With rock hunting season in full swing in the Northern country, I’ve been getting a LOT of emails about jewelry making.   Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned jewelry crafter, you don’t want to miss this opportunity to get all those tools you’ve been asking about on sale. The sale is over on the 23rd, so act fast. Please do send us a picture of your finished work, though – we sure like to see them!

Tags: crafts, gemstones, jewelry making supplies, jewelry making tools, lapidary supply, rock and gem hunters, rockhound supplies

RHS1 member, Bob Young (coldwatergold) just emailed me the other day about a huge rockhound pow-wow going on next weekend in Calaveras County, so of course I had to stop by the Gazette and tell everyone about it.  I’ll be at the show around noon on Saturday to meet Bob and his rockhound friends.  If you are in the area I hope you stop by.  It sounds like it is going to be a lot of fun.   I’ll  have pics and some gab about the show in a few weeks, so if you don’t get to go,  you can come here and find out what it was that you missed.

Here’s the Info about the Pow-Wow if you are interested in dropping by and having some rockhound type fun, too.

36th Annual Snyders’ Valley Springs POW WOW

May 7-9, 2010

Tags: California rock shows, children's activities, gemstones, gold prospectors, lapidary rough, rock and gem hunters, rockhound equipment, rockhound events, rockhound supplies

If you are new to gold prospecting, here’s a head’s up for you. You have probably heard a lot of tips about how to prospect gold, but rarely have I seen anyone mention gold trapping, although I know many prospectors practice trapping.

During run-off season water is rushing too fast to do any panning. You can however set “traps” in areas you think might produce gold. By doing so you can save much time later in deciding where is and where isn’t a great place to pan. As any experienced prospector knows, just because a spot on a creek looks good to prospect doesn’t mean it is, and knowing which ones are productive ahead of panning season is a great help.

To set a trap you will still want to find areas in the waterways that current is slowing down enough to drop small particles of gold. Just under small waterfalls is a great place to put a trap. A sluice box is a good item to use for a trap under a small waterfall. As the water flows over the edge of the fall and into the sluice box, the gold which would have usually fallen onto the streambed and worked it’s way underneath will be caught at the bottom of your sluice box instead. Later you can just pan through your sluice box to see if it contains gold. If it does, you know where to pan for all the gold that has been dropped in that area before you got there to check things out.

If you see an area in a creek that a rapid current slows significantly enough to drop gold particles, you will want to place the trap right where the current begins to slow. a ribbed sluice will do the trick for many areas. You will want to put something at the front of the trap that will will slow the water hitting it and redirect the current around it. A sheet of metal or a rock will serve this purpose. Gold will hit the blocade and fall into the trap as the water is slowed. Later in the season as water levels fall and slow down you can pull that trap out of the water and check it for gold particles.

When panning season comes around you will only need to pull your traps to find which areas will be productive places to begin your panning or dredging. You get to spend your time panning the gold instead of searching for places that you might find gold if you pan. You should place at least three or four traps in varied locations. The more you place, the more likely you will be to find a productive location to begin prospecting later. Check your traps periodically and if you find they are not producing any gold, move them to a different location.

A last note about placing traps, though, is that you want to place them where others are not likely to run across them before you get back to them. Find spots that you can monitor with ease. Whenever possible, set the trap in a way it won’t be noticed by someone just walking by the trap. Your aim is not to help someone else locate the mother lode.

To find the best gold prospecting equipment at prices that won’t claim your whole cache – CLICK HERE.

Tags: gold panning, Gold prospecting, gold traps, rock and gem hunters, rockhound supplies, rockhounds

It’s been a crazy year folks.  But we’re back online now – all new, shiny, and ready to rock.

For any of you who used to be members before the crash, the forums and photo gallery are back online, too, and some of our old pals are already back and waiting for the rest of you.  In fact a few of us already have a spring trip already in the planning, so you have a lot to catch up on.  We’ve got members coming in from all over so come on in.  You might just meet a great rock hunting pal here. I have – lots of them.

Now if ya hit the front page of the forum you’ve already seen that we have our first annual calendar out for 2010.  This year we can thank current members for the awesome pictures.  Around June there will be a contest to decide the 2011 pics so members need to start getting their best specimens ever dug up and ready for the show down.  Details will be online when the time for the contest gets near.

You can find that calendar right HERE

And of course, last but by far not the least – the photo gallery is online again, too, and there are members in there already stocking it with pics that will make you want to drop everything except a snow shovel and get back out into the fields.  Of course, for those of us up here in the North about all we can do is talk about that one for awhile, but you in the South have your chance to make us sick about the weather for a few months.  Don’t be too harsh – spring isn’t that far off and pabacks are……..well, you know.

I’d like to make mention of our site vendors – BlackCatMining.com and Wire-sculpture.com who are bringing you all  the rockhound and jewerly making equipment and supplies you need to keep your hobbies, crafts and businesses running smoothly.  And just to keep  the FTC  cozy and warm – yes, we do get small commissions to help support RHS1.

Once you get your own rocks and products to sell,  you can stop by at Dragonsayeauctions.com and put those beauties online for sale – you’ll find em on the right side of the front page as always.

If you haven’t noticed yet, the RHS1 Connector newsletter is also back up and in full swing.  This month you’ll find a free ebook to download about Lake Superior Agates from John Marshall.  He really put together an awesome piece of work there and you are just missing out if you don’t grab a copy.  Free is one heck of a good price, especially for a work this well done.  (Don’t worry if you hate to read, the pictures are quite enough to tide you over!).

You can find that newsletter right HERE

Well, for now I think that’s about it.  Looking forward to seeing you all back in the forums again.  Keep your eye on the Gazette, too, though – ya never know what we’ll be talking about here.

Until next time……

Life’s Short Rock Hard

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Tags: rock and gem hunters, rockhound calendar, rockhound equipment, rockhound forums, rockhound newsletter, rockhound photo gallery, rockhound supplies, rockhounds, rockhoundstation1.com