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Techniques for CollectorsGood Ideas for Lugging Tools and Finds?

11th Apr 2024 23:26 UTCHarold Skelton

I keep telling my buddy we need to buy a donkey, but he says they eat too much and they won't fit in the car. So instead, we lug canvas boat bags, 5 gallon buckets, smaller and larger backpacks -- generally backbreaking, especially on the way out with 40 additional pounds of rocks.

Anyone have any better ideas? I see people using 2 wheeled carts and 4 wheeled wagons but these are not practical in a lot of places. Also depends, of course on what equipment you expect to use. Leaf springs and sledge hammers? Sifters and shovels? Picks and chisels? One thing for sure -- the thing you really need is the thing you left home, or in the car two miles away!

How do you do it? What are the 3 or 4 things (tools) you always bring into the field?

On further consideration, the donkey is looking better and better!

11th Apr 2024 23:28 UTCLalith Aditya Senthil Kumar

I always (usually) bring a rock hammer, a set of chisels, a screwdriver, some old newspapers, a bucket, a sifter, and a small shovel.

12th Apr 2024 14:29 UTCSteve Ewens

Harold,

For me, the "field" is usually Hart Mountain and the truck is a very LONG ways away!

Standard items in my pack: Rock pick, 6 lb. crack hammer, a couple small chisels, a GPS unit.

Additionally, I pack my lunch in hard sided plastic containers. In the event I find a fragile specimen, I eat my lunch and wrap the specimen in the always present roll of TP and place it in the container.

I find 5-gallon buckets impractical for any collecting that is more than a mile at most from the truck. Those things will beat your leg to death. I take rigid foam pipe insulation and cover the rim of the bucket as well as add extra padding to the handle.

If the terrain is relatively flat and obstacle free, I find a wheelbarrow much more practical than a wagon.

Steve

12th Apr 2024 16:17 UTCKyle Beucke 🌟

I use a backpacking frame pack, as many sites require hiking. Collecting tools are minimal, open just a pick hammer and sometimes an engineers (crack) hammer as well. Gloves, eye protection, and loupe, of course.

Kyle

13th Apr 2024 19:39 UTCHarold Skelton

Having just yesterday walked up and down the 2 mile trail to Moat Mtn mineral site in NH through driving rain and several inches of saturated snow, I can attest that lugging 5 gallon pails sucks! I suppose my old Kelty frame pack from the 70s would hold everything needed and leave room for packing specimens out. Really, its not the weight, but the placement and stability of the weight that matters. Just hose the mud off everything once back to one's own driveway . . .

13th Apr 2024 21:12 UTCWayne Corwin

Get some Good Crystals Harold?

I always liked Moat Mt, but,,, I would never take a 5 gal pail that far.

Instead I take cloth bags (like the reusable shopping bags),, Fill them with rocks and I can carry them, or tie them to the pack frame or put them in the pack. They are light weight, you can kneel or lay down on them, roll them up for a pillow when working a pocket or seam.

A 4" piece of old 3/4" garden hose slit end to end slips over the cloth bag handles and makes it real comfortable for carrying.

Thick, stiff hose works best, it can also be used on pails where the plastic handle has fallen apart and only the wire is left. (can be duct taped in place on the buckets or bags too)

I also put the bottom half, of a cut down, rectangular style, kitty litter type bucket in the bottom of my pack to protect my pack from sharp tools or rocks.

14th Apr 2024 13:25 UTCSteve Ewens

Wayne,

I like the idea of reenforcing the pack with some sort of more durable material. The rigidity of the plastic bucket may not be the best for my use, but some sort of flexible heavy-duty vinyl or plastic may be the cat's meow.

14th Apr 2024 23:58 UTCWayne Corwin

Steve

You could use one of the reusable shopping bags, some come with a pad in the bottom, or put one bag in another.

13th Apr 2024 19:51 UTCPaul Brandes 🌟 Manager

On further consideration, the donkey is looking better and better!

Plus, how could you say no to that face??? ;-)

Typically, I would research the $%#* out of the site I was planning to go to help understand the geology/rocks I was going to encounter. Then, select the best tools for the job instead of lugging everything with me. Usually it payed off; only a couple times did I think "man, I wish I would have brought ________", but I still managed. I usually carried two bags. A backpack to hold the tools and wrapping material, and a side bag to carry out the wrapped specimens separate from the tools. Toolwise, I always carry my long handled geology hammer, a couple chisels, and a small crack hammer. Depending on rock, I may also carry a pinchbar, larger sledge, and various other tools This method has served me well for 40+ years of collecting.

