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Other than gold, most valuable metals do not appear in "free milling" form. That is, in its natural state. Gold can and will most likely be in a natural state, but sometimes gold can be chemically bonded with other minerals, like Tellurium and Selenium, etc.

Silver can be very rich in a sample, and most likely you can crush it down and never see a speck of it, but it's there! Caliche can also contain natural gold, and the CrazyCrusher can take care of that too!

I do not believe in selling something to someone who will not be satisfied with it! IF this all sounds like "too much work", leave the hard rock for others! Or, you can save money by sticking to the hammer method! Use caution though. Wear safety glasses at the least, better yet, a full face plastic shield!

SOME FACTS TO LIVE WITH:

Rocks are rocks. Some are harder, some aren't. Most rock structures have a cleavage point, that is, it will break easier if pressure is applied in a given direction as opposed to a different direction. Sometimes it takes a lot of pressure to crack a rock simply by applying pressure on it. The CrazyCrusher is designed to do just that!

Some rocks you will need to give a hard jerk down on the handle several times for that initial breaking. Other rocks respond well by putting your weight behind the handle and arms. By the time you get to the grinding stage, it becomes very easy work. For this reason alone, you will need to either bolt or clamp the CrazyCrusher to a workbench or sturdy table.

If taken out into the field, you will either need to clamp it to your tailgate, or perhaps a thick piece of plywood, large enough for someone to fit the legs of a lawn chair on to the front end, and while you work the Crusher, they can have a seat. Another method would be to use a pair of 2x4's about 3 feet long. Bolt the CrazyCrusher to the 2x4's parallel like railroad tracks, and a person can stand on the ends, or even drive your truck tire up on to the ends of the 2x4's to hold the crusher from moving around. If the rocks are 1 inch or less, you can get by holding the upper far pin with your hand and working the handle with your other hand, but beware, you will be right over the crusher,so be sure that the safety plate is closed! You don't want to take an eye out!

The CrazyCrusher works with a movement of about 10 percent forward against the rock and 90 percent downward, putting pressure on two planes of the rock. Although the CrazyCrusher has an opening of 2 inch by 4 inch, it is very difficult to break some rocks of that size, some even near impossible! As the rock pieces break, they are dragged downward with each up and down motion, causing the pieces to be further broken down as the rock pieces go lower into the "V" of the plates. Some rocks like Conglomerates and decomposing quartz works well in a larger size, but other rocks, like pure white quartz are more difficult and should be fed in at about a 1 inch size.

The jaw plates have random welds across their face to act not only as "fingers" to better grip the rocks, but also to prevent further wear on the jaw surfaces. The lower portion (the grinding area) of the jaw faces have no welds as it would interfere with the grinding process.

The first few times you use the CrazyCrusher, you will notice some steel particles in your catch container. This is normal with any type of crusher or any style.

It would be rare, but it is possible, due to the shape and hardness of some rocks, that the rocks themselves could actually scrape out tiny bits of steel off of the jaws. (Don't forget to put your magnet in a plastic baggy or something so the iron does not stick to the magnet itself!) Using the magnet will also remove any magnetite in your sample, so if you want any iron that is in the sample rock to be analysed as well, then do not use a magnet.

USING THE CRAZYCRUSHER

The smaller the rocks, the further down it will go into the jaws, and the easier it is to crush it finer. The upper part of the moving jaw is primarily a forward and back motion, whereas the lower part of the jaw is primarily an up and down motion.

NEVER operate the CrazyCrusher with the steel safety plate open! Initial breaking of rocks can and will cause chips to fly out of the top. The safety plate is designed to keep the chips inside the crusher where they belong.

It is highly advisable to wear good leather gloves or mechanics gloves while working the CrazyCrusher to avoid getting blisters.

A catch container is included with the crusher. Start with the adjustable plate fully open by turning the adjusting screw counter-clockwise, then turn it in a couple turns. Open the safety plate, put your rock(s) in, close the safety plate and press down on the handle harder and harder until it breaks. IF it does not break, give it a few "slams" up and down, putting some weight behind it.

If you plan on grinding the rock to a fine sand, have the classifying screen handy in a pan or something. Once no more pieces are coming out, dump your catch container into the screen and shake the screen. What does not go through the screen and in to your pan can be dumped back in to the crusher after you put your catch container back under the crusher and turn the adjusting screw clockwise to about a 1/4" gap between the lower jaw area when the handles are in the down position.
Pour the remaining rock particles back in from your screen into the jaws, close the safety plate and work it again, repeating the process until all the sample passes through your selected screen.

To grind a sample, or to grind black sands for further processing, simply close the adjustable jaw until it is resting against the moving jaw. Raise and lower the handle a couple times to assure it is closed all the way and you have full movement of the arms. Starting with the handle in the down position, pour in a few tablespoons of black sands into the CrazyCrusher, and start working the handle up and down until no more sand is coming out. Short choppy strokes work better than full strokes.

A grinding operation will create small amounts of air-borne dust. It is ALWAYS important to either wear a dust mask or be sure to be up wind of the dust. The reason is that you do not know what is in that rock! There could be arsenic and other nasty things in the ore so you don't want to be breathing in that dust! (this is important, even for those using other methods or dry washers!!!! There could be Haunta virus in the sand, mercury, everything! Wear a quality dust mask!)

COLLECTING ORE SAMPLES:

If you decide not to take your crusher out in the field to crush ore samples on site, then as you collect samples, mark them with a sharpie marker with a reference number, Location #1, #2, etc., and make a notation on paper of that number, and include the GPS coordinates of the exact location your found that particular sample.

After collecting samples from many places, and when you have time to crush and analyze the ore, you will know as a fact where you got those samples! It's advisable to get several plastic containers that you can put your crushed ore in, with a larger piece of the ore to identify the rock your material came from. This way you can crush dozens of different samples, store them together and run your tests later down the road. You never know what you will find inside that particular rock, and knowing where you found it is invaluable. If only the miners and prospectors of the old days had GPS! There would not be any "lost mine" stories to read, or to look for!

Cleaning out the crusher between samples is easy with a large bottle brush, or compressed air. You can even "hose it out", and then use compressed air to dry it so it does not rust on the jaw faces.

The Gold Miners Test Kit is the perfect companion for crushing rock samples so you can find out if your ore has gold in it or not!

OTHER USES:

The CrazyCrusher is a safe and great way to crush clean clear glass for a smelting operation. Crafters who works with stones can crush larger pieces of their special rocks into smaller pieces so they can be tumbled and polished. The CrazyCrusher will give the crafter a higher number of stones matched in size. The crusher can be set up to 1/2", and down to nothing in size. With additional adjustment of the adjuster, you can produce up to 3/4" in size for mineral samples. And of course, it makes a great crusher for those Brazilian nuts!

That's about it. Simple, huh?