Any users opinions of the G. Hog PIGLET?

[DW in ID]

I’ve worked with a friend using his G.H. Raptor and have access to it whenever wanted but I have never used or even seen (in person) the G.H. Piglet.

Since 99% of my prospecting has been and will be alone, I decided to buy the Piglet with a lower extension not knowing if I’d need the extension but got it anyway in case.

I’ve had it for a week now and I have it setup on the floor of my shop but I’ve not had it in the water yet. I'm semi undecided if I’ll keep it so would like it to be unused if I should decide to pedal it.

I knew the Piglet was small but I guess I didn’t realize just how tiny it actually is. Doc says he doesn’t make toys so I’ll assume that’s true. The entire unit is just much tinier overall than I’d envisioned.

It’ll probably work great…!? I’d like to get some actual hands on experience and opinions from others that actually use one if possible.

If I keep it, I’d be using it with a high pressure pump so I could use it with a 2” suction/dredge nozzle from time to time.

Thanks for any opinions… DW

 

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[akflyer]

I’ve worked with a friend using his G.H. Raptor and have access to it whenever wanted but I have never used or even seen (in person) the G.H. Piglet.

Since 99% of my prospecting has been and will be alone, I decided to buy the Piglet with a lower extension not knowing if I’d need the extension but got it anyway in case.

I’ve had it for a week now and I have it setup on the floor of my shop but I’ve not had it in the water yet. I'm semi undecided if I’ll keep it so would like it to be unused if I should decide to pedal it.

I knew the Piglet was small but I guess I didn’t realize just how tiny it actually is. Doc says he doesn’t make toys so I’ll assume that’s true. The entire unit is just much tinier overall than I’d envisioned.

It’ll probably work great…!? I’d like to get some actual hands on experience and opinions from others that actually use one if possible.

If I keep it, I’d be using it with a high pressure pump so I could use it with a 2” suction/dredge nozzle from time to time.

Thanks for any opinions… DW

I have a home made "piglet" and a homemade "raptor" I tweaked a few things for my liking but for all practical purposes they are pretty much the same. I have run the piglet as a 2" dry land dredge and the raptor with a flare. I honestly have not seen any difference in capture rates. I have an extension for both of them and never used the one on the piglet as I ran multiple tests catching all the tailings and panning them and came up with only one or two specs in the tailings after running several yards through the piglet fast and hard.
Its actually a pretty amazing unit for the size and is my go to for tossing in the plane and getting out to check out new remote areas. The Rappy is what I have been hauling around in the side x side but in all honesty, using it as a 2" is way overkill as the piglet handles the 2" just fine. I am going to play with the rappy clone as a 3" and 4" in the next few weeks and see what I think. I am pretty certain that with the extension, flare, and flare extension I have built for it I should be able to run it as a 4" with very high recovery rates, but it has a much larger footprint than the piglet clone.

 

[mike(swWash)]

If in doubt, check out Youtube. There ought to be a bunch of in use videos by now

 

[Gold4Mike]

My mining buddy and I just recently bought piglets (both of us), both without the extension because Doc says it really isn't needed. I'm using the Honda WX15 pump. We've both only run maybe half a dozen times so the samples are small, but we've both tested our tailings several times and not found anything, even small stuff, that has passed on through. I am going to take it one step further and mount my Angus Mackirk sluice at the end of the piglet and then test to see if it catches anything. Again, my experiences are small compared to some others on here, but for something small enough that I can pack all in by myself (my wife helps usually) I find it a pretty amazing unit. I would think the extension would add quite a bit to pack, if not in weight then certainly the complexity of packing it all. I would suggest trying it without the extension, test your tailings and see if you even need the extension. Dredging with it might change things though.

 

[Beav]

akflyer - I'd like to see some pics of your 3 or 4" "rappy clone" when you have it completed. Would be cool to see it in action as well.
Beav

 

[akflyer]

akflyer - I'd like to see some pics of your 3 or 4" "rappy clone" when you have it completed. Would be cool to see it in action as well.
Beav

The "rappy clone" without either extension running as a 2" last year.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/dredging-hi-banking/545774-my-highbanker-build-2.html#post5543750

 

[Beav]

Thank you. I missed that previous post...sorry. Great build!!!
Don't want to high-jack the thread but does a 3" nozzle overpower the box (i.e. too much water)?
Beav

 

[DW in ID]

My mining buddy and I just recently bought piglets (both of us), both without the extension because Doc says it really isn't needed. I'm using the Honda WX15 pump. We've both only run maybe half a dozen times so the samples are small, but we've both tested our tailings several times and not found anything, even small stuff, that has passed on through. I am going to take it one step further and mount my Angus Mackirk sluice at the end of the piglet and then test to see if it catches anything. Again, my experiences are small compared to some others on here, but for something small enough that I can pack all in by myself (my wife helps usually) I find it a pretty amazing unit. I would think the extension would add quite a bit to pack, if not in weight then certainly the complexity of packing it all. I would suggest trying it without the extension, test your tailings and see if you even need the extension. Dredging with it might change things though.

