Just a few pics from this past Easter weekend.
Everyone had Friday off, and the weather was forecast to be
better on Friday than it would be on Sunday, so we started
Friday at Bowers Farm, right up the road from the Burgin Mine,
to dig for some of the well preserved limonite after pyrite.
This was my first time at Bowers and I do intend to go back.
The weather was indeed perfect and the digging is easy.

As Friday turned toward evening it was time to head for
Bojangles and then to meet Mr. Burgin.
We camped at the Burgin Mine Friday night and felt right at home with the familiar quartz outcrop and all the wild animals.

Here's what the outcrop is looking like these days.

First pic is a shot of the whole crew on a beautiful Saturday in Stanley County, NC.

We had a few "newbies" join us for the day. They all did great
and we are glad they made the trip out to see what this
Burgin Mine is all about.
Second pic is Dusty Travels talking things over with his Mom,
( I want to say Donna), who braved the whole day with us,
and Rob to the far-right of the pic.
Third pic is Dusty watching Mark dig for the "Big One"!

Dang! Looks like I missed a beautiful weekend and lots of fun. And I can say it....what a sweet ass! Awwww! 

Water and a stiff brush are the only good ways to clean these.  Iron out will turn them pale and ugly, it will ruin them, same with oxalic or any acids.  Matrix pieces with attached white decomposed feldspar can be soaked in bleach for awhile to whiten up the feldspar and increase the contrast, but this is only for a few rare pieces.  Leaving them outside will also ruin them over time, they can crack and fall apart from freezing and thawing, particularly those that still have a pyrite core, which is perhaps 50% of them.  Some people have used various oils or acryllic coatings to improve the luster, but most of the time it just makes them look "fakey".

Instead of regular mineral oil, I use "Wood Oil" from Wisconsin Hardwoods / Snow River Products.  I works great.  It is a mineral oil, but in has a lower viscosity and it almost disappears after wiping dry, but leaves a protective coat that looks natural but the colors of the piece stand out more.  I get this at a local hardware.  It is not sold in Home depot or Lowe's.  Does anyone else use this product?

The video is private. you need to change something on youtube with it.

same here. when i do a website, i'll look at it from another computer like my laptop or work computer to make sure it is right. if a page is reading a pic from my computer, i still see it and others can't. but i don't do it the old fashion way so i don't have that problem much anymore. lol.
kewl video.