Need Pro and Con on Sluice vs Rocker Box

[ToddB64]

Hi !

My brother and I have become interested in gold prospecting two creeks, one in his locale in Southern Indiana and the other where I live in Southern Ohio. Both of these creeks have been known to produce placer gold, including a few small pickers in the past.

I'm good at building things out of wood and also metal, so considering building my own gold recovery equipment. However, lacking actual prospecting experience on streams, I can't decide whether to build a river sluice or a rocker-box and need your thoughts.

As the old saying goes, "To each his own", so I know experienced prospectors will all have their own favorite style of equipment and I expect there will be differing opinions. So maybe the best way to help me make a choice would be to list some Pro's and Con's in your reply.

Thanks for your help !

ToddB64

 

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[B H Prospector]

Hi Todd,
Since you have streams to work in use a sluice. Rockerboxes were made generally for mining in places where running water was either limited or non existant. Rockers are good recovery but slow. I would rank them just above panning. The sluice you can feed fairly fast if set up correctly and you can move more material. Hope this helped.

Good Luck!

B H Prospector

 

[goldenIrishman]

Hey Todd,
The choice should be determined by a couple of things IMHO. Water flow in the streams (IE: is there enough flow to use a sluice?) and access. In areas where you may only have pools of standing water go with the rocker. If you've got the water to work with I'd go with the sluice so you can process more material faster. A rocker is kind of bulky compared to a sluice but you can set it up by a pool and recycle the water. You still have to get the material to it though. Depending on if the water flows all summer you might want to build both. Use the sluice when you can and when (and if) the water flow slows down switch to the rocker. Again... This is just my opinion. Your mileage may vary...

 

[Oldyoungtimer]

I have built my own sluice before. It didn't turn out so good. I made the riffles 3/4 inch and should have went with 1/2. But at the time i was working on a budget and don't have a shop or anything like that lol The gold in my area is small. If you are working the same conditions it might save you a lot of hassle to buy one. Even if it's just to see how it operates first hand. i gained a lot of confidence processing my material working with a proven instrument. Although i did recover gold with my diy sluice and it was very rewarding, I'm glad i purchased something with a credible history. Buckabilly sluice is the one i have. It's made by an Ohio native and geared towards slow moving water conditions. I don't endorse any brand just letting you know what i use. If you do make your own i hope it works out for you. Good luck and get that gold!

 

[Hoser John]

Absolutely nuttn' with more work and lousy recovery as a rocker box. Rock like crazy-haul water-haul rock vs shovel into sluice soooooooooo much easier and with constant flow and flat bottom recovery is 100s a times mo' better-John

 

[Trollfish]

Todd,
I prospect in Southern IN pretty regularly. I use a small sluice which I can convert to a highbanker fairly easily. I purchased the sluice and modified it to highbank as well. When I built a few sluices and a rocker, I found that the riffles weren't up to the task of catching the fine gold here.

The purchased sluice was a much better engineered design than anything I could build from wood. Made of aluminum and steel riffles, it is lightweight, easy to pack and durable. All together, even with highbanker pump hoses and battery, it weighs in at 58lbs. Easy to pack in, 12volt pump is silent and draws no unwanted attention. Any high GPH bilge pump for boats will work and a small kids electric car battery will last most of the day. Whole rig cost me about 200 bucks.

I prefer to set it up highbanker style to keep the feet dry. Screen material to 1/4" before processing for better results. Any large rocks over 1/2" tend to blow out the riffle if they get stuck behind it, thus blowing out the gold as well.

One of my favorite new ventures is exploring is the OHIO River. I load everything in my bass boat, run the river sampling the high bench along the river. I find gold dust and some flakes every where I have set up, but have yet to find a solid paystreak anywhere. I made an extension cord for my pump that plugs into my trolling motor plug. Pull up on the bank, set up, plug it in and shovel dirt. Lots and lots of highbench bedrock along the Ohio and no people to speak of where it shows. Inside bends with rock outcroppings are ideal.

My all time fantasy would be to dredge behind the Falls of the Ohio in Louisville. If there is a motherload in this area, that has to be the place. Too bad they don't allow prospecting or fossil hunting there. State Park. I need to design a dredge that fits inside my boat.

By far the best piece of advice is to build or purchase a crack suction device. They are easy to build or buy. 90% of the gold I have found comes from cracks in the bedrock. A good rock hammer, chisels and spud bar help in opening those cracks. Swirl bowls in bedrock are honey holes as well. Another thing you will find here is geodes. Big ones sell foe a pretty penny if you find a buyer. They paid for my rig.

If you go to State lands, make sure you get the rules on panning and prospecting. I avoid those areas as a rule, just to avoid the hassle with Gov't employees and lookyloos.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[ToddB64]

Hi B H Prospector, goldenIrishman, Oldyoungtimer, Hoser John and Trollfish !

I really appreciate and thank you all for your informative replies ! I gained quite a package of information from you-all and took notes.

After mulling over all your opinions, I decided to buy an all-aluminum sluice (except the bolts are SS), instead of making my own. I've worked through many homemade projects over the years with good results, but one-time design & builds demand more time than I have anymore, although I must admit DIY projects are very satisfying !

I seem to recall that product supplier's who support this website frown upon mentioning other commercial sources we buy from in our posts and I can understand this. So if anyone is interested in the brand of sluice I'm planning to purchase, please send me a Personal Message from my Profile.

Looking forward to some fun this summer prospecting !

ToddB64

 

[TheNewCatfish]

Todd. The next thing you'll want to look into is custom mats for your sluice. IMHO the mats and moss that come with commercial sluices are GARBAGE. You'll want something better to catch gold with than the indicator mat and coarse moss that comes with a store bought sluice box. I augment my sluice with Razor Hog mats.