Should the pan be "scratched" with sandpaper before use?

[mts]

Should the pan be "scratched" with sandpaper before use?

I'm new to panning and just bought the standard Garrett gold panning kit ($30, two pans, classifier, snuffer bottle, etc.). I've watched many videos on youtube and some of them talk about "prepping" the pan with 60 grit sandpaper so that it holds fine gold better. It makes sense to me. But then again, being a complete newbie I'd believe just about anything. So I thought I'd ask the real experts about whether this is a necessity or just an old wive's tale. Eventually, my pan will get scratched anyway due to all of the rocks acting like sandpaper. But I wanted to check first before I take my brand new pan and rough it up a bit.

Being able to catch really fine gold is going to be important since I'm in Ohio. Thanks!

 

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[beekbuster]

use dawn, cuz your gunna need it for the poison oak too

 

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[KevinInColorado]

For a finish pan, do not scratch it, just clean really well as described here. This is because you want to be able to use the shake and tap method to gather all that really fine gold together and even small scratches/grooves will block the gold from migrating across the pan as you tap.

 

[captain_mike]

Kevin is right. Your not looking to "groove"the pan, just knock the shine off, and all the oils, so you're gold won't float as easily. I wonder how 600 steel wool would do?

 

[hvacker]

Either instructions when I got my plastic pans or on a Gold Fever show it was said to use an abrasive like Ajax to break the shine or I might loose gold.

What's with Dawn anyway. It seems that stuff does anything. Sometimes I have dishes to wash. I had a bottle of cut rate soap that wouldn't cut it. I went back to Dawn and all is well. I watched some using it to clean birds after the oil spill in Alaska. It's a real good product.

 

[hvacker]

use dawn, cuz your gunna need it for the poison oak too

Tell me about this.

 

[Doug Watson]

Either just use it and let the river gravel rough it up or use an SOS or Brillo pad.

 

[Master-Peter]

I'm scuba dive instructor and run a dive shop. We have that "protecting" oil film from manufacturing on all new masks. If makes them fog. We advise our customers to use toothpaste to get rid of the oil. Takes some effort but works wonders. I could imagine this would do the trick on pans too and some of us might have it at hands.