Gold Pan

[Potts]

What gold Pan would you recommend for a beginner ?

 

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[arizau]

Just about any 12" pan that has a broad bottom. There is no real magic from pan to pan so long as you learn how to pan properly. Smaller pans are easier to handle but are usually used for cleanup purposes of relatively small quantities of concentrates...you actually can't go wrong with one of them either but you will run less material at a time so probably less in a day and the key is to process as much material as possible.

 

[ratled]

My favorite is the Proline pan for basic work
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And this is MUST HAVE finishing pan
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[AllenJ]

Here is a great video for beginners:

 

[xr7ator]

And the pan in the pic (of the video) looks like a generic green plastic pan that you should be able to buy for a dollar or two is a great pan.

 

[Capt Nemo]

Garrett kit with 14" and 10" and classifier. ~$40.

And once you get the "fever," Gold Hog Flow Pan.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Garrett Super Sluice pan is awesome and almost indestructible and super fast. "Ain't no gold getting past those riffles!"
Avoid the flimsy cheap knock offs. Do the flex test. If it flexes and warps it fails. Those are only good for holding Halloween candy or watering plants at home and you dont need mining equipment that will blow away in the wind or fold in half inside your pack.
A Super Sluice will hold up for years. I've even shoveled with mine!
I think they come as a 15" in the Garrett starter kits mentioned above. The kit is really nice for a beginner in my opinion and has what ya need and quality tools to start with, cept maybe the tweezer/magnifying glass combo thing.

 

[N-Lionberger]

I learned on a 12 inch steel pan, they work just fine, my favorites are the estwing steel pans with the ribs in the rim. If plastic is the way you like to go the Garret Super Sluice pan is a good plastic one. Dont forget a snuffer bottle!

 

[Johnnybravo300]

I've never tried an Estwing pan but I've eyed them in hardware stores when I've seen them.
Id swear by every Estwing tool I've ever owned and my dad was a bricklayer, so been around plenty of Estwing hand tools in my life. Never been disappointed. I'm sure it would work well and it's a stiff sturdy pan. I'll have to pick one up next time and give it a swirl and I think they were around $11, somewhere in that range.
I've only ever purchased two pans in my life, both of them a Super Sluice but I could see having an Estwing steel pan for sure. Cant go wrong there.
I've handled a few crappy pans and I can see why guys have trouble panning with them. If the pan is creasing in half with a handful of material in it that's a problem haha.
Plastic would seem a little warmer to the fingers in the creeks that I'm in up here than a steel pan and I like the big bottom and gnarly riffles on the Garrett so much. You can get really aggressive with alot of material in it and it catches the goods.
I'd have to admit the Estwing would look bad azz tied on a mule tho.

 

[Jimmydolittle]

I like a 10.5" blue Pioneer pan due to the arthritis in my hands. Blue allows the gold to show up easier for me.

 

[CA Gold Hunter]

I really like the 14" Garret Acentric pan. Its the same size as a regular 14" garret pan but the bottom is 33% larger and its a lot easier for me at least to get down to black sand and gold quickly.

 

[RTR]

ANY pan will work....Loooong before "these" fancy pans came about.The old timers used anything they could get their hands on.It aint rocket science
GOLD IS HEAVY !!! Its more about technique

 

[N-Lionberger]

Yeah the steel can be cold in the winter weather I typically carry my super sluice in the wintertime or when I am operating my detector, steel mostly in the summer.

 

[KevinInColorado]

The proline professional mentioned above or the Garrett Supersluice. A wide bottom is key. As a beginner, only fill it 1/3 or so full of material.

 

[OwenT]

My first pan was the 14" Garrett from one of the garrett kits mentioned above, I have really liked it, I think it's quality. BUT, I told one of my friends to buy it this year and it seems like it's a different deal now. It came with this new "acentric" pan that was mentioned above also. It does have a nice big bottom but the fact that the bottom is slighty offset from center threw me off but the biggest ding was that it didn't feel near as sturdy as my pan. It felt rather thin and flimsy actually. I like the look of the proline pans but I know my next pan will be a Garrett supersluice, it will defenitely be too big for a beginner but like Kevin said, just don't fill it up all the way and you'll eventually grow into it.

 

[Potts]

Great information.... I went with the Supersluice 15".[h=1][/h]

 

[johnedoe]

I like this one....I have 2 of them.

 

[Bodfish Mike]

Great information.... I went with the Supersluice 15".[h=1][/h]

Great choice that pan rips through dirt - but it will wear you out as it's heavy,
do what kevin suggested "As a beginner, only fill it 1/3 or so full of material."
Or you will look like arnold schwarzenegger in no time.
For me I have to use two hands to use it.
I would suggest a smaller black pan for clean up -- use the Supersluice to get your cons then
pan the cons in smaller black pan (a little at a time)
good luck.

 

[N-Lionberger]

Great choice that pan rips through dirt - but it will wear you out as it's heavy,
do what kevin suggested "As a beginner, only fill it 1/3 or so full of material."
Or you will look like arnold schwarzenegger in no time.
For me I have to use two hands to use it.
I would suggest a smaller black pan for clean up -- use the Supersluice to get your cons then
pan the cons in smaller black pan (a little at a time)
good luck.

thats a good tip, you can use the bigger pan as your safety pan. You use the big pan for rough concentrating and use a smaller pan for cleanup, utilize the larger pan as a "safety pan" to pan into so in case you lose somthing it is easy to get back in the case of in creek cleanup, in the case of a panning tub having a pan in the tub to pan into makes it a lot easier to keep your tub clean.

 

[arizau]

Great choice that pan rips through dirt - but it will wear you out as it's heavy,
do what kevin suggested "As a beginner, only fill it 1/3 or so full of material."
Or you will look like arnold schwarzenegger in no time.
For me I have to use two hands to use it.
I would suggest a smaller black pan for clean up -- use the Supersluice to get your cons then
pan the cons in smaller black pan (a little at a time)
good luck.

That is exactly my impression. Though I bought one at Armadillo a couple years back I have only used it once, other than as a safety pan, as it is just as heavy, unwieldy and works no better than my 14" steel pan that I purchased close to 50 years ago now. That is exactly why I originally suggested, in my first post, to get a broad bottom 12" pan....especially for a beginning panner. That said if I had more opportunity to use mine I would use it for production panning/field concentration...us desert rats usually only pan small quantities of already concentrated material and so I really have no need for mine.

Good luck.