Thanks for the input guys. I'll most likely end up just using it. I've seen a few user reviews etc., they all seem to be good.
I'm curious now to see how it does, especially on fines. If the extension isn't needed, that would be great.
By the lack of any other comments though, I get the impression that there's not too terribly many of them in use.

-AKflyer..., I lived in Fairbanks in 68-69 and used to pan around in some tailings just out of Fox (a short distance out of Fairbanks). That's when my interest in the hobby started.

DW

 

[arizau]

Thanks for the input guys. I'll most likely end up just using it. I've seen a few user reviews etc., they all seem to be good.
I'm curious now to see how it does, especially on fines. If the extension isn't needed, that would be great.
By the lack of any other comments though, I get the impression that there's not too terribly many of them in use.

-AKflyer..., I lived in Fairbanks in 68-69 and used to pan around in some tailings just out of Fox (a short distance out of Fairbanks). That's when my interest in the hobby started.

DW

Maybe you will find a lot more info and users of the piglet on Doc's own forum(?). Go here and click on Gold & Gem Gazette. Gold Prospecting Forum

Good luck.

 

[Reed Lukens]

You can bring your piglet up to the Blue Bucket here in Huntington and we can compare it to the Raptor Pro Flare if you would like. I've seen the Piglet but haven't used one myself and would love to really look at it in person. I'm trying to decide between the Raptor and the Viper myself because I can run a 4" into the Viper. The Raptor is a good one man machine when your dealing with cemented high bar channel gravel like we have here, but I'm thinking about going bigger for the 4" capability and the ability to just dump full buckets into it much faster.

 

[Gold4Mike]

My wife and I have been out to the river a couple times since my last post and used my Angus Mackirk as kind of an extension and to test the tailings off our Piglet. 4 out of 6 test cleanups of the AM showed gold (downstream of the Piglet), only a few small specks per cleanup, but there were a couple decent sized flakes. I would guess the proportion lost was pretty small, but if it's in my shovel, I don't want to give it back! That being said, we are still testing different angle settings on the Piglet and we probably aren't all dialed in yet. Setting at 9 degrees, our mats seemed to clog a bit. 10.5 degrees I was finding gold in the AM so backed it down to 9.5 degrees. Still finding a small amount of gold in the AM, so maybe back down to 9 degrees next time. Taking the AM and the stand along is pretty easy so I may just keep doing it. If you have the extension, you might as well use it.

View attachment IMG_2233.jpg

 

[DW in ID]

Thanks for the offer Reed and also the update Mike. I've decided to go ahead and try and sell it. Mainly because I can see that I'm not going to have much time to play on the claim this season anyway, as I'd hoped.

I've got it listed on Craigslist and will see what happens... If it doesn't sell, I'll have it for next year.

DW

 

[akflyer]

I am not sure what matts doc sends out in the piglet as I bought lots of mats from him and made my own. I will have to look when I get back home in 2 weeks to see what I put in there. I had just taped the matts together but after several runs with no losses found I glued them up. I run at 9.5° on mine and it seems to like it!

 

[Gold4Mike]

I was curious about the mat selection and order too and here is what Gold Hog sent me:

Your Piglet matting config is -
Starter Mat
Talon
RiverHog (trimmed)
Scrubber (trimmed)
Talon
Bedrock
Motherlode (cut)
I've kind of settled on about 10 degrees, I like how the mats are active and clearing, but I also am finding a handful of flakes in the Angus for every 30 minutes run, so there is still gold getting off the end of the Piglet. Maybe I will try 9.5 for a bit. I am hoping that the Angus is catching everything that I lose from the GH mats. I've checked the tailings and haven't found anything, but then I also had done that right off the Piglet and not found anything, so I'm not so confident of my tailings checking.
Could my wife and I be shoveling too fast and causing an overloading on the mats? I wouldn't have thought that possible, but we are pretty quick back and forth and maybe we are losing a few flakes just from the short term overloading the mats.

