Electric Worm Getter (Safety hazards??)

Status
Not open for further replies.
T

TVH

Senior Member
In YouTube there is a presentation on how to make an electric worm getter for fishing. Electrical current will force worms out of the ground and to the surface. The makeshift device seems to work very well in getting worm to the surface. There is a question, however, on its safe use. The device cannot be used with an GFCI. Is this device a safe arrangement? Is the user safe from shock/electrocution? Any words of wisdom would be appreciated. Name of the YouTube presentation is: HOW TO MAKE THE ULTIMATE ELECTRIC WORM GETTER
 
The sold "worm getters" when I was a kid. They were L shaped metal rods with wood handles and the short end of each rod connected to one wire of a two wire cord. You put the rods in the ground a few feet apart and plugged the cord in. The worms in the area come to the surface.
It is not safe to use as there are exposed energized metal parts and you create a voltage gradient in the earth creating step and touch potentials. (note I did not look at the you tube video, this is based on a product that was sold over 50 years ago)
 
We used to pour soapy water onto the ground. That would often irritate the worms enough to get them to the surface. We also used a worm getter that was made of a long wooden rod and a metal blade at one end. You pushed the blade into the dirt and . . . well, never mind. :lol:
 
When I was a kid my Dad used a home made prod. Hot wire attached to a metal stake with about a quarter inch thick layer of tape where you held onto the thing.

Nightcrawlers would jump right up on top of the grass. About five minutes and we had all the worms we needed. I thought my old man was a genius.
 
My dad had a version that was hand cranked. Standing there watching him crank the handle wasn't much fun when I was ten, so I don't know how well it worked.
 
Rampage_Rick said:
I wonder if anyone has ever tried something similar for moles? Perhaps a neon transformer and a couple probes? :ashamed:
Click to expand...
You don't need to take it that far for moles. Moles hunt worms by sound believe it or not. So they are extremely sensitive to annoying sounds and vibrations. I had a mole problem and installed some of those stakes with batteries and a little vibrating cell that vibrated for a few seconds every minute or so. Worked like a charm. Gophers are different, they are eating roots, not worms. But for gophers, I spread cayenne pepper on the lawn and water it in, then keep the kids and dogs off of it for a few days. The pepper gets in the gophers eyes so they leave and go bother my neighbors.

My Dad had an idea years ago of using a car battery, a distributor, coil and a hand crank as a worm extractor. The crank was just to turn the distributor shaft to make the points open and close, which then went through the coil to boost the voltage going into the ground. All of the spark plug wires would be joined and going into the ground, along with the negative terminal of the battery. Turn the crank a few times and they should come crawling out. it should be much safer than using line voltage, plus it would be portable so we could use it AFTER we got to where we were going to fish. We never got a chance to try it though before he passed away. If anyone tries it, let me know if it works.
 
Cat scarer

Cat scarer

My sainted father make a device to scare feral cats from the yard. He took a length of 300-ohm twinlead and skinned one side, exposing the conductors. Then he attached a cord and plugged it into 110VAC and laid it out skinned side up.. They only peed on it once.
 
That should work just fine. But you could simplify it in several ways:
1. Wire in a turn signal flasher to replace the distributor contacts. Long pulse cycle, but it should work as long as the contacts in the flasher can withstand the inductive kick.
2. Put in a simple DC buzzer to deliver a faster cycle time with the same limitation on the voltage withstand of the buzzer contacts. This is essentially what the original spark ignition circuits did, with the distributor rotor directly controlling the timing of the HV spark hitting the spark plugs.

One advantage of using the distributor is that you know the contacts will work, assuming you bring the capacitor along with the distributor and coil.
 
Used to use one grandpa made, just a 1/4" rod attached to the hot conductor with a wooden electrical taped handle you just plugged in.
You knew you had it plugged in correctly as you could feel a vibration pushing it into the ground if it was energized.
And yes if you had your hands or feet within the area of the rod you could feel the "tingle"
 
ptonsparky said:
.17 cal
Click to expand...
I got tired of waiting to see them... plus I used a .22 and my neighbor called the police on me for discharging a firearm (I got bored and fired into the ground when I thought they might be there...). They just gave me a warning, but I'm sure I'm on some sort of terrorist watch list somewhere now.
 
Jraef said:
I got tired of waiting to see them... plus I used a .22 and my neighbor called the police on me for discharging a firearm (I got bored and fired into the ground when I thought they might be there...). They just gave me a warning, but I'm sure I'm on some sort of terrorist watch list somewhere now.
Click to expand...

Required Caddy shack quotes: :lol:
Carl Spackler: Licensed to kill gophers by the government of the United Nations. A man, free to kill gophers at will. To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever. They're like the Viet Cong - Varmint Cong. So you have to fall back on superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that's all she wrote.

Carl Spackler: [preparing to dynamite the gopher tunnel] In the immortal words of Jean Paul Sartre, 'Au revoir, gopher'.
 
ptonsparky said:
.17 cal
Click to expand...

gophers, prairie dogs etc.---.220 Swift 55 gr PSP at 4000FPS works wonders out to about 600yards--or a 40 gr PSP at 4700 out to 300 yards

In the yard--I still have a little strychnine coated grain left, from the growing up on the farm days, to toss down the holes
 
RichB said:
gophers, prairie dogs etc.---.220 Swift 55 gr PSP at 4000FPS works wonders out to about 600yards--or a 40 gr PSP at 4700 out to 300 yards

In the yard--I still have a little strychnine coated grain left, from the growing up on the farm days, to toss down the holes
Click to expand...

Geez, you fire either one of those in these parts and you'll go through at least 3 municipalities. None of whom will be amused. :happysad:
 
gadfly56 said:
Geez, you fire either one of those in these parts and you'll go through at least 3 municipalities. None of whom will be amused. :happysad:
Click to expand...




homemade gopher sticks (warning they might be illegal)

toilet paper roll filled with a mixture of course cedar sawdust, ground pcv pipe, and a tsp of black powder (just enough to get the sawdust burning)
cover the gopher hole and dont breath the smoke
cedar smoke is dense and smoke from pvc will put you in the hospital quick

my gunny used to make these (or similar back in nam) said they worked real good to bring the enemy out of their holes:jawdrop:
 
Curious nerd said:
That last sounds like truly groundbreaking technology.
Click to expand...
Nice.

Speaking of shovels........

I started in the trades as a concrete worker. It's the end of the first day on the job and I am loading tools into the truck. I picked up some shovels and started to load them. Boss looks at me, frowns, shakes his head and says, "Leave those. Anybody that wants a shovel bad enough to steal it can have it."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top