Hints and Tips
Crevice Sucker
From Dave Robinson
By using a basic bulb for battery acid and a copper pipe of one inch
diameter for the body, you can make a turkey baster type of suction device.
With the use of reducer bushiings on the end you have a full line of creviceing
tools from 3/8 to 3/4 diameter and by the use of couplings, you can have
crevice tools from short to any length by adding on. A multiple size tool
for any
crack.
Making Holes in Plastic
From Jack Womack
When holes are to be made in plastic buckets, etc., I use the size of rod to
match the hole size and heat it with a propane torch. Heat the rod just enough
to make the hole, heating after each hole. This makes a much cleaner hole than
using a drill bit.
Moss Mining
From Dave Lammert
If you are Moss Mining,(looking for gold in the Moss that grows along streams
and rivers). Take the moss home with you and let it dry out, crush it into
powder and THEN sluice or pan through it. No need to wash it, tumble it,
to work the gold out, (if any). Just let it dry until it can be crushed
into powder.
Lightweight Sluice Boxes
From AuDetector
Watch Ebay for ABS Plastic....Every now and then companies sell out their "scrap" lots
of plastic and you can pick up some nice pieces for cheap. Once you get the
plastic, buy an acrylic cutter, some aluminum angle pieces and get creative.
You can try some of your design ideas in one night. I also picked up some
ABS adhesive (6.00 a pint and that's plenty) that welds it together if you
want a bolt free project. Check out a lightweight sluice
box design made from
this stuff.
Cleaning Material in Cement Mixers
From Frank J. Skorupa
On a trip to "Tuckers Mountain Creek Gold Mine" in North Carolina,
Mr.Tucker showed us a trick that he used when he filled his mixer with diggings
and water. He added environmental friendly liquid soap to the mix. Boy did that
make a difference in the cleaning of the material. If you ever panned in the
red clay of Carolina you will appreciate this hint. Golden Life to you all.
Miners Moss Screen
No Name
For a lightweight screen to fit over you miner's moss, I have found
that plastic rain gutter guard is lightweight and at 6 inches is about
perfect for a minisluice or mini high banker.
Crevice Tool
No Name
This summer we got into gold panning in Colorado and I came up with a good
idea for getting into those crevices above water line. I had been using
an ice pick but soon found that it wasn't always long enough nor could
you scoop up much if the crevice was deep. I found one of those hold
down brackets for batteries that's about 18 inches long and using the
threaded end I screwed it into a 2 ft shovel handle. The other end had
a hook for the battery case and I just straightened it out to 90 degrees
and ground it down flat, works great. You can also grind down a large
soup spoon so it's narrow and reaches right into the crevice. I use
one of those carpenter belts to carry all my tools into the field.
Panning
Kerry Cochrane
My wife and I do a lot of panning and other related activities. What I like
to do when I get a new pan is to take these little rubber refrigerator
magnets, the ones with some kind of advertisement on them that are about
1/16" thick.
Peel the ad off and there is usually enough sticky stuff left on them to
stick real good to the side of the gold pan usually for me near the bottom
of pan.
This works real well to attract and hold the magnetic black sands. You can
then use your thumb to remove the black sands before you lift pan from water.
Cleaning Mercury
Steve McGraw
When cleaning mercury, try vinegar. It is nontoxic, nonpoison and cheap.
Also, it's not controled by the US government.
Concentrate Separator
From Rod
I came up with a great idea for
concentrate separation. Take a commercial bottled water 1.5 liter, clear, with
ridges,
many brands
to choose from:
1 Cut off both ends, you should now have a bottle with 2 open ends
2 Cut the bottle in half like 2 u-shaped pieces
3 If you like, put both pieces together with blue gasket seal
4 Run a small stream of water through it
5 Add concentrates
If desired, and suggested, secure the bottle half by mounting 2 pieces of 1/2
or 3/4 PVC pipe to a board with bolts and using small nuts and bolts
to secure the half bottle to the PVC.
It really works well and saving fine gold and cost about $2.50 at
most.
Having trouble getting the foot valve on your pump?
Cody Walton, UT
Sometimes
it is hard to get your foot valve on your pump. Take some chapstick and
rub
it around your pump and it just slides right on.
Ribbed Rubber Mat
Cody Walton, UT
I live in Utah where most of the gold
is fine so I came up with a pretty good recovery system for my three inch dredge.
I
put some
ribbed rubber matting in the bottom and cover it with a non backed miners moss.
I find it catching a lot more gold but sometimes it is hard to find the
rubber matting. I finally found it at my local industrial supply store
and they sell it by the running 3 ft. Believe
me, the ribbed rubber matting works great for people in Colorado
or Utah.
Another Rubber Mat
J.P. Las Vegas, NV
I've found that after working in grocery stores for a few tears (lol), that
produce
departments use a rubber type of carpet on the bottom of their fruit & veggy
displays. This matting works great to help trap the finer flakes. It's similar
to the stuff that they put on the back of quality carpets to keep them from slipping.
The produce department uses it to make it easier to stack the apples and such.
And the good part of it is, that they change it out often.. So what do you care
if it had smashed bananas on it or not . Just ask - most "customer oreinted" managers
or clerks would be glad to help you out at no charge.
YAM (Yet Another Mat)
Bill Westcott, San Leandro, CA