Can I Make a Working Gold Pan?

[@MickH60]

Hey Chris, I noticed the sh1t comment from stevekelly you pinned. I was born in the 60's, grew up quite poor and because of that I learned very early on to make, or fix almost everything I own, I still do this, I even make my own Motorcycle parts and even some car parts,build my own carburettors and at 60, still service my own vehicles. Over the years my wanting to fix everything evolved to lathe and mill work, I've just made my own disc rotors for one of my bikes as well as quite a lot of other stuff, aluminium, carbon fibre and stainless steel. Anyway, my point is, GO HARD SON, make every and anything you like, some sh1t will fail but, you'll learn valuable skills that old mate stevekelly obviously doesn't possess, it can also save you a small fortune. ..... Love your work mate....

[@markfryer9880]

Like mick, I was born in the mid 60s, my parents were very young children during WWII and my Grandparents had survived the Great Depression by working hard and watching their money very carefully. Things were bought carefully and maintained, then repaired to get them working again. The veggie garden and the chook shed helped to feed a family of three growing children. Despite all of the privations from the Great Depression and then Rationing during the War, three of my Grandparents lived until they were in their 90s. 😮 My Father is currently 88, and from him I learned how to make, maintain and repair things. Admittedly today there are some things that you can buy which are almost impossible to repair without specialist knowledge, tools, spares and equipment. 😞 What this does mean is that we have to concentrate on looking after things and being able to repair the less complicated things that we might own. It does get harder when society has planned obsolescence in products, and certain manufacturers wish to deny us of the rights to repair our own equipment. Keep up with the series Chris, it is very interesting and entertaining! 😊 Mark from Melbourne Australia

[@susanturcotte3176]

I'm also a 1960s baby. I learned to earn, budget, tithe, and spend my weekly allowances, because we were bottom of the middle class (if that makes sense). Ingenuity and engineering to make something out of nothing, was a key part in growing up. As I look back, I'm so thankful for the parents I had!

[@piratescrew1869]

Why is it that most people who leave sh1t comments would not pass a grade 3 english exam. I’m an 80s baby but still get much more enjoyment from finding gold with a homemade tool. Those who haven’t tried it, just don’t get it!

[@chrisdowd2295]

Dam bro when i read your post i thought i was reading my own lol nice...

[@seantilson6330]

The haters don't realize they just make us STRONGER 💪.!!! 😁

[@michaelwarren202]

Hey Chris. On my claim, I use a wheelbarrow as a giant pan. I place a 1/4 screen over the top of the wheelbarrow. I fill the Wheelbarrow about 1/4, place in some water. I then shake back and forth for 10min or so. After stratification, I scrap off the top layers and repeat. After about 3-4hrs of this, I have a wheelbarrow full of con's. Than I take it home for a controlled clean up. This allows me to process a large amount of gravel in a short time.

[@breckfreeride]

I've used a kiddie pool... but then again I'm from Texas

[@madman2]

Chris I'd love to see this replied on the channel!

[@michaelwarren202]

I believe you can buy electric Wheelbarrow already. keep it stealthy, nice and quiet.@@oldbonesbushcraftrodjackso474

[@jamesmcclung1718]

I need to see this 😂

[@brendachilders8075]

Chris doesn’t remember he owns a wheelbarrow😂😂😂

[@joelray3617]

When I was prospecting, I used the Garrett Square Pan. Waaaaayyy back in 1985. I also had a Keen sluice box that I attached two brackets that span the sluice box on either side of the sluice walls. and then to those brackets I attached a thin piece of rubber mat that was about a foot and a half long that hung down onto the bed of the sluice. The brackets served a purpose for I put a couple of large rocks on top to hold the sluice in place. Also, it balanced the sluice so I could carry it one handed. And the rubber mat floated on top of the water and it forced all of the small floating gold down into the green carpet. We ran a ordinary sluice behind my sluice for an entire day. We didnt loose a single piece of gold. NOT A ONE. What was left at the end of the day were garnets, black sand and gold. After using a magnet on the on the sand and hand picking the garnets, Nothing but pure gold.

