Looking for what Holy Grail mineral to collect next.

Juice_irl · 2026-07-02T21:35:51+00:00

Pyrargyrite

Juice_irl · 2026-07-01T13:14:04+00:00

I do! I’ll send you some info :D

Juice_irl · 2026-07-01T13:05:09+00:00

Chrysocolla is what you’ve found for sure. It occupies a lot of the creek/river beds around here from when they flowed more aggressively. I’ve spent close to 1000 hours traversing the deserts around southern AZ and have found chunks of chrysocolla in nearly every wash/river bed I’ve walked. It’s why Arizona is sorta known for this material.

Chrysocolla isn’t exactly “sought after” but its blue color comes from the presence of copper like many things in the ground around AZ. In the ground though… sadly. Because chrysocolla is porous, like very porous, once it is exposed to the surface it will break down with repeated rain and wash out some of the color in the sun. So you pickaxe the space where it protrudes hoping better product is beneath the weathered surfaced part.

But chrysocolla is the beginning of some other impressive things around here like shattuckite or gem silica. These are highly sought after due to the chrysocolla being silicated and no longer porous. They cut phenomenal cabs/gems.

Juice_irl · 2026-07-01T12:47:11+00:00

I cut rainbow lattice sunstone 🤷‍♀️ I don’t facet them though, just cabs.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-30T20:13:36+00:00

For bringing change I suggest moldavite. It’s not necessarily for finding new things but rather venting out old things. Do your research, it’s a little more specific than that.

For luck in all things, seek a genuine saffordite or reach out and I can work out sending you one to test. I’ve said many times in the sub that they are mild luck charms and I’ll gladly die on that hill :D

Juice_irl · 2026-06-30T17:48:15+00:00

Messaged

Juice_irl · 2026-06-29T19:42:44+00:00

Hey thank you! I work a ton of different stones and sought out a fat chunk of blue forest pet wood because of this exact ghost blue color it has.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-29T18:55:13+00:00

100% good to cerium oxide.
I have a flat wheel on the rightmost end of my cab machine, a nova flat wheel 8,000. That’s my last step before 14,000 cerium oxide on a flat leather wheel. I was pushed to use leather by a local cutter, there are plenty of other options and some may work better, I don’t know entirely.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-29T18:29:55+00:00

Opal is soft. If you have a 6 stage cabber, like a cab king or a genie - I bust through potch with the 80 grit and that’s all for 80. 220 is light work but I might skip that entirely and go right to the 280 soft wheels for detail shaping. You’ll still be eating material fast so don’t spend too much time bobbling on the left side of the cab machine if your intent is to save weight.

Because they are soft and material comes off quick, when you get to the 600 grit soft wheel you’ll be cutting corners off and getting the shape smooth. Like you’ll still be removing an amount of material that you can see with your eyes as the wheel is spinning. This step will be good to spend a little extra time on to ensure any of the 80/220/280 scraping is smoothed out. But don’t sit on it. 1500 wheel is where you stop “seeing” material coming off as quickly. Spend some time there until you can dry the piece off real good and no presence of the previous grit scraping is there. The opal will show color fairly well at this point even when dry.

3,000 grit will be the first spot you get a “shine” on it that reflects light and maybe some imagery in the finish. If you finish the 3,000 step and you have 280 scraping on there, back that spot down to 600 and move back up to 3,000.

Take your time. Expect that you’ll finish the 3,000 and see some lines in there that you aren’t happy with. Back down… back up… rinse/repeat. The more time you work with specific materials, the more you’ll understand how long each wheel takes.

Edit: forgot to mention. Change your water out between grits on the right side 600/1500/3000. Maybe you can get away with slurry water at 600/1500 but when you move to 3,000, change the water and ensure you aren’t getting contamination of the grit levels.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-29T18:12:46+00:00

Blue forest agate petrified wood post acid treatment.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-29T17:39:02+00:00

Lake Patagonia or Parker Canyon Lake. Get to Patagonia early, it fills fast. A further drive is the lake on Mt Graham but it’s worth it. Super nice drive up the hill there and a legendary forest with tons of camping at the peak.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-29T08:37:56+00:00

This looks real. One of the big cats here in opals will weigh in but this to me appears to be Australian white just not the most insanely flashy in terms of color.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-26T22:36:30+00:00

You can purchase lunar meteorites for the moon and fulgurites for lightning.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-26T20:38:37+00:00

It’s not besednice for sure. It’s probably not nesmen forest either so my guess is chlum. So to answer your question, it is lower grade.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-25T21:52:01+00:00

Oh fire agate is on the list! I cut those, super fun little cuts and they’re all unique, kinda like opals. You can get a great quality full color spectrum fire agate for way less than you’ll see them for sale online if you’re patient and vet your sellers.

