What does your gold resemble?

[autopilot42]

Your wash on top is very well made .
Best of luck

 

[denny45]

Dinosaur head
Dug up from a grassy area that dates back to 1860.
Found using Deus2 6 inches deep under some roots.

 

[thepest]

Every once in awhile you find a piece of gold that resembles something of this world. Looking back, a few years ago I was fortunate to find a nugget that I now call the “Van Halen Nugget.” This .9 gram nugget displays a prominent “v” and an “h” (hence the Van Halen nugget) on its surface. The nugget itself was found hidden beneath the pictured boulder with numerous other smaller pieces of gold. A very pleasing find on that cool spring day. I’ll be posting other similar finds when the time permits. In the meanwhile, if anyone else has a particular piece of gold that you think resembles something interesting, please feel free to share it!

Sorry... Big Van Halen Fan.....

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

Dinosaur head
Dug up from a grassy area that dates back to 1860.
Found using Deus2 6 inches deep under some roots.

I really do see the resemblance of a dinosaur head. Very cool! Even more cool is the location it was found at and it’s brief history (dating back to the 1800’s). Nice find!

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

Sorry... Big Van Halen Fan.....
View attachment 42111 View attachment 42112
View attachment 42113

No need to apologize for acknowledging that you are a true Van Halen fan. My wife and are are as well. As an inspired 80’s hair band musician (guitarist), I feel honored to have experienced and lived during the premier highlights of Eddie’s career. As fans, we all can take satisfaction that we lived and experienced the greatest rock n roll guitarist the world has ever seen. In my humble opinion, there will never be another like him.
With that said, my wife wanted me to try my best to take an old Guitar lamp and give it a Eddy Van Halen guitar look. It took some doing and while this was a first attempt at painting an item that was not made of wood, she says it’s it’s a far cry better than the previous look. I routed the pick guard to emulate one that Eddie used and also made it into a single guitar pickup. Even the headstock was sanded and painted to look like the older Kramer model. Also, what Eddie guitar would not have a whammy bar on it. Am I right? And so I fabricated and installed one on this guitar. It is still not complete as I will be putting on some true guitar strings to give it a more realistic look. I know this subject matter is slightly off the gold topic it was intended for, but I just felt that a little tribute to Eddie was in order. Thanks thepest for posting the fabulous Van Halen photos. The guitar is certainly one of a kind!
Here are the before and after pics of the guitar lamp in progress.

 

[thepest]

No need to apologize for acknowledging that you are a true Van Halen fan. My wife and are are as well. As an inspired 80’s hair band musician (guitarist), I feel honored to have experienced and lived during the premier highlights of Eddie’s career. As fans, we all can take satisfaction that we lived and experienced the greatest rock n roll guitarist the world has ever seen. In my humble opinion, there will never be another like him.
With that said, my wife wanted me to try my best to take an old Guitar lamp and give it a Eddy Van Halen guitar look. It took some doing and while this was a first attempt at painting an item that was not made of wood, she says it’s it’s a far cry better than the previous look. I routed the pick guard to emulate one that Eddie used and also made it into a single guitar pickup. Even the headstock was sanded and painted to look like the older Kramer model. Also, what Eddie guitar would not have a whammy bar on it. Am I right? And so I fabricated and installed one on this guitar. It is still not complete as I will be putting on some true guitar strings to give it a more realistic look. I know this subject matter is slightly off the gold topic it was intended for, but I just felt that a little tribute to Eddie was in order. Thanks thepest for posting the fabulous Van Halen photos. The guitar is certainly one of a kind!
Here are the before and after pics of the guitar lamp in progress.

Let Me Know When You Start Selling These.....

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

Hell yeah. Best solo ever! If you’ve never seen the older Van Halen in concert, then the next best thing to do is to sit yourself down in front of a 55+ inch TV with surround sound and watch the entire above clip. It’s a real treat to any musician lover.
Thanks for bringing back fond memories.

