Barrel Cactus Moss Agate comes from the William Johnson Claim located near Barstow, from the Barrel Cactus claim”.
We purchased several rocks directly from the claim owner. Both regular grade and premium grade.
Because there is a tremendous amount of variability in this agate, some premium, some not, we’ve decided to describe each rock one at a time.
Rock Number 1
Once we wet this rock down we could immediately see that it was likely to be beautiful on the inside.
We were not disappointed and it became obvious once we cut it that it was premium agate.
Here are a few slabs we cut from this rock.
Rock Number 2
This one was no surprise to us because it was already faced. Although the face was pretty large, the rock was only about 2 inches thick.
In order to secure into the saw properly we had to cut it in a different direction. This can sometimes drastically alter the appearance of moss agate. Fortunately we weren’t disappointed.
There were a number of vugs in this rock however the ones we cleaned were lined with beautiful druzy crystals.
Here are a few of the slabs we were able to cut from rock #2.
Rock Number 3
This rock was the only one we were disappointed with. We only cut a few slabs as we didn’t want to waste time on it.
The rock was somewhat porous and would likely not take a good polish.
There were areas in the rock that might polish well and we may take the end cuts and turn them in a different direction and see how it goes.
These are some of the slabs.
Rock Number 4
The exposed area on this rock gave us a hint that there might be something nice inside.
After slabbing the rock we found that every slab was hard and solid and showed nice mossy patterns. The only downside was that they were a little dark in color.
The patterns and colors were very consistent throughout the rock.
All the slabs from rock #4 are very similar.
Rock Number 5
The shape of this rock gave us all kinds of grief! A very nice area could be seen on the rock that gave us an idea of how to orient the rock for maximum beauty.
No matter what we did, or what wedges we added, we couldn’t get the rock properly secured in the rock saw. We eventually had orient the rock in a position that was secure enough to cut.
The rock had some nice areas in it however there was a large area that was too soft to take a polish. We also noted quite a bit of micro pitting similar to rock #3.
After cutting a few slabs we attempted to orient the rock to a new position but the slabs were not much better and we noticed that the soft area was larger and the nice area that we had seen on the outside was only about 1/4 inch thick and was on the far side of the soft area.
Here are some of the slabs we cut off of rock #5.
Rock Number 6
We weren’t sure exactly what we were going to see when we cut this one. The top had deep holes and was very rough.
The bottom, when wet, showed some nice mossy patterns however it was difficult to see how the rock should best be oriented when cut.
Once cut, we could see there were a lot of small soft areas and the slabs were very dark. There were areas that appeared to have quartz or chalcedony in them but those areas were very soft.
Overall this rock was a little bit of a disappointment.
Here’s what some of the slabs looked like.
Rock Number 7
This rock was another mystery until we cut it. Even wet there were few indicators telling us what this rock might look like on the inside.
Although the rock was small, it was absolutely gorgeous inside. We would have been very happy if every rock in our order looked like this one.
Summing It Up
Overall we are quite pleased with our purchase. Three out of the seven rock were a disappointment however the other four more than made up for it.
We would definitely recommend purchasing the premium Cactus Barrel Moss Agate and maybe purchasing a few pounds of the standard grade just to see if you can find any surprise treasures.