Bill Burt Rocks

Bill Burt Rocks Handcrafted polished stones and jewelry and rough and tumbled rocks. Can be seen at the Muskegon Farmers Market.

05/12/2026

Salt Shack has released some longer interesting and understandable educational videos. The one on Pearls was very good.

Here are the cabs that i finished yesterday. However, 2 of them had cracks and broke apart in the next step of removing...
04/30/2026

Here are the cabs that i finished yesterday. However, 2 of them had cracks and broke apart in the next step of removing dop wax from the backs. Also, I recounted the Apache tears and there were only 221. See the last pic. I need to figure out how to get the pictures from my phone so the come out better.

I am thinking about selling cabs on Facebook and maybe Facebook Marketplace. This would be a change in my policy. I need to increase my following in Arizona first with a couple of ads on Facebook.

On Tuesday, I helped the Apache Junction Rock Club set up and tear down at an elementary school for a STEM night. There were lots of kids.

Have a great weekend.

04/26/2026

Today I went to Superior Arizona to collect Apache Tears. The temperature was very pleasant in Superior. Not too hot or too cold. The number of participants allowed was limited, so a contest to determine who goes was developed. You had to guess which of 10 minerals was the one the trip leader picked. I guessed Amethyst. As one of the winners I could take another person. I picked my son-in-law Tim Hardy. Tim offered to drive so I let him. At our meeting point there was a change in procedures for the liability waver. Rather than signing the form like we have done in past, we check a box on the sign in sheet saying we have read it. It covers lots of items including if you are eaten by a mountain lion, you will not sue the rock club or its officers. Since another club was collecting in the mine, we spent about 2 hours collecting in perlite plant stockpile area. I used several techniques including just bending over and picking up the rocks, using my Geoscoop, using a shovel and a screen, using a rock hammer to break up rocks trying to get Apache Tears in matrix. The shovel was the least effective.

Then we got word that we could go to the mine. To get to the mine we had to cross over 4 lanes (2 each way) of US 60.

We get to the mine entrance and the gate was closed. About 10 minutes of waiting, a man in a white truck opened it. The open pit mine had changed since the last time I was in the mine 4 years ago. the level where we had collected then was entirely gone.

Between the two locations I collected 260 (not counting 5 rocks with tears in them. Apache tears ranged in size from smaller that a pea to one slightly smaller than a pig pong ball. About 9 were larger than a grape. Just using a bucket with water and my hands I washed off all the dust. Some small amount of perlite was still attached to many of the tears. I think Tim may have had more of the bigger tears than myself.

One feature of Apache tears is that you can shine a light through them. Of the few tears that I shown a light through, I did not see the brown color you sometimes see in in the Apache tears. All were clearish.

In my next post I will try to include a picture of all 260.

04/14/2026

Hello all,

The Indian Mounds show looked like a very good one from Facebook posts.

There are 20 cabs done with the 400 grit. Next step 600 grit. All are really nice. I have about 15 more on sticks to start the shaping process over. again. I will show the cabs when they are done. One cab will be the first Mookaite I have attempted.

I am done selling for the season. I have given the Apache Junction Rock Club some suggestions on meeting programs and possible places to hold their annual show.

Jennifer of the White River Rock Club has requested some Arizona rocks for their summer picnic. The rocks have been sent.

On April 25 I will be going on a collecting trip to Superior Arizonia to collect Apache tears in a perlite mine.

03/02/2026

Finished the display at Las Palmas today. I think it look good.

Yesterday I took my wife to the Daisy Mountain rock club rock show. She liked it. There is still hope for her yet. The show was a relatively small one, but there were many very good artisans there. Many neat rocks. It was held in anthem at an Outlet Mall. The mall was shaped like a square with an outdoor walkway down the middle. There were a few high-end outlet stores open, but about 90 % of all stores were closed.

while we were there one of our daughter's friends saw us and came over.

One of my favorite rocks is mushroom rhyolite. The Daisy Mountain club has a claim that has that rock and it looks like they go there about 2 times per year. I may join that club for that reason.

I do not think I will be selling at that 2-day show next year because of the high entry cost and not the 1 hour drive each way. I will probably go to their show next year.

FYI it was 90 degrees today here in Mesa. Spring has sprung.

02/27/2026

A few things coming up:

Starting Apri 1 I will have a display of rocks in Las Palmas club house (Mesa AZ).

This weekend my wife and I plan on going to Anthem AZ to attend the Daisy Mount Rock Club show. We have never been there.

I have signed up for the Main Street Antique Mall flea market March 21 and the Apache Junction Rock Club sale on March 28.

