Miners moss / nomad alternatives?

[oragonads]

So what cheaper alternatives of miners moss do you guys use and how well does it work?

I'm wondering how well this stuff would hold up.
http://www.google.com/products/cata...TfilIYfSsAPRn-TOBw&ved=0CEkQ8wIwAA#ps-sellers

 

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[Hefty1]

Where are you guys getting the vortex matting from?
Thanks in advance.

Hefty

 

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[Astrobouncer]

I got mine from http://www.grgasket.com/ they didnt call it vortex matting though, they said it was some kind of conveyor belt material and they had some scraps laying around. I got a fairly big piece of it (45 by about 24 inches or something like that, for like 10 bucks. Me and a buddy went in there to look at all their rubber mattings and we asked the guy if they had anything with a deep groove in it, the guy went in the backroom for about 10 minutes then came out with some of that stuff.

 

[Hefty1]

Thanks
Will look for places here. Much better if you can see the stuff first hand.

Hefty

 

[TheHarleyMan2]

The vortex matting is called rough top conveyor belt.

 

[russau]

Are the fibers in that shaw carpet loose enough that fine gold can make there way through it and something like ribbed rubber mat is needed under it like miners moss? Or will the riffles and expanded metal clamp down on it and seal it like riffled carpet?

if the fine gold is fine enough,yes it will filter down through the Shaw carpet. and if your riffels fit in your box correctly they will clamp down tight sealing it off from migration of material!

 

[oragonads]

Well, I took a look around lowes and home depot today while getting stuff for my foot valve and came across these carpets.

This was at lowes for 69c a sq ft. I was surprised at how well the rifles looked and it looks like it would hold gold well.

This was at home depot. Looks a bit like the shaw carpet posted above. It is 68c a sq ft.

I still need drop by my local carpet store and see about that shaw carpet

 

[oragonads]

There's a guy on Craigslist selling a bunch of conveyer belt near me. I will have to see if its the rough top stuff.

 

[TheHarleyMan2]

You can find people on ebay selling the rough top conveyor belt, just make sure it is the right stuff.

 

[Goodyguy]

Tom Massie of Gold Fever says don't throw away your old sluice carpet, burn it and pan the ashes because fine gold gets trapped deep in the carpet fibers and stays there.

Not sure if that works, but it sounds good
GG~

 

[russau]

only burn natural fiber carpet! if you burn the poly types of carpet, youll have a ball of melted plastic encapsulating your gold! originally they were refering to burning the burlap bag material they used to use in the sluices. somehow that story just kept going!

 

[Goodyguy]

only burn natural fiber carpet! if you burn the poly types of carpet, youll have a ball of melted plastic encapsulating your gold! originally they were refering to burning the burlap bag material they used to use in the sluices. somehow that story just kept going!

That's what I thought.
So how do you get your trapped gold out of the poly types.

GG~

 

[TheHarleyMan2]

Yeah when I was looking for matting prior to me getting the rough top conveyor belt, I was wondering the same thing about the carpets. Fact is, (of course I have no experience in this), but logically it seems the really fine spec gold would be hard to remove out from any carpet type material IMHO.

I think carpet would be good if you are capturing nothing but nuggets, but fine gold? I think one would have a hard time finding it.

Also on the note of burning the carpet and panning the ashes for gold, what is the temperature for fire at it's hottest peak? Then what is the temperature of gold for it to melt? Just wondering, I wouldn't want my gold all melted up either.

 

[Jason in Enid]

only burn natural fiber carpet! if you burn the poly types of carpet, youll have a ball of melted plastic encapsulating your gold! originally they were refering to burning the burlap bag material they used to use in the sluices. somehow that story just kept going!

That's what I thought.
So how do you get your trapped gold out of the poly types.

GG~

Acid should work to dissolve the poly fibers, and it won't affect gold.

 

[oragonads]

If you burn plastic long enough it will eventually turn to ash. I don't know if the temperature of it will end up melting your fines. Depends how hot you get that fire going.

Maybe you'll end up findingsome dirty nuggets in the ashes from all those hidden fines in the fibers.

 

[Goodyguy]

Well now that I have switched over to vortex mat, worrying about retrieving trapped fines is a thing of the past.

 

[oragonads]

Would vortex matting work in a large dredge such as an 8" where you have a lot of water and material flowing quit quick? Or is it used mostly for stream sluice where there isn't much material and gravel flowing through?

I already bought some nice riffled carpet for 66 cents per sq ft from lowes. It looks like it will work well but will but will see how it does . Only $47 for 72 sq ft.

 

[russau]

to get your fines out of carpet let it dry and then beat the snot out of it and itll come out! try it sometime on any old carpet youve used for your sluice/dredge. turn it upside down and thrash it. youll be amazed at all the material that comes out.i dont burn nothing!