Core catchers fit between the bottom of a liner tube and the nose piece. They work like a hand that opens, then shuts to grip your entire sample, and keep it from washing out of the liner tube. The slits or “fingers” on the core catchers are forced open as the core tube enters the substrate. Removing the tube causes the weight of the sample to close the “fingers” around the sample. In this way you keep a tight grip on loose, soupy material that might otherwise literally go “down the tubes”!

Some sediments are firm enough to remain packed in the core tube as it is pulled out. However, rounded sand grains; thin, silty marls; and fine clays often wash out. On bottoms too firm for a water bottle but too soupy for much else, we recommend our patented eggshell™ core catcher. This cup in thin, noncorrosive, nonmetallic plastic is well worth the minimal cost. As the name implies, it is fragile, disposable and has a life-span of 1-20 samplings. For this reason, we recommend you keep many extras on hand.For less soft bottoms that may be too stiff for eggshell™ core catchers, the reusable bronze or stainless steel core catchers are a good choice. They can withstand thousands of impacts and will serve you well.Whatever your selection, please note you cannot use any core catcher without a nose piece.

Stainless Steel Core Catchers: Durable core catcher that can be used with or without liners. Will normally withstand thousands of core samples. If the fingers become twisted, put a glove on your own - fingers, that is - and twist them gently to the right to work them back into shape. Save on packs of 3. Picture only reflects styles available, to order choose the style based on description.

Eggshell Core Catcher: A simple, semi-disposable plastic core catcher used with removable nosepieces. Holds clean, loose sand and marls where others fail. Eggshell fingers are flexible low-density polyethylene that can be used many times. Average life is 5-50 samples. Can be used with any liner-type 2” core tube such as: hand corer, Ballchek™, and K-B™. Sold in packs of 3 or 10.