[@wakeupidiotsnow2611]

Basic shop class hand forming tools, are a leather mallet, and a wooden block. Then just finish with a ball peen hammer for final thicknesses, etc.! You can do this with steel metals and especially soft aluminum copper brass. Go for it! As my shop teacher used to say “start all over” don’t use rivets if you don’t have to. Cold forming by hand is definitely an art form.

[@lensmann4002]

That aluminum pan of yours is absolutely great! You never know what you can do until you try, and making your own pan is awe inspiring. Hats off to your creativity and inventiveness. Consider this pan the prototype, a few tweaks here and there and you will have the Vo-Gus Pataya pan for the world to share, or buy at your merch store.

[@AndySatterwhite]

Love the DIY series. There's heaps of stuff you can overpay to make something almost as good as store bought. I was really hoping you would use that geometry from school that we rarely use in real life to find the center.

[@ross.....9433]

Try using automotive or BBQ paint from bunnings for your pan. It will definitely bond to aluminium and you can get it in dark colours. It can withstand 550 degrees and does not come off easily.

[@Wildfrontier_adventures]

The diy home made prospecting equipment is awsome some thing are expensive and these diy are the best something about building something that dose the job is just awsome

[@VoGusProspecting]

The price ultimatly is less important than the enjoyment. Im happy to pay more to get more from my experince.

[@Wildfrontier_adventures]

@VoGusProspecting I have made my own low banker utilising carpet and I found a non slip mat that is very similar to minors moss after watching you build mega sluice and it works wonders. I agree doing the diy and utilising different materials Nd riffle systems has been the best bit of experience. Thanks for ya work mate

[@susanturcotte3176]

That's a rockin' pan you made! Perhaps a little heating and/or welding will help to make it really top notch! Thanks for sharing! Blessings from Alabama ❤️

[@mikeclark5135]

To change it from flat to cone shaped put it over a round hole(bucket etc) . Make sure the edges where you cut from the outside to the centre are stepped so they don’t hit each other and simply push down in the centre until you’ve reached the desired depth. Then put some rivets in the join so it will hold its shape. Once it’s joined if you sit the join on flat concrete you can hammer the lip down more flatter so it doesn’t interfere with the swirl effect as much.

[@insolentstickleback3266]

Pure awesomeness Chris, I really enjoyed this. I have been saving #2 plastic for a while now, with the thought that I will make a 2 part mold and create a super groovy Batea pan.

[@fredrikrosencrantz3140]

If you use a treestump that is carved out then a wood mallet. That would make it easier to make the cone.

[@DRIVER50L]

Trestump needs no carving it a base and a ballpein hammer not wooden mallet unless your trying to shape alfoil lead sheet or light gauge copper , butyourvonthe right track

[@stevecasvan5225]

Look up aluma Black. You can usually find it at your local gun store as a metal treatment. I've used it on several projects to make the aluminum black and it works really good.

[@torbjt05]

So cool to see all of your diy projects 🤠🤘 And thank you for all of your hard work on hours and hours of videos. Always so fun and interesting 😄 Im scratching my dog behind his ear for you 🤠 and soon out to do some prospecting my self 👍 Have a great day Chris and Fern Salut from Norway, one of your newest patreons 🥳

[@TheCoffeeBushKid]

Nice going making the pan and you did well making it cone shaped. Very hard without kinking it. 😁👍👍

[@1erinjames]

I just LOVE your ingenuity!!

[@48thstateprospecting]

Well over here in the land of freedom we don’t have aluminum checker plate that’s the first time I’ve heard of it…. Over here we have diamond plate which is basically just diamonds tightly woven across the surface. But we’ll done on bending that by hand. I probably would have cut down the middle of the overlap and spliced the two pieces together at the same elevation and then used solder to weld them together. But I’m sure you’ve made significant improvements already. Great job chris looking forward to more testing of this device. Thanks for sharing see you on the next one👍🏼👊🏼

[@georgedobrovsky3800]

Hello Chris, I have been there,done the same.That shaping is difficult, especially with material not annealed beforehand, good trying, regards George

[@OldManCardboard]

I got excited about a homemade gold pan then I heard the price lol. Glad it works and if you keep it up you’ll eventually make your money back!