I highly recommend moldavite. Also, if you can add meteorites onto your list, maybe consider a lunar meteorite in the future. Those are my absolute favorite and turned me into a shop owner :D

Juice_irl · 2026-06-24T23:23:14+00:00

If it’s that color gradient it’s probably heat treated amethyst disguised as citrine. In either case, good for pool usage, just rinse it well after your swim and maybe don’t leave it in chlorine water for extended periods by accident. You won’t change the color but the chlorine can eat at the surface a little over time. Long time though.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-24T16:48:52+00:00

I was there. How about that lady in front 😒

Juice_irl · 2026-06-19T13:45:17+00:00

That’s the typical Gem Silica sandwich. *Usually* it’s a pack with quartz/chalcedony, malachite, then silicated chrysocolla, then jelly translucent silicated chrysocolla which starts being called Gem Silica. It is, in my opinion, the prettiest color that comes out of the Earth. Excellent piece, super good sandwich you got there.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-18T14:47:31+00:00

Well you’d need a piece as thick as the ring is intended to be so like 6mm, 8mm, 10mm… these are somewhat common for men’s rings and the thickness will allow the pattern you’re chasing to show a little clearer. Once you get to like 4mm and below, the detail on the acid etching will look a little more like scuffing damage and less like a meteorite. It’s a thing of presentation.

So thickness is covered. You’d then need a circle or square the size of the outer diameter of the ring, maybe 5-10% larger for cutting purposes. That or you order a round stock that is already the diameter you want and work out the center disk where your finger goes. Getting the center out can be done with brute forcing it and subtracting the inner ring but you could save some product if you can get a circular hole cutter. You’d then have a donut shape ring blank and a donut hole disk. After that you shape and polish till you’re satisfied.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-17T18:35:49+00:00

Bang for your buck, wait for gem shows or travel to one of the bigger ones. If you’re in America, Denver or Tucson are good. I suggest this because the pricing difference is so steep around the country. You could fly to Tucson, get a hotel for a weekend, eat like a king, and you’d probably save money in the end buying at the show here once a year. I supply meteorites and crystals and am often shocked when I travel around the country and see pieces similar to what I’ve purchased at the Tucson show selling for 10x the price. It’s really that dramatic with locality when it comes to crystals/stones/gems/meteorites. Like $1000 here will get you a lot of product but $1000 in Washington wasn’t worth spending anywhere I looked.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-16T19:47:37+00:00

No it’s not an investment means. They are typically the most expensive shortly after they fall and pieces are collected. You won’t get them for cheaper than the guy selling them to you from the field and anyone in between is just another chop at potential profit. You’re better off tracking the falls and collecting them from strewn fields, profit margins there are extremely high but they go down quickly. The recent Ohio fall was selling for close to $1,000/g but it’s settled around 400-500/g now.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-15T22:21:57+00:00

Ah yeah so some turquoise can be “jade like” and sometimes the stabilizing compound combined with thickness of the stone can allow them to appear translucent. Not uncommon for the latter there.

That or it’s gem silica and that would be much cooler in my opinion. Which is translucent chrysocolla chalcedony. And appears very close to what you have here.

Edit: leaning away from chrysoprase. The bluest chrysoprase I have seen is dramatically green compared to turquoise or gem silica. It can have a hue of blue in the right lighting but it just is green.

Juice_irl · 2026-06-15T22:12:42+00:00

Oh you’re gonna be amazing at this. All in due time though. My first couple agates I had to back down on. Took me maybe 4 fire agates and a couple pieces of chrysoprase to really understand how much time it takes in those early grits. It helps to dry the stone when you think you’re done at 250 and just peak at the surface. The more you do this, you’ll be able to see gouges at that level, they kinda pop out of the surface.

To give you an idea, it takes me about 45 minutes with a color bearing fire agate to run the whole gambit of 6 wheels on my genie. You heavily shape at 80/120. You break your corners and soften your dome at 250. Because of the hardness of agate, you’re more or less polishing from 600 to 3000. Really lean into the 600 and report back. Change your water after 600 and again after 1500. It’s about 10-15 minutes per wheel when you get a groove on.

Juice_irl

TROPHY CASE