Rocker Box?

[tamrock]

I got a Nugget Bucket as a gift a year or so ago. It works but it does involve a lot of water dipping, classifier cleaning* (there are two of them in the unit) and you have to be careful not to over feed it with fines that easily pass the classfiers since that can clog the funnel section. Still a good unit that works as advertised and great where there is not enough water to run a sluice. Add marble sized rocks to the cup to help catch small gold (that is a tip that the inventor gave me in response to an email). If you notice a buildup of black sand in the cup then empty and continue.

Good luck.

*The top classifier allows you to run any size feed but check for nuggets before abandoning the coarse material.

Thanks!

 

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[Hard Prospector]

Had a "Mini Rock'n Gold Grabber rocker box (bought impulsively at Vegas gold show), used it a few times and was not happy with performance....sold it

Next year bought the "Mini Gold Grabber" highbanker (also bought impulsively at the next Vegas gold show) and it works a lot more effectively on the fine gold.

Biggest lesson learned; "When at the Vegas gold show, don't start drinking until you know your through buying"

 

[wildminer]

HaHa That's a good one! Also easy to say!

 

[Goldfleks]

10-4 -K, ...I've been eager to sample some known producing creeks that look promising along the way.

Just bring a pan, classifier, and a shovel.

Really don't need anything else to do low volume production. Less stuff to carry when you're hiking in and doesn't need much water to function. All that fancy stuff like home made rockers and nugget buckets is just extra weight. Especially if you're just sample panning.

You could run a 5 gallon buckets worth of material in a couple minutes easy with just a pan and classifier. Fill the pan/classifier. Pan it down half way. Put the clssifier back on the half full pan, fill up the classifier a second time. Pan that down half way. Rinse repeat until you've reduced your 5 gallon bucket to half a pan of concentrates. The only part of panning that takes any time is the final cleaning of the gold. If you're just sampling for gold prior to bringing in a sluice or other equipment panning can be really quick. You could even easily production pan and just constantly taking your 5 gallon bucket down to half a pan of material and you're not going to lose any gold. You could pan all day without ever emptying the pan at at the end of the day go home with a pan full of concentrates from however many buckets you ran through.

All those "mini sluices" and tiny sample production sluices are a waste of money unless they can concentrate a 5 gallon bucket faster than I can fill my 1/2" classifier and wash it in my pan. And those sluices are probably missing gold if you have to classify to under 1/2" before running the material because you're not washing all the cobbles and rocks.

 

[kcm]

Take a look at the Gold Hog pan. It's quite a bit larger than your average gold pan and is supposed to be able to work a lot of material pretty quick. The Fossickers also make one, I believe, but I think it's a little smaller than the Gold Hog.

 

[deserdog]

Panning down to half a pan an refilling will not work in all places, especially if the creek is loaded with black sand. One of the creeks I work has a lot, a huge amount of black sand. Out of a 5 gallon bucket, if you are sampling where the gold is, you will have a gallon or 2 of black sand. Black sand does not move around the same as the lighter sands.

 

[Duckshot]

Desertdog, thanks for giving me the straight dope on rocker boxes!

And thanks for your link! Interesting thread.

 

[rodoconnor]

Panning down to half a pan an refilling will not work in all places, especially if the creek is loaded with black sand. One of the creeks I work has a lot, a huge amount of black sand. Out of a 5 gallon bucket, if you are sampling where the gold is, you will have a gallon or 2 of black sand. Black sand does not move around the same as the lighter sands.

That sounds like Snake river sand.

 

[Capt Nemo]

Also sounds like Lake Superior. It runs around 50-80% black/garnet sand per bucket.

 

[Hard Prospector]

I've never seen so much rain in the Mojave as this winter, everything damp down to 1.5' !!! Drywashing my claim useless till late Spring or perhaps Summer! Water efficient closed system sluice the only option now, no rocker boxes....been there and done that.