[@jamescarney6883]

Well done on the pan

[@orophilia]

Great stuff, Chris. I love the homemade equipment. With modern tools, materials and technology we should be able to improve the art.

[@VoGusProspecting]

Absolutely! Its all about improving on your skills and techniques!

[@aliciageb]

STRAIGHT TO THE "POOL ROOM" ! WITH That ONE CHRIS! 😜 Good job! ☺️

[@metalfenderguybradwalker1916]

Also flex seal is the bomb when you're mickey mousing stuff like this

[@OG_DILLIGAFIS_98]

Well technically it was only a full betea pan worth of material over the 3 pans, Id be bloody happy with it mate, im currently in the process of following your how to on saving myself $250 on a miller table 😂 Scored an a4 cutting mat for $8 today, when the misess asked why i was getting it i just showed her the how to video on it and she was like "sounds good ill help if you want" 😊😊 I love that shes so supportive of me and my adhd adventures 😅 Been a supporter and a subscriber since some of your earliest videos, And had some amazing gaming sessions and even deep convorsations about things i dont like to talk about. Love your work mate keep it coming. Hands down best content creator in australia.

[@jamesMurphy-c1w]

Always love our man cave to do or hobbies we love. Gold is a good hobby to find. You are the best.

[@sean98643]

If you need to join aluminium together, and you have that blowtorch, you can check out 'brazing rods' for aluminium (and particularly low-temperature ones). This is a process of heating up the metal, take the flame away and touch the rods to the hot part, melting the rods and forming a joint. (Edit: This part was originally the start of my comment but is incorrect: Aluminium is soft enough that you can beat it into shape with a hammer. As a further example, one of the ways aluminium pots etc are made are that a flat 'blank' is put over a mould then pressurised oil just squeezes it into place.)

[@MickH60]

There are quite a lot of different Aluminium's my friend, you definitely can't use the same methods to shape them all. 7075 series aluminium, for arguments sake, is high tensile and hard as a rock....

[@DRIVER50L]

Nope the beating needed would cause aluminium to crack and split, note pots n pans are pressed under many tonnes of high speed pressure also injectionmoulded and machined , completely different processes , 30 years metal trade here .

[@sean98643]

Ah OK, I stand corrected. Thanks for the update. I'll tweak the original to reflect this.

[@danielweir81]

Personally I would shape before cut. Like get a stump of wood to cut the shape out of them bash into shape.

[@clintkalk6332]

Hey Chris. I'm a Machinist by trade and forgot a load of aluminum hydraulic bodies in the parts washer once for about 2 hours. Turned the aluminum an aged bronze color. It was a mildly acidic solution. You might try that instead of a sharpie😆

[@clintkalk6332]

I'll look tomorrow if I remember, and tell you the acid. It was heated to about 160 degrees Ferenheit and agitated. I bet 2 more hours and they would have been black.

[@TalRohan]

I noticed something else about that excellent days panning...it was definitely within the same 24 hours to a week after making your alimooniminimum pan because your finger end was still black from sharpieincidetally without tools you did it the best way...bending straight lines from the outside edge to the middle is exactly how my blacksmith self would do it. and rivets ...genius

[@mikeblair2594]

I was just thinking, you could literally carve a Batea pan out of wood. After you mentioned the people in other countries used wooden pans I kept my eye out for people using wooden pans and sure enough, some first nations guys were using them in south America. Some looked like Batea pans and some looked almost like a bread mixing bowl. Slightly dished and kind of rectangular with the ends being rounded. I think it was in Guyana, but I might be wrong.

[@waveydavey2721]

Hi Chris, there is a process to make steel black called Cold Bluing. There is a product called Birchwood Casey, Aluminum Black. There are a few KZbin videos of this and the products are fairly easy to get.

