Dredging a nice crack in a contact zone video.

[specksandflecks]

Found a nice little crack last summer. It held some decent gold, but there is always a catch. Kind of had to battle the sides to get the 4" nozzle into the tapered bottom . I could have really used one of those crevice attachments for the nozzle, so now that's on the list. Hard to tell by the video, but the fractures in the crack just keep going and going, so I didn't use my blaster nozzle for fear of working the flakes even further down into the cracks. Tried to get a nice sluice box shot at the end but of course some water collected on the camera housing screwing up the shot. It's a little more fuzzy that usual, either because camera or compression settings or who knows what, you can still see the gold showing up, its just kinda fuzzy. Anyway enjoy. The 1080P HD version is available at YouTube.

 

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[NeoTokyo]

Nice video, thanks for sharing.

My wife would have gone in after you and smashed the hell out of that bedrock to get to the deeper cracks to get even more gold out.
She loves killing bedrock.

Have you heard about the proposed dredge ban up there yet?

 

[Hoser John]

I almost peed I was laughing soooo hard. You are NOT dredging you are simply mutzing and a putzing. You are missing the absolute MOST important pices of mining equipment there is. A RIGHTEOUS BLASTER NOZZLE. That crack and ALL the surrounding could be cleaned out in 1 minute and your maybe 50% in 16+ minutes. Connect to the hose bib a simple 25' non kink hose with a control valve attached to a mini lawn sweeper nozzle-think tiny firemans hose. In a matter of seconds from that nice bedrock you will instantly find MORE gold than you recovered. You are definately in the noob stage and have much to learn which is indeed fun. With a b/n you cut through impacted gravels,melt gold robbing clay chunks/ ball and clean bedrock amazingly fast. You will increase your production by at LEAST 50% and recoveries according,your wrists and hands won't ache from smashing,bashing and scraping all day either. Educate and prosper-John PS--that miners moss your using impacts like cement each and EVERY time you stop that dredge,or get plugups, and from that point on you are then losing at LEAST half the gold. Remove at least half way down and use the ribbed keene carpet or anythang close.

 

[specksandflecks]

Well top of the morning to ya ol Johny boy. Glad you enjoyed yet another of my fine productions. As always thanks for the feedback, most entertaining and almost informative. You see, I'm one of them visual learner types. So hows about I come on down and you show me how it's done. Maybe even shoot a short vid for all the rest of the noobies to see how it's done once and for all. No dredging in California? Let em implode and come up here while you still can. The crack is still there along with all the gold I left in it . So there ya go, open invitation to walk the walk one more time. One more thing, whats this dribble "Last edited by Hoser John; Today at 3:16 PM" You goin soft in your old age? For christ sakes if you have something to say say it

 

[Hoser John]

1st off-Christ ain't got a dam thang to do with it OK. Soft hahaha what a hoot and I always like to show my feeling with visual and physical aides. There is NO dredge laws so run what ya brung--whats wrong no backbone Bring'r on down and I'll be more than glad to give ya multiple lessons on many fronts- John----PS- I swore I'd NEVER dredge Oregon again as already invaded by the stinkn' 69er klamath cancer and the folks there don't need no more stinkn' kalif dredgers screwing up their insane mess any more than already done at this time, I have dozens of places to go in Oregon already on huge parcels of private property so laws DO NOT APPLY.

 

[Gravel Hog]

1st off-Christ ain't got a dam thang to do with it OK. Soft hahaha what a hoot and I always like to show my feeling with visual and physical aides. There is NO dredge laws so run what ya brung--whats wrong no backbone Bring'r on down and I'll be more than glad to give ya multiple lessons on many fronts- John----PS- I swore I'd NEVER dredge Oregon again as already invaded by the stinkn' 69er klamath cancer and the folks there don't need no more stinkn' kalif dredgers screwing up their insane mess any more than already done at this time, I have dozens of places to go in Oregon already on huge parcels of private property so laws DO NOT APPLY.

Go Figure ...

 

[DesertNuggets]

Nice video! Thanks for sharing.

 

[russau]

Hoser has walked the walk and talked the talk for more years than most of us! i had the pleasure of dredgeing with him in Wyoming 2 years ago and i learned a lot from him! John has been there designing/building eqwuipment that its design is still around today,and copied! the blaster hose is one big example!

 

[specksandflecks]

Yes NeoTokyo I am aware of the proposed ban, that reminds me I have to make a phone call. Might be time for plan B here in Oregon.

Hoser John, sending you a PM.

 

[Sticks]

is that Sharps Creek gold?

 

[DizzyDigger]

is that Sharps Creek gold?

Sticks, the thread is 1-1/2 years old, and the original poster
(OP) hasn't been on Tnet since Feb. Might be a long wait for
a response..

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

Ohh, the golden days when dredging was legal. Yes, much could be said about your approach to working this crevice and the gold recovery within but as you stated with great honesty, you are new to this and that my friend gets some respect from this old prospector. As you advance yourself in this industry, one day your tactics will change and you'll find that time in the field is money and who doesn't want to see more gold in the box at the end of the day. Enough said. I commend you on a great video and enjoyed it immensely. I know the feeling of running one of these crevices - you wish it would never end. May you find many more. Cheers to you.

 

[Sticks]

Sticks, the thread is 1-1/2 years old, and the original poster
(OP) hasn't been on Tnet since Feb. Might be a long wait for
a response..

Thanks for that. I saw some other vids of his on youtube where he made mods to his keene 3 stage adding rr matting throughout whole box, and he did listen and now runs a blaster for crevices. One thing I wanted to know from him he raised the dredge frame 2" with aluminum blocks thinking he would get better action in lower sluice, did it work?

 

[specksandflecks]

Hey Sticks, thanks for the kind words on the videos. The video in this thread is not Sharps creek but another creek in Oregon.

Yes Idaho those were the days indeed. I think this video was the last time I Dredged.

For a little over a year now I have been mining without a permit. 24-7, 365 days a year and not a speck of gold to show for it..

There seems to be some confusion about this video so I'll try to clear it up. Basically my intent was to hopefully show the gold 'in situ' as it was exposed. I had my usual tools within arms reach, these included my blaster nozzle and a 6' chisel tip steel prybar.

I admit watching this makes me want to jump in there with the 6' steel bar and bust the whole thing out in 5 minutes. Time in the field is indeed money and trying to get it on video only takes more of both. That being said, there are plenty of times I wish I had shot mining video if for nothing other than my own reference, go figure.

Also Sticks about the dredge mods, if you notice the dates in the different videos you'll see I changed the 2nd stage mod a couple times so it's more of a work in progress with the most recent version being a slight improvement over the last.

If I made another change it would be to raise the frame another inch to around 3" total lift over stock to get just a bit more slope on the box. That and put a couple larger removable flat top style riffles
(like Reed Lukens did in his dredge building video) to catch nuggets over 1/2" at the end of the 2nd stage. I'm sure there's more it will probably always be a work in progress.

Raising the dredge frame 2" with that rectangular tubing helps fines recovery. The undercurrent 3rd stage can be made to run fine without packing as it is, stock, as can the rest of the dredge, it's just not conducive to optimal recovery if the majority of your gold is fine. I'm not saying the recovery couldn't be better on my slightly modified 4" dredge either, its simply more capable at recovering fines than it was in stock form.

Pacific rubber carries the rubber matting. The cost was 10-15$ to line the entire box.

With its fine gold and abundant heavies, Sharps creek will test your recovery system harder than some other areas which makes it challenging for beginners but once you get dialed in there you will likely find other areas much easier to get dialed in.