 

[Odanscoils]

The home made wooden high banker in question began as a primitive sluice box and through trial and error,,, progressed into an effective portable high banker. The thought process was to build a more efficient “Long Tom” that could capture fine gold as well as the larger pieces. To assist in a better recovery, I chose to include a 1” drop within the sluice box. As seen in the pic, this 5 foot sluice began with a diamond mesh grizzly. While this was a step above panning, it was adequate at best for separating larger gravels which caused many plug ups. In addition to this, the use of a small bucket to wash the gravels was a bit time consuming not to mention back breaking work. This experience was short lived as the grizzly (diamond mesh) portion was quickly replaced with round metal bars and a ”wash plant” built with PVC spray bars, a bilge pump, and adjustable stanchions for support. One again, these metal round bars (as seen in photo 4) proved to be a nuisance as they too caused plug ups. In the end, I resorted to 1/4” (.25 inch) punch plate holes which solved the plug up issue. From start to finish, it was quite a transformation that all took place within a single season.

Over the years this sluice box has produced some outstanding gold and has made a name for itself as “The Long Tom IdahoGriz.”
If anyone is interested, I can provide detailed pictures with measurements of the grizzly and how it performs.

Well done. Ever have trouble with wood warping ?

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

Well done. Ever have trouble with wood warping ?

Very good question. Oddly enough, I have not had any wood warping issues. The fact that I placed screws about every 3-4 inches may have prevented any such possible warping. Boards are glued and inside corners are caulked to add stability and to prevent any loss of gold. Wood is a natural resource in my area and should there come a time to replace a board or two, it can be done at a drop of a hat. For those who have a costly expense of store bought wood, I would suggest putting a coat or two of polyethylene on the boards prior to each seasonal use.

 

[Odanscoils]

Very good question. Oddly enough, I have not had any wood warping issues. The fact that I placed screws about every 3-4 inches may have prevented any such possible warping. Boards are glued and inside corners are caulked to add stability and to prevent any loss of gold. Wood is a natural resource in my area and should there come a time to replace a board or two, it can be done at a drop of a hat. For those who have a costly expense of store bought wood, I would suggest putting a coat or two of polyethylene on the boards prior to each seasonal use.

What about truck bed liner paint ?
Maybe a good surface for gold too.

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

What about truck bed liner paint ?
Maybe a good surface for gold too.

I do like that idea with the bed liner paint. The black color certainly shows the gold quite well. Your suggestion reminded me of another trick I used to make a “drop down sluice.” Back in the day (gosh I sound old using that cliche), I acquired a small metal sluice box minus its top wing portion ,,, just a bare bones metal box. Feeling the box was too short for my needs, I would have to extend the top sluice portion by an additional six inches. I also wanted to have a 1” drop to my lower half and at least a 10” rib matting area for the collection of my smaller fine gold. As silly as this may sound, I used a one inch thick by 16 inch length wood board cut snug enough to fit within the box itself. An additional two 1”x3”x8” sides where then attached to the top portion of the board and the aluminum box. It should be noted that prior to the installation of this board, I routed a 1/4” depth to the designated 10” area so that my rib matting would sit flush once glued. As for what type of rib matting I used, I’d like to keep that under raps. I will however say this, the black matting was discovered through trial and error and is not produced by any manufacturer on today’s market. It works exceptionally well in slow moving water and eliminates the smaller black sands while still holding the finer mesh gold.
That same sluice can be seen in the following pictures / video. The last pic is the final day’s gold take 3.7 grams.

 

[Odanscoils]

I do like that idea with the bed liner paint. The black color certainly shows the gold quite well. Your suggestion reminded me of another trick I used to make a “drop down sluice.” Back in the day (gosh I sound old using that cliche), I acquired a small metal sluice box minus its top wing portion ,,, just a bare bones metal box. Feeling the box was too short for my needs, I would have to extend the top sluice portion by an additional six inches. I also wanted to have a 1” drop to my lower half and at least a 10” rib matting area for the collection of my smaller fine gold. As silly as this may sound, I used a one inch thick by 16 inch length wood board cut snug enough to fit within the box itself. An additional two 1”x3”x8” sides where then attached to the top portion of the board and the aluminum box. It should be noted that prior to the installation of this board, I routed a 1/4” depth to the designated 10” area so that my rib matting would sit flush once glued. As for what type of rib matting I used, I’d like to keep that under raps. I will however say this, the black matting was discovered through trial and error and is not produced by any manufacturer on today’s market. It works exceptionally well in slow moving water and eliminates the smaller black sands while still holding the finer mesh gold.
That same sluice can be seen in the following pictures / video. The last pic is the final day’s gold take 3.7 grams.

Nice Gold. May I ask what state your in ?
I'm stuck in ohio. Just purty sparkles here.

