Howlite

A white borate with gray to black web-like veins. Its porosity makes it easy to dye.

Howlite specimen — Photo: Robert M. Lavinsky, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How to identify howlite

Chalky white with thin gray or black veins.
Soft — a knife scratches it.
Doesn't fizz in acid.

Often confused with

Magnesite
Magnesite fizzes in warm acid and is harder.
Compare side by side
Turquoise
Dyed howlite is sold as fake turquoise; scratch it to see white.
Compare side by side

Where it's found

Windsor, Nova Scotia
Tick Canyon, California
Turkey

Uses

Beads and carvings; dyed as imitation turquoise.

Rock tumbling

Great for tumbling.

Did you know?

It's named after Henry How, the Nova Scotia chemist who first described it.

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