Hint#5 for finding gold

"Don't reinvent the wheel". When looking for gold do your research on where gold has been found, its guaranteed that people have looked in your area before, play off what they have found. Use old mineral claim maps, old/new and abandoned mines maps and talk to some old prospectors. Two hours researching what another prospector did saves a day in the field.

Hint#4 for finding gold

Gold isn't always visible by the naked eye. Sometimes rocks need to be crushed and processed before you will actually know if it is in the area you are looking. Do research and make educated guesses before hunting for hidden gold.above picture is nano-particles of gold

Hint #3 for finding gold

An old hard rock miners saying that runs very true today is " Gold rides an iron horse". The same geological process that is takes to make gold is what it takes to make iron so you tend to see them running together.

Hint #2 for finding gold

Use a river to do the heavy work for you for finding gold, it digs and classifies the gold for you. Over a long period of time the water erodes the rock and releases the gold into the body of water. Use streams and rivers to see where to find gold. Use a pan or a sluice to search for the gold. The smaller and more round the gold is you are find the further it travels. So when you start find larger sharper pieces you are getting closer to the area that the gold came from.

Hint #1 for finding gold

Gold is most commonly found with quartz and is most often found in "dirty quartz". Dirty quartz is different colored from all the mineral concentration in and around it. White and clear quartz can have gold in and around it but it is less likely.

How to open a geode

Sometimes people think geodes are delicate and easily destroyed but the truth is most are very strong structures. Opening them sometimes can be a real task and other times they almost fall apart.

How I open them is with a grinder, a cutting wheel, hammer and chisel.  It depends on how you want you geode to look is how you cut it but for the most part I cut around the the center in a circle about about an inch and half to two inches as straight as I can. (first geode on the left in the picture above is uncut)

Next I take the chisel and put it in the cut and gentle strike it with the hammer. I do this all the way around the geode until it splits in half.(the middle geode in the picture).

I then cut around the outside of the half geode with the grinder end to end not cutting to close to the crystals on the bottom. I go as straight as possible and go about an inch to two inches. I do the taping with the chisel and hammer until it splits again. (last geode in the picture on the right)

Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeWzYDu1fX0&feature=youtu.be for a video on this.

how to hand finish a geode?

 For the way I hand finish a geode you will need a few things:
                              1. Safety glasses
                              2.Thick leather gloves
                              3. ear protection
                              4.electric hand grinder
                              5.grinding disk
                              6. electric drill
                              7. sanding wheel for the drill(medium grit)
                              8.polishing wheel for the drill
                              9.some rock polish(car polish works o.k)
                              8. sand paper(medium grit and fine grit)

**Always put your safety gear on first**

First thing you have to do is grind the shape that you are looking for in the end product. Then you will have to grind out all of the nicks, gauges and round the edges. After that is done give the entire geode a nice grinding it get the excess material off. This usually takes about 15 minutes but just take your time and be patient. Sometimes pieces will come off and you will have to just work with it.

Second take the drill with the sanding wheel and start to work the geode. The grinder will leave tiny bumps and burn marks so you have to sand those off. The better you sand at this stage the easier it is to hand sand and polish later. This will take 10 minutes.

Third thing is to now hand sand with the medium grit. This is so you can get all the spots you couldnt with the electric tools and really give a nice round finish all over the geode. Take your time and make sure to get out all the scratches and buff marks at this stage. Now take the fine grit sand paper and do the entire geode top to bottom until it is very smooth and has a shine to it. This should be the longest part of the process.

Fourth thing you are going to want to do is wash the geode to get all the dirt and dust off of it. I soak mine in dish soap and then wash the crytals with tooth paste with a medium bristle tooth brush. I then rinse it well with warm water and then let it soak over night.

Fifth thing to do is polish your geode. After the geode is completely dry put a thin layer of your polish all over it then use your polish wheel on your drill to gently polish the entire geode. This should only take 5 minutes tops.

Now you have a beautiful geode for a decoration, healing purposes or to sell. Have a gold day!!

Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeWzYDu1fX0&feature=youtu.be and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_AyJFrrX0M for videos on this.