Hobby Thread - February 21, 2026 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies (TM) a spin and it landed on panning for gold.

[Top photo:Alaskan miner panning for gold, 1916. Library of Congress collection]

What are you hobbying?

As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. Discussion of current events, religion and politics can elsewhere. Pants are optional. As always, puns are welcome and encouraged.

Play nice. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls.

Do you have gold fever? Have you ever prospected for gold? Are you wise in the ways of gold panning?

Are you fascinated by gold mines and the history of gold mining?

Is there gold or gold history nearby your location?

I have never panned for gold (mostly because of my dino short arms), but I am fascinated by mining. Mines are typically in off the beaten path places and the underground has the ever-present mystery of what lies inside. They hold history, promise, and mixtures of success and heartbreak.

Professional mining operations are gigantic, but hobbyists still pick at rocks and pan for gold dust and nuggets along riverbanks.

Panning for gold uses a dish full of gravel and water to sift off the lighter material and keep the heavier (and more valuable) material. Obviously, there is a lot to knowing what material is likely to have gold and where to find the material and then go through the labor of sifting through for tiny gold flakes.

If trapped in ore, the ore must be crushed, filtered, and smelted to separate and refine it.

Knowing nothing, I've selected content that seemed reasonably informative and entertaining and low in clickbait channels ("YOU WON'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH GOLD I FOUND!!!!!). Looking for commenters to help out with wisdom and knowledge.

This is a great intro video with a lot more knowledge than just equipment:

Dan the Prospector shows how to pan (and he looks the part):

Here's another tutorial:

This is quite a set-up and shows the full process. Think this guy is in Washington. This is a profession rather than a hobby but think he sells raw ore for hobbyists to crush their own rock. He is not panning along a riverbank but pulling rock out of mountain seams that has embedded gold.

One thing that surprised me when doing the research for this post is the scattered locations people find gold. It is not just in the mountains out west or Alaska. This guy is panning in Virginia:

and previously checked out Alabama:

Lake Superior? Apparently there is gold in the sand.

Gold mining has been increasingly regulated in Australia. One recent development is limiting the use of pumps to sort gravel, so this guy is trying out a manual rocker box. What's a rocker box? Click and find out.

On January 24, 1848, while supervising of a sawmill, James Marshall found flakes of gold in the South Fork American River. The mill was being built for Col. John Sutter. The discovery of gold at Sutters Mill in California kicked off the gold rush. The original sawmill looked like this:

The Smithsonian now has the first gold flakes discovered at Sutter's Mill. The sawmill failed when the able-bodied men abandoned the project to search for gold and prospectors overran the land.

Five Places Where You Can Still Find Gold in the United States

In the rocky sediment of Nevada's deserts
Along the American River in California
Throughout the Alaskan Yukon River
In former Colorado mining hot spots
In Arizona's Lynx Creek

Rockhounding is a hobby, but polishing rocks into spheres is a niche. Grinding and polishing machines are roughly three drills with polishing cups aligned in a triangle with a rock in the middle. Never seen one in real life and they look a little like a mad scientist alchemy contraption, but apparently they are a thing. I've seen spheres of wood turned on a lathe but this is a completely different program. Anyone familiar with this?

This home built rig combines mad scientist and mad max together:

Horde Hobbying

This does not strictly count as Horde Hobbying, but last week's stained glass thread triggered a note from matteiglass to the Hobby Thread email inbox. Glass is a profession and he has decades of leaded glass experience. He did restoration of church windows, had a studio, and created large scale windows for clients. He has taken commission and done pieces on spec.

Perhaps he'll jump in and tell more of his story.

In the meantime, gaze upon this piece titled "The Soul of the Rose" which portrays the painting by John Waterhouse. It took over 1,000 hours. Click on the painting for the studio's website with many other marvelous pieces.

Thank you!

Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did an stained glass theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Notable comments from last week:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, contribute your own. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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