Purchasing my first drywasher

Mad Machinist said:
I'm pretty sure I understand what Terry is getting at here. Follow the golden rule, when everything in the pan (or drywasher in this case), is the same or similar size, gold rules. Same thing applies to a blue bowl, run it too hard and it blows the fine gold right out the drain.

This actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it. If your trying to clear 1/2" minus out of the riffles with the airflow, then -100 mesh would get blown out too just based on sheer difference in weight.
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Ok --- so why would this pertain to a small drywasher and not a big one?
My hopper screen is 1/2" so I see no need to pre classify to 1/2".(unless you are carrying buckets to the machine)
I do give the dirt clods a good hand massage on the hopper.
 

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Bodfish Mike said:
Ok --- so why would this pertain to a small drywasher and not a big one?
My hopper screen is 1/2" so I see no need to pre classify to 1/2".(unless you are carrying buckets to the machine)
I do give the dirt clods a good hand massage on the hopper.
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It would actually pertain to both. The biggest difference being that a larger drywasher will more than likely be fed by more than one person or heavy equipment. The volume thing comes into effect with the larger drywasher. It is more economical to push volume through a larger drywasher whereas a small drywasher is more than likely going to be fed by "hand" and the need to maximize recovery from the material ran as the volume of material isn't there.

Gold right now is near $1200 an ounce. So 90% of spot is $1080 divided by 28 grams to an ounce works out to $38.57 a gram. So instead of busting butt to run that extra couple of yards of material, you slow down a little, classify, and still recover the same amount (or more) of gold for less effort. Especially if your in an area like I am that is known for talcum powder like gold.

Anyhow those are my thoughts on it. Guess we'll find out soon enough when I get the drywasher and try my ideas.
 

One thing to consider is when you are classifying down to 1/8" you are really slowed down, Especially doing it dry. So the 151 would work a lot better at this "bottleneck" of production. That is assuming your grizzly is 1/8".
 

Mad Machinist said:
It would actually pertain to both. The biggest difference being that a larger drywasher will more than likely be fed by more than one person or heavy equipment. The volume thing comes into effect with the larger drywasher. It is more economical to push volume through a larger drywasher whereas a small drywasher is more than likely going to be fed by "hand" and the need to maximize recovery from the material ran as the volume of material isn't there.

Gold right now is near $1200 an ounce. So 90% of spot is $1080 divided by 28 grams to an ounce works out to $38.57 a gram. So instead of busting butt to run that extra couple of yards of material, you slow down a little, classify, and still recover the same amount (or more) of gold for less effort. Especially if your in an area like I am that is known for talcum powder like gold.

Anyhow those are my thoughts on it. Guess we'll find out soon enough when I get the drywasher and try my ideas.
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I Agreed with most of what you say but your math is wrong as gold is traded in Troy Ounces
31.1034768 grams in a Troy ounce.
 

Well I made a decision. I am going with the whippet. My back convinced my wallet to shell out the extra money. now I get to play the waiting game, but having bought two bazookas I'm use to it ; )
He's booked out until March with the building of a few other units. He responded to my emails about waiting time pretty quickly and gave me a ETA which was nice. So I should have it in plenty of time before the areas west of me dry out. Looking forward to exploring some new ground!
Thanks again for everyone's advice it helped make a tough decision easier
 

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I'm hoping we can get out together again...this time with our matching Whippets!

I have a spare lead drywasher battery to give you when we meet up btw :)
 

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Seden said:
Hard Prospector, I too have a Thompson and you're advice is spot on. It's the angle that most important than the slower speed. I run mine just below level to where the black sand doesn't clog up the riffles when I'm in an area of small gold . I bought some 1/8" hardware cloth, got some large tubes of J.B.Weld and epoxied the hardware cloth down on the grizzley. The Thompson runs very smooth when you get down to 1/8" and with a decent gold detector should find the small nuggets that rolled off the Griz easy. Get yourself a "Battery Tender" 19 amp lithium battery from Amazon and it will run your Thompson all day with lot's of juice to spare. So light I can hold it up with my little finger unlike the sealed lead acid clunkers I used to drag around,ugh. Getting older you want to think smarter as you can't just go buy a new body if you trash the one your in now so get smart and always wear a mask. Just ask Hoser John how many drywashing friends he's lost because they didn't wear a mask-too many!
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Agreed on riffle pitch too.
Thompson legs are set with no adjustment... .Sometimes my feed box is fine but I want reduce angle of riffle.
So swap to aluminum legs includes multiple hang points for riffle box for that fine tuning.
And all legs with individual adjustment for awkward terrain.
 

