Jay Dubya's Petrified Wood

[Jerry W.]

Friends, I seem to collect lots of petrified wood in my nearly-every-weekend outings into the oil patch in the county where I live.  Much of what is found are small little bits and pieces and a whole lot of it is really pretty.  Some I will try to identify and those may earn their own topic entry, however, others are just nice little pieces that I cut up on my saw and will post the photographs here for y'all to look at.  They are just too pretty to not share, you know? 

 

All those entered under this topic will be found near my home unless otherwise notated.  Some of the petrified wood will have been found by a buddy of mine whose rock I cut up for him from time to time, and those will also be notated here.  If no one minds, I probably won't put a scale on the specimens since all of them will be no longer than 4 1/2" on their longest side since that is as wide as my little rock saw can handle.

 

As usual, feel free to comment.  Some of this stuff might really challenge your ability to readily recognize what is or what isn't petrified wood.

 

 

 

 

[Jerry W.]

Here is some more.

[Tidgy's Dad]

You really do have some extraordinarily beautiful pieces. 

[Ruger9a]

Love the variety of the colors and configurations.

[goatinformationist]

Huge fan of pet wood here and these pieces are just gobsmakin' gorgeous! 

[Jerry W.]

This shows the area where I have been going to find some petrified wood.  See if your eyes are sharp enough to pick out some I located.  Don't be afraid to use your glasses.  By the way, my hammer is 11 inches (28 centimeters) long.

 

 

[minnbuckeye]

Is it the little white thing under the log?????????

[Jerry W.]

7 minutes ago, minnbuckeye said:

Is it the little white thing under the log?????????

You're getting warm...

[Jerry W.]

Additional petrified wood found on March 16, 2020.  This one is kind of cool since it is palm root (Rhizopalmoxylon, sp.) with variations of colors that transition from left to right: 

Left: Roots have almost black agate outer cortex with greenish inner cortex on a greenish background;

Middle: Roots have blue agate outer cortex with lighter blue agate inner cortex on a yellow & green background;

Right:  Roots have white crystal outer cortez with greenish inner cortex on a yellow background.

 

There are even more variations to the colors that contain different combination of those above, but I have listed what is primarily seen in this specimen.

[Jerry W.]

The type of petrified wood on the first specimen has yet to be determined, and the second specimen is believed to be a type of cypress.

[Jerry W.]

 

[Jerry W.]

 

The yellow/orange piece was not found in the immediate area where I live but was found in Central Arizona.

[PaleoNoel]

Incredible range of colors, really beautiful!

[Jerry W.]

[Jerry W.]

[Ludwigia]

You sure do have some great sources for that pet wood. I assume that you do the cutting and polishing yourself?

[Jerry W.]

4 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

You sure do have some great sources for that pet wood. I assume that you do the cutting and polishing yourself?

I am very fortunate to live where there is a lot of the stuff around.  And I mean A LOT.  I have a small saw to cut it but I haven't polished any of those shown.  I just oil the surface and take the photos.  I'm new to the hobby of rockhounding (less than a year) and am really cheap so I haven't gone out and bought a polisher.  I'm rebuilding an old one and will hopefully have it going soon.  I ended up on this forum because occasionally I come across some other fossils, usually invertebrates, and like to share.  Appreciate your interest in what I post here.

[Jerry W.]

This is some petrified palm wood found in San Juan County, NM (like most of the rest of what is seen here) a few days ago.  It was interesting because it was mostly transformed into a translucent common opal that varied from white to an almost butterscotch color.

[Ruger9a]

Very nice collection.