Yes I must consider myself lucky to have lapidary material close buy. Lately I have enjoyed finding this material more than carving. But may do some carving as its now spring here in Australia. Nights still cool but days are good. Around 28•c here today. And a piece of agate I found today from the same location.

Some killer material.  Lucky to have collecting sites in your back yard right!  I remember the larger poppy but didn't remember it being on your property.  Great to see your work again, Steve

I agree that it could be a Montana or Similar Dendritic Agate.  I've never seen that pattern before in a Montana but there are Montana like stones from all over like Turkey and India and Argentina.  Fantastic pattern regardless.  Grats, Steve

Sorry I've been absent from the forums for a while.  I realize
 this was a while back but looks un answered.  It looks to me like Chalcopyrite with Calcite on your first images

New to the forum, and new to this hobby.  I found, and purchased, an older model Gemmasta 4 in 1 cabbing machine, and I can't find any information about it online.  There are some sites in Australia that look to have a few select parts for it.  The bearings seem to be in great shape.   It's missing a cutting blade, and I'm not sure what size, or type to get.  I also have no idea how to plumb water to it.  Does anyone have pictures of a working setup of this machine I could utilize for reference?


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Hi Amanda. My property- farm is situated on a very ancient fault line zone. My back yard is 160 acres found it on my farm where we live. Along with the darker base poppie I have. I have found quite a few interesting rocks in my back yard. I have poppie jasper. Rhodonite. A copper deposit that contains azurite and malachite. Red jasper.
It was the Azurite and malachite that sparked my interest in lapidary when I found it around 20 years ago fixing a fence with my Dad. Here is the dark base poppie.

That is some sweet poppy action there!  Did you find this material outside while hiking or buy it someplace?
Sure polishes up nice!

Its hard. Easily 7 mohs. Contains both agate and Orbicular jasper. Some has more red iron but it polished as good as the agate sections. Attached is a test piece. I will carve some.

The translucent chalcedony parts are a good sign, and fit your observation that the material is hard. Have you tried cutting it parallel or at shallow angles to the veining?

Last weekend I found a poppie jasper that has very small poppies. Cant be seen clearly without a loop. As hard as agate and fine grain. Close up picture using 5x magnification. Aussie material. I think it would make great micro mount pieces. Looks great magnified.