Is this petrified wood? Any info?

[LizzieKate]

Hello! I don't have a lot of knowledge on fossils and would love your input on this. Is this petrified wood? What is the black area in the middle? I appreciate your help. 

[ynot]

Welcome to TFF!

It does appear to be a slab of petrified wood. It also looks like it shows a lot of saw marks that are hiding the features that would make for a positive determination.

Can You get it wet and take some new pictures?

Tony

 

PS The black area is just a slight change in the mineralization of the piece.

[LizzieKate]

Thank you for your help! Here are some photos of the slab while wet. 

[ynot]

I will go with petrified wood.

Tony

[Fossildude19]

Welcome to the Forum.

 

Where did this come from?

[LizzieKate]

Thank you! I bought it at a second hand store. They had no information on it. It is extremely heavy. 

[GeschWhat]

Would you mind taking a closeup of the area I circled in red (wet)?

[LizzieKate]

Sure! 

[Ludwigia]

No question about that being pet wood. I'd suggest you find someone to sand and polish it for you. It could look quite nice when done.

[GeschWhat]

Thanks for posting the additional photo. It looks like an insect boring. I was hoping to see little insect droppings in there.  That is a beautiful piece!

[Peace river rat]

A fine piece you got there!

[LizzieKate]

Thank you, all! What would be the best process to have it sanded and polished? 

 

Danke, Roger! Ich habe Deutsch in Radolfzell am Bodensee studeiert. Vielen dank fuer die Hilfe. 

[Jdeutsch]

The easiest way to get this polished is to contact someone with lapidary tools and experience

 

If you want to do it yourself- you go from a coarse grit to get the gouges out, then a finer grit,  and perhaps a fine grit then a polish- take your time

 

http://www.therockshed.com/grit.html describes and sells grit, as do lapidary supply stores

 

 There are different polishing tools-

for slabs like this you might use rotary devices as described

http://www.petrifiedwoodshop.com/how-to-polish-petrified-wood/

 

you could use an electric drill with disc sander, I suppose, with a wet soft rotary disc impregnated with a grit paste

 

or a large vibratory tumbler-

 

if you have time- you can polish a piece like this by hand using grit and a wet cloth

 

If the rock is soft, if won't take a good polish.

 

Some people just wipe a little mineral oil on their agates to give them a shine- similar to what you see in the wet picure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Peace river rat]

3 minutes ago, Jdeutsch said:

The easiest way to get this polished is to contact someone with lapidary tools and experience

 

If you want to do it yourself- you go from a coarse grit to get the gouges out, then a finer grit,  and perhaps a fine grit then a polish- take your time

 

http://www.therockshed.com/grit.html describes and sells grit, as do lapidary supply stores

 

 There are different polishing tools-

for slabs like this you might use rotary devices as described

http://www.petrifiedwoodshop.com/how-to-polish-petrified-wood/

 

you could use an electric drill with disc sander, I suppose, with a wet soft rotary disc impregnated with a grit paste

 

or a large vibratory tumbler-

 

if you have time- you can polish a piece like this by hand using grit and a wet cloth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A labor of love !