a man named Jody

[toadiesop]

hahahaaaa!!

I'm not kidding at all.. Nice to meet you Sue (you've got me on the rareness of male Sues vs. male Jodys though) and Mr. Cash never wrote a song about me... Touche Sue

:x

So yeah, I guess I'll tell you guys a little about myself.

Male, 30 years old, NH native for my first 23 years, last 7 have been in MI

Computer Geek, Metal detectorist, Thrift shop junkie (you wanna talk about ebay $$), electronics tinkerer, chef (for now, mwaahahaaa!!) I've been in kitchens long enough. I'm cooking gold from now on.

I like long walks on the beach, bloodying my knuckles from scraping them on circuit boards, and girls that don't mind when I talk about refining gold 24/7 (I have one of those girls.. thank god)

I've been trying to find everything that in here for over a year now. I can't thank you guys enough.

And this place can only get better.

 

[toadiesop]

A little more in depth.

I've always been a treasure hunter. I've been metal detecting relligiously for the past 7 years.

While metal detecting a street they tore up in town (smaller town, pop 15,000) with my mother a few years ago, a man came out of his house and said that my mom reminded him of someone and to hang on for a minute.

He went inside and came out with a Metal Detecting magazine that had someone who indeed did look like her on the cover. HAHAHAAA!

They're getting married soon.

So the three of us are like the Fischer family on solid ground. Always looking for and researching all things treasure related.

Hopefully the dredge will be finished this summer. 8)

Let's see what else..

Last summer a telcomp business across the street from where I live had a dumpster full of parts. I got what I could, listed 5 items on ebay and made over $800 for less than an hours work. Plus, I still have 10 more items to list.

I have hundreds of items to list if you wanna talk about all the stuff I find at thrift stores. I buy EVERYTHING if I know I can make some money off it.

Collectors plates, old toys and books, records, antiques, ect.. and usually pay 25 cents to a few dollars for each

Recent additions to my collection:

Talking Heads : Speaking in Tongues rare clear vinyl record : Paid $1 Worth $100 according to a TH collectibles website.

Autographed Kristy Yamaguci plate : Paid $3 worth $50 - $100

Speirs $ Surenne's French Pronouncing Dictionary Leather bound decent condition circa 1866 : Paid 50 cents worth $75-100

Limited edition copy of the first Queen record pressed in Greece : Paid $1 worth $65

I bought 17 "books" filled with 78 rpm records for $30 at Goodwill... I haven't even had time to research those yet. 15 records per book. Plus, I kinda like the way they look on my bookshelf right next to my 1950's console stereo in perfect condition, that I rolled home when I saw it sitting in Saint Vincent De Pauls trash pile. 8)

And never mind all the stuff I get for 25 cents but it's worth $10+

I have a few thousand dollars just waiting for ebay. That's what is going to fund my refinery.

 

[ME CO]

Here is a pic of mine. Mark

 

[toadiesop]

Mark, I saw that picture (in your post earlier today) and it reminded me to throw that little tid-bit in there.

I've never used one myself and I probably won't get a chance any time soon... even if it is finished this year. They have their projects and I have mine.

But hopefully I will see it in action sometime soon. How well do you do with one?

I know all the technicalities of a dredge, but do you have any stories about some of your "good" days? I'd love to hear them.

No locations of course, I'm just curious on what it possible with one of those beasts.

 

[ME CO]

Hi Jody,
I have been on a quest to improve (make perfect) fine gold recovery on my dredge for several years now. Smaller dredges get better recovery due to the water force needed to move the larger material. Where I dredge there is alot of #100 mesh gold so that is my target. Problem is that a 5" dredge won't recover that small of gold without serious mods. Riffles cause turbulance so the first thing to do is replace them with expanded metal- did that, better but will load quickly and require frequent cleanups which is a pain. Slick plate is important, 1 foot per inch of intake wouldn't be too much- did that, built an extension 2 feet long for recovery and ran the original sluice slick, better but still load up quick. I dredge for one hour, cleanup and guesstimate about a dwt. Next day run all day and at cleanup same deal. To cleanup every hour is a royal pain as all momentum goes into beer real quick. Last year I upgraded to a larger motor and built a sump to suck concentrates out of the extension on a continual basis and run them over another recovery unit. Better but my choice of other unit was off because I needed more lift than I could get. This year same deal except that I will only have to lift the cons about a foot and a half into another floating sluice (moveability that I didn't have last year too). Now I should finally be able to run the 5" all day moving tons of material and getting the recovery of a 2" and catch all the gold. My first trip is set for first weekend in May for 2 weeks- a dwt/hr and I may be able to extend my vacation haha. I have only got (2) 2 week vacations a year coming unless I can quit my job haha and my monster is too much work to take out for a weekend special. I hope to come home with a good story and pics of piles of gold. Mark