snakejim

57 minutes ago, Mike Furness said:

Curiosity ... I tried to contact him a few times through the NS forum ... do you know anything about his current status?

I lost contact with him a while back also. I'd like to contact him again if possible.

This first article is from the Albuquerque Journal 1979. This is the dry washer you have. Jack is in the lower picture on the right. In the 2nd article is Jack with a nice nugget he found around the same time. snakejim

IMG_20240401_0001.pdf

IMG_20240401_0002.pdf

1 hour ago, Lead Detector said:

I have no doubt it would have worked fine as built. My reason for wanting a bellows type, was to not have to listen to a gas engine running all day. Another con to the way it was set up, was the placement of the engine blocked nearly all view of the riffle box. I personally prefer to be able to watch how things are working.  I have not destroyed any parts. Mostly just removed parts and simplified things to work with a small electric motor or by manual operation. I'm in the process of building a new grizzly box for it, so I can have it fold into a small package.  When complete, I will post images of the final project.  

 

 

Where did you get it?

On 2/5/2024 at 3:23 PM, Lead Detector said:

It's going on a major diet

 

Please don't destroy it! It will work perfect the way it was built. I have a photo of one in use in 1979 with my buddy Jack. I'll scan it and post it.

On 1/16/2024 at 5:03 PM, Lead Detector said:

The genius design that allows the same 2 hp engine that runs the bellows, to suck in all the dust through its air cleaner. This will also automatically shut it down when it's time for a clean out! Coming soon to a desert near you! 

 

This one looks like one of the Dry Washers that an old partner of mine built and sold for years. His name was Jack Ward and he lived and mined in The San Pedro Mountains south of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Just before he died he wanted me to purchase his inventory and continue to build them. My mistake for not doing that. I have regretted it ever since. There never was a problem with the Air cleaner plugging up unless you were a dumb ass and had the wind blowing toward the motor. They are very efficient Dry Washers.  Where did you find this one? Want to sell it?  snakejim

On 3/13/2024 at 9:59 AM, Reno Chris said:

A lot of the Arizona prospectors and other western Prospectors will remember John "Goldmaster" Blennart, AKA "John B.".  He passed away last Monday the 11th. I lost another old prospecting friend about a week ago. Enjoy the time you have as none of us are here forever.

Well, I accidentally found one of John B's business cards while doing some house cleaning:

I never met John B in person, but knew him through phone conversations and email. If I remember correctly, he found most of his Gold with his White's Gold Masters. He had a website and had photos with a table covered with Gold nuggets and specimens. He bought himself a Minelab SD2000 and complained about the gold it couldn't see. I got with Minelab (I was a dealer back then), and they replaced it with an SD2100. I don't remember if that helped him or not. Last time I was in touch with him was about a year ago, and he said he couldn't get out any longer as his health had gone down.

John B also liked Rattlesnakes and offered me an albino.

RIP John B (Goldmaster)

11 minutes ago, Joe L said:

Unable to find it on the Garrett site. 

Try this link: https://www.detectorprospector.com/metal-detector-database/garrett-goldmaster-24k-r155/

5 hours ago, Hard Prospector said:

I actually use my MD20 in conjunction with dry panning;  just shake / concentrate everything down (in the pan) till your at about an inch of material left then start pushing the probe into the pan, up and down-back and forth.  Very effective way to sample dry material in the desert when you have little or no water.

I do the same, except I screen off the larger rocks and shake the gold down to the bottom and then scan the bottom of the pan from underneath. I use a plastic pan with a large flat bottom. Works great!

I use the MD10 and my buddy has the MD20. They pickup gold so small you can hardly see it.

1 hour ago, teacup said:

I don't like to use bluetooth and wondering if this can be used without a head at, like just using a built-in speakers?   Is it possible to connect a regular headset jack into it?  Thanks 

You are talking about the Gold Kruzer? There is an adapter available (extra purchase) that allows you to use headphones, or you can use the speaker.

A smart saying from an old timer friend of mine. "Never show your poke!"

1 minute ago, GhostMiner said:

   The sad thing for me in posting the journal is that they are all gone now except for Vern. Sometimes when I am on those claims at night and alone I still see them and hear them talking about the dreams of gold. There's no one left to tell the story now but me. 

I hear you. All my old mining partners are gone also. I do have a couple of good partners now. But there is no way to replace the memories of the ones that are gone. Best wishes to you and yours! snakejim

14 hours ago, midalake said:

Hi 

A friend of mine is looking to get a Tesoro Cibola modified by Keith Southern. 

