Thanks for your suggestions Sid.

Flat-bottomed sieves are really wonderful for sorting shell grit material
after the washing and drying of the material is all finished. There are
beautiful sets of paleontological sieves like that, with the various
different meshes, but they are extremely expensive. I have used kitchen
sieves to sort material by size in a similar way, and they worked fairly
well.

But I have never had any success trying to scoop up a very thin layer of
drift off of damp sand with a kitchen strainer, even a small one, because
strainers all have a rounded frame and usually a rather thick edge too.

I do like the idea of the rocks, the pillowcase, and the crow bar! However
on Sanibel I can only collect dead shells (it's the law).

But it's great to hear everyone's suggestions!


On 10/23/13 8:38 PM, "S. Sneidar" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Ed and Susan, I've been collecting shells including micros since 1964.  I
> made frames from 1 X 2" wood and notched for 6 different  stainless steel
> mesh bottoms; 1/6 to" less than 1/64th".  This proved too elaborate.
>
> Have you tried a kitchen strainer with handle? Just scoop and dump in a
> container for later searching .
>
> All good for sand.  for rocks put small rocks in an old pillow case and give
> it a couple whacks with a crow bar.
>
> Please let me know if this helps.
>
> Aloha
>
> Sid Sneidar
>
> ---- Original Message -----
> From: "Ed and Susan" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2013 11:48 AM
> Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Technique for micros?
>
>
>> The time I did get over to Lighthouse Beach (it was not low tide) there
>> were
>> some nice small patches of micros near the fishing pier.
>>
>> Steve, how did you scoop your material?
>
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