crevice tools

[BangTango]

What shape or size, I'm talking about not useing a long screwdriver to get in those cracks, what would be better? And don't want to hear about crowbars and break them apart, any ideas Dry or Wet?

 

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[MadMarshall]

As far as I know there is no universal crevicing device. I've used screwdrivers, coat hangers, pretty much anything I thought could pull me up some dirt. I used to spend alot of time trying to get down in cracks by crevicing. Now I will sample a few cracks and if color is present I just grab the big hammer and some chisel's and destroy it.Sweep it up and pan..

 

[Terry Soloman]

What shape or size, I'm talking about not useing a long screwdriver to get in those cracks, what would be better? And don't want to hear about crowbars and break them apart, any ideas Dry or Wet?

Here you go! Crevice Tool

 

[NeoTokyo]

Go to your local prospecting shop and see what they have to offer, if you do not have one around then start thinking about what YOU would like to use.


The tools that I use are pretty simple, I have a 24" flathead screwdriver that I bent that last 3" or so in a 90 degree angle, I have a 9pc tweezer set, I have a wonderful old steel shop-vac with a 30' hose to vacuum with when I am within 100' - 130' of the car (need a small genny so I dont have to stay near to the car), cheap paint brush sets, small automotive/hobby picks, Estwing Brick Hammer, underwater spotlights, custom snuffer bottles, buckets, pans, sluice and many many more.

When I choose to go to an area I only pick a hand full of tools to go with me based on what I am doing and what I am working.
I do underwater and dry exposed bedrock crevicing.

If you are just starting you will find yourself with a pile of tools before you know it, each one with its place and duty.

 

[Rdg Sluicer]

I use a welding slag hammer for my crevice tool. One end is pointed the other is flat.

 

[NeoTokyo]

I use a welding slag hammer for my crevice tool. One end is pointed the other is flat.

Funny that you say that, I almost picked one up before my Estwing but wanted more weight so I went with the Estwing.

I chose the brick hammer over the geo pick to double as a scraping tool.

 

[PYRATE]

Too many possibilities to list - here are a few:
Tight spots require thin and strong - old knives are perfect for this, grab one from a thrift for a dollar or less and grind it dull

For wider & deeper cracks, in short time you can make something with bar stock or just about anything flat & metal

you can recreate the $10 crevice tool mentioned above with spring wire or rod stock and two minutes of twisting.

Shelf brackets are almost made for the job.

 

[spoofman]

I use bent aluminum arrows. You can take and cut them to whatever length you want and also bend the end and flatten it out for better surface area for retrieval. I have them laying around as I am an archery hunter as well. they also work as a ram for small dredges if rocks get stuck at the jet location.

 

[calisdad]

A small masons pointing trowel is nice an thin for scraping narrow tracks and you can pick up your material with it like a mini dust pan. I also use a day pack with lots of pockets for carrying everything, utilizing caribiners on the outside to catch the zipties I've attachecd to my pans and classifiers.

 

[63bkpkr]

There are times when crevicing you may notice tiny hairs of green growing 'stuff' called weeds or moss that form a green line on the exposed bedrock. The thin green line indicates a crack where weeds have gotten a foothold and are growing. That line tells you that the bedrock is not solid. This 'not solid' situation implies that IF the circumstances were just right small gold particles may have been washed down those cracks A metal detector will confirm or deny that theory. IF it is confirmed then what? I use a very thin 1/16" thick ~ 6" long with a right angle bend at the top nail puller that has been highly hardened making it very stiff to open this nearly invisible crack. Place the chisel like end at or into the crack and smack the right angle head with a hammer or hammer like object (think rock). I have had sections of solid bedrock pop right off using this method and tool and when lifted up there will be a small piece of gold shining at me or else there will be surface dirt that when brushed (1" wide paint brush) into a pile can be scraped up, put into a pan, panned and there will be gold left in the pan. The criteria for the tool is that the nail puller needs to be really really thin and very very stiff........63bkpkr

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

I too carry a "wonder bar" nail puller in my gear, along with various picks and scrapers, most made from old starting to rust screwdrivers. The kin you might buy 4 for a dollar at a garage sale. Also I carry a small rounded wood carving tool, as a "catch tray" in front of my scraping tool. Think of it as a broom and dustpan. Great in the smallest of cracks.

