What about air? Or is that to weird

Wishbone · Feb 5, 2014

Something that happened at work today got me thinking. A guy at work got a safety talking to because at the end of the day, he was blowing himself off with compressed air. They let him know, the force of compressed air, and the fact that the very stuff you are trying to get off of you, is actually being forced into your pores by the compressed air.
And that got me thinking about those hand dredges, or gold suckers (no suction dredges in my area). I noticed in a video, that when the guy "pushed in" while his gold sucker was in the water, a whole cloud of light materials popped up and floated away.
Compressed air...,is that an epiphany or to many joints...LOL. If I could harness it's powers for good and not evil, then I might have something here. First I'll check to see if it's legal. Then if I wait until the fish spawning season has come and gone, it should be eco-friendly.
I gotta get out more!
Just a thought.
Wishbone

Jason in Enid · Feb 5, 2014

Compressed air can work, do a search for underwater air-lift dredges. They aren't for shallow spots though, you need some depth for the rising air to expand. You need a pretty large volume of air too.

Wishbone · Feb 5, 2014

Do they blow air Jason, or do they suck up dirt? In BC we are allowed hand suckers, but no dredging. I thought that if I blew the underwater light stuff into the current, then the heavies would have nowhere to go but down, and that's where they go anyways.
Maybe in crevasses? You can regulate your air to suit your needs.
This is a huge forum, somebody has to of tried it. I can't be the only one with cabin fever.
Wishbone

Jason in Enid · Feb 5, 2014

If all you want to do is stir things up, then just use a drywall trowel and fan the bottom.

Wishbone · Feb 5, 2014

HHmmmm, that sounds an awful lot like manual labor Jason. I was just discussing with other members the other day, on how many test holes we can dig before we vapor locking...lol. I was thinking that my partner has this little tiny air tank, he calls it a pig? I think it's only enough for 1 tire, but also enough portable air for a rookie, who's to new enough to mining, not know better.

Msbeepbeep · Feb 6, 2014

Forced air I believe is what they use in the ocean when they are trying to clear sand from a sunken ship to get to treasure!

Wishbone · Feb 6, 2014

Exactly Mrbeepbeep, and it is nature friendly. But I'd definitely wait for spawning season to finish, so I know all I'm blowing is dirt. The crayfish might not like it, but I don't think they're to big on shovels or dredges either...lol. Compressed air is very powerful. We were taught in shop class not to fool around with it. With all the people on Tnet using suction dredges, some one must of used air to push and not pull?
I bet there is, and they didn't want to sound stupid, but if they read my post they'll know they are not alone...lol. Drywashers are the only miners that I've discovered so far, that uses air to push and pull.
Wishbone