Knapping Materials, Many varieties of Obsidian, Needles for windchimes

Road sign on Hwy 20 at Glass Buttes (long since stolen). Yes those are bullet holes, it's a popular sport in the countryside.

 

Obsidian for Lapidary/Knapping and Obsidian Needles

 

(If I have too much, I put it on sale. When I sell out, I take it off. So, Check back often for sale prices!). I will not, under any circumstances, ship anything international. The rates are now ridiculous as of the January 2021 price increase. If you aren't a US citizen and you can give me a US address to ship to that's OK. All of my policies are HERE. Please read them before you order anything.
All pieces will be sent Parcel Post mail or flat rate priority mail ($9.55 - $20.95), depending on weight, whichever is less unless you specify the shipping method.
I accept electronic payments or credit cards via PayPal. If you have a PayPal account, would like to set up an account, or would like to use their one-time transfer feature without signing up for an account, please feel free to try the shopping cart by clicking the cart button next to each item. I will bill S&H charges to the email address you gave to PayPal once I have your order ready to ship. You MUST unblock cookies and popups for the PayPal site to work!
I also accept money orders and cashier's checks in the mail. I accept cash, debit & credit card payments if you pick up your rocks here!

If you don't want to use Paypal, CONTACT ME HERE

Shipping charges will be billed when I get your order boxed up

Under "Quantity" please put the number of POUNDS for rough, the number of SQUARE INCHES for slabs. In your note, specify any details like minimum size of slabs.

If you prefer to pay with a money order, email me with your order at the address below.
I can accept debit & credit card payments if you pick up your rocks here!

Questions? CONTACT ME HERE

If you want more than 50 lbs. of rough material, I can offer a volume discount. Please CONTACT ME HERE if you would like a volume discount.

Materials marked with an asterisk * are usually available in sizes greater than 6 x 6" up to 10" x 14". I cut some of the really big slabs almost twice as thick as normal (generally 7/16") up to close to an inch thick so there will be an extra charge per square inch for those. As of 2022 I have a couple hundred pounds of giant slabs available. Here are a few examples.

You can always ASK what I have available.


Please note: For sheen, rainbow, purple, and velvet obsidian, I pick slabs or rough that shows the sheen, on at least one side for slabs, in full sunlight. It may or may not show well or at all in indirect sunlight, incandescent, or fluorescent light, depending on the type of sheen and the individual piece. Also, if you work the material, and the sheen disappears, chalk it up to experience! This happens to everyone, myself included. I have no way of knowing what you will do with the material.
You can try to score and break the slabs if you want preforms for knapping (I recommend a tile cutter), or cut them down with a trim or tile saw.

Obsidian & Needles

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU START SHOPPING!

SOLD OUT means I HAVE NONE. Please do not click on the Cart button if the Available Quantity says SOLD OUT

(Note: I often have slabs of material long after I have sold out of rough, so ask about slabs if the material says Sold Out). Slabs are sold by the square inch. For example, a 4"x4" slab is 16 square inches. ALMOST ALL OF MY SLABS ARE 1/4" +/- 1/16 inch thick. Please Note:  I always have slabs available unless the Available Quantity says otherwise. For slabs, I only charge for usable material if the slab has unsuable portions (for example, thunderegg slabs have both unusable matrix and usable centers).Please do not order more than the quantity available. Please pay attention to the size of the rough. I will not break up rough rocks to accomodate small quantities.
Knappers: If you want narrow slabs (say 2" wide) I can cut them for you for a little extra (it tends to waste quite a bit of material). If you want to do it yourself pick up a 14" tile cutter, they're fairly cheap.
MANY of my non-obsidian rocks are heat treatable. I don't know a darn thing about it so I can't answer any questions. There are lots of resources on the interwebs and Puget Sound Knappers have a nice discussion about it HERE. A PDF of instructions for tons of different types of rock from that page is HERE.

Click on the name of any material for a sample photo!

If the Rough is available and Slabs say SOLD OUT check back often, I slab more as I get the time!