 

[MadMarshall]

It's seems to me that the best crack's to get gold out of are Hairline fractures. Wider cracks where crevicing tools are used its seems to me less likely to have gold any kind of paying quantity. Where as the gold I find in much smaller cracks/hairline fractures have a higher gold content. For example about a year ago my brother found a crack that you couldn't even see. He noticed while working another crack beneath it. But after hitting the general area with the sledge hammer he noticed little poofs of smoke above his crack and after watching carfully while hitting with the hammer you could make out a small crack that ran along side the one he was working. After some serioius hammering my brother exposed the small fracture and it turned out to be 10.3 grams of free gold the only material in the crack was blacksand and gold no other debri at all. So now it's not uncommon for my brother to walk around with a small sledge and pound on certain kinds of bedrock looking for little puffs smoke to rise. But I've yet to find a crack that didn't need some kind of breaking apart to get the gold. The tools described I'm sure they have there use's but I often wonder how long It will take for those tools to pay for themselves?

 

[63bkpkr]

MadMarshall,
When I started crevicing I worked some larger cracks and found gold in them, not massive quantities but gold just the same. Then I read Lanny's post on Metal Detecting Bedrock here on Tnet and gave it a try and that is when I began to notice the fine cracks in bedrock. Lanny has deduced that some pockets of gold started out life in a larger crack that was sealed shut by boulders pounding on it during heavy runoff and possibly that is what your brother found. The metal detecting I've done so far of bedrock has led me to only smaller pieces of gold and then not much in any one crack but the stuff is there IF the surrounding conditions are right. As an example: I'd found a section of river nearly devoid of dirt on the bedrock and started searching it with my GMT detector. Over some sections there were numerous signals and when the rocks were opened up there would be gold there but as I got closer to where the late summer flow was at the signals dropped off. So the float gold was farther away from the main stream, makes sense when thinking about it away from the river. I even explored further up the bank side but the signals dropped of dramatically. So my thinking is that each section of the riverbed is slightly different from the one above or below it as the water has been doing some different swirling as it goes along on its way down river and out to the ocean. My best located spot to date was along the side bank of a river where one very large boulder started collecting a bunch of other boulders on its down river side. Have fun all.........63bkpkr

 

[MadMarshall]

MadMarshall,
When I started crevicing I worked some larger cracks and found gold in them, not massive quantities but gold just the same. Then I read Lanny's post on Metal Detecting Bedrock here on Tnet and gave it a try and that is when I began to notice the fine cracks in bedrock. Lanny has deduced that some pockets of gold started out life in a larger crack that was sealed shut by boulders pounding on it during heavy runoff and possibly that is what your brother found. The metal detecting I've done so far of bedrock has led me to only smaller pieces of gold and then not much in any one crack but the stuff is there IF the surrounding conditions are right. As an example: I'd found a section of river nearly devoid of dirt on the bedrock and started searching it with my GMT detector. Over some sections there were numerous signals and when the rocks were opened up there would be gold there but as I got closer to where the late summer flow was at the signals dropped off. So the float gold was farther away from the main stream, makes sense when thinking about it away from the river. I even explored further up the bank side but the signals dropped of dramatically. So my thinking is that each section of the riverbed is slightly different from the one above or below it as the water has been doing some different swirling as it goes along on its way down river and out to the ocean. My best located spot to date was along the side bank of a river where one very large boulder started collecting a bunch of other boulders on its down river side. Have fun all.........63bkpkr

MR. 63bkpker Tommorrow I plan on heading out provided if there is a break in the weather and I intend to take some vids/pictures of these hairline cracks and I,m hoping to find a nice example. I have multiple questions about it and am hoping you or someone else can help me with.

 

[stefen]

Coat hangers work well and when fully frustrates, C4 has its place also.

Its really a function of the streambed structure and the amount of junk you want to carry...

 

[63bkpkr]

MM, there are lots of folks on here to jump in and offer information on this subject as well as myself.....63bkpkr

 

[Hefty1]

Yea 63 we could have used a little C4 on this one...

 

[NeoTokyo]

Did you find anything in there?

 

[63bkpkr]

Yes Hefty we could have used C4 on this one to, umm, widen our horizons! Those pictures sure bring back some good memories especially of 40 or so buckets of gravel run through your highbanker.

Neo, to date we've only found an adventure and dreams there but we've not given up hope.....63bkpkr

 

[NeoTokyo]

Hey, that is gold too in its own respect.