Im getting bummed

[Terrible - One]

Do you have access to a welder?

 

[taternut]

I don't buy I have friends who know how to weld, I'm not sure if they tig weld or not. What about buying one of the smaller boxes and just bolt them together?

 

[Terrible - One]

Check out your local scrap metal yard. The one here sells recycled metal at about 60 cents a pound.
I just bolted the chutes together and siliconed.
If you want to make some inexpensive but strong legs you can use scrap metal like these

Or something wood like these

 

[pmgsourdough]

Get out of the creek! Start sampling high bench gravels. I just took 724 grains 400 feet above the current creek channel.

 

[taternut]

I'm not sure the regulations on that in California. I don't think I can run dry material through my stream sluice.

But yeah I was thinking about building some legs out of wood. Isn't it .5" per foot drop

 

[Terrible - One]

You don't want to even worry about setting up your sluice until you find the gold. Take your pan out and find that gold before worrying about production.
And the general rule of thumb is 1"/ft drop. You only want about 1/2-3/4" of water rolling over the top of the riffels. Also be sure not to submerge the ass end of the sluice. The end of the sluice needs to be at water level or higher. It's important to understand the correlation between water volume and velocity as it relates to proper riffel operation.

 

[taternut]

So with the a-52 would you count the flare at the top as a foot? Or just where the v-matting starts? Thanks for the info, I appreciate the help

 

[Quickpan Dan]

Are you getting any heavies (black sand,lead,) and is there any quartz? You said its shallow. There are some creeks that are just not gold bearing. Even here in the golden state

 

[taternut]

Yeah, every pan I get is full of black sand. I think maybe I'm not digging deep enough, or just bad luck I know that the creek is gold bearing, it was worked all the way through with bucket dredges and I've seen videos and hear a lot of people talk about it. And my local mining shop says to try that place out everytime you buy new mining supplies

 

[Terrible - One]

So with the a-52 would you count the flare at the top as a foot? Or just where the v-matting starts? Thanks for the info, I appreciate the help

You're thinking too much into it. The general guidelines for sluice setup are not written in stone. You shouldn't need a tape measure.

 

[taternut]

I think ill buy a stand this weekend and give it a shot. I might go out and test some holes. How deep should I dig when I'm testing?

 

[Armchair prospector]

The sluice design is wrong. The upper part should go inside the lower.

 

[Goldmember999]

I'm not the most experienced miner but if you haven't found one speck or flake and you know where in a river to look and how to do it, you are on a river that has no gold. Drive down to Colfax northeast of Auburn and try the Bear river. Or the North fork of the American river. Very close to each other. At least you would go home after a day with a penny weight of gold. If you are sure it had gold in it at one time then keep at it, look south of where u are, maybe you are north of the deposit area. Good luck.

 

[taternut]

Well I have an idea of where in the river rock to look but I don't know if I'm digging deep enough or if I'm doing it wrong. I've read some feeding books on how to locate pay streaks and what route they take in the water but when I get to my spot it seems as if what I've learned is wrong

 

[Goldmember999]

Take your search to another river and try out what you know. If you go to either of the rivers I mentioned and don't find one flake then its your knowledge that is messing you up. Take the time to prospect around an area and always dig down to bedrock. Do you have a hand dredge?

 

[taternut]

I don't but I've seen tutorials how to build them. Maybe I'm not sure the definition of bed rock?? I dig down till I hit large boulders and some hard pack. The problem I have up north is a lot of the trinity and Klamath are claimed up and clear creek is public use. There's also another public use creek but it's only open seasonally when it has water in it

 

[Terrible - One]

Where do you live again?

 

[taternut]

Up in the redding area and 2.5 hours away from auburn lol

 

[Rdg Sluicer]

Tater... You don't have to go very deep on Clear Creek to find color. I was on CC yesterday for about 1 1/2 hr with a pan and a slag hammer and worked out two crevices. I had some in every pan. Remember Clear Creek has lots of very fine gold.

 

[taternut]

Do you normally go upstream from the gorge Or at the bottom?