Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2016 16:34:45 +0000
Reply-To: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Catalytic converters
In-Reply-To: <CA+az7_627QTQXt-2LQENSwb0jxbceh+Nedo5_7aUMFE8-iHpMw@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Or you could do what some lowlife did, get yourself a cordless sawzall or cutoff wheel and apply it to the exhaust system of my neighbor's Honda Pilot and my Westy while they were parked in their respective slots behind our houses. They actually got away with his converter while only destroying my J-pipe. There was a rash of these thefts around here several years ago.
Stephen
On Saturday, June 4, 2016 12:05 PM, John Rodgers <jrodgers113@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
Cruised Youtube this morning and stumbled over this. Platinum mining on the
side of the road.
https://youtu.be/v5GPWJPLcHg
All of us carry platinum in our vans catalytic converters. This shows how
the stuff winds up on the roads, and can actually be recovered by those
interested enough to pursue it. I have worked with precious metals in the
past by way of jewelry, and I can tell you, jewelers go to great lengths to
recover gold and platinum. They even have filters that collect the dust off
of a polishing wheel, refine it, and extract the precious metals "flour"
that comes off jewelry when its being polished. I have right now a coffee
can full of gold and platinum flour-bearing dust collected from a polishing
wheel.
When you consider the price of platnum, and the number of cars on the road,
and how many miles driven by the American public, it makes you want to get
out with broom and dustpan in hand and start sweeping the highways.
Similar things are done in Alaska. The corregated aluminum culvert pipes
under the roads and else where act like sluice or riffle boxes and settle
gold out of the runoff waters. People mine this and often find enough gold
to at least pay for their trip to Alaska.
At the price of platinum today, for the ambitious this could be a way to
pick up some extra shekels. 'Course you would have to learn a bit of
chemistry, and get a jewelry burn out oven. But even so, it could be fun
and financially rewarding.
So (Vanagon content) load the old vanagon with brooms and dust pans, and
your sweeping crew, and make it out to your favorite highway spot for a bit
of sweeping. You might learn something about materials, chemistry, and
precious metals, if nothing else, and, you might make some bucks!
John