 

[DW in ID]

I was curious about the mat selection and order too and here is what Gold Hog sent me:
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=5881682
Your Piglet matting config is -
Starter Mat
Talon
RiverHog (trimmed)
Scrubber (trimmed)
Talon
Bedrock
Motherlode (cut)
I've kind of settled on about 10 degrees, I like how the mats are active and clearing, but I also am finding a handful of flakes in the Angus for every 30 minutes run, so there is still gold getting off the end of the Piglet. Maybe I will try 9.5 for a bit. I am hoping that the Angus is catching everything that I lose from the GH mats. I've checked the tailings and haven't found anything, but then I also had done that right off the Piglet and not found anything, so I'm not so confident of my tailings checking.
Could my wife and I be shoveling too fast and causing an overloading on the mats? I wouldn't have thought that possible, but we are pretty quick back and forth and maybe we are losing a few flakes just from the short term overloading the mats.

I've sold the Piglet I had, I'll probably go a little different route next summer.

Out of curiosity, I looked at the mats in it when I got it but don't remember what they were or the sequence, probably just what you show I s'pose. The extension was different from the upper.

I have a fairly large sluice that I made back in the 70's that I plan on buying some G.H mats for to replace the worn out riffles. I haven't got around to figuring out which mats to go with yet.

I'm thinking probably Razorback with maybe something else mixed in. It's 5.5' long so it'll take a few chunks. I'll probably cut it down a foot or so.

DW

 

[akflyer]

I was curious about the mat selection and order too and here is what Gold Hog sent me:

Your Piglet matting config is -
Starter Mat
Talon
RiverHog (trimmed)
Scrubber (trimmed)
Talon
Bedrock
Motherlode (cut)
I've kind of settled on about 10 degrees, I like how the mats are active and clearing, but I also am finding a handful of flakes in the Angus for every 30 minutes run, so there is still gold getting off the end of the Piglet. Maybe I will try 9.5 for a bit. I am hoping that the Angus is catching everything that I lose from the GH mats. I've checked the tailings and haven't found anything, but then I also had done that right off the Piglet and not found anything, so I'm not so confident of my tailings checking.
Could my wife and I be shoveling too fast and causing an overloading on the mats? I wouldn't have thought that possible, but we are pretty quick back and forth and maybe we are losing a few flakes just from the short term overloading the mats.

Are you just tossing the shovel loads in there or are you shaking them in? I don't just toss mine in but give it a few shakes so I don't overload the box or mats. Probly around 3 seconds to unload every shovel into the box. my preferred method is using the dryland nozzle at a more constant feed rate. Remember that tuning the sluice to your materials is critical. Play with the angle and water flow to dial it in to your soils and feed rates. If you are blowing gold out of the box then the feed rate is too high or you may not be running enough water. These mats run fast and it takes water to keep them cleaned out and working properly. I think 10° is a bit too much for the materials I am running and I have settled on 9 to 9.5° for the area I am working as well as keeping the water flowing STRONG. I have a P90 pump on mine and I run it pretty much wide open especially when I have the nozzle going. If I am just feeding with a shovel then I cut the throttle back a bit to slow down the flow coming straight from the pump to the box instead of running through the orifice in the nozzle.

 

[arizau]

Check this out for tuning your sluice from Doc himself. Gold Sluice Tuning

Other videos here. https://www.google.com/search?q=tun...rome..69i57.9544j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[arizau]

Check this out for tuning your sluice from Doc himself. Gold Sluice Tuning

Other videos here. https://www.google.com/search?
q=tuning+your+mats+gold+hog&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS576US576&oq=tuning+your+mats+gold+hog&aqs=chrome..69i57.9544j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Pay attention to where he says the starting point is and the fact that nothing is 100%.

Good luck.

 

[Gold4Mike]

Arizau I have watched that video and more, just have to keep tuning I guess

AKflyer, I do try to ease the shovel full in over the course of 5-10 seconds depending on how full and let it clean behind the clay claw for a bit. I might have to ease up on the angle and add more water flow. Kind of a fun puzzle if I wasn't so paranoid about losing gold, lol. I am hoping my AM is catching most of it, but I need to borrow another sluice section to test what comes off the end of the AM just to make sure.


Kind of feel like I've hijacked DW in ID's initial thread, but I appreciate the conversation about the Piglet. Still learning on it!

 

[Darth Placer]

I have never been impressed with the results I have seen with Gold Hog mats. The box and sluice look well made, I would toss the mats and put in hungarian riffles over raised expanded with vortex belting or miners moss. Side by side I have seen that combination increase take at the end of the day by a large margin.