Ohlsson & Rice: Keene Prospecting Pump

[CNew 403]

I still need to finish putting the cutoff saw back together.  My break from the saw has been prolonged and I’ve been fixing up a vintage Raleigh Twenty 20” folding bicycle.  Picked up this cool O&R Keene pump from a local guy that does gold prospecting as a hobby.  
 

 

[pmackellow 2,728]

Thats rather nice, I like that, good find !

 

[JUST O&R 237]

Looks nice when are you getting started on it?

[CNew 403]

That’s a great question.... I still have a couple projects in front of it, including the O&R cutoff saw that I need to finish assembling. I just need to get myself back in the groove again!

 

You working on any O&Rs these days?

[JUST O&R 237]

No I closed the shop to take care of family in Florida just haven't found a house yet. I,m trying to keep an eye on things but its hard with a new job.

hope all is good ?

[Wallfish 687]

OMG A new post on the forum!

Seems a bit slow on here recently with no one doing any new projects. O&Rs are great for winter time season but I haven't had time to do anything at all. Then when there is a little time available I don't do anything but rest.

40 minutes ago, JUST O&R said:

hope all is good ?

Hope all is good with you!

That's a tough call to do all that

[CNew 403]

1 hour ago, JUST O&R said:

No I closed the shop to take care of family in Florida just haven't found a house yet. I,m trying to keep an eye on things but its hard with a new job.

hope all is good ?

Wow, that’s some big changes. I hope things are going well. New jobs are always a challenge but I hope it’s something you’re enjoying.

[factory 483]

On 1/24/2021 at 11:29 PM, CNew said:

Picked up this cool O&R Keene pump from a local guy that does gold prospecting as a hobby.  

 

Nice find, I have one of those too, the starter spring was removed, I guess they broke it & never got round to fixing it. The seller also had the matching sluice box but sold it separately.

 

I think most of these suffer from problems with the plastic impeller.

 

David

[CNew 403]

Your pump looks to be in really nice shape.  I haven’t opened up the pump yet but I suspect it will be cracked like yours, especially having lived and used here in the hot desert.  I’m going to need to flatten the base plate a bit on mine. Someone also drilled holes in the base plate, probably for some sort of simple loop handle.

[factory 483]

On 1/26/2021 at 11:23 PM, Wallfish said:

OMG A new post on the forum!

Seems a bit slow on here recently with no one doing any new projects. O&Rs are great for winter time season but I haven't had time to do anything at all. Then when there is a little time available I don't do anything but rest.

On 1/26/2021 at 10:40 PM, JUST O&R said:

hope all is good ?

Hope all is good with you!

That's a tough call to do all that

 

@JUST O&R Hope all is well with the move to take care of your family. I've been through similar looking after my Mum, before it became too much for all of us & the home-care.

 

It's winter here too, but I need to work outside when cleaning O&R's and it's too cold or rainy at the moment, but I'm keeping busy indoors with some vintage electronic projects, the most recent is a nice late 1940's or early 1950's (not sure exactly but it contains some WWII surplus parts) GEC condenser & resistor test bridge, here it is testing one of the failed capacitors that came out of it, need to go test some O&R condensers & coils now.

 

David

[factory 483]

24 minutes ago, CNew said:

Your pump looks to be in really nice shape.  I haven’t opened up the pump yet but I suspect it will be cracked like yours, especially having lived and used here in the hot desert.  I’m going to need to flatten the base plate a bit on mine. Someone also drilled holes in the base plate, probably for some sort of simple loop handle.

 

I suspect mine didn't get much use before the starter broke or maybe the gas cost more than what they managed to recover with it?

You might be in the right area to find one of these Keene sluice boxes to go with it (the 30" by 6½" version according to the catalog you have).

 

David

[CNew 403]

I’ve seen a few of the Keene sluice boxes but people want outrageous money for them for some reason. Last one I saw just for the sluice box was about $600.  I keep watching though...