I want to build a sluice box from wood materials. I read one book that used 1 1/2 high riffles (1x2) set 1 1/2" apart. BUT I see all these designs on the internet or commercially made styles where the riffles are set maybe 6" apart. If the wider riffle spacing because expanded metal and carpet is used? I'm not sure what size riffles to use and how far aprt to set them? Thanks for any help.

What are you using it for? Home use or in the river? Wood gets very heavy when wet, so it won't make for easy transportation.

It would be in a river with good speed/flow and weight is a concern if I have to start hauling stuff up and down a steep bank but...money is sort of an issue and I'm just getting started and don't know what I need. I was thinking of getting some 1/4" thick plywood and make something that might not last long but would give me an idea of what I need. On the other hand I could start just with a trowel and pan, maybe I should, but I thought it would be slow going and I wouldn't find any gold. Someone told me setting up a sluice correctly takes some time and isn't always easy.

In any event on a homemade sluice with 1x1 wood riffles, how far apart should they be spaced?

Can you weld? Aluminum sheets are cheap. at any rate I've seen them seperated every 6" for a 3' long box. Look up the Keene A52 and reproduce the slat design. I highly recommend deep V black matting, miners moss and corrugated metal to also help catch the fine flakes.

Hello Davem, Many of the produced sluices have hungarin (sp) riffles with the matting under neath, such as my Keene A52 that fenixsmom talks about, this maybe why they are app 5"/6" apart as these riffles create a vortex on th down side that traps the heavys/gold.

I made a slice a few years ago in the manner your talking about, It was 12" W X 48"L X 4"D, I then put 1"X3/4" slats every 1" apart starting from 12" down from the top. This is a drop riffle method which worked pretty well till it feel apart from getting water logged so man times, I also lined the top 12" with a peace of thin sheet aluminum to give it a slick plate affect, kinda like the slick plate on many of the sluice boxs made today. With this type of sluice you won't need any type of matting, this is a lot like any of the drop riffle sluices that are made of plastic. Hope this helps you out. Best of luck!

I thought about welding- might be an option. I was thinking the wood would be easier. My big confusion was in a book I was reading the riffles on the wood box were only about 1 1/2" apart but when I look at the commercial styles the riffles look to be about 5-6" apart. Is the difference that the commercial style has the expanded metal and carpet? In other words if I do a traditional wood slat style then I set the riffles 1 1/2" apart with no expanded metal or carpet but if I add expanded metal and carpet then I set the riffles about 5-6" apart?
And, since I'm figuring here...What type of carpet should I use? If the sluice box is 4' long I leave the first foot open to shovel the dirt which leaves 3'. Should a single piece of carpet 3' long be put in the bottom and then a frame holding the expanded metal and riffles be placed on top and secured in place?
And the flared out mouth- how necessary is that? Normally needed?
I'll be using a shovel, screwdriver, etc. working by hand to obtain dirt to feed through the sluice box.
Thanks everybody for the help. :)

Traddoer knows his stuff so I would listen to him over me. I would make an aluminum one over a wood one any day. The light weight and durability would be my preference personally. If I knew how to weld I would have made my own months ago! The flared feed makes dirt distribution nice and also aids in waterflow..

Davem, if your going to build one that you can remove the riffles then I would use miners moss W/expanded metal on top, it isn't that expensive and it will catch a great deal of the really fine gold. Not sure about the logistics of spacing the riffles at 5"/6" or 2", maybe someone else can answer that one.

Thats the one thing about prospecting or just playing, you get to experiment with things, everyone is always trying to build a better mouse trap sort of speak, thats why there is so many different types of sluice boxs out there.

The drop riffle one I explained above is the easiest and cheapest route, and clean up is easier to because you don't take it apart to clean the consentraits out. I didn't mention though, on the slat riffles I used the plastic trim that has round edge on one side and a flat on the other, looks like a standard door trim only smaller.

