Sluice box brands

[Hoggtyed]

There are several sluice boxes on the market, Gold Gem, Keene, Honcoop, Yellow Jacket, The plastic ones, and I am sure there are others. Dredgeguy on ebay sales a ton of homemade ones.

They range from 24'' to 62'' inches in length. They are also pretty similar in price. My question is one better than another? Is there an ideal length, where more is just over kill and less you will miss gold? Which is considered to be the best? is there a hands down king amongst them.

I have nothing to draw on but a very small bit of experience. I think one with ribbed mat at the top, riffles on top of expanded metal over carpet would sort and hold the best. That might be over kill too.

I plan to buy either a sluice or a recirculating highbanker before spring and would like to have some facts. I know Gold buddy works , no clue about the Gold buddy 2, the weekender or the Gold Duster. I am sure there are a ton of these on the market as well. It is a bit overwhelming and I cant afford to keep buying only to find out I made a mistake . I think most of you know what I mean. This stuff tends to start to snowball on ya. LOL

 

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[abishiai]

Does anyone have experience / opinion regarding the Angus MacKee power slueces? They don't use miners' moss or anything except the special riffles.

Thanks,

kp

 

[Hoggtyed]

I am hearing from other forums, The DFS sluice and Le Trap are probally the 2 best for fine gold recovery like you find here in the soth east.

 

[Smithsgold]

Tee Dee Co.
Makes the E Z sluice here in Northhern California .
It's a great Sluice for packing in on long hikes.
I think they run around $45.00 for the packagedeal a good starter sluice and it's quick to set up and run.
The Smaller the Sluice the Easyer it is to set up and run it also needs less water to run.
If you are going to run alot of materiel then a bigger Sluice is better.

Jeff

 

[Eu_citzen]

I don't know but I also have heard that the lé trap shall be good.I don't know..I only have treid the Eldorado Special sluice (made in sweden)
And it sucks! I also have made on myself, but could not find a place where the water flows fast enough..(have only treid it 2 times)

 

[Hoser John]

I'd go with a keene sluice and forget the recirculating highbanker idea completely.Get a highbanker.drywasher or detector.Ya process 100's a times the materials,much less weight and hassle.In mining the ol'KISS rule a thumb (keep it simple stupid) DEFINATELY applies. Mobility is a definate plus.Tons a au 2 u 2-John

 

[Apache]

Sluice boxes are like any other tool, there are so many kinds for several reasons. Usually you will find the smaller sluices are built for people that plan to go well off the beaten path and will have to carry it several miles into the outback, where a larger sluice would be too heavy and long to get there easily. I have used everything from a mini sluice to a 29foot long tom and have found that all of them have their optimum working conditions. What I use most of the time is a 36 inch aluminum sluice, but I carry a ton of sluice guts.... I have 3 types of rubber matting in several precut sizes, I have Keen miners moss, and plain hoghair (sold at hardware stores for air conditioner filters ) I have 3 sets of riffles, one large, one small, and one combination of the two. I have several pieces of indoor outdoor carpet.

What works best is very dependant on what kind of gold you are finding (nuggets, pickers, flakes, fines, or powder), water conditions ( deep, shallow, fast running, or slow), and the condition of your material (sand, gravel, all black sand, very little black sand, or clay).

Most of the sluice boxes on the market are good for some conditions, ( there are a few that are just rip-offs, but stick to name brands and you'll miss those ) I haven't found one yet that works great in all conditions. Experiment, start with something like the 36in. keen and try changing the miners moss, or carpet, or even the riffles.

The best advice I can give you when sluicing is Classify, Classify, and Classify.

I think I've said enough, hope it helps...

 

[ericwt]

I found the Le Trap to be the one that met my needs. It is lighter.

You have got some good advise here

ericwt