Projects - Super Sucker Hand Dredge

Somebody posted on a prospecting group that Toys R Us had Super Soaker style squirt guns for only $2.99 last summer. That struck me as a bargain, because I figured I could turn one into a cheap hand dredge no problem. So I did...

A hand dredge is basically a cross between a syringe and a sucker bottle, only scaled up quite a bit. Like a sucker bottle, the tip extends into the body of the thing to prevent material from falling back out, and like a syringe, a plunger with a good seal is used to draw water and material into the unit. Anyway, here's mine:

Here's the tip. It extends up into the body of the former squirt gun about four inches and is glued in place with the cheapest adhesive they carry in the plumbing aisle - not to code mind you...

At right you'll see the business end of the plunger.

I used a leather disc cut from a thriftstore purse and attached it with a rubber plug that expands as the wingnut is tightened (again, hit the plumbing aisle). I used leather because it expands as it gets wet assuring a really good seal every time out, and leather is a lot less prone to tearing than rubber. Plus I had an old hunk of thriftstore purse laying around (don't ask)...

Okay, this is obviously the handle. The whole plunger is made of PVC and the handle is just a T section with a couple of hex ended plugs glued in.

There you have it, a cheap squirt gun turned into a prospecting tool...

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