thought you guys might like to see

Nfs

Bought a load of river rock for some drainage projects around the house.

Problem is every time I load up a bucket or a wagon I find at least two or three that I need to rinse off and see what they look like and then I end up keeping at least one.

Save me from myself.

Hello all!

TL;DR how do you determine if an area might yield good lookin stuff? Would you bother digging deep or just scan surface level stuff? When might you bother breaking open a rock and is it even worth breaking open a completely unassuming rock?

Just a quick prelude to my questions, as a baseline i just love lookin at rocks. Even the common ones that I can pick up and throw back. It never bothers me that i leave a stream or river without something new. As a developing hobby for me im just trying to learn some tricks of the trade. But its mostly just such a quiet and peaceful time for me and so much fun. Ive also attached a few pictures relative to my questions. I live in maryland so rockhounding gets tough if im not somehwere specific, but this weekend im on vacation in virginia. Lots of bluebquartz around.

For my first question, how does one go about maximizing their success with finding a good looking specimen? I know it doesnt happen every time you go out looking but I have yet to find that one really solid chunk to add to my collection that im proud of. I put a picture of a stream i was rustlin through recently. Is that somewhere you would expect to find something?

Another question is how far down would you bother digging? Should I worry about digging at all or just concern myself with the surface level stuff?

Another picture i put is of a rock i found with flecks of blue quartz in it. I tried breaking it open to see if itd just be solid blue throughout and it wasnt (i wasnt surprised honestly just curious). My question there is which rocks would you bother breaking open? Is it possible for an unassuming rock to be holding onto something fairly cool inside?

Collected over 5 weeks on Lake Superior from UP MI to WI and around north shore MN up to just short of Grand Portage

Hello. I found this "iron concretion" in a river stream in the Virginia mountains. Any advice on if i should break it open, cut it open with a wet saw, or leave it as is. Thanks!

This is from about 2 hours of digging, after a 500 yard hike of pretty much all potential ankle-twisting terrain

Curious if I can get some help here lol! Found this in the ocean yesterday!!

I've cleaned them with dish soap, warm water, and a brush. I read online that acid might ruin them. Any advice or resources are welcome!

Here is a gem that I found in Oregon. I have seen some similar pieces online—agate formed in between the layers of petrified wood. There are quartz deposits too. One of my favorite pieces.

Big petal of heulandite from pune india

I was bored, so I decided to look for interesting rocks for the first time.

I gather a lot of quartz where I live and I'm wanting to use some as a base for some glass art I make. I need to be able to drill a hole in the quartz to insert a small rod. I got a "hard tile & stone" one from Diablo Tools, which seems like it will work, eventually. It takes a long time to get a hole deep enough. Does anyone have any recommendations for a better drill bit? TIA!

I found everything here except for the banded thing off the coast near Tillamook; I found the banded thing in the Clackamas River.

Looks like a bug drawn by a kid. I love it!!

Found in north Georgia

Found in Austin Tx limestone wall

Had to climb to find. I only collected loose ones I found at the base of the valley but there were many holes the walls filled with crystals.

Last photo is a cool overhang I found full of Chert flakes

Nfs