13th Apr 2024 22:04 UTCKevin Conroy Manager

"Good Ideas for Lugging Tools and Finds?"

Many years ago I solved a major portion of this question. I simply don't want/need a bunch of specimens, so I only carry out a few high quality specimens (if I was lucky enough to find any) after collecting for the day. Most of the time my pack doesn't weigh too much!

I put all of the stuff that I don't want in a conspicuous place so another collector can find it, and haul it out if they desire.

13th Apr 2024 22:13 UTCJhonatan Gomes

I put in my backpack:

-Estwing hammer

-Gloves

-Loupe 10x

-Ziplock

-Old newspaper

-Water

You need to pay attention to the size of your backpack, the most used are trekking or tactical backpacks. A minimum size would be 30 liters, you can easily carry 20kg, and the larger the backpack storage (in liters), the better the weight distribution will be, so it is easier to carry the same 20kg (for example). Coincidence, but I'm currently looking to buy a 40l backpack.

14th Apr 2024 15:29 UTCRolf Luetcke Expert

Years before I had a 4x4 vehicle, first jeep and later ATV, I needed to collect at a few places my VW Bus was not able to get to. I built this "Rickshaw" out of various parts. First, the metal base was an old, dead washing machine. The wheels are discarded motorcycle wheels, with deflated tires still on them. The axle I used a steel rod held on my U clamps. The handles were pipe and bent around the front to walk inside and have the bar at ones stomach for extra pull power.

I needed to collect decent quantities of gypsum in our SE Arizona area and one wash had a ton of material but not drivable by my VW at the time. I was able to easily load the rickshaw with a couple hundred pounds of gypsum blades and brought it nearly a mile up the wash to my vehicle. Of course, one can easily put any tools one needs in it as well, plus water, lunch and more.

The rickshaw works well over very uneven terrain also. Used it for Opal collecting also.

Now mostly use it to haul mesquite wood for our wood stove.

This rickshaw has been in use for over 15 years with no real problems at all.

14th Apr 2024 16:29 UTCSteve Hardinger 🌟 Expert

My preferred method....

16th Apr 2024 16:48 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager

I have an infallible way.

I always go collecting with my wife.

I care the backpack with food etc and her backpack with the tools.

After we found rocks and that my backback is too heavy, we switch.

Keep safe.

16th Apr 2024 17:10 UTCRolf Luetcke Expert

Paul,

If we are meant to believe that, I have this bridge that I would love to sell you!

Now in the US people may know what I mean.

16th Apr 2024 19:11 UTCBrad von Dessonneck

In my younger days I would just haul everything a large backpacking backpack, but then my knees and back let me know what they thought.

I still use the pack for my tools and water, but I bring an empty disposable water jug and some duct tape as well. Usually just clipped on the outside of the pack since it is light. When I am ready to head back to camp, I cut open the jug and pack my specimens in it. Then tape it up. The jugs generally have a handle (or I make it out of tape) and they are semi-rigid to protect the more delicate pieces. This allows me to set it down or switch hands and keep my pack light. When I am done with the jug, I toss it in the recycling.

If I am close to the car/camp I have a milk crate with plywood and 2x2 spacers ~3 inches long to make shelves in the crate. That way I don’t have to stack the more delicate specimens.

My friend also uses a three-wheeled jogging stroller when the terrain is agreeable. The large wheels work great.

16th Apr 2024 19:32 UTCRolf Luetcke Expert

One addition to somewhat local collecting in someone's area they live in. Case in point, in our area of SE Arizona, we have a lot of fluorescent opal on a lot of different places. I carry a half dozen of the plastic shopping bags we get our groceries in and those can be put in a back pocket. Then when things are found, bags are tripled, one inside the other to hold up to about 10 or 15 pounds of rough rock. The bag handles can cut into ones hand so a stick, here we have a lot of dead yucca flower stalks lying around or a mesquite stick can be broken to a foot or so long and placed through the handles of the bag and that makes carrying very easy. This can be done with both sides carrying a bag full of rough rock. I have done this for a mile or more with not much trouble and the bags are quite durable when several are used inside one another.

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