Route 66 Gold Miners Forum

Goldfish · Joined: 24 Apr 2008 Posts: 17 Location: Bellflower Ca

I am ready to buy a sluice box and was wondering which one do you guys recomend? I seen them being used at the East Fork outing but not sure if they were the A51 or the A52.
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Don

If women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy.

wagonmaster · Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 6:35 am Post subject: One Wagonmasters Opinion

Free Information, take it for what its worth.

The primary purpose of a sluce box is to increase the amount of material a person can process vs. hand panning. By definition of purpose it should be as big as possible. However this is not allways practical or desirable.

A large sluce box that has high riffles and deep carpet is going to be the best for moving the most quantities of material, classified or not. This type of sluce needs to be durable and easy to clean. Normally this results in a bigger, less portable, heavy sluce. If your gona stay in one place for a while and dont have far to go with it, this is the best tool for this type of job.

Keene Eng. has a fine large "Production" style sluce that can be converted to a dredge or highbanker. The A51 has been the standard of the industry for longer than I know. It has the best fit and finish of any on the market. I like the fact that it has riffle options and is modular/expandable.

Small sluces are far more desirable for sampling, back packing and clean up from bigger tools, i.e. dredge or high banker. Most employ the same features as the big guys except in a small package.

One chararistic of small sluces that you may be un aware of is the versility in the way they can be set up. Small streams with low flow present problems for big sluces. There is not enough velocity of water to effectively clear lighter fraction. A small sluce will work better in this situation as the smaller design allows for greater velocity of water.

Many small gulches contain tributary systems that diminish in flow as summer progresses. Utilizing a small sluce can extend your season somewhat or make this type of work possible altogther.

Personally, I would tell you to buy several sluces. After all they are just like any other tool, you have got to have the right one for the job. Any one will work fine, you just have more options when you have more than one to chose from. You may want to set up more than one at a time, I go to a spot on the East Fork where I have set up 3 sluces at once. I get better recovery and quicker production. I feed one while the others are "Clearing", this way riffle over -load is reduced and the sluce works better.

The only thing in a sluce I would avoid is plastic. There are many plastic sluces out there with the intent of lighter and faster cleaning. But, in my experience these units are not durable enough for professional duty.

I have used Le Trap, it is fragle, has bad riffle action, and is sensitive to flow and overloading. My small plastic E-Z sluce has plastic riffle inserts which are a pain in the...neck to deal with.

Go Keene. Buy all three, A51 as a primary tool, A52 for a durable more portible design and the A51a for small, low flow and sampling work. The folding sluce has a spot in my quiver. Its only draw back is the riffle sections are not the quick and easy for clean up. This is a great tool as it is large but not cumbersom when back-packing.

Goldfish · Joined: 24 Apr 2008 Posts: 17 Location: Bellflower Ca

Thanks for the info Jay. Since I can only afford one at a time I think I will start with the A51.
_________________
Don

If women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy.

**webmaster** · Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:21 pm Post subject:

He has a point but; Idea

If you’re not going to be out every weekend trying your luck. If you’re just going to us it when there is an outing or too, if you don’t have a lot of deposable income and want something middle of the road and you’re just starting out.

Then the Mid size Keene sluice is all you will need to get youself started in prospecting. As your drive builds up for more Gold and bigger equipment and your knowledge an interest starts to peak. Then, you can go out and add more equipment to you inventory.

You might want to consider a metal detector as well, before getting larger equipment. A well rounded prospector can go more places with a variety off tools in his hands..

You never know. You may lose that interest in diggen in the dirt and have too donate all that equipment over toward Route 66 Gold Miners. HEHEHEHEEEE yea!! Laughing

Thanks……………Webmaster

wagonmaster · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:08 am Post subject: Sluces

The Temecula Vally Prospectors has a chache of prospecting equiptment that is loaned to our members for use afield. Unequiped members can utilize these tools for getten gold at the outings or to figure out what type of equiptment they want to invest there money in.

