rusty metal vs. plastic pan argument

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

A friend of mine just came back from an Alaskan cruise where he took advantage of their gold panning side trip. He has always given me a hard time over the fact that I use Garratt plastic pans, he says that rusty steel pans are the best and are easy to use and you don't lose any gold, or at least not much. He looks down on plastic pans. I am trying to defend them, saying once they are "seasoned" scuffed up they work great.
He had his notions reinforced by the person they had running the panning for the tourists, he swears by rusty metal pans, says the rust traps the fine gold.

Before I go to the mat with him, I wanted to see what people had to say. My personal feeling is that plastic is lighter and with the riffles does a better job for newbie or old timer. After all if they didn't work well you would see more steel pans for sale rather than plastic.

In the first couple trips to NH I haven't found any gold yet but seem to have hit it for Garnets (and some pyrite) the biggest garnet is 3.8 carats.

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[kuger]

I like them both,I even use an 1850's style pan,it was made from five pieces and has higher sides than the metal pans you see today,which by the way didnt come into use until the 1870's.It boils down to what you are used to.I will say metal pans are the way to go on hardrock type rough gold

[Terry Soloman]

I will tell you point blank, that metal pans are for tourists. Today's plastic pans - and the riffles in them, beat the crappola out of the old heavy, non-fiffled metal pans. They are faster and hold more gold.

[kuger]

I will tell you point blank, that metal pans are for tourists. Today's plastic pans - and the riffles in them, beat the crappola out of the old heavy, non-fiffled metal pans. They are faster and hold more gold.

LOL!Thats classic!!!Just have to know how to pan!!!Real intelligent comment Terry!!!!Wont be sighning up for your school!!!
How many millions of dollars have been found with metal pans?

Obviously Terry doesnt know about hard rock sampling,as I said the rough gold that comes from crushed rock has a tendency to(as Dave Wiseman)would say grow legs,it walks out of the pan....especially so with a plastic pan

[Terry Soloman]

LOL!Thats classic!!!Just have to know how to pan!!!Real intelligent comment Terry!!!!Wont be sighning up for your school!!!
How many millions of dollars have been found with metal pans?

Obviously Terry doesnt know about hard rock sampling,as I said the rough gold that comes from crushed rock has a tendency to(as Dave Wiseman)would say grow legs,it walks out of the pan....especially so with a plastic pan

You do crack me up Kugar!

[kuger]

I dont find you as amusing any more.....I once actually had respect for ya!!

[Fullpan]

Ben, when did the Doctor diagnose you as a "controversy magnet"? Anyway, my favorite was a steel pan for the reason I liked to dry out my cleaned-up
gold, daily,while still in camp and used the steel pan over the camp stove. Plastic doesn't hold up to well when doing that!

[Terry Soloman]

Ben, when did the Doctor diagnose you as a "controversy magnet"? Anyway, my favorite was a steel pan for the reason I liked to dry out my cleaned-up
gold, daily,while still in camp and used the steel pan over the camp stove. Plastic doesn't hold up to well when doing that!

We use a skillet..

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I wouldn't mind a steel pan, to display, but I like the plastic as TS said it is lighter, you can hold more dirt. I am sure as Kuger said they are times for the steel pan, but I know when I am hiking into where I am going to pan I have a heavy load of gear already and with my bad knees I feel every step!
I think I will get a steel pan to try out, but I think I am a plastic pan person. I guess what I will have to do is when my friend and I got panning on the Swift or better yet I will make up some paydirt with a couple pickers and some really fine stuff and we can have a "pan off" and see who can get the measured pieces. Of course this isn't a business it is a hobby and luckily my wife has fallen in love with it, although she still is more of a rockhound. Our 2 day trip up north next month she insisted on the second day be hiking up a mountain rockhounding (Moat Mt) the hike up isn't bad but I wonder what the hike down will be on my knees

[Casca]

I bought a set of Garrets and use em all. The 15" inch super sluice can go through a bucket of dirt in one setting, as I find it easy on my old fingers to hold. The riffles allow me to cheat, its like a sluice in your hands. Sluices were made to help run more dirt though your pan, more dirt equals more gold.

The 10" pan is a one hand wonder, but not good for cleaning up. If I need to do a quick(er) test, I use it. They are light, so packing them around isnt much trouble. Its also hard to run my detector over a metal pan.

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I was using the 10" to do a final pan of dirt once I got it down to black sand in the 14", but I did notice that the bottom seemed a little bit small, it seemed to be good with small amounts but I could check more dirt with the 14" but I am still very new to this.

[kuger]

...as I said,they all have there place.I use em all.To say one is for tourists is just ignorant....its quite the opposite really....riffled plastic pans are easy,therefore best for "Tourists"

[Casca]

I use the 14" garret if I need the 15" to catch what Im loosing out of the pan. I like to pan my samples a few times before they go into my landscape work in my yard. Im actually quicker with the 15" now, and building up my arm strength. The techniques are a little different too between a smooth metal pan, and a plastic riffled pan. If you look at some of the South American pans, now thats a metal pan, and by far better than ours up here. But who wants to pan 40 pounds of dirt at a time?

