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Dry Washers, What's Good?


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Looking to maybe buy a dry washer. What does everyone like? Power blower, electric bellows, size, brand ext.. Is one brand better than another for fine gold recovery or do they all preform the same or close to the same.
I would be grateful for all information.

Thanks Greg,

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That's a very broad subject-- you need to narrow your questions down---

 

Are you running it alone?

Are you fast or slow at shoveling dirt?

Do you want to be stealthy or is a loud gas blower ok?

How much dirt do you want to process a day?

Do you have to carry it in a long or short ways to where you will be drywashing.

Do you already have a good area to use one in?

 

 

Brands are brands---- a modified Keene is good, but an electric or crank puffer is better in some places....

 

Lots of things will depend on like this will have to be answered before you can make a definitive choice..

 

Generally--- I can't say I have ever seen a real bad dry washer ....

 

They aren't that complicated...

 

paul

get ready to dig! :D

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I use a Keene 151. I can only say good things about it. It has amazing recovery even when running in heavy black sands 90%+. Only gold I have a problem catching is porous fluffy flat gold and ultra fine under 100 mesh gold. Even missing the ultra small stuff it's still catching a vast majority of the ultra small gold. In the picture is just one handful of concentrate panned down. The gold is powder small and all recovered with thel keene 151.

post-365-0-65700500-1435842304_thumb.jpg

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Greg,

 

A of people like the "puffer" type drywashers like the Keene. You can either hand crank or buy the model with a 12 volt motor and power with a small 12 volt battery.  I had one and it worked good for one old man shoveling.  But, it is heavy and awkward to move in one piece.  It can be taken apart and reassembled, but that is a p.i.t.a..  I sold mine and bought a Royal "blower" type.  If I were to get a puffer again I would try one of the hand made small wooden ones--lighter and more portable. 

 

The Royal is similar to a number of the brands and is operated with a small 2 cycle engine leaf blower.  They are very easy to take down, transport, and set up in a new location. The Royal does not require any tools to take down or setup.  I personally found it handier than the Keene puffer, plus I had the blower/vacuum I could use to vacuum bedrock if desired.

 

Keene has a new drywasher, the 160, that is advertised to be relatively dust free and can be converted to a wet system with an accessory kit.  I saw one at a Gold Show last February.  It is small and very portable.  Has anyone tried one of these?  They look pretty neat. 

 

http://www.keeneeng.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=KES&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=160

 

I eventually wore out a couple of shoulders shoveling dirt into drywashers and have decided to concentrate on detecting, but will occasionally drywash an area that seems promising.  It is fun to pan out the concentrates and see that gold in the pan.  

 

As stated above, pick a size and type that meets your needs.  They all work about the same and your recovery depends more on how you operate it than brand of the machine.  

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Keene engineering is supposedly making a dustless dry washer i have only heard some stories about it but have not see one.

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