Getting closer to having my whippet! Received email from Mark, he just sent out the latest batch of units and is getting ready to make the next 4. And one of those will be mine! Super stoked to start exploring some new areas.
 

dang you haven't gotten it yet? 4-6 months,thats ridiculous when shelling out that kind of money. hope he sends you some gold with it!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
 

mytimetoshine said:
dang you haven't gotten it yet? 4-6 months,thats ridiculous when shelling out that kind of money. hope he sends you some gold with it!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
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It's just him doing all the fabrication. Patience:)
 

utah mason said:
Getting closer to having my whippet! Received email from Mark, he just sent out the latest batch of units and is getting ready to make the next 4. And one of those will be mine! Super stoked to start exploring some new areas.
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Definitely a long wait, but he at least kept in contact with me and let me know what was going on. I over booked myself at work and have been working super long days, and most Saturdays as well, And haven't had any time to get out. So that's helped keep me from being to anxious waiting. I really need to learn to tell people no I don't have time for your job, find someone else. I haven't been out since April, it's killing me!
 

It'll be worth the wait!
 

utah mason said:
Getting closer to having my whippet! Received email from Mark, he just sent out the latest batch of units and is getting ready to make the next 4. And one of those will be mine! Super stoked to start exploring some new areas.
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Get the shovel also, super light but well built. Heavier gage aluminum than what's available in stores. Works perfectly with whippet and allows you to shovel some serious material.
 

After a long wait (ordered early Sept., received in late Apr.) I received my Whippet. I had my first opportunity to use it today due to a few factors....the backpack was just delivered about 3 weeks ago and the shovel is still on backorder; in the interim a 10 day prospecting and visiting trip to Oregon; and worst of all, record high heat here (108 plus on most days while I was gone). Still hot (106 today according to my weather station) but monsoon rains could start any day now so took it out for the first time today and I am impressed. I test panned about a third of a cup of concentrates and recovered a few dozen minus 60 mesh colors. With proper screening I will probably find another dozen or so from that same material. The area I am mining usually has poor recovery using dry washers due to clay so I am taking the easy way out and simply feeding it from old rocker box tailings in which the clay is mostly already broken down and loose and of course easy to dig. Rocker boxes caught all the big gold but lost a good portion of the smaller gold. I don't expect to find much coarse gold if any but something is better than nothing and there are many, many easily accessible tailings piles to choose from.
 

Glad to hear you and the Whippet are putting gold in the polk and way to stick it out on the 6+ month wait. Being a SBO has it's challenges and obviously demand has out stretched supply. There is a fine line here between taking a reasonable profit or putting it toward hiring/gearing up to meet demand and hope to not get over-extended. Patience and understanding is is always appreciated by these hard working people, small business owners helped make America great!
 

Whoohoo!!!!! Whippet arrived last week. I've been working long days and haven't had time to unbox yet. I'll post some pictures next week. Super excited to test it out. Hopefully it will quit raining every dang day so the dirt will dry out. I have a few spots in mind to test it out, hoping to get some dirt thru in it a few weeks from now.
 

You have ALL the cool tools don’t you?!
 

KevinInColorado said:
You have ALL the cool tools don’t you?!
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I have a few cool tools, definitely not ALL the cool tools. There's plenty of others I would love to own. I definitely have a equipment problem or addiction might be a better word ; ) but as long as the son and I are having a good time and spending more time together money well spent. Super stoked to run some dirt thru it.
 

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