For our Michigan friends, Indian Mounds is having their annual rock show at rogers Plaza on April 9-11. I highly recommend this show with free parking and free admission.

White River rock club is having its annual tailgate on May 23.

Put these events on your calendrer.

Hello all. Yesterday I sold at the Main Street Antique Mall Flea Market. Sales were not great, but I will probably sel...
02/23/2026

Hello all. Yesterday I sold at the Main Street
Antique Mall Flea Market. Sales were not great, but I will probably sell next month on the 21st there because it is close. I need to decide by Tuesday. I did bring out my horse tooth, kitten in a rock, and my butt rock. Next time I sell, I will bring out my dino bone and some rubies.

Though I do not sell on this site, I did buy this necklace at the flea market and will be selling it. I will probably ask $90 or $100. I thought it was unique and beautiful.

Here in Arizona on the 28 of February is the Daisy Mountain Rock Club show. I may check it out even though it is far. I like to post rock related activities.

March 28 is the Apache Junction Rock Club show at the rock club. I will most like will be selling there also.

I am currently tumbling rocks on the final polish step. Monday orTuesday I will check on it.

02/19/2026

Hello all,

This Saturday I will be at the Main Street Antique Mall flea market at the corner of Main Street and Sun Valley in Mesa at space H-127. On March 28 I will probably be at the Apache Junction Rock Club sale.

Last Sunday I checked out a very small farmer's market in downtown Mesa. In another week I will check out a flea market in the east part of Mesa. I may not try either place until next fall.

This week I cut several slabs to release outlined areas for cabs. cabs. When I get to making the cabs. When I get to making cabs, they should be very nice.

02/10/2026

Thank all 4 or 5 people for reading my ramblings.

On Saturday at the Apache Junction Rock Club show, I had some fun by resurrecting showing the kid stuff: dino bone, kitten in the rock, butt rock. and fish fossil. I sold enough to cover my Apache Junction city business license, the rock club table and space fee, and state, county, and Apache Junction sales tax. The remaining $50 may have covered the initial cost of some of the items I sold. I will probably sell at the next show the Apache Junction club does.

Before the Super Bowl party on Sunday, I went through all my hundreds of slabs. Most were gorgeous, some were very pretty, and the remaining few were interesting. I found some that I did not know I even had. I realized with sadness that I will never be able to get to most of the slabs to make cabs or something else in my lifetime. I then thought If I could get 30 to 50 people to make cabs for me, I could pay them with the remainder of the slab. I do not know how to get that amount of people to do that. By the way, I currently have about 400 of unsold cabochons in trays.

I am thinking of sharing pictures of some of the slabs each month.

Here are a mixed-up collage of pictures of rocks I bought, pictures at Kino show, and Pictures at the Pueblo show. On t...
02/01/2026

Here are a mixed-up collage of pictures of rocks I bought, pictures at Kino show, and Pictures at the Pueblo show. On the way back from Tucson on I-10 east (traveling northerly), stop and go traffic was caused by millions of bees. The picture with the chair in it is the place where the rocks were carved out for lights. The two colorful outdoor pictures were made of rocks.

02/01/2026

Hello all. I went to two shows at Tucson today, first to Kino and then to Pueblo. I bought some things to sell (a tray of grape agate, two nice pieces of blue apatite, a blue agate, a couple pieces of pyrite, 3 pieces of desert roses). For a display I am putting together for March at the 55+ community where I live, I bought a piece of Nigerian amethyst and a very small and expensive rainbow lattice feldspar from Australia. I also bought 3 very small slabs of fire obsidian for cabs. For slabbing and cabbing I bought 2 pieces of Gary Green jasper also known as Larsonite, a yellow-green common opal, and a piece of polychrome jasper from Madagascar, Larsonit is petrified bog wood. I will probably sell all four rocks after I get some slabs out of them. I have been wanting to try Larsonite and polychrome jaspers for a while.

Hopefully I will have time to transfer the picture from the show so I can show them tomorrow. I will have a lot of these rocks at the Show/Sale at the Apache Junction rock club on February 7.

At the Pueblo show, I saw something pretty neat. A guy had hollowed out rocks and stuck translucent and transparent rocks and crystals into holes he created in the hollowed-out rock. He put a light inside the hollowed-out rock,

One of the vendors there has a sign that said meteorites, but I did not see any. What I did see were Yooperlites and Michigan copper. I was tempted to buy a couple of very small polished Mohawkite slabs for about @50 each. The copper prices were inflated.

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Mesa, AZ
85205

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+12317403706

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