FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

From Philadelphia, you might consider Sterling Hill, New Jersey. The museum there allows you to go through the mine tailings piles:
https://sterlinghillminingmuseum.org/visitor/mineralcollect.php

...

Some materials like lonsdaleite/fullerite diamond and wurtzite boron nitride are theoretically harder than Mohs 10, but meteoric and synthesized examples thus far have had defects in their lattice str ...

Thank you all for interesting ideas.

Has anyone used something like Thermoweb's Zots (adhesive dots)? They supposedly use an archival-quality, acid-free adhesive that stays removable. For the dust- ...

I'd like to securely mount some dust-speck size specimens in MM boxes. I want them to be easily removable if I decide to look at them under a microscope, but still attractive and readily visible if I ...

Once you've ground to shape (or flat), you need to step to progressively finer grits to get rid of the grooves and scratches. It takes a while, but you can do this with a combination of diamond files ...

Author	Message
Topic: Advice needed: a rockhounding trip for a beginner
rocks2dust Replies: 15 Views: 24704	Forum: Rockhounding trips Posted: Jun 03, 2017 16:14 Subject: Re: Advice needed: a rockhounding trip for a beginner
rocks2dust Replies: 15 Views: 24704	From Philadelphia, you might consider Sterling Hill, New Jersey. The museum there allows you to go through the mine tailings piles: https://sterlinghillminingmuseum.org/visitor/mineralcollect.php ...
Topic: Harder than diamond, softer than talc
rocks2dust Replies: 12 Views: 14055	Forum: Off-Topic and Introductions Posted: Dec 18, 2016 18:33 Subject: Re: Harder than diamond, softer than talc
rocks2dust Replies: 12 Views: 14055	Some materials like lonsdaleite/fullerite diamond and wurtzite boron nitride are theoretically harder than Mohs 10, but meteoric and synthesized examples thus far have had defects in their lattice str ...
Topic: Mounting very tiny specimens
rocks2dust Replies: 10 Views: 19451	Forum: Conserving, Preparing and Cleaning Minerals Posted: Nov 26, 2015 12:29 Subject: Re: Mounting very tiny specimens
rocks2dust Replies: 10 Views: 19451	Thank you all for interesting ideas. Has anyone used something like Thermoweb's Zots (adhesive dots)? They supposedly use an archival-quality, acid-free adhesive that stays removable. For the dust- ...
Topic: Mounting very tiny specimens
rocks2dust Replies: 10 Views: 19451	Forum: Conserving, Preparing and Cleaning Minerals Posted: Nov 12, 2015 21:54 Subject: Mounting very tiny specimens
rocks2dust Replies: 10 Views: 19451	I'd like to securely mount some dust-speck size specimens in MM boxes. I want them to be easily removable if I decide to look at them under a microscope, but still attractive and readily visible if I ...
Topic: Polishing
rocks2dust Replies: 2 Views: 8792	Forum: Conserving, Preparing and Cleaning Minerals Posted: May 07, 2014 18:30 Subject: Re: Polishing
rocks2dust Replies: 2 Views: 8792	Once you've ground to shape (or flat), you need to step to progressively finer grits to get rid of the grooves and scratches. It takes a while, but you can do this with a combination of diamond files ...