Petrified wood?

[Monica]

Hi everyone!

 

A few months ago I posted a picture of a specimen that was given to my parents when they were visiting their families in Veneto, Italy back in 1987.  The person who gave it to my parents said that it was petrified wood, but I have no idea what to look for with respect to petrified wood, so I'm asking for your help once again - this time with better pictures from different angles:

 

"Inside" shot of specimen:

 

Another "inside" shot of specimen:

 

"Outside" shot of specimen:

 

"End" shot of specimen:

 

The other "end" shot of specimen:

 

Thanks in advance for your help!!!

 

Monica

[FossilDudeCO]

Yup, I would call that petrified wood!

 

If you are looking for a species or type, that will be tough to gather from such a piece.

 

 

[ynot]

I agree that it looks like petrified wood, but would like to see the patterns of the cut ends better.

Can You take some pictures while it is wet? This will hide the saw marks.

[Monica]

Here are end pictures that have been dampened as best as I could:

 

 

 

Thanks for responding, @ynot and @FossilDudeCO!

 

Monica

 

PS - Do you know if petrified wood can be found in Veneto, Italy?  I believe my mom said that the man who gave it to her said that it was, and I think that she was in my dad's town of Vittorio Veneto when she acquired the specimen.

[ynot]

It looks like a jasper/agate type rock (petrified wood).

If it is solid and does not have a lot of holes it should take a good polish.

I do not know fossil locations in Italy.

[Monica]

8 minutes ago, ynot said:

It looks like a jasper/agate type rock (petrified wood).

If it is solid and does not have a lot of holes it should take a good polish.

I do not know fossil locations in Italy.

Hi Tony!

 

Thanks for chiming in!

 

The item is pretty heavy and doesn't seem to have many holes in it, so perhaps I should go ahead and try to polish it...

 

So, how would I go about polishing it?  Is that something that I can do, do you think?

 

Monica

[RJB]

Petrified wood-a-roo.

 

RB

[abyssunder]

I think, it will be a good idea to compare the transverse sections of the specimen with the petrified wood samples from France, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and adjacent areas, for a resemblance, in the case when it is from Europe. Polished surfaces of the transverse cuts might be useful in the ID.

Some nice examples can be seen here .

I would like to highlight this specimen from Czech Republic, maybe it would be comparable to your pet wood:

 

[Kane]

Doesn't look like the petrified wood I've seen...  

[ynot]

18 minutes ago, Monica said:

So, how would I go about polishing it?  Is that something that I can do, do you think?

If You want to keep it as a single piece, a "flat lap" would be the best method.

You can do it by hand with emery cloth (sandpaper). It must be done while wet. It will take a long time and some muscle to do it by hand.

 

If You want to do a jewelry type stone - it would have to be sliced and polished on a cabochon polishing unit.

 

A local rack club may have a lapidary shop where they will teach You how to do it either way. Or they may have a member that can do it for You.

[abyssunder]

12 minutes ago, Kane said:

Doesn't look like the petrified wood I've seen...  

Excellent!

[Monica]

2 hours ago, ynot said:

If You want to keep it as a single piece, a "flat lap" would be the best method.

You can do it by hand with emery cloth (sandpaper). It must be done while wet. It will take a long time and some muscle to do it by hand.

 

If You want to do a jewelry type stone - it would have to be sliced and polished on a cabochon polishing unit.

 

A local rack club may have a lapidary shop where they will teach You how to do it either way. Or they may have a member that can do it for You.

 

Thanks for all of the advice, Tony!  I might see if the club that I've joined (Niagara Peninsula Geological Society) can show me how to do it/do it for me, OR I might just leave it as-is - I'm undecided, but I'm leaning towards leaving it alone since (1) that's how my parents received it, (2) it's my only piece of petrified wood, and (3) I like the way it looks (except for the saw scratches)...we'll see...