Rocks

Many people call any stone a rock; that is totally INCORRECT!!!!!! . Okay, lets call Rocks, Minerals, and Gems, just plain stones. Rocks are made… well, here I will explain the three* types of Rock, Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic:

Igneous Rocks are not exactly volcanic, molten Magma seeps to the surface, slowly cooling, giving it time to crystallize. Granite (photo #1) is a very strong, hard Igneous rock formed of Mica, Feldspar, and Quartz. In photo #2 you can see the different minerals. Obsidian is another well-known Igneous Rock.

Sedimentary Rocks are made of Minerals compacted firmly together to form rocks such as Limestone (photo 3) and sandstone.

Metamorphic Sorry, but I cannot write about this until I can get a photo of Marble

 

Pig Iron

Pig Iron is Iron as soon as it has been Smelted– melted away from the rock it was found in. The raw Iron; Pig Iron, is very high in Carbon content: 3.5 – 4.5%! which makes it very brittle. Pig Iron was cheap, so the American Colonists could use much of it for their farming needs.

The reason it was called Pig Iron is because when the melted Iron ran out, it ran through several “canals” to the mold. When it cooled, the canals resembled piglets suckling from a sow (the mold). The “piglets” were whacked off the “sow” and all were sent to the Blacksmith to be formed.

I originally thought they called it pig iron because it was so stubborn to work with; like a pig. I would never have guessed the real reason!

Bog Iron

When Britain began to colonize the New World, they found Bog Iron, so they started gathering it and discovered that there was more iron here than in all Britain! -“wait, you say, I think you made a mistake, you say, you meant Mining, not gathering! And what is Bog Iron??-or do you mean Big Iron?” No, I did not make a mistake, Bog Iron is formed when the Iron is dissolved in water and runs down to the (or is brought up by springs), forming Bogs, in the bogs, the water stays still and gives the iron a chance to solidify, so all the colonists had to do was wade in and just pick it up!

California 3 oz Gold Nuggets with Quartz