I have LARGE TO GIANT SLABS available as big as 14" long CLICK HERE

Obsidian Needles

ALL NEEDLES ON FIRE SALE! Davis Creek obsidian needles (for wind chimes etc.) The big fat needles are large, jumbo, and giant size needles that aren't slender like the traditional needles (great for sacrificing an ox LOL or really big wind chimes, which sound incredible). Click on each name for a pic of 1 lb. These are NOT the needles you will receive, only an example (and no I did not pick out the best needles I had, I grabbed a baggie from my stock and dumped it out). The number of needles you will receive is approximately the number in the example pics. Click here to see a few of my needle projects. We can talk about discounts for large orders. Regular (>2" - 4") $10 / pound
20 lbs.
Large (>4" - 6") $15 / pound
20 lbs.

Jumbo! (>6" - 8") $30 / pound

Giant!! (>8" - 10") $45 / pound

Gargantuan!!! needles (>10" - 12"+) $0.75 per inch ASK HERE

YES Biggest is about 13"

Big Fat needles $0.50 / pound


25 lbs.

Obsidian Rough Rock and Slabs

Material (click on the name for a big pic!) Virtually all of the slabs are cut 13/32" thick +/- 1/32" = halfway between 3/8" and 7/16" (yeah I know that's weird but the thickness of slabs on my saws is adjustable in 1/20th of an inch increments). Big slabs (larger than about 7x7") are just under are about 7/16" to 1/2".
Price Rough per pound
Price Slabs per square inch
Available Quantity
Rough
pounds
Slabs Avail.?

Beatys Butte Obsidian This material is from private property on this just about unknown obsidian location. It has been identified as a source of obsidian for ancient native American tribes and was traded all over the northwest and beyond. It looks like basanite from the rind (which is always opaque) but it's more like obsidian. It's almost all a totally opaque jet black but has occasional mahogany streaks. Well shaped rough for spalling and knapping, usually whole or nearly whole rounded nodules from about a pound to over 5 pounds. This variety is great for backing doublet or triplet cabochons.

$0.25

YES

Black Obsidian * (translucent to semi-opaque; with and without "bands" or faint sheen) * This is what you want for hunting points or to practice spalling or FOG knapping. If I am sold out, try the Glass Buttes silver, which is the same thing, only lighter gray as opposed to black in color. Blowout sale I need to make room for more slabs!

$1.50
$0.15

100

YES

 

Miscellaneous Obsidian In addition to black obsidian I am also offering buckets of various obsidian from Glass Buttes and Davis/Lassen Creek at the same price. There can be anything in this, for all I know there's Davis Creek Velvet in here. I simply don't have the time to sort through all of it. This is an insane bargain compared to what I would price each type at!

$1.50
 

 

Opaque Black Obsidian Preferred by some knappers. Some is faintly banded.

$0.25
 

YES

Davis Creek Apache Gold (Green sheen variety) All black/ clear/ mahogany colors are sold out. I do have a few pieces that have a really weird but faint green sheen to them. I want them gone :)

$3.00

$0.15

YES

Davis Creek Green/Gold/Purple Sheen Green and/or Gold and/or Purple "flash" - very unique! A few with deep purple too. I have some killer rough available too, most of it is the green & purple variety.

$0.45

40

YES

Davis Creek Gray Banded * gray colors in bands, sometimes with "chevron" patterns.

$0.15

 

Davis Creek Needles Pit Chatoyant Purple This is fantastic sheen obsidian, I was blown away by the first slab I cut (email me for a video, I can't make it play on the website). I have been digging needles for years and never really noticed the boulders at the pit had purple sheen. So I hauled a few buckets back and they are spectacular. Someone has since taken all the boulders so unless I unearth more I won't have any more to sell.

$6.00
$0.55

YES

YES

Davis Creek Pink Lady Subtle (usually) pastel rainbow colors or beautiful lavender to purple "flash" which is unique to this mine.

$5.00
$0.25

YES

YES

Davis Creek rainbow/gray * Pastel rainbow colors mixed in with gray bands. I can't tell if it's this type until I slab it so sorry no rough available. I only have BIG, THICK slabs left. As in, big enough for a spear :)

$3.00
$0.20

YES

YES

Davis Creek rainbow * All rainbow colors in straight or wavy bands. Some of this is wild stuff! Sale on slabs! I cut way too much! GIANT slabs available!