You can also use 1" flat slats, and set them at an angle (typically 45 degrees) to create eddy pockets that will trap fine gold behind and under the riffle. Set this type 3 - 4 inches apart, so they can exchange material (allows the heavies to settle in, and the lighter material gets "pushed" out). This type also requires a faster flow rate to really work well. Put in a 12" aluminum slick plate in front of the riffles, and glue in deep V matting between the riffles, and it will work better, too.

One of the problems with making you own box, is that it gets expensive quickly, and tends to be very heavy. Pretty soon, you end up at (and usually exceeding) the cost of a ready made sluice. Look at a sluice like a Royal or Keene, or a lesser known (less expensive) brand and make your 1/2" and 1/4" classifiers to save money. Two 5 gallon buckets, and a small roll of 1/2" mesh and 1/4" mesh will cost less than the $50+ for the ones you can buy (especially if you hit a sale, and find some old buckets). You will also need 2 pans - a 12" or 10" one for the main panning your concentrate, and a smaller one for clean-up.

I started with a Royal folding box, a 16" pan, a 12" pan, and an 8" pan. I added 2 classifiers fairly quickly after that (1/2" and 1/4"), and a small "mud" mixing bin from Home Depot to clean my sluice box into. I do not pan material with the 16" pan - I use it as a reservoir and catch basin for my smaller pans when I pan out my concentrate at home.

You have to decide what you need at the stream. You should need (at a minimum) a 12" to 14" pan, a sluice, a 1/2" classifier, a small shovel (camp shovel type), and a bucket, and you should be able to carry this all in one trip. You can clean most stream sluices into a 5 gallon bucket, using your pan to wash it.

Please don't ask what I bring - I ALWAYS take WAY too much! At LEAST three trips worth, and take me an hour just to get ready to set up. ARRGH.

Have fun out there!

It's beginning to look like I ought to think about buying a sluice and saving money elsewhere. And...
The classifiers were my next question. I look at videos on you tube and it seeems 1/2" and 1/4" mesh is about it and yet some books are talking much finer. I can see the fine mesh working in dry terrain but for streamside some of that fine stuff looks like it would just get clogged up. Off hand 1/8" mesh would seem about as fine as you could go stream side.
I've saved up a half dozen 5 gallon pails.
Gettting back to the sluice, if you classify the dirt into a fine grade- it seems to me less water force might be required to move the lighter stuff (suspends more in the water) through the sluice while the gold filters out.

In river: 1/4" and if you have a finishing sluice:-20 they make classifiers down to -100 mesh (100 squares per inch). Buying a sluice will probably be best. I was corrected today at the river with Traddoer, it isn't cheaper to buy the metal and attach the pieces. He told me also that he made a box out of wood and it eventually became so waterlogged it literally broke down at the river.

You can build the wood sluice that I mentioned for about $30.00, and will last about 1-2 seasons, You could seal the wood with a good water sealer that might give it a little longer life. If you try to build it out of metal your better off buying one already made. 1/4 & 1/2 cassifiers is all you'll need for most of the places around Colorado. You are correct about the amount of water, depending on the size of the gold your trying to catch (& type of sluice used) will determin the velocity you'll need running across your sluice, also the angle pitch is just as important, about 1" for every foot in length. Best of luck in your new adventure

traddoerr: the wood type you are describing, it sounds like the slat riffles are permanently put in place, no carpet, and when it is about half full you just flip it over and empty out the concentrates? Is that correct?

Yes, that is correct. Its kind of the same design as the La Trap, McKirk sluices(sp). to empty it you would pick it up and put the bottom end into a bucket holding it upright and with water wash the cons down it into the bucket.

Well, for a newbie such as myself I might go ahead and use something like that for a while so I have a better idea on what to permanently get. Thanks.

hi guyss.somebody now the all measures of the sluice keene super concentrator ,i must built something like this,i now is 44 inch large and 8 inch wide.but i need the athors dimensions ,thankss