Gold Pan Modefications

[Eu_citzen]

I got the (crazy) idear to modify my gold pan..Has anyone else
done this? if so in what way? (tools you used, how you did it etc.)

Well heres my story:
I was sleepless one night....bla bla bla....
Well in the morning I got my Dremel and some stuff to 'engrave' some riffels.
some rough sand paper to have some rougher surface...and a knife to make fine riffels.
I run some tests this week on how it catches lead
(did not want to risk my gold)
It worked better then I thought it cought 4/4 pieces (big lead, aobut 8-10 mm)
Made another test today, with 'medium' sized lead (5-7 mm) and some small hematite (under 4 mm) I got all the lead..
Now please note that I did not do 'normal' slow washing, but 'extremely fast'.

Here are some pics nr 1 is the whole pan


nr 2 & 3 are new riffells



Nr 4 is when I tested it with large lead


Enjoy!

 

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[Hoser John]

If the monsterous riffles already supplied in your pan are ubable to catch any gold from your VERY FAST panning a couple a scratches won't save squat either. That WAS a good pan,learn how to use it properly,a good panner needs no riffles,drops or traps to get'r done. It's a fine art that takes a little skill and patience to master.John

 

[Eu_citzen]

Yes they are huge, but I was not happy anyhow, my standrad pan is the Trinity gold pan now, I only use that one for concentrates..
And I am a guy who likes to make stuff by my own to see what I can make better.

I made a new test today: with 'medium lead' (about 3-5 mm) and 'small lead' (around 1-3 mm)
on medium I got all back on small I got 6/8 back.

And John it STILL is good! (if not better)

It catches gold and it always has, I did only fast panning to test if it was any better then before out in the field I won't pan that fast.
And by the way if it would have been a good pan I wouldn't have modified it..

 

[Calworks]

i've been toying with doing some panning/MD at local lake during my camping trips. I have a uneducated question regarding panning. The river flowing into the lake before it was dammed contained and still contains "recreational gold" deposits, I figure some should have made it to the camping areas over the years

My question is: I've heard alot of talk about how hard it is. Why is that. I've seen pics of gold panners and they are always squatted. Can't you use a small chair instead of squatting. With my back right now gold panning may not be in the picture unless I find a way to pan comfortably

 

[jeff of pa]

Let us know if it helps.

It makes sense to me it would help with the Pine stuff

But I'm not a Gold Panner.

Good Luck !

 

[Dick from IA]

Glad to know I'm not the only one wondering about all that squatting; I'd be done in 15 minutes .

I would think some sort of low profile stool like a camp stool would work, or those tool boxes where the lid is a seat (hey I've got one of those :P ) I've never attempted panning, but think I will give it a try this year.

Dick

 

[goldinmypan]

To answer your 2nd question first: I hardly ever squat. Just show me the nearest rock. If not to far from the car, I might carry a stool. Only reason to squat is to take a .... or if you're trying to keep your feet dry.

Gold being very heavy would drop out of the current as soon as the river hits the lake, there to stay and get burried by all the silt and such the river brings in. If your campground is near the river mouth then I would hike up stream a way and try there. The other possibility is if you can see where the old river bed wound before the lake than you could try digging up on what may have been one of the shoulders of the river where it was left high and dry when the river changed course.

Good luck

 

[warsawdaddy]

To get away from the sqatting and if you also can't be on your knees(pads?),then I would fill a bucket first and get an oil change plastic pan and fill with water and set it on something then you can sit on a stool and scoop out of the bucket and pan it over the water pan.As far as the scoring of the pan,I would think it would make it more difficult to separate the black sand from the gold as you can easily do by the tapping method with a regular pan.The Trinity pan appears to be excellent,with the exception that it is heavy and it is designed to pan several pan fulls before extracting the gold into a snuffer bottle and vial.Just my opinions and yes,I do pan.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Yup a rock will do.

 

[Functional]

A somewhat belated response to this topic.

As far as the pan mod's go, if it works don't fix it, (unless you can make it work better).

Regarding all the squating going on. I've used a folding camping stool in the creek, or river, even when the water was up to my waist once seated. I've also used a 14" car innertube covered with a beach towel, (they can get HOT). In both cases, I made sure I had an anchor to keep my seat from heading down river once I stood up.

A folding lawn chair works nice, if you can find a reasonably flat surface for the legs to sit on underwater. Add some pockets to the chair, like they use for remote controls and your away. Using the lawn chair with pockets means having extra places to put stuff, like your water bottle, lunch, sunglasses, sunscreen, etc. Just make sure the chair is strong enough to handle your weight while sitting near the edge of the seat.

F.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Indeed it is better now, belive it or not. Even clean-up is easier now. So I'm happy with my mod.

 

[jeff of pa]

I remember Tom Massie (Gold Feaver) saying the New pans
need to be Scuffed up, before Using them.

So I knew you didn't destroy it.

It's good to Hear your Expierence.

 

[slowreaper]

I totally agree with the scuffing up of a pan before using it.
Also as a personal preference, I like a big bottomed pan with out any ridges, traps or riffles in it. The reasons being, it allows more control over using the pan and moving both the sands and metal in it. Another reason being that I feel these gadgets in the pan makes a person think the pan will do the work for them, so they get careless.

If you don't want to sit in the river or squat, buy a blanket box from a dollar store or walmart, set it next to where you will be working on a couple pails or whatever. Fill a pail or two with gravel/dirt, pull up a chair and pan in comfort.

For your smaller findings, a small artist paint brush will pick it up nicer then a snuffer bottle, the gold adhears to the bristles and drops off easy when touched to the water in a vial.

One last thing, if you do pan in a tub of water, put a drop or two of dish soap in the water. Small gold will float, the dish soap helps prevent that from happening.

Brad

 

[Eu_citzen]

I remember Tom Massie (Gold Feaver) saying the New pans
need to be Scuffed up, before Using them.

So I knew you didn't destroy it.

It's good to Hear your Expierence.

I must get out and try it in action this weekend, to see how it is in the field.
So I will report back later.

I did last weekend use it to pan some concentrates from a sample, it was much more secure now.

 

[Eu_citzen]

I was out and tested it, it is great now, the small stuff is easier to get indeed.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Update! I had some blacksand cons to clean up from the small gold...With help of 3 pans, garret 15" and 10" then my modded pan. (not the best pics..)
Nr 1 is my modded pan.
Nr 2 is what I have in cons left after my modded pan.
Nr 3 is the results!

 

[Eu_citzen]

I was asked to do a test with pen balls. I had 10 of them. I did it twice:
Nr 1: 10/10 100% recovery of pen balls
Nr 2: 09/10 90% recovery of pen balls

Grubby:
I had sand paper and then the knife, together with a dremel. If you want better pics of the pan tell me.

 

[Eu_citzen]

Both pics are close up of the big riffels

 

[Eu_citzen]

New mini-riffle added for better holding gold after the large riffles have been used.(clean up)

 

[Eu_citzen]

another point of view.