| Sieving Sh!te. |
| Last week - Saturday 15th November '03 - I found a ring in one of the woods close to home. The ring is not silver or gold because it is tarnished with age and dirt. One thing i did notice when I found it was that the gemstone was missing from the ring centre. Being the scrounging git ive turned out to be, I bagged all the spoil i had dug out whilst retrieving the ring, plus some of the dirt that was still in the hole. This I took home to try "The great home sieving of 03" Ive never sieved in my life before (apart from maybe a bit of flour in Home Ec. back in school days) This guide shows how using only household objects I created a straining rack, then a sluice then finally got my hands dirty for the last part. |
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| Heres the equipment you need. 1) A large box with lid. 2) A badmington / tennis racquet 3) A hosepipe with variable flow (or a twisty thing) 4) The bag of muck. 5) A corkscrew. 6) A screen to put around so your neighbours cant see how crazy you are. (Optional). |
| Step 1 lay the racquet across the box as the picture. Spread the mud across the racquet. I recommend you do this when the owner of the racquet is absent. Spray the dirt lightly until it filters through the racquet, leaving only the twigs and grass. Keep spraying until youve done the whole bag. This gives you a box of muddy water. |
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| Step 2 Stand the box on the garden! Corkscrew two holes into the box at its lowest point and put the racquet across the holes. The water will drain and you may have to poke the holes a few times for them to stay clear of muck. Once the box is empty, you should have an inch or so of slush puppy reject. |
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| Keep cows away from the box. |
| Footbath anyone? |
| Hmmm, better wash the patio when im done. |
| Step 3 Scrape the sludge out of the box into the box lid. I found the racquet comes in handy as a scraping tool. (Refer to absent owner note above). |
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| Thats my hand and yes I am left handed. |
| Step 4 Look at this for pro. Once youve put the sludge onto the lid, spray very gently with the hose. This lid was perfect as it had small ridges which caught the stones, plus a small hole to use as a drain point you can see at the very top centre of the picture. |
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| Who'd be out drinking when theres fun like this to be had? |
| Step 5 Once youve sieved the small stones from step four, go back to your grass and twig pile, feel through it with your hands and pick the stones out. |
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| Makes you question your sanity doesnt it... |
| Step 6 Once youve done all the above, you should have a nice collection of small stones. Unfortunately none of mine were precious but after all that effort I kept them anyway. |
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