on any piece of property always get the permission of the landowner. Unless your idea of collecting is having a nurse with tweezers remove Halite (rock salt for you newbies) from your” tookus” because a farmer with shotgun caught you trespassing on his land, then get the permission you need.

 After getting permission, please follow any rules that the landowner has and pick up any trash that you might see during your collecting trip. The landowner will be very appreciative that you care about their land and will let you back in again to collect.

Finally, young Jedi Master well learn the following;

1.       United States Geological Survey – for topographical maps

2.       Mindat.org – Best Mineral Resource on the Web

3.       Your State’s local geological survey - They’re in the Yellow Pages!!! If you do not know of The Yellow Pages then just do a Google search and you should find the Geological Survey for your state.

As you progress in your hobby of Rocks and Minerals you will notice that you can collect fossils, you can also collect really small specimens called Micromounts. You can also make jewelry and other items from your collection.  There is a lot to learn and enjoy by being a Rockhound so take your time and have fun.

 

Bradley Grant

Former Astrologer to the Stars