bustin rock

[MadMarshall]

For me breaking bedrock has been one of the best ways to find gold.. Its a little more then just breaking every crack you can. Lots of prospecting.. But when I do locate an area I find decent values in I do everything I can to exploit as much of it as I can.. More often then not I find the best bedrock is the hardest bedrock and breaking it can be challenging to say the least. Painful work. I cant tell you how many times I have hit myself with the hammer. How many rock chips have almost blinded me. Anyway just keep safety in mind when busting rock.. So many way one can hurt themselves.

 

[gold tramp]

sure would like to help ya exploit some of that bedrock.
Gt.........

 

[Clay Diggins]

Way to go Marshall! You can't get the gold if you don't do the work. You do the work.

Get some safety glasses, I hate wearing them but cheap eye protection. I was using my rock chisel 3 days ago and a small chunk splintered off the chisel tip, ricocheted off my safety glasses and embedded in my arm. Nasty bruise, lots of blood but I'm not blind. The chip was less than 1/16 inch across. Not the first time that has happened. One eyed sniping is virtually impossible - no depth perception.

Heavy Pans

 

[goldenIrishman]

Safety first! There isn't ANY gold worth ending up in the hospital or morgue for! When working smarter instead of harder, safety should always be first on the list.

 

[TAKODA]

Fiber handles on a long hammer are nice ain't they .

 

[Jeff95531]

Hey Victor. I ran into some of that smoothed bedrock last year. It took a minute to realize it was one incredibly large rock. Then I hit at what looked to be a seam and my rock pick bounced off just as hard as when I hit it...without leaving any mark. Impressive vault it is!

BTW...just bought a house and found a dozen rialroad spikes. Thanks for showing me what do use them for!

 

[Clay Diggins]

Fiber handles on a long hammer are nice ain't they .

I feel every past injury as I get older and I can guarantee you that my torn rotator cuffs are due in good part to using a steel handled sledge in my youth. Get the fiberglass handle - it's worth the few extra bucks. They didn't exist when I started mining. Take advantage of modern tools, they save wear and tear.

Even better is a fiber handled dead blow sledge. These things are really pricey (Nupla makes killer tools) but the safety and comfort factor means you can work longer and more effectively. With interchangeable "tips" you can change your sledge face to tool steel, lead, copper or even polyurethane.

When faced with a big rock that appears solid bring the heaviest sledge you can find. With another person to watch slam that rock as hard as you can. This is not a job you can do alone. Keep hitting in a pattern around the rock. Any cracks will reveal themselves as either damp lines or dust spouts along the crack depending on your environment. Your helper needs to watch for the smallest signs. Mark your crack area with chalk as you discover it's path so you don't lose track of the location in the process.

A bucket of water sloshed over the area can help after you discover a crack to find the best areas to attack. The areas of the crack that produce the highest spurts of water when you are hitting the rock show the most likely areas to be susceptible to opening up.

Feathers wedges and shims will help you keep the rock open and spread the crack until it pops. Start small and work your way up in tool size as you open the crack. Watch out for the point when it pops because there is a huge amount of energy released.

I used to work barehanded but I've found that bloody hands from handling fresh broken rock can cause major slippage of the sledge at just the wrong time. I've also discovered the time/energy equation to hard rock work. If you are willing to take some time you can usually do the job with a lot less effort. A singlejack (3 pound sledge) and the proper feathers and wedges will take down as big a rock as a 15 pound sledge with less effort but it will take more time.

Hope that helps!

Heavy Pans

 

[Jeff95531]

A tip from Lanny that I recall is to knock a big piece of bedrock with a sledge and observe if/where dust from hidden cracks emerges. Another job that is best done with two people.