$6.00

$0.40

YES

YES

Davis Creek Velvet * Awesome velvet rainbow colors, much like Royal Velvet. The pit has been totally wiped out by illegal commercial mining so unless I stumble on some for sale I won't be getting any more.

$5.00
$0.50

YES

YES

Glass Buttes Crazy Pit (pics coming soon). I dug this for the first time in 2019 and it really does have some crazy looking material. Lots of mahogany/black combos and some gold sheen. But really a mishmash of just plain old weird patterns.
$0.35

YES

Glass Buttes Double Flow * Black & brown or black & clear bands and patterns. I dug lots of this from the Midnite Lace pit so there's a chance of some lace in the mix. Most is black varieties like black/clear but there ares some mahogany combos.

$0.30

YES

Glass Buttes Gold Sheen * Lots of really nice rough! The classic mahogany to red and black bands with nice sheen. Much of it has more than one shade of mahogany too. There is some gold sheen in the Crazy Pit rough above. Some HUGE slabs too.

$3.00
$0.30
30

YES

Glass Buttes Leopardskin Mahogany and black patterns vaguely (hey I didn't name it lol) reminescent of a leopard's coat.

$0.40

YES

Glass Buttes Mahogany Mahogany to red-brown, usually has some areas of black.

$1.50!

$0.25!

50

Glass Buttes Midnite Lace Black and clear in lines & swirls. I've been frantically slabbing pieces from the pit to find more. Note: people are calling any old clear obsidian with black bands Midnite Lace. That is NOT Midnite Lace, it only comes from one pit!


$0.50

 

Glass Buttes Opaque Banded Obsidian Banded gray & black colors.
$0.20

YES

Glass Buttes Rainbow This is NOT the old Glass Buttes rainbow pit that you see for sale everywhere else; it is much better, from the same pit as the insanely rare Aurora Borealis. I last dug this pit in 2019 but now it has been pretty well trashed by illegal commercial mining. So there isn't much coming out unless someone starts a new pit.

Glass Buttes Silver Sheen Silvery sheen, can take many forms. Some has light rainbow colors.

$3.00

$0.20

YES

Glass Buttes Spiderweb/Lizardskin * (I've seen it called both). Crazy black, clear, and mahogany with occasional gold and sliver sheen in "spiderweb" and other crazy patterns. I dug this again for the first time in 15 years and now I don't know why it took so long. The pit is so dangerous now I won't even go into it so I probably won't be getting any more unless I get the time to poke around the hill to see if there's another spot worth opening up. Mostly BIG, thick slabs.

$0.35

YES

Glass Buttes Triple Flow * Black, brown, and clear bands and patterns. I don't know what this is until I slab it so no rough available, sorry.


 

Lassen Creek Electric Blue * The most amazing rainbow obsidian, vivid blue bands.

 
 

Lassen Creek Rainbow Bright, intense rainbow colors in bands, many mixed varieties. I have some but not a lot.

$0.55

A FEW

Mexico Green & Purple Green and purple in bands or shimmering sheen (much like the Royal Velvet); some is just purple. This is some special stuff!

$0.50

 

YES

Mexico Rainbow I think I can get some more but it will be a while yet...

 

Mexico Royal Velvet It's back! This variety needs no introduction, it speaks for itself! Most of what I have is solid shimmering mixed colors with a little black, but some does have the black background.

$1.00

 

YES

Questions? CONTACT ME HERE

If you have a question about ordering see this page

PLEASE READ MY POLICIES HERE BEFORE YOU ORDER!
By ordering from this site you are agreeing to all the stated policies on the linked page.

I accept electronic payments or credit cards via PayPal only or in person! If you have a PayPal account, would like to set up an account, or would like to use their one-time transfer feature without signing up for an account, please feel free to try the shopping cart by clicking the cart button next to each item. I will bill S&H charges to your PayPal account once I have your order ready to ship. If you don't want to use PayPal, please CONTACT ME HERE.
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Tim Fisher

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