Using a pressure washer on compacted simicemented river gravels

[seafox]

Knowing the feed water would have to be carefully superfiltered but keep thinking the gravels would be washer to dig with high pressure water now i pry up the rocks with a crow bar one or three at a time a garden nozzle with usual 45 psi water cuts at hardly noticeable speed. The other idea is a electric demo hammer to know the rocks out. Hoping for an early spring

 

[seafox]

the material is simicemented, { becasuse of an ash layer I think it may date to the end of the last ice age, younger dryas 12,850 years ago but that is wild speculation} we have tried nopzels on garden hoses and say a half inch pipe on end of 1.5 lay flat guestimating around 50 psi. it doesnt cut the gravels loose ( have not tried a fire hose nozzel mostly cause not had 30 dollers at the hose supplyer.) the stream of water might cut 4 inches deep after some minutes . one thought is that want to clean the fines of the cobble and boulders, so the bigger stuff can be tossed aside and the fines then washed down toward a syphen nozel.

 

[seafox]

Mr Lukens thankyou for infor about using under water. when moving the fines toward the pick up nozzel what do you think of possibility of driving the gold into cracks in the bed rock. thankyou and apreciate your vidios on U tube

 

[russau]

My blaster hose is one of three locations that I can hook either a 1 1/4 inch hose , a 1 inch hose or a 3/4 inch hose right to my Dave Frank's PVC jet log. I kept 20 foot of each hose and nozzle in my trailer for which ever I need to do the job. I guess they are the same as a pressure washer EXCEPT with a lot more water at it's disposal ! I have valves on each nozzle to fine tune it for what I needed. It's all gone now thanks to my beat up ole bod!

 

[Reed Lukens]

Mr Lukens thankyou for infor about using under water. when moving the fines toward the pick up nozzel what do you think of possibility of driving the gold into cracks in the bed rock. thankyou and apreciate your vidios on U tube

Cracks are made to be cleaned... or blown up

 

[N-Lionberger]

Whatever you need to do to get the crack cleaned out, you can use a skinnier length of hose to clean out a crack by sticking one end up your nozzle a couple feet and the other end down the crack, it helps to tie it off at the nozzle with wire as if you let go up she'll go! It has plenty of suction even with the water freeflowing around it at the nozzle, I have seen people neck it down at the nozzle to suck cracks it robs the sluice of flow messes with the riffle action. I have the same setup as russau with the PVC Vortxrex jet with a 1" hose coming off the pressure jacket for blasting stuff underwater, I use a garden hose nozzle I bored out to a larger size to blast out material, on my creek I have some really hard cemented gravels and it works alright it wont cut your skin unless you are really pruny but don't let go it likes to flip and fly around. Up on the bank like Reed said you need a lot of water to get anything done, in a hydraulic setup you need to be able to use your monitors to not just dislodge the cement from the bank but also to push the gravel around, up over a grizzly and down the sluices.