FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Ricky hartzog]

Calcite crystal found near Haytors Gap, Virginia on the north fork of the Holston River.

[Ricky hartzog]

I found several. Any idea how to clean the grey grit off of them?

[vic rzonca]

Dish soap and toothbrush to start with, Rick. Your post might be better asked in the mineral prep section. Cheers.
_____________________________

Done

[Bob Harman]

As Vic says, soapy water with a toothbrush. I might add a very brief vinegar soak of no more than 10 -15 seconds followed by a good rinse might help to freshen your examples up.

Your examples will be good for practicing cleaning techniques to get some experience so when you find better quality more collectible specimens, you will have more cleaning experiences behind you. BOB

[Ricky hartzog]

Thanks, I was thinking that the stuff on them looks like algae or moss and the gritty grey stuff is limestone. I have walked by the spot my whole life and 4 years ago I was hunting for morel mushrooms and started finding them, and now when it floods I go and collect them. There is a bunch of them - here is a pic of the area. Thanks and hopefully I can find some cool ones, but I love crystals all shapes and sizes.

[lluis]

Hi, Ricky

You are fortunate to be able to collect morchel mushrooms!

For the pieces, maybe you could also try the peroxide that is commonly used by ladies to dye their hair...

Just place some drops over the surface you wish to clean, let stay until no more foam is there, and rinse. Repeat until the surface looks clean enough to your eyes.
Be careful with peroxide (it may produce white stains in your skin...)

Hope it serves.

Lluís

[Ricky hartzog]

I enjoy morel mushrooms, I collect and eat them every spring. I did some research and according to Rockhounding Washington County Virginia, there are celestine crystals close to where I found the calcite crystals, so now I'm going back to hopefully find some of those. Here where I live, I can find quartz crystals, calcite crystals, and some pyritized ammonite fossils, and now I'm going to look for the celestine. Hopefully I'll find some and when I do I'll show you all some pictures. Hope you all stay healthy and be safe.

[lluis]

Hi, Ricky, List

I like also to collect mushrooms, but I never found morel mushrooms..
The best ones I have eaten were big ones bought in a market....and coming from Chili (I live in Vilassar, and were bought in La Boqueria, in Barcelona city, near Vilassar (around 30 Km....)).
For minerals, I never found nothing more spectacular that a small quartz crystal... Transparent and small and found in the garden of our summer house (the first one I found in more than 50 years digging there (for planting vegetables, not for rockhounding...).
John Veevaert was there and he said me that this are probably would produce some pegmatite fields, with schorl and maybe quartz.... Yes a quartz... :-)
Never seen a schorl....

With best wishes

Lluís