Do it yourself

Quote: Nareed

I hear panning for iron pyrite is less crowded (she said with a straight face)

Heh, I can probably find the mother lode of that stuff.

I was wondering --so after watching the technique of panning, one is basically stratifying the heavier gold.

So, suppose you had a solar panel powered shaker (like a vibrator) container. Runs off the sun. You just put the loose (dry or wet?) soil in it and let it shake every day.

Now if the bottom is removable, just stabilize the top with little compression (lid), flip it and check the material at the bottom after a couple days or less.

Thar's your treasure matey, Yo ho ho (and a bottle of rum).

I doubt if it's that easy.

Quote: rxwine

Have you ever panned for gold. Do you live near streams? Think this is something that takes some Zen like patience. Or perhaps the activity itself is calming.

It is. Not that I've ever panned for gold, but picking bait is pretty similar. Try to intuit a juicy spot, dig, sift, profit. Even at insanely low Amish prices, every worm is like finding a nickel. English prices, they're a $0.50 piece. It's tedious, mundane, and not exactly easy on the body. But the mind goes places. I've turned over every square inch of my garden a dozen times over by hand, and I find it hard to recall the activity. It's like I'm not even doing it.

Quote: Face

It is. Not that I've ever panned for gold, but picking bait is pretty similar. Try to intuit a juicy spot, dig, sift, profit. Even at insanely low Amish prices, every worm is like finding a nickel. English prices, they're a $0.50 piece. It's tedious, mundane, and not exactly easy on the body. But the mind goes places. I've turned over every square inch of my garden a dozen times over by hand, and I find it hard to recall the activity. It's like I'm not even doing it.

Wouldn't a worm bin be easier? I am experimenting with that right now, small one in the house.

Yeah, half of Seattle has home/garden worm bins, some of them automatically rotated and aerated...treats waste, makes soil and I guess you get fishing bait fairly easily.

I'm told the horizontal borers are less valuable for soil aeration than those that bore vertically and so leave a better water tunnel behind them.

Quote: rxwine

Heh, I can probably find the mother lode of that stuff.

Go for it. You can sell it to the pseudo-libertarians in the GOP who repeat "Gold Standard" as a mantra, when they very likely have never seen real gold ;)

Quote:

So, suppose you had a solar panel powered shaker (like a vibrator) container. Runs off the sun.

If you're panning in a river, it makes better sense to use the river current for power. It's on 24/7 and doesn't depend on cloud conditions.

I'm fixing something on an old car with tape.
It has to adhere to glass and metal. I used
a thin foil tape, came loose from the glass
in just a day, same for gaffers tape.

Yesterday I saw Scotch Automotive Duct
Tape at Walmart. I have never even heard
of auto duct tape, where has this stuff been
all my life. Half as thick as regular duct tape
and twice as sticky. It has a dimpled surface
that allows it to stretch and conform to almost
anything.

It's so thin you can barely feel the edge after
it's laid down. Because of the dimpled surface
you can really put a lot of pressure on it so the
glue will stick well. The literature for the product
describes the rubber glue 'aggressive and pressure
sensitive'. Once it was on the glass, I had to work
at it to get a corner up, it was really sticking.

Quote: AZDuffman

Wouldn't a worm bin be easier? I am experimenting with that right now, small one in the house.

Man, the fish are enough. I don't think I can really convey just how much work it is to keep predatory fish healthy at home. Adding a worm game, at least right now, isn't something I'm prepared to do.

I did make a bed, and a damn fine one it was. It was natural; it quite literally was in the ground. It dried, got rained in, drained, all naturally. The problem, which I stupidly failed to see, was those things stretch some 18" long. They easily climbed right out, and did so at a faster rate than new ones climbed in.

To do it at my house would solve a lot of problem I have when it comes to winter feedings. I don't fish enough with worms for the acquisition of them to be a priority, but my ever increasing aquarium habit is raising that particular need. There will probably come a time when that need reaches a point requiring action, but I've got way too many irons in the fire at the moment.

Quote: Face

but I've got way too many irons in the fire at the moment.

Far better to have too many irons in the fire than too few.

Quote: Evenbob

I'm fixing something on an old car with tape.
It has to adhere to glass and metal. I used
a thin foil tape, came loose from the glass
in just a day, same for gaffers tape.

Yesterday I saw Scotch Automotive Duct
Tape at Walmart. I have never even heard
of auto duct tape, where has this stuff been
all my life. Half as thick as regular duct tape
and twice as sticky. It has a dimpled surface
that allows it to stretch and conform to almost
anything.

It's so thin you can barely feel the edge after
it's laid down. Because of the dimpled surface
you can really put a lot of pressure on it so the
glue will stick well. The literature for the product
describes the rubber glue 'aggressive and pressure
sensitive'. Once it was on the glass, I had to work
at it to get a corner up, it was really sticking.

That is good to know. I hate cheap tape. I have been lured into buying 4 dollar "duck" tape. The stuff won't even stick to itself. When I worked, the finest tapes were provided. 3M like this above was always in demand. I like 88 or 33, also known as "the kind".

I have been paying the price and using "gorilla" tape. It is pretty good as well. Out in this heat, the UV kills everything but stone or metal. The "thin ness" is a bit intriguing, I will keep and eye out for it.

Somebody even came up with a phony "hundred mile an hour tape",,, that is the name. The roll I bought, I couldn't even get it up to 50mph.

A friend of mine in Prince William Sound, breached his boat hull below the water line near the bow. He had to tie himself to the railing and wear an immersion suit and leap over the side to do a repair while the boat was moving. He left the repair there for a couple years for all to see.

Quote: petroglyph

. Out in this heat, the UV kills everything but stone or metal. The "thin ness" is a bit intriguing, I will keep and eye out for it..

UV and heat is what kills most duct tape.
This is specially designed to take UV and
a lot of heat. Just putting it on I knew it
was different.

"9 mil automotive duct tape perfect for general maintenance applications such as wrapping & sealing, weather proofing, binding and bundling. Aggressive natural rubber adhesive adheres well to a wide variety of surfaces and offers a broad temperature range."

Regular duct tape is 17-20 mil thick.