Yesterday was the shortest day of the year here in Australia. So today is a little bit longer. Although you wouldn’t know it. It has been a dark and dreary afternoon.

So what to do? Why not break up some rocks?

Bringing home specimens for later trimming is often a good idea. It is all too easy to break crystals out in the field. At home, one can employ gentler techniques such as the use of a rock splitter.

So I moved the car out of the garage and set to, splitting and trimming rocks from the ones brought back home last week. I now have some nice bite-sized specimens!

Photo: Interpenetrant twins of pyrite, Prince Regent Mines area, Canadian, Victoria. Photo width 6.5mm. Stack of 72 images.