With a generator, rock drill, drill bits, blasting heads, etc... the Sierra Blaster is not a light weight tool by any means and that's why I didn't mention it... The expanding rock bar that you bought, TahoeGold, is OK but the head and arm does get clogged with dirt and it takes work to free up the head... We've had one for years and I still consider it a good tool, even with the sticking problems. It packs in small and is the next tool up from a gad bar.
Here is our Sierra Blaster, it is a great tool and I use it for boulder reduction.
With a generator, rock drill, drill bits, blasting heads, etc... the Sierra Blaster is not a light weight tool by any means and that's why I didn't mention it... The expanding rock bar that you bought, TahoeGold, is OK but the head and arm does get clogged with dirt and it takes work to free up the head... We've had one for years and I still consider it a good tool, even with the sticking problems. It packs in small and is the next tool up from a gad bar.
Here is our Sierra Blaster, it is a great tool and I use it for boulder reduction.
Hi Reed, thanks for your input. And thank you for your videos you make public on many gold mining issues. BTW you are quite the videographer and director having been on one of your shoots.
Thought would do a breakdown of various boulder moving situations. Hard to believe it has be that long but have moved boulders for gold for 40 years now. It can be the difference between a succesful or not successful mining season. This is what have observed, and hope is useful to others.
Situations:
A. One person one day in and out.
B. One person stashing and multiple trips.
C. Multiple people one day in and out.
D. Multiple people stashing and multiple trips.
For D it is amazing what can be done. The show Gold Rush Whitewater is a good example and know of several operations in Sierras with as much or more equipment than that show. In 1980s a 3 man operation by Bob Vance in Yuba area (he has since passed) was lifting boulders 5 or maybe even 10 times bigger that "Goldrush Whitewater" ever has done, clean out of the water with gas winch and cable across canyon (think clothesline cable was 3/4"), then pulled sideways and dropped out of the river. This again was all hand packed in by just 3 people in very rough and steep terrain. They got 72 oz in one summer. And BTW I like the Whitewater show, oftens feels like am there watching as have done similar stuff. One mistake is they had a taut clothesline cable, that is why it broke. Suggest about a 10 degree droop in line and it will put maybe 1/4 the tension on cable for lifting the same sized rock. Bob was a good friend and this was pre small blast systems so when he hit 10 foot boulders he dynamited them as had a license since 1930s, when he worked in the Ruby Drift Mine. If anyone wants to see awesome gold nuggets search on "Ruby Drift Mine" shows some monsters. One pic shows two monster nuggets in a pan, those just might be Bob's hands in photo think he was mining superintendent at the time.
For above cases with just 1 person winches are out, even with stashing. And a pain to set up even with a multiple person if in and out in one day. Also for (A) one person in and out with a breaker bar is hard, I do not do it unless am going to leave it in.
But what about drilling and small blasting? For A, B and C it can and is done. It is not cheap if you consider under $1,000 to be cheap. But to show in what extreme conditions SDS drilling can be done in, know a mountain climber who owns a rock and gem shop in AZ. He does El Capitan and similar climbs and in some vertical sections there are no cracks for pitons.
What do they do? They rock bolt, they drill holes with battery powered SDS drills and screw in screws and bolts, this is common practice. In old days the hand jacked holes. He told me he could put in 40+ holes on one lithium battery. These go for about $200 or higher. If have guts to am planning to rock bolt into a double waterfall, the middle pool on a gold stream, but with an expert as have no "roped" mountain climbing experience and it could easily be fatal if something goes wrong.
So bottom line SDS drilling is totally doable with one person in and out. Maybe 6 pounds with battery. A Bosch 18V goes for $199.
So you can drill, how about blast? That is heavier than drill but by not all that much if no air compressor is involved (electric fire systems). And and this is a big AND, it eliminates a lot of other weight. Will explain. In the attached video by Reed the first boulder is blown by a 4 head system. Afterwards the pieces are so small (20-30 pounds) you can just pick then up and thrown them away as what you see in video. So no 40 pound breaker bars, winches, or even a come a long (which pound for pound is lightest way I know to "winch") or cable/chain. Everything you see happen in video can be done by a single head system, it just takes multiple single head blasts. I personally use a 2 head Aluminum system if backpacking in for really big boulders as it gives directional control and extra head maybe weights 3-4 pounds. But one head definitely does the job and costs less and weighs less. How much does it weigh? Not sure, but just priced shipping and it said $16 for out of state UPS, so it is not all that much.
OK to find out put a two head Stainless Steel head blasting system on my bathroom scale. To my surprise it only weighed 18 pounds. Aluminum weighs much less, so a single head aluminum system is maybe 11-12 pounds. How about electricity for firing the blast? The 18 volt battery on that Bosch does have enough power to fire a single head, so you can use alligator clip wires to get from battery to std 3 prong on the trigger. Bottom line is for much less weight than a single breaker bar you can be drilling and blasting. So say 20-25 pounds for both and cost wise about $950 for both. The breaker bar does cost a lot less if that is an obstacle.
What else do you need? Gloves, this method of reducing big boulders to things one person can pick up or roll leaves sharp edges so you want gloves for sure. Maybe forgot something but having done it the weight sounds about right.
What about electricity if you need 110AC for other things? Well this is what I do, have a "Earthquake" 800 watt 4 cycle that puts out 12v and 110. which weighs 20 pounds and it is very quiet. Then use a 1000 watt Bestek Inverter off that as my 110AC SDS drill will trip the generator, with a 3-4 pound motorcycle 12 V battery between them as a buffer, the gen charges the battery, which powers inverter would puts out 1000 continuous or 1300 watts surge.
Maybe sounds Rube Goldberg but it works, lightest way to have continuous 110 in backcountry know of. For B,C and D gold mining situations it totally works. 900 watt AC SDS drill have works just fine with this and you can use other 110 tools like chain saw and impact wrench to bolt things etc. And as mentioned in prior post if you can rock bolt boulders it works better IMHO than trying to get a chain/cable around a boulder that does not slip on you. Well that's about all I know about backwoods boulder removing.
Cheers