Picked up this "Grizzly Sluice 3" on Craig's list 'cause I had a good feeling about its possibilities as part of a recirculating system. Like a rocker box but "no rocking", I plan on using a 750ghp pump to wash the material on top of the screen.......we shall see.

 

[rodoconnor]

I've never seen so much rain in the Mojave as this winter, everything damp down to 1.5' !!! Drywashing my claim useless till late Spring or perhaps Summer! Water efficient closed system sluice the only option now, no rocker boxes....been there and done that.

Picked up this "Grizzly Sluice 3" on Craig's list 'cause I had a good feeling about its possibilities as part of a recirculating system. Like a rocker box but "no rocking", I plan on using a 750ghp pump to wash the material on top of the screen.......we shall see.

There are a couple of desert canyons that I used to dredge almost into the summer in wet years.Sluicing should be no problem.

 

[N-Lionberger]

I have been meaning to build another rocker box. When I first saw the Allen Tree box with the manual bilge pump I liked the idea and put together a diaphragm pump from stuff from the hardware store. Two sump pump one way valves, some PVC fittings and the business end of a rubber toilet plunger. Worked great until the rubber part cracked.
I have a couple recommendations on the construction of rocker boxes. The removable riffles in the bottom get super stuck in there like shown in Morgan's book, instead of a riffle ladder you can make a string of them with some cord, drill holes in the riffles and string them up with knots inbetween for proper spacing, use the wedges on top of side rails on top of the loose riffles, by this method you can pull it all up and out instead of dragging it tooth and nail out the end. The back end of the side rails can be wedged in the back against the guides for the apron. If you build a mini rocker you might as well install solid permanent block riffles, 2 or 3 is all you need. A big one I discovered is the punch plate in the hopper, a piece of hardware cloth or expanded metal will not work right, it needs to be an actual piece of sheet metal that you have to punch holes in, the holes should be spaced apart about 1.5" or more apart, this retains water longer and facilitates a more thorough wash of the rocks. My first book on prospecting was Morgan's and I love rocking the old school. The apron is the most important part, I like a double sag, the picture in the book does little to help show how it should work and he doesn't really give a very good explanation of how it is supposed to work. It's not a sluice, more like a really tricked out gold pan.

 

[deserdog]

My rocker has 2 wedges on each side of the riffle ladder, made it pretty easy to take out.

The sag of the apron is the trickest part. Too shallow and it will not retain enough material, too deep and it will just swing side to side, and end up all compacted.

 

[N-Lionberger]

what kind of cloth do you like for your aprons? I have been using a lightweight cotton duck. I tried using corduroy once, it worked well, developed a nice sag but did not last too long. I used to do civil war reenacting and have looked at a few period clothing items that were made from a woolen corduroy, very dense strong ribbed fabric, i always thought that would make a killer apron but have never seen any new produced material.

 

[deserdog]

I believe it was just canvas. Not a real heavy type.

 

[Duckshot]

I was considering denim cut from a pair of jeans, but I'm not really sure what to use either.

Does the apron need, or want to drip? If not perhaps nylon cloth which might hold water more like a gold pan? Or, is a leaky apron better?

 

[deserdog]

I do not know if it would matter. What is important is to get the sag right. When the sag is right, as you rock the rocker, the material will stay loose in the sag. If it is too shallow, most of the material will just wash over. If it is too deep, as you rock the rocker, the sag will swing back and forth, and the material will get compacted in it.

 

[Duckshot]

What about a rigid apron that maintains a constant shape?

 

[arizau]

If you make it rigid then, as the rocker is tilted, the sides/edges will alternate being shallower so concentrates will be subject to spilling over the edge. A cloth apron pretty much maintains a consistent shape as the slurry shifts from side to side. Canvas is probably as good or best since it is durable but over time and use any cloth will need to be replaced.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Here's a free set of plans:

http://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/geologic_resources/gold/Documents/sp87.pdf

I remember reading several years some prospectors were experimenting with AstroTurf (or a similar synthetic "grass") to catch the fine gold. I don't remember reading how that worked out.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo, CM