Agate Hunting Made Easy: How to Really Find Lake Superior Agates

by Jim Magnuson, Carol Wood (Photographer)

Overview

Learn HOW to hunt agates!

You’ve admired agates for their color and beauty—now learn how to find your own. Unlike other books, Agate Hunting Made Easy provides step-by-step instructions to help you turn those once-frustrating agate hunts into successful ones.

You’ll have an experienced collector, Jim Magnuson, as your guide.

• He will show you photographs of what rough agates really look like in the field.
• His tips will help you recognize agate imposters that often fool inexperienced collectors.
• He will teach you how to hunt in a variety of locations, from gravel pits to lakeshore.
• Jim also provides a rating scale to help you estimate the value of your finds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591933267
Publisher:	Adventure Publications, Incorporated
Publication date:	10/19/2012
Pages:	120
Sales rank:	628,281
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Rock hounding is more than a hobby for author Jim Magnuson, it’s a serious and rewarding avocation that helps him connect with nature. He has been an avid hunter and student of various gems, minerals and fossils since his childhood, when he first began to hunt for stones in his native state of Illinois. In addition, Jim enjoys sharing his passion not only through showing and gifting some of his finds, but also through writing, another lifelong interest. Throughout Jim’s career as an Information Technology professional, he has developed his technical writing skills while creating new processes that reduce complexity and improve efficiency. These same skills proved to be invaluable as he set out to create a modern-day guide for beginning agate hunters. Jim is also a member of the Minnesota Mineral Club and enjoys attending other rock and mineral clubs as a way to further his learning and branch out into other types of agates, gemstones and geology. Carol Wood took up professional photography as a means of satisfying a lifelong passion for creating and sharing things of beauty. She has a keen eye for seeing perspectives in things that on the surface appear to be mundane or quite simple. Given her training and natural instincts for perspective and complementary lighting that enhances visual clarity, Carol is able to produce high-definition photographic images that enhance but don’t distract from the given subjects. These skills are essential in providing a guidebook that novice agate hunters can use as a just-in-time visual reference guide. In addition to Carol’s photographic pursuits, she also enjoys outdoor activities with her friends and family, especially activities that have both a mental and physical component. As a result, she has become an avid rock hound in her own right and has gradually built a collection of beautiful agates that adorn her home in northern Illinois. Carol’s personal interest in the hobby has helped her to walk in the shoes of the beginning rock hound and thereby envision and create a photographic learning experience.

Read an Excerpt

Farm Field Picking

Accessibility: Moderate difficulty in gaining access—mostly in finding property owners.

Probability: Excellent probability of finding agates but primarily in the spring after plowing is done and there have been a couple of good rains. Once the crops get over knee high, it’s impossible to hunt.

Finding the fields: The only way to find good farm fields for picking is to get in the car and do some driving. Look for fields with lots of exposed rock on the surface. Then get out of the car to see how many stones are in the field and how large they are. One great tip is to look in the vicinity of active sand and gravel pits because they are always within a larger area of Lake Superior gravel distribution.

Gaining access: Stop at the house near the field you want to hunt in and ask if they are the owner and/or know the owner. Be ready to tell them how you are respectful of the land, will not litter or step on crops, and that you only want to collect a few agates, if you are lucky. If you sense resistance, you can offer them a small sum of money for the privilege of hunting on their property, but usually this isn’t necessary.

Hunting methods for farm fields: Farm fields are fantastic for hunting agates. Because of the nicely defined rows, you know exactly where you’ve already hunted and where you haven’t. Generally the distribution of stones is uneven; some sections will be just littered with gravel and others will have none. Therefore, work the field in sections that contain the most rock. After all, there are only so many hunting hours in a day! Walk down one row and visually inspect the row you are in plus one row each to the right and left. Once you get to the end of the rocky section where you are hunting, shift three rows to the right or left and go back the other direction. While walking in this direction, look down the row you are in and one row to your left and right.

Table of Contents

Introduction 6

The Real Deal: Identifying Lake Superior Agates 9

Lake Superior Agates in the Rough 9

Common Agate Features 13

Other Agate Characteristics 23

Agate Sizes 30

Lake Superior Agate Types 32

Fortification Agate 33

Tube Agate 33

Eye Agate 34

Moss Agate 34

Water-level Agate 35

Geode Agate 35

Paint Agate 35

Peeled Agate 36

Amethyst and Smoky Quartz Fill 36

Agate in Host Stone 36

Oxidized/Bleached 37

Quartz Ball 37

Floater Agate 37

Seam Agate 38

Agate Imposters 41

Lake Superior Gravel Identification 41

Imposters 42

Chalcedony 42

Jasper/Banded Jasper/Jaspelite 43

Chert 44

Banded Flint 45

Vesicular Basalt and Amygdaloidal Basalt 46

Granite and Gabbro 47

Amygdaloidal Rhyolite and Flow Banded Rhyolite 48

Porphyry 49

Sandstone 50

Conglomerate 51

Where to Find Agates 53

Location, Location, Location 53

Gravel Pits 56

Sand Wall Formations 64

Farm Field Picking 68

Rivers, Streams, and Lakes (Wading) 70

Lakeshore 72

Gravel Roads and New Road "Cuts" 76

Landscaping Companies 78

Landscaping and Roofing Gravel 80

Seasonal and Weather Conditions for Hunting 82

Clothing 84

Equipment and Supplies 86

Taking Care of Your Agates 89

Cleaning and Sorting 90

Rating Your Finds 91

Treating and Performing Lapidary Work on Agates 93

Displaying Your Treasures 100

Buying and Selling Agates Online 103

Some Real-World Examples 107

Glossary 112

References and Resources 116

About the Author and Photographer 118-119