Homemade Gold Sluice

Every prospector's dream is to find a fist-sized gold nugget.

Gold is a very dense metal. This physical property helps particles and flakes of gold moving along a stream bed separate from other, lighter sand and gravel. Wherever there is an obstruction to water flow, such as a rock or a ledge, gold tends to become temporarily trapped on its downstream side. Gold prospectors take advantage of this natural tendency with sluices, or artificial stream beds with multiple obstructions in a short distance. Even with a simple homemade gold sluice, a prospector can easily search through 100 pounds of sand and gravel in one day on a stream.

Things You'll Need

• 1 length of 1-by-2 treated pine, 8 feet long
• 1 length of 1-by-10 treated pine, 6 feet long
• 2 lengths of 1-by-6 treated pine, 6 feet long
• Galvanized nails or deck screws, 1¼ and 1½ inches long
• Power drill and drill bit
• 1 length of 2-by-4 treated pine, 10¾ inches long

Instructions

1. Cut a treated 1-by-2 in two pieces, one six feet long and the other two feet long. Cut two boards 10¾ inches long from the short piece.

2. Rip the 6-foot 1-by-2 in half with a table saw or circular saw. Cut 12 strips 9¼ inches long from the halves of the strip.

3. Attach a 9¼-inch strip 1 foot from the end of a 6-foot treated 1-by-10 board. Match the ends of the strip to the edges of the board. Drill holes in the strip to prevent splitting, and fasten with 1¼-inch nails or screws.

4. Attach the remaining 9¼-inch strips centered every six inches, leaving approximately one foot of space at the other end (the bottom).

5. Attach the two 6-foot 1-by-6 treated boards to the opposite sides of the 1-by-10 with galvanized nails or 1½-inch deck screws to make an open trough. The strips of wood should be inside the trough: they are the riffles, obstructions to flowing water that are designed to trap gold and other heavy grains.

6. Fasten the short lengths of 1-by-2 across the open top of the trough with nails or 1½-inch screws. These help support the open trough and also serve as handles for carrying.

7. Attach a 10¾-inch length of treated 2-by-4 to the bottom of the sluice about a foot from the top end. Attach the sluice box to the narrow edge of the 2-by-4 with galvanized nails or deck screws.

8. Place the sluice in flowing water with its top end aimed upstream. Empty a shovelful of steam gravel and sand into the space in the top end and allow the water to wash the solids over the riffles. Pick through the sediment that remains on the downstream side of each riffle by hand to search for particles of gold. Repeat.

Tips & Warnings

• Serious prospectors fabricate sluices from sheet metal, which is lighter, more durable and doesn’t become waterlogged.

• Many do-it-yourself prospectors attach industrial carpet, Astroturf, or similar fabric to the floor of the sluice to trap the finest particles of gold.

References

• Nevada Outback: DIY Hand Sluice
• Gary Weishaupt: Sluice Building

Resources

• Nevada Outback: How to use a sluice box
• Black Cat Mining: How Sluice Boxes Work