Got out a little today....................

[johnedoe]

The idea behind the punch plate is so I don't get a shovel full of sand clogging up the slick plate... the punch plate will be just below the surface of the running water to help even out and smooth the distribution of the sand entering the sluice thereby allowing for better stratification of materials.

At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.....

 

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[johnedoe]

Sittin' down on the job ay?? View attachment 1154709
I don't need a punch plate/screen for my beaches, everything is the same size.
Well maybe. How big, technically, is a grain of sand?

Hey... I'm old, I'll sit down on the job every chance I get...

As far as how big is a grain of sand? well so far everything I have recovered has been -100 mesh.

 

[Oregon Viking]

The idea behind the punch plate is so I don't get a shovel full of sand clogging up the slick plate... the punch plate will be just below the surface of the running water to help even out and smooth the distribution of the sand entering the sluice thereby allowing for better stratification of materials.

At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.....

I didn't think of that. Your sand is blonde?
That might be a good idea with a sluice like this, that doesn't have a slick plate.

 

[johnedoe]

I didn't think of that. Your sand is blonde?
That might be a good idea with a sluice like this, that doesn't have a slick plate.

View attachment 1154767

The whole idea is to NOT move a lot of blond sand, you have to concentrate on the pay streaks of the black sands ... The wind and tide constantly change the beach and these areas (image below)... Are now covered with the wind blown blond sands and I will just have to wait for them to be revealed again when the blonds get relocated.

 

[johnedoe]

OK... Got out a little...Again today, a beautiful day at the beach it was too....
The tide was very low but the beach was pretty drifted with blond sand, however there were areas of exposed black sand .... Also the creek was just running with it so needless to say we set up in the flow.

I will clean up the cons later and see what we got... I am very curious about the creek run alone, I ran about a half hour and cleaned up then ran the skimmed material, so 2 clean ups ......



There were areas that the creek had run and left a nice layer of black sand all classified out for us so we skimmed it and ran it too.


My lovely wife and companion was also right there to help.... She is a trooper. I am a lucky man and could not ask for a better partner.


And here are the rest of the pics without comment.....

 

[KevinInColorado]

Wow, that last shot is my favorite!

 

[Oregon Viking]

Are there any areas that are pure black sand? If you dig down 4, 5 inches...
I would have been sitting in the creek feeding the sluice
High of 76 here today.

 

[johnedoe]

Dunno.... Haven't done that yet..... I can say there is definitely nothing like whales head in this area.... I have never seen anything like the whales head area.. Not even Nome.

 

[Oregon Viking]

Dunno.... Haven't done that yet..... I can say there is definitely nothing like whales head in this area.

Nesika beach has about 10 times the black sand as Whaleshead. The black sand is very close to Whaleshead creek though, that's a plus. A few years ago (seems like just a few) you could run 4 wheelers on Nesika beach. I have heard people talk about hauling Black sand on a trailer, to the mouth of Euchre creek, and that creek is a gold bearing stream also. Double your chances!

 

[johnedoe]

Wow, that last shot is my favorite!

It sure beats the heck out of last week when it was wet and cold and I was feeling very old......

 

[DizzyDigger]

John, between you and OV I'm coming to the conclusion
that I need to get down on one of those beaches and give
this a try.

There are many areas of black sand on the beaches of the
Skagit River (runs through my backyard), but I've never
really pursued scraping the black sands up.

You may have mentioned this in another thread, but have
you ever tried a Gold Cube out for those black sands?

I'm teetering on whether to sell my GC to get a Bazooka,
or to hang on to it and go beach mining.

BTW, you do "old" much better than I do...lol



Wish I'd had the full sized version of this pic, but did the
best with what was there. MAJOR black sand in that pic!

 

[johnedoe]

I should have made a note on that image... All the dark area is cobble, but that cobble also acts as a natural sluice.
Where the current was running you could see the black sand rolling along in waves...... Gotta admit it was a pretty cool thing to see.
I just hope there was some good color rolling with it.....

I will clean up the cons tomorrow and get some pics on here when I'm finished... I really don't think I paid for lunch but it was a great day to be out.

Regarding your GC.... I would get over to that river and start running those black sands with it.

I have never had a GC so I really can't say anything about them except that the buddy that went to the beach last week with me had one... He sold it and got a Cleangold sluice, he said his tailings out of the cube showed too much loss..... I wasn't there so I don't know, he may have been running it wrong... I have heard they are a good piece of equipment and do seem to do a pretty good job when everything is set up properly.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Hey Diz, it seems to me the beach would be a safer place to work than the average creek...for a wobbly guy especially

 

[johnedoe]

Hey Diz, it seems to me the beach would be a safer place to work than the average creek...for a wobbly guy especially

The beach may be safer barring the occasional sneaker wave, but the creek pays better.....
So yesterdays take was far less than the crappy weekend before... On the plus side it was a beautiful day with my sweetie.
Here's the dismal return..... I will just have to wait till the beach returns to the nice layers black after the blond sands have been removed.

Good thing I don't rely on this for a living.....

 

[425jesse]

More than I got at my house! Cheers!

 

[KevinInColorado]

More than I got at my house! Cheers!

Are ya sure? How many holes ya dig an how deep?
:P lol

 

[DizzyDigger]

More than I got at my house! Cheers!

Next time you're up this way we can mine my driveway...

 

[arizau]

The beach may be safer barring the occasional sneaker wave, but the creek pays better.....
So yesterdays take was far less than the crappy weekend before... On the plus side it was a beautiful day with my sweetie.
Here's the dismal return..... I will just have to wait till the beach returns to the nice layers black after the blond sands have been removed.

Good thing I don't rely on this for a living.....

View attachment 1159028

At least you got some chunky pieces in the mix (comparitively speaking that is). Too bad the area close to the bluff where you had a good show a month or so ago is now covered. I'm not so sure some of the more southern beaches are any better now unless they have had a recent storm. My summertime trips have never shown me all black beaches as Oregon Viking has pictured in the past but there are usually thin black sand streaks in active creeks and around driftwood logs, etc. I once worked a 3 or so foot thick bank of black sand at Whaleshead but it was a rainy, windy and cold bit-h of a day so I did not spend much time (desert rat weather phobia). No gram per bucket but still the best I have done so far and I am sure I was running my sluice too hot or at least a lot hotter than the pictures you have shown with your sluice.

Good luck and "Go South"

 

[johnedoe]

All I can do now is keep checking the conditions and wait for the base of the embankment to uncover....
I will still be going back up there regularly and moving sand, it gets me some exercise and god knows I need to keep movin.
I think I need to just get into some of the cobble.... Not really to jazzed about that exercise though..... But I think the show will be better than the existing beach.

 

[johnedoe]

Well it has been a while since I have posted, fact is it has been a while since I moved any sand.... The beaches are still covered with drifts of blond sand covering the good stuff so I won't be doing much till the the black sand get revealed again... And we are getting close to that time of year.
Anyway just thought I would drop in and see what all you big dogs been up to and say howdy..... still alive and kickin.....