Many of these things can be used in the search for gold, but not all. Photo by Jeppestown |
About the last thing in the world you would expect to use in
the hunt for placer gold are ordinary kitchen utensils. Just
think about that some of the most useful tools in the hunt for Gold are nothing
more complicated than a spoon, knife and fork along with several other common
things that can be bought at a kitchen supply store.
One of the most useful things you can have as nothing more
than a simple plastic colander.
This is used to separate large stones that would normally go into your gold pan
before they ever get there. The colander is used by placing it over a gold pan
and filling it with stream gravel then pouring water over it causing the
smaller particles to come out through the bottom into the Gold pan. You can
then throw away the larger stones, but examine them first to be sure they do
not contain a gold nugget.
Another useful kitchen gadget is a wide mesh sieve you can actually
set up in the gold pan below the colander this serves to separate even more of
gold bearing sand from the larger particles. The material that is caught by the
strainer is retained for future panning to recover any larger particles of
gold.
Although a gold pan or even better a set of gold pans are
nice to have but they are not really necessary because the author has actually
used plastic food containers to pan for gold. No we ever set a gold pan had to
be round!
The spoon, knife and fork are used to dig around in places
that are too small to use a regular shovel. This is especially true of places
like crevices in rocks. In the same vein one of the most useful tools for the
recovery of gold is a large serving spoon that is also used in small places
that are also too large for shovel.
One of these plastic food containers can be used as a gold pan. Photo by Stuart Spivack |
Most of the gold panning kits that are now on the market
include a snuffer bottle that is used to suck up small pieces of gold that are
too small to be picked up by the fingers. You can use a turkey baster to do the
same thing although it is a little large and cumbersome but actually works
better is an ordinary eyedropper. Some kitchen supply stores supplying these
things made from plastic as large as 5 ml, or 1 ounce.
Your homemade gold panning kits should also include a 10 X.
magnifying glass and a pair of sharp pointed tweezers. This collection along
with a conventional gold panning kit should serve in just about any situation
that you find yourself in your hunt for placer gold. Who knows you may even
find some other devices in your kitchen supply store that you may also find
useful.
References:
This article is coming from personal experiences by the
author over many years of panning placer gold.
If you would like to learn more about gold please click here!
John, knowing these common sense applications of ordinary, easily-obtained utensils could sure come in handy if you found yourself overnight camping beside a potential gold deposit!
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