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

This gold was taken in Idaho. Ohio does have glacial gold. I am familiar with several GPAA gold camps on the western side of your state. Some of the folks that I have contact with say they are doing quite well over there. I do know this organization has a membership but it may be worth looking into if you are not seeing much where you are now.

 

[autopilot42]

This gold was taken in Idaho. Ohio does have glacial gold. I am familiar with several GPAA gold camps on the western side of your state. Some of the folks that I have contact with say they are doing quite well over there. I do know this organization has a membership but it may be worth looking into if you are not seeing much where you are now.

Mine is like dust from VA

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

Mine is like dust from VA

Gold is gold and no matter it’s size, any amount is better than never having any at all. Don’t get me wrong, large nuggets and most certainly some larger pickers are a real delight to find when on the claim. Many of these do bring back fond memories of how and where they were found, not to mention the excitement one gets when finding such a treasured piece. Now with that being said, I have also gotten the same excitement when I have removed a piece of bedrock and found a nice stash of very fine gold. One such moment that thrilled me the most was when I removed a rather large rock from the shoreline bank. After the murkiness cleared, I peered through my plexiglass “view finder” and saw that some small gold was indeed at the bottom of this cavity. A wonderful find but what sparked a greater interest in me was the amount of gold that was resting opposite the hole on a sloping rock formation. I did a quick fanning action with my hand and to my amazement, the gold kept trickling down the slope and continued to do so for several good seconds. I was ecstatic,,, wishing it would never end. That little incident netted me a quick 1/8th of an ounce of fine sparkly gold. As I have said for many years, treat each piece as if it’s a nugget because one never knows what gold lays within the next six inches. Many happy adventures to all. Cheers

 

[Pyledriver]

‘The Mask’…

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

‘The Mask’…

Very cool! I do see the image of ‘the mask.’ Nice character. A great find for sure. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Odanscoils]

Gold is gold and no matter it’s size, any amount is better than never having any at all. Don’t get me wrong, large nuggets and most certainly some larger pickers are a real delight to find when on the claim. Many of these do bring back fond memories of how and where they were found, not to mention the excitement one gets when finding such a treasured piece. Now with that being said, I have also gotten the same excitement when I have removed a piece of bedrock and found a nice stash of very fine gold. One such moment that thrilled me the most was when I removed a rather large rock from the shoreline bank. After the murkiness cleared, I peered through my plexiglass “view finder” and saw that some small gold was indeed at the bottom of this cavity. A wonderful find but what sparked a greater interest in me was the amount of gold that was resting opposite the hole on a sloping rock formation. I did a quick fanning action with my hand and to my amazement, the gold kept trickling down the slope and continued to do so for several good seconds. I was ecstatic,,, wishing it would never end. That little incident netted me a quick 1/8th of an ounce of fine sparkly gold. As I have said for many years, treat each piece as if it’s a nugget because one never knows what gold lays within the next six inches. Many happy adventures to all. Cheers

Around here you could work for a week 8 hrs a day. And barely find a gram. Makes for a grumpy oll man.

 

[Odanscoils]

I do like that idea with the bed liner paint. The black color certainly shows the gold quite well. Your suggestion reminded me of another trick I used to make a “drop down sluice.” Back in the day (gosh I sound old using that cliche), I acquired a small metal sluice box minus its top wing portion ,,, just a bare bones metal box. Feeling the box was too short for my needs, I would have to extend the top sluice portion by an additional six inches. I also wanted to have a 1” drop to my lower half and at least a 10” rib matting area for the collection of my smaller fine gold. As silly as this may sound, I used a one inch thick by 16 inch length wood board cut snug enough to fit within the box itself. An additional two 1”x3”x8” sides where then attached to the top portion of the board and the aluminum box. It should be noted that prior to the installation of this board, I routed a 1/4” depth to the designated 10” area so that my rib matting would sit flush once glued. As for what type of rib matting I used, I’d like to keep that under raps. I will however say this, the black matting was discovered through trial and error and is not produced by any manufacturer on today’s market. It works exceptionally well in slow moving water and eliminates the smaller black sands while still holding the finer mesh gold.
That same sluice can be seen in the following pictures / video. The last pic is the final day’s gold take 3.7 grams.

Have you gotten out and finding more gold ?

 

[sprchng]

Here's one I never soaked in the HF , not sure what it would like freed from the monzanite , maybe a seahorse?