Diggin' Diamonds....Part 2

[Bill Ladd]

On day one after a 4 hour drive, trying to take down walls on the ledge with wedges & a sledge was hard work. Unless you get lucky & hit a mud pocket you come up empty. So the next day we switched gears & decided to break rocks.....
Here we go.....
Here's a couple nice ones inside the stone...
[attachment 33555 herkmatrix2.jpg]
Often 2 diamonds grow attached in the same hole....some desire these & here's a very cool one I gut breaking rocks open.
[attachment 33556 HerkPiggy1.jpg]
This has a real flat side to it which is a rarer type. This is my favorite one & good sized too as tiny ones are easy to find. Again though they may look cut, this is how they come outta the stone. That's their appeal I guess...
[attachment 33557 HerkFlat1.jpg]
I found out the hard way if you wanna do this, get yourself a GOOD pair of gloves! Preferably ones with padded palms....
I opened some nasty blisters on my right hand. It's healing now, & looked alot worse. This kinda put me outta comission as far as serious ledge mining with wedges/sledge goes
[attachment 33558 herkHand.jpg]
I have some pictures of Howe's Caverns I can post later as well. Thats a very cool place too.....

 

[coinworld]

Ouch! Double ouch!

 

[Don in SJ]

The photos are great, I always wondered what the place looks like. We were thinking of visiting the site when we were in Upstate two years ago visiting Brian in Upstate, but the time of year and time itself stopped us from doing it.

I do have some Herkimers, luckily I was a rock and fossil collector before I got into "pingin" .

 

[Tony (NC)]

It looks like you had a great weekend. I spent the weekend "Gem mining" myself. Only it's the kind of stones YOU DON'T WANT! My kids would absolutely love that place. But I know who would come home with the blisters in their hands! Thanks for sharing those photos

 

[Bavaria Mike]

n/t