Terms of Use

These terms govern your use of rockhoundry.com. By reading or using this site, you agree to them. If you don't agree, the only real remedy is to stop using the site.

01What this site is

The Rockhoundry publishes editorial content: identification guides, field-location background, lapidary and tumbling explainers, gear coverage, geology, fossils, and gemstones. It is not a retailer, not a lab, and not a substitute for professional geological identification or legal advice about where you may or may not collect.

02Not a substitute for professional identification or legal advice

Our identification guides walk through standard field tests: streak, hardness, luster, cleavage versus fracture, density. These tests narrow possibilities and often settle common questions, but they are not a substitute for a professional geologist, a gemologist, or a lab when a specimen genuinely warrants one, and we say so directly in the guides themselves. Similarly, rules on where you can legally collect rocks, minerals, and fossils vary by landowner, agency, state, and country, and change over time. We describe general categories of land access; we do not provide legal advice, and you are responsible for confirming current rules before you collect anywhere.

03No warranty

Content is provided "as is," without warranty of any kind. We do our best to keep facts accurate and grounded in geological surveys, lapidary manuals, and collector reports, but regulations, localities, and market conditions change. Always verify specifics that matter to you, land access rules especially, before you act on them.

04Affiliate and advertising disclosure

This site runs on advertising, and may in the future include affiliate links on gear, tumblers, grit, loupes, UV lights, that earn a commission when you buy through them at no extra cost to you. Any affiliate link will be disclosed on the page it appears. Advertising and affiliate relationships never determine our editorial content. A test result is a test result regardless of who sells the gear.

05Limitation of liability

We're not liable for damages arising from your use of this site, including identification decisions, purchases, or collecting trips made after reading a guide. Use your own judgment, follow the land access rules that actually apply to you, and get a professional opinion when a specimen or a legal question genuinely calls for one.

06Intellectual property

Site content, text, design, and the crystal and mineral iconography, belongs to The Rockhoundry unless credited otherwise. Don't republish our guides wholesale; linking to us is welcome and appreciated.

07Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as the site evolves. Continued use after a change means you accept the updated terms.

08Contact

Questions about these terms? Reach us through the contact page.