Was wondering if you know how it contact him?  See he has not dropped in here in quite a while.  Please PM me

 

Thanks Dave

If you can't find Keith Southern, this fellow might be able to help:https://www.brokendetector.com/

1 hour ago, Dutchman4 said:

Thanks Ron,

My real question is this:

I don't like to metal detect for gold during or after it rains in the desert for a number of reasons but mainly I don't like to dig and recover targets in wet or damp soil and I don't like to walk around with muck on my boots.  I am retired so I can choose when to go prospecting based on if I like the weather or not.

So I just want confirmation that some wet or damp soils can increase ground noise, requires lowering of the gain and results in reduced depth and performance.  From your response it appears that you confirm this to be the case and this will be yet another reason for me to plan my prospecting trips so as to avoid wet or damp soil when I can.

My experience in highly mineralized ground is that it becomes very conductive when wet or damp and especially affects the VLFs performance. The ground not only becomes noisy, but a great deal of depth is lost due to the signal being reflected or suppressed. I have proven this time and time again. The drier the ground, the greater the depth is attained with the VLF detector.

However, with the pulse detectors the effects are not that noticeable except maybe more ground noise. Depth is not affected as much as with a VLF detector. snakejim

2 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Well, the Axiom fan club has at least three members now! 

I'm a fan!

You should get a couple of books and research your area. Steve has them for download here.

Here's a good start. Best wishes! snakejim

I am working the side of a Gulch that has layers of gravel and large boulders. The gulch was discovered to have gold in it  in 1865. It was worked clean by the old timers all the way to bedrock. However since then, flash floods have brought in more material from the sides. Years ago I was detecting the bottom of the Gulch and found a nice 1/4 ounce nugget  and smaller nuggets laying on a clay layer (a false bedrock) and they were only a couple inches deep. I dry washed everything on the top of the clay layer and recovered a lot of gold. Then, I dug down and dry washed the rest of the gravel under that clay layer and went all the way to bedrock and it didn't have much gold at all.  

The odd thing about the bench gravels I'm working now is that they are on an outside bend of the Gulch. As the flash floods came down from the top of the mountain they hit this bank and deposited those nugget just a few feet from the bank. The old timers had worked all the inside bend benches. However streams meander and at one time the bench I'm working could have been the bottom of the drainage.

So, to answer your question, Gold is where you find it. snakejim

2 hours ago, Ndplumr said:

It's easy enough to look up areas and see what sections have claims, how many claims, and the type of claims, but to get the exact location of each claim, you need to submit a request to the county recorder to get that info. At least that seems to be the way it works where I live. My question is, is it fair practice to just rely on claim markers when your hunting for a spot to prospect ? And what is the legality of the situation if you wander onto a claim that isn't properly staked? 

I have had mining claims for 33 years, and it's not possible to check my claims every day. My corner posts seem to fall over and hide in the bushes on occasion and the paperwork seems to evaporate from time to time. Claim jumpers? Properly staked? I place corner posts on my claims and the paperwork at a designated corner that is noted in the documents that I file with the County and the BLM. However, if the posts and paperwork disappear afterwards? Then what? The claim is still valid. I do replace the posts and paperwork, but it may be 6 months before I get back to that claim. I guess you pay your money and take your chances. Good luck! snakejim

I rented an army surplus mine detector in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1966 and used it on Padre Island looking for Spanish treasure from the ship wrecks. One of my friends dad was a surf fisherman and he had picked up a piece of eight coin.

"Badges? We ain't got no badges! I don't have to show you no stinking badges!"

Watch the movie! It's my favorite! Jim

1 hour ago, GhostMiner said:

Fools Gold

 

Where's the part where Howard says, "You're so Dumb there's nothing to compare you too!"

2 minutes ago, paul Muller said:

Thanks everybody. I guess I will make a spaceship model out of it. LOL Not much interest on Ebay.

LOL Good Idea!

16 minutes ago, Digalicious said:

Thanks for that Jim 🙂

I really enjoy checking out the vintage detectors, but I've never seen a coil mounted like that. Not even in the Whites vintage brochures.

 

Go to the Garrett website here:  https://garrett.com/whites-manuals

Scroll down to the Coinmaster 1, 2, 3 Beat Frequency Manual and in the second or third paragraph of the manual it tells how to mount the coil.