Dont Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

[Caminochaos]

Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

I have finally finished my $0 sluicebox.

The box was built at my father-in-laws woodshop in about 1/2 hour.

The Hungarian riffles are made from a couple bookshelves my mom gave to me to hang in our kids room. They were uglier than $#!% so they went to a better cause.

The "expanded plastic" is from the base of those 2 liter soda bottle carriers you see in stores. I got like 4 of them for free from the gas station down the road.

The carpeting is some miners moss given too me by a guy at work because there was a 3 inch tear in it. The nugget catcher is the plastic sides from a window AC unit.

Here some more pics.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[Astrobouncer]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

Hey Camino. Thats actually not too bad of a first sluice box. I like the price too, cant beat it. Nice engineering for a first design. Coke boxes eh? I never would have thought to use those. You might want to paint that nugget trap black and I bet it could double as an inspection mat (especially for chunkier gold).

One thing that you should do though for sure is make sure that wood is waterproof. Either with thompsons water seal, polyurethane, or some kind of varnish. Otherwise after a few dunkings in water the wood will expand and warp and then all that stuff wont seal right. If it is already waterproof then I apologize, I just cant tell from the pics.

Anyway, great start and let us know how it works!

 

[enamel7]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

Looks good to me!

 

[eureka77]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

Bravo! Better than my 1st attempt.

 

[Caminochaos]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

Hey Camino. Thats actually not too bad of a first sluice box. I like the price too, cant beat it. Nice engineering for a first design. Coke boxes eh? I never would have thought to use those. You might want to paint that nugget trap black and I bet it could double as an inspection mat (especially for chunkier gold).

One thing that you should do though for sure is make sure that wood is waterproof. Either with thompsons water seal, polyurethane, or some kind of varnish. Otherwise after a few dunkings in water the wood will expand and warp and then all that stuff wont seal right. If it is already waterproof then I apologize, I just cant tell from the pics.

Anyway, great start and let us know how it works!

It's funny you made the comment about the waterproofing. I have some roll-on bed linner sitting in my garage that I could use. It would work great.....maybe LOL.

 

[maui]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

looks good and let us know how it works for you.
take care and be safe out there. ron

 

[desertfox]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

Looks good to me, let us know how she works out for you!

HH

 

[Hoser John]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION--OR WAS IT A NECESSITY IS A MOTHER??ANYHOW HAVE FUN WITH YOUR HOMIE-oops-John

 

[TerryC]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

My hope is to recover enough color to repay my investments. You're doing it from the "get-go". Nice! TTC

 

[strickman]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

terry said it !

My hope is to recover enough color to repay my investments. You're doing it from the "get-go". Nice! TTC

just think one speck,and it's all profit !!!

 

[greydigger]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

Keeping in mind the cost factor -
for waterproofing how about some used motor oil as a stain/varnish/sealer?

Grey

 

[Caminochaos]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

Keeping in mind the cost factor -
for waterproofing how about some used motor oil as a stain/varnish/sealer?

Grey

I have some lying around I believe so I can keep the $0 streak alive.

 

[extractor]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

 

[Goodyguy]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

It looks like it will definitely catch gold
I like your ingenuity. Especially the expanded plastic.

GG~

 

[strickman]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

NEVER CONTAMINATE with oil !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! never get any oil of any kind near or around prospecting equipment...

 

[kiwi jw]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

Hi Guys, SO RIGHT Strickman. You took the words right out of my mouth. Or should that be , "the tips of my fingers"??
Well done though for a first sluice box.

Good luck

JW

 

[Caminochaos]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

NEVER CONTAMINATE with oil !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! never get any oil of any kind near or around prospecting equipment...

Sorry strickman. I just reallized I quoted the wrong thread. LOL. I meant to quote greydigger. I have experienced having oil in my dirt before when I found a bucket on the side of the road and used it to classify some material and quickly reallized the bucked was used to store motor oil. Dohhh.

Yeah I have some stain/varnish at home if I decide not to use the roll on bed liner.

 

[Shake n Flake]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

What happens if oil gets mixed in?

Camino, can you list the dimensions? I'm trying to build my own too.

 

[Goldwasher]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

oil in/on your gold and cons messes with recovery of fine gold it will hit the surface and ride out of your recovery equipment.

 

[Caminochaos]

Re: Don't Laugh....$0 Homemade Hillbilly Sluice Box

oil in/on your gold and cons messes with recovery of fine gold it will hit the surface and ride out of your recovery equipment.

Exactly. It's a pain to deal with.

The box is 4'L x 12-3/4"W x 6"H on the inside of the sluice. If I had to do it again I'd probably shorten the side walls a couple inches. Make the inner width 10". The thing is heavy as hell.