Dry or wet?

[mxer47]

Today while sluicing I wondered just if there was an easer way to classify my material. So I tried to do it dry. Now I was classifying to 1/4 and working some bank material that is old hard pack river bed. I use a 3 gallon bucket inside a 5 gallon with the afore mentioned screen shaking and rotating to separate. After classifying dry I then took the remainder of the +1/4 material and reclassified in a bucket full of water to wash the rocks of anything stuck to them and found several pieces of gold the size I am finding. I did 1bucket classified to find these pieces. I knew water was better but how much? Well now I know. Also the ratio of dry classified buckets to wet were 8-1. This is important if there is any distance from your pay dirt to the water, basically not nearly as much weight to and fro.
Here is the gold found from just washing.

 

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[Hoser John]

Dry is always best. Just look at all the huge gravel plants-they use gravity,rotary action and high velocity air for classification/seperation. Even the chinamen were smart and did it dry but used a scrub brush and a bucket a water to scrub clean them dirty rocks though. Where white men gave up and went away they stayed and prospered greatly from the crumbs left from the plate a plenty,same as today,them crumbs has raised 4 kids in style too-John

 

[mxer47]

Yeh hoser, dry is a lot easer but scrubbing each +1/4 size rock might take a while lol. So I do one then the other. I'm hoping to buy equipment to eliminate classifying. I'm looking forward to summer when all this is done automatically in my dredge.