The A51 is a superbe piece of equiptment. It is very durable and will most likely outlast the prospector. One thing I would suggest is to resest the temptation to add miners moss. Many do this in an attempt to increase fine gold recovery.

Moss does hold fines but it also limits the capicity of the sluce. It does this by disruption of the riffle action and by impedeing the flow of material out of the sluce. The purpose of a riffle is to create a eddy or low pressure area in the flow of water to allow gold to "settle in" just as a placer is formed in nature. By adding Moss you have altered the reletive heeight of the riffle and diminished its capicity to do its thing. Inrichment of a placer, espically a Risidule Placer, occurs by the removal of deleterious material and light minerals and rocks. Moss has a huge interior surface area which captures and holds all material, not just heavys and will accually clog your sluce. It short circuts and diminishes the inrichment(concentration) process that we are trying to create with our sluce..

Good luck.

THX
Jay

Goldfish · Joined: 24 Apr 2008 Posts: 17 Location: Bellflower Ca

Mike B. which box were you using at the last outing?
_________________
Don

If women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy.

**webmaster** · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:40 pm Post subject:

Don I was using the a51 mid size sluice box. Great for packing it in and out of the rivers. Easy to store in me truck. Picks up and moves material well. Easy to set up in the river.
................Webmaster

Goldfish · Joined: 24 Apr 2008 Posts: 17 Location: Bellflower Ca

Thanks Mike, Pedersons has them in stock. I will be picking one up this week.
_________________
Don

If women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy.

ocgoldpan · Joined: 24 Apr 2008 Posts: 15 Location: Orange County

Hello Don
I recommend the A52 or the largest sluice made by Keene. I have use both sizes. At any rate you are on your way to finding lots of gold.
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I found my first gold nugget at East Fork in 1993
after all this this time I'm still look'n for more

Goldfish · Joined: 24 Apr 2008 Posts: 17 Location: Bellflower Ca

Went to Pedersons today, they are now out of stock of both sizes. Seems everyone thinks they are going to strike it rich. I bet there's going to be alot of used equipment for sale in a year or two.
_________________
Don

If women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy.

nitwit · Joined: 02 May 2008 Posts: 7 Location: anaheim, ca

see an alternate to fleabay

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/for/705123879.html

may find a deal or ?

prospecting equipment
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... i ain't the sharpest tool in the shed

Goldfish · Joined: 24 Apr 2008 Posts: 17 Location: Bellflower Ca

Thanks everyone for your help. Drove out to hell, I mean Chatsworth today and picked one up from Keene.
_________________
Don

If women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy.

wagonmaster · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:51 am Post subject: Chatsworth

Kenes shop is a long way out there, I know. I hope you went for the experiance, it is a nice shop.

With gas prices the way they are you really should have had them mail it. You paid way more then you should have.

By the way, has it gotten wet yet? Did you have fun with it?

Very Happy

Goldfish · Joined: 24 Apr 2008 Posts: 17 Location: Bellflower Ca

Your right it is a long ways away but I allready had it in my mind that i was going prospecting on Sat. so I had to have it by Fri. I got out there around 7:00 am and worked until 1:00 pm. It started getting pretty hot so I did a cleanup and lo and behold there was gold in my pan Very Happy

Quite a bit more than the last time when I was only panning. Since none of you experts were there to teach me how to set up the sluice in the water I had to go by what I have learned on the Gold Fever show. Looking forward to the July outing to see if I am doing it right. Got out of the canyon just as it was starting to get crowded. Finished the trip with a stop at Canyon City BBQ for a pulled pork sandwich. If you have never been to this place you gotta try it. It's on the right about a mile before the 210 freeway.
_________________
Don

If women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy.

placergoldman · Joined: 26 Apr 2008 Posts: 4 Location: Stanton,Ca

Goldfish,
If you had gold in your pan,you were doing something right Smile

Good going!