Strahlen step-by-step...

Where to start?
See here for a discussion in our forum on where to start :-)

Legal statement:
Before entering a quarry it is smart to give the quarry-management a legal statement (Enthaftungserklarung) waving all of their liability.
(and you should never attempt to visit any sites listed here without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.)
Click here.... to open the pdf.

The right material to use:
A good loupe is crucial... together with a good eye on the landscape and the rockwall...
...and good hammers are very very important. Go for Estwing please! We have used so many wooden hammers, they all broke, Estwing gives the energy of the hammer back to the rock, it's incredible what those hammers can break...

Rock 'breakers'/trimmers:
You need some tools to crack/format the large rocks. Click here for seeing some 'breakers'.

Cleaning minerals:
Cleaning minerals is not easy. The best solution is to find minerals already clean&shiny and put them in a plastic Jousi box immediately ;-)
If not; be very careful using chemicals... they're usually expensive, dangerous and an anvironmental/health hazard. So: chemical cleaning is not our thing...
Just put some warm soapy water in a bucket and move the specimen through the water; the water will be brown afterwards and the specimen cleaner.
Not all minerals like water, and certainly not hot water... like the minerals from the Anna...

Klik hier voor een Nederlands artikel van Nico Nilis over mineralen reinigen (an article in Dutch on mineral cleaning)
Klik hier voor een Nederlands artikel van Rik Dillen over mineralen reinigen (an article in Dutch on mineral cleaning, thanks to Rik Dillen for allowing me to put it here online)

Click here for a great manual by Ernst Sury for mineral cleaning with a list what minerals do and do not like...
If the link is dead, you can also download it here

Sometimes ultrasonic cleaning can do miracles. For sure when you add chemicals to the water and put the heater on...
Branson deliveres the best ultrasonic cleaners. Not cheap, but at least they will work for 10 yrs or more...

Mechanical cleaning is the second best option after water.
Just blow air at a specimen, use a cameralense blower or even canned-air under pressure.
Otherwise use wooden/plastic toothpicks, steel dental picks (ask your dentist for these!) or even a toothbrush...

Boxes:
I prefer Jousi boxes with a black bottom and transparent cover.
You can order those boxes everywhere, so also here: mikon-online.com, sicher.it,
Or try a cheaper alternative here: mineralbox.de
Or use paper boxes (I use them a lot). You can buy those here... at the Bodemschat.

Labels:
A Word document for making labels for MM-boxes. It contains 63 labels with 8 rows on each for use on 'Zweckform' adhesive paper (no.3478: 210x297 mm.).
You can use these labels with any laser- or inkjet-printer. You can consider labeling your MM-boxes by sticking a label completely on the bottom of the box.
Click here and choose 'save' to save this Word-document on your harddisk. or use this one...

Cupboards for keeping the specimens dustfree:
Click here for seeing an example of some cupboards.
We have detailed designs on paper if anyone wants it, so detailed even the number of screws is calculated... just ask us.
See here for another cupboard on our forum.

I usually put my specimens in large cardboard boxes I order here... at the Bodemschat (TODO)
I prefer those because their easy to move, easy to take with me to show off specimens to strahler-collegues and their flexible.

See also:
mineralcollecting.org, rockhoundingar.com, rockhounds.com,