Nice.  Here is one in matrix (After some cleaning) I found last month in Marshall. This is about the size of a silver dollar at its widest.

Here are a few more of the finds.The piece just left of the large matrix piece is how specimen in the first pictures looked originally.

Very nice garnet pictures.  I like how the crystal faces are very well defined.

Hi,

Good pics - interesting rocks.

Are any of your garnets magnetic?  I thought I had collected some, but they didn't budge a bit when I exposed them to a strong magnet.  In my reading, it appears you have to have a special 'neodymium magnet'.  Anyone know anything about this?

cheers,
r

Hey guys and girls,

Once I read garnets with higher iron content were more magnetic, I thought with all the iron/rusty rocks in the creek - surely I have garnets with high iron content.  So, I got to thinking why not drag a magnet to see what it collected.

My first test was to see if the small garnets I thought I had were magnetic and they weren't!?

I drug my strong magnet anyway and didn't get anything but small black hair-like particles.  No wonder no one collects garnets this way!!!  Yep-it would be too easy.

So I read some more and came across the neodymium magnet.  If it really attracts garnets, I'd like to get one and drag it through the rock beds and stream but maybe the attraction is not strong enough.  It's an interesting read.

http://gemstonemagnetism.com/overview_of_magnetism_in_gemstones.html

Just call me LAZY L82Play. 

Let me know what you find.

cheers,
r

Nope. none are attracted to a magnet.

L82Play wrote on Aug 18^th, 2014 at 4:05pm:


I have a lot of experience with neodymium magnets and have many of them myself.  I painstakingly dismantled over a hundred computer hard drives that were going to be trashed so I could collect the neodymium magnets from within.  I have also purchased several online as well.

I just wanted to warn you about that big honker your buying.  That size of magnet will do a lot of damage to yourself without the utmost care and vigilance.  If your pinky gets in the way between that magnet and an iron plate or another magnet you could lose the tip of your pinky.  If you let it snap onto another magnet or piece of iron, well the speed at which it connects many times will send shrapnel flying potentially an eye hazard.  Neodymium magnets are very brittle and so thats why they break easily.  If you already knew all this than sorry for preach'n, just don't want to see you get hurt assuming you didn't understand just how powerful a magnet your actually getting there.  If your goal is only just test rock samples then you most certainly do not need a magnet of that size and power -- wayyyyyy over kill.  Just my 2 cents.   


Scott