Hello, fellow rockhounds. I'm. Josh a 28 year old nc native thats always had an interest in rockhounding, but not until recently have I ever done it. I have the fever and cant stop thinking rocks! Any tips or advise is greatly appreciated. Id also like to tag along with some of you wake county locals to learn the ropes. I have some finds from today I will be posting photos of soon. Whats your best way to clean your specimens I'm having trouble getting rid of red clay in crevices and similar issues.

Welcome to RHL!

Nice to meet you Josh, I am the same age as you, maybe we can meetup one day.   There is a club called the Tarheel Gem and Mineral club that does trips every month to rock quarries and other locations. 

The NC Geology map is a tool that is extremely important so that you can understand what you are standing on. 

http://usgeologymorphology.com/NC-geologic-map-NCGS-1985.pdf

Most of us use a cleaner that you can find at Lowes or Home Depot called "Super Iron Out."  Since there is a lot of Iron in dirt around here, most specimens have those hard to clean and stained areas.  There is another previous post in the General board about how much to use. 

NC has a very diverse geology and is a great state to live in being a rockhound.  Goodluck!

-Collin

--"I'm sure all our illustrious leaders have been out on epic expeditions to dig fabulous minerals "

My elbow is sore, blisters are freshly peeled and i'm thinking of next weekends adventure.  Welcome to board; things have been quiet lately on the board for various reasons sorry for not making you feel more welcomed. 

How to resize images http://www.rockhoundlounge.com/cgi-bin/yabb252/YaBB.pl?num=1357139582 

The Tarheel Club is a good starting point for any wake county collector i'd also suggest checking out MAGMA (wncrocks.com)

Cleaning Specimens-  Meh, i have boxes of "dirty" rocks; i detest cleaning pieces but, i will give you a step by step for cleaning quartz that i may make into a whole new post later.

Step 1)  I start with a bucket of water at room temperature and places my spoils into the water being careful not beat anything together.  Some people start with a hose and spray down their crystals but i usually bypass this step unless the material is absolutely coated in clay.

Step 2)  After leaving your rocks in the water for a few minutes take a toothbrush and gently begin to scrub the unwanted material away.  Be sure to watch for secondary minerals as they can be brushed away or damaged.  If you encounter secondary minerals (rutile, muscovite, ect...) it is best to identify them before using any chemicals to clean them as some minerals are sensitive to acids.

Step 3) Sometimes your toothbrush will fail you and you will end up some clay stuck in a crack, a toothpick usually makes quick work in this situation.  After using the toothpick run your tooth brush back over the spot you just removed the dirt from. 

Step 4) Now that your specimen is "cleaned"  it is time to give it a bath in ironout.  I leave my specimens anywhere from 12 hours to several days depending on how stubborn any coatings are to be removed.  It is best to check on your specimens occasionally to examine progress and give a quick scrub with your toothbrush to remove the coating as the iron out works.

Step 5) Rinse your pieces under the faucet to remove as much iron out contaminated water as possible and then soak them for a day in clean water. 

Step 6) Label your specimens

Welcome from central Virginia.  You have a good group in your area to learn from.

Hey, Wake County rookie!  I just joined, too, but welcome!  There may be some wonderful solutions out there that I would to love to hear as well, but all I've used so far is just soap and  water and a wire brush.  That works on hard rocks but nothing fragile, of course.  I'd love to find out what gets rid of the dark varnish? on rocks in water or no sunlight and also what's the best acrylic? spray to make material color saturated so it looks as if it's wet.  Is Wake County a coastal N.C. county?