Thx for the idea. I find making a gold catcher is more fun than just writing a check or swiping a card and relying on someone else thousands of miles away to know it all. This year will be the best one yet and I have plenty of this type mat to play with. :D
Excellent job ! I really like the carpet/floor joiner and the three rib connection . I'm going to build one and make a mold for a silicone mat . Because , in Alberta we only have superfine float/flour gold . Like it's 1/4 gram a ton . I think a ton equals 70 screened pails ? Keep on doing great videos Colorado Gold Bug .
Where did you get the blank shell (the aluminum box with flare ) ? We just had a once in a century flash flood , leaving gravel bars in mid creek and bordering the creek. It was somewhat successful setting a regular sluice box in the creek and shoveling creek material unclassified directly into the box. So , what mat configuration would work best with unclassified material? Thanks.
Most amazing 'homemade matting' I ever saw, was a guy got tired of paying outrageous prices for mats all the time, so in his garage-woodshop, he took some hardwood, made basically a 7-inch wide 'shelf board' 5-feet long with a few planks, milled it flat, then with his router and a straight-edge, made a 'negative' of the mat he wanted to make. Then, took his time with some paraffin wax and rubbed it down good (to make the mold release later), and then used hardware store 'silicone caulk' to fill the mold grooves. He covered the whole board with it, then laid a flat rubber car floormat over it (my guess is, you could use any black rubber, even a heavy duty truck tube), and left it on his work table to cure for a week. It was as good as any 'storebought' sluice mat - and he could make any shape he wanted now, a lot cheaper than buying them (about $15 a sluice lay).
I notice a lot of water bead up on your blue gold pan, which tells me you didn't properly season it before you use it like a cook does for a cast iron skillet....Which gets rid off all the release wax and oils embedded in the plastic from the casting mold. So you're going to end up losing a lot of color.
I disagree with placing the riffles that close together. Reason: Because it does not create a proper vortex for the smaller pieces of gold to have the proper ample amount of time to drop down into the mat (especially the real fine flakes), as the force of the water intends to keep them traveling over the top of the riffles due to the adhesion principles of the water molecules which creates what is known as "floating gold". Otherwise not a bad instructional video.
Had to make box Myself had the binder - then you can get aluminum online - sometimes I will or others will make extra boxes and sell on ebay ! you have to keep a look out for them they can go fast! The online stores want anywhere between $70 to $100 for blank box
Since,.. your in Colorado,..there was a guy that was missing for a while,.. they found him between Rainbow trout farm and black mountain,..... I'd bet you there's gold there,... and their trying to make it sound mysterious like bigfoot done it. I'd bet in the hills just above there their mining gold and he stumbled on to them. Rio Grande National forest around conejos canyon.
