Blue Bowl Blues

[Brian93436]

I recently purchased a Blue Bowl and had a chance to try it out with mixed results.

I classified the concentrate as recommended and had the water levels set as directed. The material I ran was classified at #12, #20, #30, #50, #100. The material from #12 through #30 worked excellent in the Blue Bowl and I recovered a fair amount of Gold. When I tried the #50 and #100 I started to see issues. I was not placing anymore than a tablespoon of classified material in the outer edge of the bowl at any given time, but what I saw happening was the speed of the water would increase as more and more tailings were sucked down the drain and as the speed increased the fine gold would also get sucked down the drain. All of my adjustments to the control valve were very deliberate and very minor (a habit from my Aerospace background) and the battery was at full charge so I assume the pump flow was steady. I can understand as more tailings get removed there is a smoother flow path for the water to travel through, but I was surprised at how readily the gold gets sucked down the drain following the directions to the "T" (water level, amount of material introduced, levelness, Jet Dry, Etc.). I was thinking maybe a metering valve would help, but feel that would not solve the entire problem since the removal of tailings from the bowl increases the water velocity with no valve adjustments.

Do any of you have any tips for using the Blue Bowl? Have any of you had similar results with the fine stuff?

The area I am prospecting is near Keysville on the Kern River with small nuggets, flakes and flour gold found there.

Thanks, Brian

 

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[russau]

sorry im so late. the gold retention is gained by being consistant with everything you do! feed slowly and evenly the same size material to utilize specific gravity to your advantage. moving the water adjustment valve back(thanks John!) keeps the bowls water from having a cheveroned shape/wave to it(this creates turbulance in the bowl).useing a small amout of sufactant (jetdry) i use my battery charger while at home for consistant pump supply.turning the pump on will cause a small surge in the bowl. that why i use a auto feeder to slowly add my cons to the bowl and it wont cause a surge in bowl water level that will push out your fine gold. dumping in a small spoonfull of cons whileits running WILL cause the water level to go up and that causes inconsistant results. but this is just my way of doing it. whatever works for you!

 

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[Goldwasher]

when you dredge, and i do five days a week, believe it or not,you end up with alot of cons, and if you are in a good spot there is a lot of black sand alot of it and panning it all out is for the birds. i like panning i am very very very very good at it but, after a day of hiking dredging and moving alot of rock i would rather classify and run our cons through a blue bowl,and sit back.wich is what we do, and to horrify everyone whos thinks the blue bowl loses fine gold guess what we screen down to #50 dump in two pounds of sand at a time like every 5 minutes and we still have alot of very fine gold in the bowl and i bet you five dollars it doesnt lose more than a dollars worth if that so fine when i have a 55 gallon drum full of black sand ill refine it and be rich because of how much gold my blue bowl set aside for me.and i spend the day wet to my ears bloody nuckeled smellin of pump exaust and scratchin poison oak to find gold how could i complain if my blue bowl leaves a little black sand mixed in.

 

[patches63]

pvillehunter,i like your attitude!i still have cons from last years dredging.they have been thru my gold wheel(genie miners model)7 or 8 times,screened rescreened.thru the bowl twice at least.next i will grind em in my new impact attrition mill 3 passes,rescreen em cement mixer with muriatic acid probably.then amalgamate.then get an assay for platinum group metals.call me greedy but dredging is lotsa work,lets not talk about money spent on equipment.JULY 1 ALMOST HERE! yahooooo