This is a gorgeous petrified hardwood slab from the old Johnson Ranch near the Holley crossroads in Oregon. This area has long been prized as providing some of the best preserved modern wood species in petrified wood found anywhere on the planet. The high contrast colors in this specimen are pretty dramatic for this region and represent one of the most attractive, complete larger rounds that I've seen. This site was just one of the many locations good quality petrified wood specimens can be found in this vast petrified forest. In this case it's a very nicely preserved hardwood with fine rays and small, well defined pores arranged in a diffuse porous pattern similar to modern maple . The wood grain and cell structure are consistent with modern maple as is the size, knot pattern, growth speed, etc. which makes maple a reasonably likely identification but a precise ID would require microscopic thin sections cut in multiple directions. This is a group of easily confused trees and it will take more study to confirm this one (the other possible candidate from my reference books is buckeye but I think it's much more likely to be maple given the ray characteristics). I've included a micro-photo of the cell structure to show how detailed this specimen is and to give a solid clue as to the species of this ancient tree trunk. This gorgeous show piece features two distinctive hearts where the trunk appears to have started to fork. Look closely between them at the lower portion of the slab and you'll note a third area of interest which appears to be a very large boring intrusion, possibly from a bird or rodent. It's been polished to a mirror finish that really brings all of the natural beauty to their full glory as only our shop does on every petrified wood specimen we produce!
This is a nice, larger, perfectly complete cross section petrified hardwood round from a large and scattered petrified forest near Sweet Home, Oregon. There are numerous locations (most on private land) of absolutely outstanding petrified wood in the hills and valleys of the Cascade Foothills. The wood that is found there varies a great deal in quality and preservation (even within the same dig site) but is often very agatized and extremely well preserved showing the finest level of plant detail under magnification. Paleobotanists have published over 60 species of wood descriptions from this area, but my own reference books are too limited to narrow them past some of their modern relatives. In this case, the wood grain is preserved well enough to easily see the diffuse porous pore structure, but you'd have to take sections from other angles to be certain. Almost the entire round looks picture perfect under a 10 power loup. Like other specimens from the Pacific Northwest, it's one of the most sought after petrified wood varieties in the world!! The colors found in the wood in this region are mostly wood and earth tones, but a few striking pieces with this rich blue/gray/black high contrast color spectrum are found. It's a wonderful show piece that will really look great in any collection!
This complete, nicely shaped round was cut from the center of a very solid log from a telephone pole sized tree trunk. This is a well preserved, richly colored, reasonably fracture free specimen. The tree rings are tight and well defined, and preserved in a dark coffee colored agate that really took a pretty good polish (these logs can sometimes be sandy and not all polish well). The lighter colored agatized interior contrasts nicely with the rest of the slab. It has been cut with a diamond saw then sanded and polished to a mirror finish. Our polish work is one of the things that sets our petrified wood and other fine lapidary materials apart from our imitators. We never compromise with any stone, deploying every trick known in the industry (and some that aren't) to coax the best possible luster from every stone!
Measures about 15" x 12" across the polished face. It's cut about 0.79" thick. Weight is 9.24 lbs.
A nice, unique natural wonder collectible exclusively from Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary.
This is a nice, larger, perfectly complete cross section petrified hardwood round from a large and scattered petrified forest near Sweet Home, Oregon. There are numerous locations (most on private land) of absolutely outstanding petrified wood in the hills and valleys of the Cascade Foothills. The wood that is found there varies a great deal in quality and preservation (even within the same dig site) but is often very agatized and extremely well preserved showing the finest level of plant detail under magnification. Paleobotanists have published over 60 species of wood descriptions from this area, but my own reference books are too limited to narrow them past some of their modern relatives. In this case, the wood grain is preserved well enough to easily see the diffuse porous pore structure, but you'd have to take sections from other angles to be certain. Almost the entire round looks picture perfect under a 10 power loup. Like other specimens from the Pacific Northwest, it's one of the most sought after petrified wood varieties in the world!! The colors found in the wood in this region are mostly wood and earth tones, but a few striking pieces with this rich blue/gray/black high contrast color spectrum are found. It's a wonderful show piece that will really look great in any collection!
This complete, nicely shaped round was cut from the center of a very solid log from a telephone pole sized tree trunk. This is a well preserved, richly colored, reasonably fracture free specimen. The tree rings are tight and well defined, and preserved in a dark coffee colored agate that really took a pretty good polish (these logs can sometimes be sandy and not all polish well). The lighter colored agatized interior contrasts nicely with the rest of the slab. It has been cut with a diamond saw then sanded and polished to a mirror finish. Our polish work is one of the things that sets our petrified wood and other fine lapidary materials apart from our imitators. We never compromise with any stone, deploying every trick known in the industry (and some that aren't) to coax the best possible luster from every stone!
Measures about 15" x 12" across the polished face. It's cut about 0.79" thick. Weight is 9.24 lbs.
A nice, unique natural wonder collectible exclusively from Sticks-in-Stones Lapidary.