Hunting lost stones and pieces

Listening to poor Ed and wife’s travails hunting that diamond, I
must offer a better suggestion in case there’s a next time. Rather
than stuffing a towel in the vent, which I assume should still Be a
vent, put a fine mesh screen in the opening. If anything disappears
on the floor or dark crannies, the easiest way to find it, unless
it’s in your shirt pocket or pants cuffs, is to get out the family
vacuum, insert a brand new bag or filter, and start "cleaning"
anything that isn’t nailed down. All you’ll have lost is one vacuum
bag that will be cut open for inspection and retrieval of your
flying diamond or whatevers. And, your shop will be much the better
for it, as will your wife’s hands.

Pat

people, the only thing worse than finding the missing stone in your
bra while out in public (‘i have a few minutes before leaving here,
think i’ll polish this stone for a minute or two’) is not finding it
at all. this is how i have had the most success & i don’t have to
change the vacuum bag: use a canister vacuum or an upright with the
hose that can be used with an attachment. find some netting (tulle),
an old stocking, or whatever. fold the whatever over a couple of
times into a 6" to 8" square (yes people, it can be a circle) or use
the toe section of the stocking. hold the center of the whatever
over the end of the vacuum’s ‘wand’ where the attachment goes on.
poke a finger into the whatever a little to a bit of slack & then
push on either the: upholstery attachment - it’s the one bout 4" wide
& may or may not have a brush edge on it, or the crevice tool - it’s
a tubular piece of plastic about 7" - 10" long with a narrow opening
used for getting into - guess what - crevices. you won’t have to
secure the whatever with anything because the attachment holds it.
next, locate the closest pair of knee pads & attach to knees
(yours). check to make certain that there is no one in the area you
don’t want to see your tush bobbing up & down as you wander the
nether regions of your work area. put a large bowl or box handy with
a pair of tweezers in it on the floor. now go on the stone hunt.
every now & then check your progress by turning off the vacuum &
emptying the whatever into the bowl/box. repeat until you find
either the right stone or enough material you’d forgotten about to
make up the loss of the original stone. good luck - ive

Hi Pat: Put an old nylon stocking over the vacuum brush and it will
allow dirt etc to go through but keep any stones or silver/gold wire
etc. from going into the bag. Easier way to find what you are looking
for. Kay

<snip>    If anything disappears on the floor or dark crannies,
the easiest way to find it, ... is to get out the family vacuum,
insert a brand new bag or filter, and start "cleaning" anything
that isn't nailed down.  Pat  <snip>   

Put a nylon stocking over the vacuum hose, so the missing stone is
trapped at the easy end of the hose. No need to dig through the
messy bag.

Toodles!
~ Sherry ~

Pat, Good suggestion for the vent. We are not likely to survive
long as vapor breathers, so the fine mesh is a great idea. Know what
is cheap, easy to find and works like the dickens catching small
flying objects? Old pantyhose (yours or your wife’s) make great
traps for anything, and the nylon threads stick to any sharp corner
passing by. If that’s where the diamond or whatever went you can bet
the pantyhose will catch them.

The old Texan I apprenticed under showed me a great way to find
stones- we did a lot of work with melee. He used a vacuum cleaner
with 2 or 3 layers of cheesecloth taped over the mouth and simply
vacuumed the shop area, then dumped the cheesecloth in an old
oilpan… whatever fell off the bottom of the vacuum was right
underneath when it was turned off- it worked every time. I have a
smaller shop area now, and I find that the same method is great using
a Dustbuster.

Cheers
Clyde Gilbert
Greenwood Studios

Pat, An improvement on the vacuum system for finding lost stones,
etc. is to uncouple the hose and insert a piece of panyhose material
across the connection and reconnect the two sections. The small
items will be screened out by the material. Jerry in Kodiak