Home made Mackirk Sluice Project

[hunter_46356]

Home made Mackirk sluice.

Being from IN most everything I’ll be doing will most likely be in streams. I like the idea of the Angus Mackirk sluice but don’t have the money to drop on finding flour gold, if you know what I mean. So being a carpenter by trade and recently retired I have more time than money and can make just about anything out a wood. On the Mackirk web site there is a cross section of the riffle style they use. I cut and fashioned something similar out of wood and glued it to a 1 x 8. I added some 1/8 x 1/8 drop riffles before and after each one with the idea of these areas should be low pressure areas as the water is flowing over the riffs and should help catch smaller gold. Started the project today and will try to post pics soon. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

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[hunter_46356]

Got it put together today, will seal and paint it tomorrow, here's some picks. The dimensions are 8"x36"x3-1/2" the riffles are 1/2"x2" set 2"apart. The small drop riffles in the deck and the one in the top of the wedge riffle are 1/8"x1/8". This is all by similar design of the Mackirk riffle. The only thing different is the distance between riffles. I think Mackirk's are actually back to back.

 

[Astrobouncer]

Pretty neat man, that's interesting! Looking forward to hearing how it works for ya.

 

[KevinInColorado]

As a Mackirk owner, I suggest you put some of your riffles at the same distance as on the original...you may be surprised to find it matters!

Best of luck, your woodworking looks impressive.

 

[mus302]

Nice workmanship. Please update us once you have put some material through and let bus know how it does.

 

[russau]

once sealed, i think itll work fine! but id take that suggestion to place your riffels at the same distance as the McQuirk sluice on another sluice just like the one youve built to see if there is a difference in its fine gold captureing abilitys.

 

[ncclaymaker]

Great repro job, but the wood with its sharp, well defined edges are not going to last very long. Even with a very tough urethane, they top edge will be ground down and beaten by rocks in the slurry. Probably one of the reasons that McKirk uses an extremely strong and resilient plastic resin in his sluices. But, there may be a way to create a wear resistant surface. Use a soft vinyl resin that is used to coat tool handles or shafts available at Lowe's or Home Depot. To resist abraison, hardness is the enemy. Ask any sandblaster... they all use a fairly soft and pliant rubber material to repel the high velocity sand or Plast-dip, see link below.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=vinyl spray&storeId=10051

Best of luck

 

[russau]

i agree, so i think that screening all your material would help lengthen its life! but it looks nice!

 

[hunter_46356]

Finished the sluice and had a chance to get it wet. Didn't have much luck with unclassified material. I"m sure it will do better w/classified and set up right (flow/pitch) but this was notwhat I was trying to accomplish. Maybe I was expecting the design was not intended to do all along.all
I'm not going to spend much more time in this direction. Been looking into the whole fluid box trap design and all the Bazooka home builds out there. Medium size Bazooka cost as opposed to a home build is worth a try. Thanks for looking guys.

 

[Doublenotminer]

Very nice work. I like it.

 

[hunter_46356]

Thanks for the compliment and I haven't given up on it yet . Going to make a funnel to direct increase water flow to see if this helps.
Might look OK...... just doesn't work. LOL

 

[russau]

how about fabing up a classifing screen or a grizzly to sluff off the bigger rocks on the current design.

 

[hunter_46356]

I could build this into funnel at the head of the sluice thanks I'll give it a try.
Going to pick up some material for a FB build today, got all kinds of ideas.

 

[eureka77]

Man very nice work indeed. Skilled wood worker. With your design though it's not a true drop riffle, More like a riffle sluice cause the material is going up and over the ramp/riffle rather than running along flat then dropping in.
Old post, sorry.

 

[kitt]

Hey man thats good, keep working at it. I'm trying to make one myself. I made one and it kinda sucked, started a new one but I don't have the money for materials to build right now.

 

[NeoTokyo]

Dang Hunter, thats a really nice sluice!

Cant wait to see it in action.