I may be considered a tourist by some here. But I really like the 15" super sluice and if I could only take one pan with me, its the one I choose. It even has instructions written on the bottom of it, in case you forget, lol. How tourist is that.

I would suggest to use what you are comfortable doing. If you are a old hand, stick with your metal pans, no sense messing up a good thing. But when every successful person I see is holding a Garret pan.......we er its a no brainer.

If you dont own either, well you can pan dirt in a paper plate. As for gold recovery, I dont know which one does best, so I pan the same dirt a few times. Doesnt matter what ya use, just get panning.

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

Casca
Are the riffles different on the 15 from the 14 that comes with the Garratt kit? I was using the 14 to pan out the garnets (someone said some of them look like star sapphires) and would check the pan after each dip. I was able to get down to a spoonful of material without a problem with the 14, up till now I would do that with the 10".
so what is the difference between the 14 and 15, just size or what exactly?

[spillercanyon]

Kuger said it, you just need to know how to pan. They all work, some better than others for different situations but most of all, some work better than others for each person. The way I pan, I like the black pans with a few small riffles, no pockets. The green pans with the deep pockets holds too much material in the pockets and I don't like the way it washes in the end, that's because of the way I work a pan. I own a couple of metal pans, I don't use them as much but they work just fine. If you purchase a metal pan, be sure to burn out the oil (stick it on the campfire for a while). Oil keeps the metal pan from rusting but makes gold float, the rust that will develop will actually help hold the gold. Plastic pans come in all shapes, sizes and kinds of riffles, try a few out, including a metal pan and you'll tend to like one over the other. It's a personal preference.

[pvillehunter]

I ran a panning concession in Alaska for a whole summer season.....every one got rusty metal pans the bags we gave the tourists were from a placer mine above Fairbanks they were not salted as I made several trips to the mine to help fill the bags at the mine a loader dumped a scoop and we went to filling. at the time gold was hovering around $300, so there wasn't much concern over trying to seperate nuggets wich tourists did find when they panned. The average take was a gram of 20 mesh. The company I worked for was a corporation and they had no idea that people may lose gold when they pan we would just go get more bags when we were running out.The panning concession was a minor part of their resort. so in between busses and after work we would pan out what was in the troughs with PLASTIC pans...it took about a week or so to fill a plastic film canister per person. we spent a lot of time trying to show people how to properly pan and we still would find all this fine gold. I have been in several hardrock clean up sheds and you will find metal pans (and plastic) and at most placer operations you will see more plastic.

[Casca]

Casca
Are the riffles different on the 15 from the 14 that comes with the Garratt kit? I was using the 14 to pan out the garnets (someone said some of them look like star sapphires) and would check the pan after each dip. I was able to get down to a spoonful of material without a problem with the 14, up till now I would do that with the 10".
so what is the difference between the 14 and 15, just size or what exactly?

The pictures above is the 15" super Sluice. A few things come to mind as it compares with the 14" garret pan. The 14" has more surface area on the bottom to work with I believe. I left it in the truck and the wife has it. I do believe the 14" pan has more riffles also. I never really noticed as I just dont use it that much. The 14" pan works well with a 5 gallon bucket also.

The 15" pan has instructions, riffled outside surface for better holding. It also holds a lil more dirt. The 15" pan is for dry and wet panning also. I find it very easy to remove lighter material while still trapping the black sand and heavys. The riffles act like a sluice in your pan. I have a very simple setup, takes up a small corner of my yard for the screen down dirt I bring home. I live in a dry area.

If you want to move a lot of dirt, there is other choices out there. But if your like me and just want to sample, this set up is great. Pans run ya $50 bucks or less for the set. Im finding Gem stones with no problems in my pans. Thanks to two post above very good info. Yes the 15" has deep grooves, but I dont mind, its my favorite pan.

[Oakview2]

As I said the rough gold cthat comes from crushed rock has a tendency to(as Dave Wiseman)would say grow legs,it walks out of the pan....especially so with a plastic pan So thats it, it's not that I am not finding it, its walking out the pan. Well sounds like a good excuse when I don't find gold I have both metal and plastic. Had the metal pans for years and that is what I learned to pan with when I was a kid. I use the plastics when I am traveling or sampling because of weight. But I do still like to run some dirt through the old steel pan...

[Casca]

I find that funny you clean up after the metal pans with plastic ones. You can buy sand from the local hardware stores and find gold too. I think its what you like really.

Oakview, I think all the gold lately is growing legs lol. I like to work the dry creeks of hard rock mines. Never thought there would be a difference in sampling. Can you explain why its different?

[Oakview2]

Kuger was commenting that rough gold, lode from crushed rock has a tendency to walk out of plastic pans. I have not experience this myself but defer to those who have way more time in this than I do. I was doing some highbanking in some crushed tailing piles last month, but did find some fine coarse gold when repanning some cons, so maybe there is something to what he says. I use the plastic pans for sampling because it is lighter to carry