First time on river with Sluice ( new video with music)

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

Went up to the Wild AM in New Hampshire at the Twin Rivers Campground last week and used my sluice in the river for the first time. I made a movie of myself (you can tell I was filming while I was working with a point and shoot camera) and the sluice setup. I found I had it too deep at the bottom end and adjusted it.
Watching the video makes me wish I was still up there! I added a soundtrack for the first time to one of my movies.

 

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[Goodyguy]

You are doing great! Perfect sluicemanship! Love the wolf trap idea
By Jove! I think you're getting the hang of it.

GG~

 

[Rebel73153]

Looking good. You appear to have it figured out. Nice river and some great scenery.

 

[Fullpan]

You've come a long way since august - made a perfect adjustment to the sluice - got your material classified properly - only thing left to do is get a chair and
plastic scoop to feed the sluice in relative comfort(easier on the knees)

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I was using a plastic bucket upside down!

My big thing at this point is trying to decide whether this Miracle Mat Sluice is better or as good as a Keene or Jobe with the metal riffles and I/O carpet?

I hate to start a war but I see everyone using the keene and jobes with the metal riffles and carpet, only know of one person using the MM. I also have a Angus MacKirk but still don't trust it.

 

[Rebel73153]

The drop riffle Mackirk should do great for you on even small gold. And i don't believe you need, or even want, metal riffles to catch small gold.

 

[nuggetshooter323]

I've heard the Angus is touchy on the the set-up, but you already have it and the Miracle mat so why not use them in tandem? Also the Le Trap works well, it's simple and cheap. The Bazooka Gold trap Mini and Super Mini are proven to retain gold down to 100 mesh and don't require classifying. You can use your scoop, and dump right into the BGT.

 

[Fullpan]

Comparing recovery systems at this point is marginal - you will do much better if you get the next generation to dig and classify for you - lying about %'s and
or shares in the booty are permissible with family members(I think).

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I had heard of the Bazooka, I need to check out more about it. Not having to classify down to 8 mesh would be nice.

Is it true that with any sluice but especially the Angus the angle is critical (?), I think I read that you have to watch the riffles and see if the dirt and stones are jumping around under the flow and being cleared out, is that true?

 

[Goodyguy]

I had heard of the Bazooka, I need to check out more about it. Not having to classify down to 8 mesh would be nice.

Is it true that with any sluice but especially the Angus the angle is critical (?), I think I read that you have to watch the riffles and see if the dirt and stones are jumping around under the flow and being cleared out, is that true?

The angle is always critical on any sluice along with the flow.

It's also true that in order to keep the riffles from loading up that the flow must be fast enough (in conjunction with the proper angle) for the non-gold material to be cleared. If the non-gold material and gravels aren't jumping around in the lower pressure area and getting washed down the sluice then the mat and riffles will load up.

The problem is, when the flow and angle are adequate enough to keep the riffles from loading up, then some of the fine and flour gold is going to be washed away with the bouncing gravels.

I promise you that unless the folks using a stock setup on an A-52 sluice are classifying down to 1/8" or smaller before running their material then they are going to be loosing some of the fine and flour gold, period! In fact even then they will likely lose some, but just not as much as without classifying.

GG~

 

[63bkpkr]

sluice modification and finds

Howdy Ben,
I enjoyed your video with music. In your video you have a view of the top of the box. When you look at the water at the top of the box, just in from the flare, the water forms a V. I've seen a video where the box setup has a repeating V pattern and the person indicates that when one has this repeating pattern the box setup is as near perfect as one can get. The repeating pattern actually starts with the first V then an upside down V starts at the bottom of the first V and so on.

I've heard the Angus likes less water but nuggetshooter's suggestion is a real winner, set the two sluices up in tandem. Work with the two of them in the first setup and then switch the order of the sluices to determine which sluice works best of the two you have or you may find that under certain water conditions one is better than the other. You've some experiments to do if you care too.

I own an A-52 with the steel riffles and I'm told that when it is setup properly I should only need to clean the riffles every 4 to 8 hours. So now you've 4 to 8 hours worth of cons that you do not want to loose and you must pick the sluice up out of the water without spilling everything. Once out of the water you put it into a bucket and run water down it. Now you may have just noticed that you've run out of hands to accomplish this task so you might jam the nose of the A-52 into the 5 gallon bucket to hold it while you go get a bucket of water. If you put it in a little to far it will crack the bucket. Okay so you've gotten the major cons all washed out into your catch bucket now set the sluice down on the ground, unsnap the hold down clips and remove the steel riffles. Now wash the riffles off. Remove the expanded metal mesh and wash it off, remove the carpet and wash it off and now put it all back together and start over. Compare this to the cleanup you currently go through, which do you like better?

To make my sluice easier to pickup I added a handle across the top of the sluice and between that and the crossbar on the front of the sluice it is now fairly manageable though one must still get out of the water by walking on wet slippery rocks. Ahh the joys of prospecting. If I can locate the pictures I will post them later.

You've a lovely area to play in! Good success to you..........63bkpkr

proper size and shape bucket for A52 sluice. Fill bucket with water before inserting A52.
I added the crossbars to the flair, I lift the sluice up by using one of the flair crossbars and the one that is on the front of the A52 and it is a very stable lift.



what my pack and I looked like getting to the bottom of the canyon after dropping about 3000 vertical feet by foot in 2.5 hours. I felt like a semi rig had rolled on top of me.

this is not gold but it is lovely

Anyway this shows what mods I did to make the box safely liftable and bucket friendly by changing the bucket.........63bkpkr
Oh, if you would care to see pictures of the gold from this adventure let me know and I will post them (did not want to take over your post).

Five 1911's, that is a nice collection though I would assume they are each a bit different. In the picture of me with the pack, look to the lower left of the picture to the item laying on the rock, that's what I carry when I go "out there", it has a 45 caliber barrel bore.

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

63bkpkr
You make a good point, the cleanup with the Angus and the Miracle Mat is a breeze, just wash it off into the bucket.

Here in New England it almost all very fine gold and flour gold so a sluice that will do best on that would be the one. Having the Angus and liking to experiment (look at all my backyard movies as I tried different things) next year I should probably work with what I have and learn them inside out.
Tim at goldprospectorsequipmentsales.com who sold me the MM said I wouldn't lose any gold with it, he said he classifies down to 8 and is doing well.

I think it might be that I see everyone with the Keene types and felt I had to have one, of course that is what I thought when I had to have a 1911 as everyone had one, and now I have 5!

 

[Goodyguy]

The A-52 is a great well made sluice by a top manufacturer at a competitive price for use as an all around tool for capturing gold in a variety of conditions. However, a specialty sluice it is not!

But it is simple enough to modify it to suit specialty needs and then be changed back if or when desired.
I setup my A-52 many different ways depending on the situation, However I never seem to use it in the stock configuration.

GG~

 

[63bkpkr]

Goodguy,
I agree the A52 is a good sluice but it sure helps when an owner finds the correct method of setting it up and how often to clean it out. It is sturdier than a plastic sluice and if one has to, it can be turned bottom side up and bread can be mixed on it. It is heavier than a plastic sluice and when a persons pack already weighs 85 pounds before the A52 is strapped on well, the pack carrier is glad when the hike down the mountain is over.

I modified my A52 with a casluicebox.com highbanker attachment and was going to use my old Keene 2" dredge Tanaka motor with pump to feed water to it and then I got sick, I came down with a JOB. The new unit did not even see water this year. Sigh!!........63bkpkr