Making my own "Blue Bowl"

[lokiie1984]

So my homemade sluice box needs to wait for the water levels to go down more before i can really test it out. And i thought my next entertaining / time killing project should be a blue bowl. After looking up some designs and watching some videos of the real deal in action, it looks like they are fairly simple to build. Of course nothing is ever as simple as it looks but we will see once it's done.

Sadly i did run into two problems with my terribly low budget, first the only bowl i could find is an oil pan (unused,) it has a good size though. The issue is that it has a spout section in the mold, which i think might mess up the water vortex. I plan to place the hole for the water hose on the far side of that spout so the water can flow all the way around the bowl before it hits that area. If that doesn't work as intended i plan to cut a section out of something, pop bottle maybe, and then block off that area.

I will attach pictures of all the parts at the bottom of the post.

The next issue i ran into was finding the right glue/sealer for a low price. I bought everything at Menards here in town, and they recommended that i try Heavy Duty clear Power Grab, which is some kind of exterior construction adhesive. On the bright side if it doesn't work they said i can bring it back and exchange it for something else.

All in all though the price came to about $8.30 for the bowl, sealer, hose adapters and a funnel. For now i plan to just use our garden hose with a valve to control water flow. The valve will be placed a good two to three feet from the bowl so it doesn't effect the flow as much. Later once i have some extra cash i plan to pick up a water pump of some kind. Only thing that confuses me there is i have no idea how powerful the pump needs to be.

Pictures:




The above pictures are the "blue bowl" parts and below is a nice view of where i went this last weekend to try a little panning. No gold found but it fun to get out there. Plus we found a ton of garnet sand to toss in a jar.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[lokiie1984]

I found a store on amazon that sells them for 16 dollars each (plus free shipping and a few gold pan,) i couldn't afford a full set right now anyway. Figure i will try those for now, pick up a 50 and a 100 and then later pick up a couple others i could make use of.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Minelab PRO-FIND 35 Waterproof Pinpointer Metal Detector for Experts with Tone ID & Adjustable Sensitivity - Grab it through Amazon!

[lokiie1984]

I sent him a message on ebay to see what the price would be for the three i need, from the looks of it though it wouldn't be much better then 20 dollars each.

 

[lokiie1984]

Of the three that i was looking at on amazon they were Gold Rush, stainless steel, about 16 dollars each plus free shipping. Now i have no idea if gold rush is considered a good brand or not but i will have to wait and see what he says. I may just pick up the 50 and 100 vs all three, I found a splatter screen at our local dollar store that looks to be around size 20 or 30.

 

[lokiie1984]

Just an update on my classifier situation. Azvipers friend got back with me on ebay and said he would sell me the three sizes i need for 38 dollars, shipping included. Which needless to say was a bit of a shock. I figured even if i got a deal, i didn't think it would be that good. That's more then 10 dollars cheaper then if i went with the gold rush classifiers from amazon.

Now for pictures of my "blue bowl" unfortunately the cone is a little off center after my second time gluing it down. Thankfully though, the glue breaks down fairly fast, so once i use it again i can fix it. I think if i do attempt to make the system again i will go with a large one piece angel food cake pan, least then the cone is part of the thing. I'm also tossing together a cheap wood sluice box for running some of the larger sand/gravel. I cant say how well it will work but it should still be better then panning half a 5 gallon buckets worth. Plus i always save my material so i can go over it as many times as i want.



The sand is left overs from first test, it was able to lift the sand but it couldn't carry it over the cone. Its a mix of quartz and garnet sand that should be around size -8 +20 (if i used that right. The sand fit through my window screen, which i have learned is size 8 but wouldn't pass through my splatter screen which is around size 20.)

And now just because every one needs a little cute once in a while. Pictures of my new born horse, he was born yesterday morning some time.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Charming horse pics
Don't let the critics get you down. I happen to agree that blue bowls are a waste of time but it's your time and you're learning a lot more this way so go for it!

 

[Goldwasher]

sooooo not a waste of time....yes you can pan down but when you have been digging all day and have 15 pounds of cons a miller table or Blue bowl does wonders. the two fastest ways to recover gold from medium amounts of cons I've used, especially when you have a good amount of gold to deal with. I can do my clean ups way faster with one than without so I don't see how it could be a waste of time. Don't try to say I need to practice panning either because I don't....I just don't want to waste my time going a cup at a time.

 

[huntsman53]

And now just because every one needs a little cute once in a while. Pictures of my new born horse, he was born yesterday morning some time.

View attachment 1015395 View attachment 1015396 View attachment 1015397

Now he will make a great Gold prospecting buddy!


Frank

 

[lokiie1984]

I made my new sluice. Made it out of wood scrap we had laying around. It's about 30 inches long and 4 inches wide (4 inches for the water to flow through.) I made it narrow so i could use my hose for the water flow without needing the pvc sprayer method. For riffles i just glued some square 4 inch chunks of wood down every inch to an inch and a half. So far it has worked pretty well, at least on the smaller stuff (-8) i have a feeling i will have to build a larger system for the bigger stuff.

Sadly it seems that my dirt from the creek the other weekend doesn't have anything of value in it. Unless it's smaller then i can get the sand right now. I plan to save it and try the blue bowl set up once i get it classified down to 30 and below.