[@KarmaHoax]

Love the DIY content Chris! Would be on top of the world finding any fly poop with my homemade tool. Plus you gotta respect the brute strength approach to forming that sweet metal pan 😂 Keep the videos flowing sir! More Gadzee as usual. Although I am subbed to him as well and do catch his content. Mans got the intro game on point. Respect from a Candian fan.

[@r-d6568]

For future reference, Aluminum brazing rods could be another solution

[@markfryer9880]

Yes, and Chris already has the small gas torch.

[@magicone9327]

When deciding which side of the pan is the upper overlap side did you take into account the direction of your preferred rotation!

[@VoGusProspecting]

I did not, I should have

[@magicone9327]

I have used low temp melt solder made for AL. Would be interesting to meet the cut lines parallel then solder/braze or weld with the low temp solder material.

[@outbackAus260]

Nice safety socks Chris

[@benjy-adams]

Just loved this video....perfect sunday morning viewing while the kids play with a newly built lego Cockatoo!

[@skwervin1]

Could you hammer the metal over the corner of a table, rotating as you go so you thin and bend it in a cone shape without a join? Maybe add a little heat from a blow torch ? Just tossing the idea out there...

[@metalfenderguybradwalker1916]

I miss these longer videos

[@kompressahdnb]

Love this series man

[@mikeblair2594]

I'm really surprised that you don't have a bottle jack press in your shop. That would make creating a steel Batea pan much easier and you could make it from one piece.

[@rickcarter4967]

Keep it coming Chris 😁

[@VoGusProspecting]

Will do!

[@JohanFroloff81]

Make a circle. throw it on the grass. Grab STampie, and make a bowl. like how you make an oil drum.

[@699hazard]

Maybe go down to your local mens shed to use their lathe to make a wooden batea pan shaped cone to hammer the shape onto. Maybe make a positive and a negative shape of the pan then put the mmetal between them and then press them in a vice. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@DRIVER50L]

Mate try getting a sheet of black iron heet about 1 mm or less, a large ball pein hammer about16 ounce and a tree stump , using Th round side of hammer start beating cents and working it out from centre working it around till you have the desired cone you want , then with the flat side begin flattening out the rough bumps flipping dish as you go use the edge of stump to be the hammer edge to help remove the bumps , do this as much as required to achieve the dish finish , a cross pein hammer helps to create riffles

[@GG-ud1ib]

You could cut the end of a completely empty gas tank, or the bottom of a metal container. Than use a sand bag, and hammer to shape into cone.

[@uncletiggermclaren7592]

Chris, making stuff ourselves is what separates us ANZACs from all those sad John Foreigners! So, one of our famous writers over here in NZ had a kinda joking gold prospecting story. And the Larikin protagonist hired a cement mixer, water pump and generator, set the mixer up so that he could shovel from the riverbed, and ran the water into it constantly, and shoveled the gravel in. The idea was most of the gold would stay in the bottom of the drum, and as it filled up, the tailings would naturally spill out over the lip. He said he knew he would be losing a fair bit, but he was in a hurry to make some dosh. You could give it a try !.

[@RICDirector]

Hmm...bicycle powered, light plastic, large wheels....hmmm!

[@uncletiggermclaren7592]

With the right setup, you could do that. You would have a dam set up, with a pipe supplying the water too. So you only need to turn the drum with your bike.@@RICDirector

[@thedevilsthatgame]

ill buy merch if i can have it signed and shipped to me lmao. But no for real chris thank you for the videos. they have been helping me a lot lately mentally give fern a good scratch for me

[@joecolosi1795]

Mr. Chris, take your new pan to a local welder or machine shop and have them weld up the seam..

[@BlkCal30t]

Good to see you wear safety goggles and safety…..socks! 😂😂

[@magicone9327]

Try putting the piece over/onto a large frying pan or wok. Then put a drift punch in the center and begin pounding.

[@RICDirector]

Just use an old wok, no need for newconetruction...?

[@geradkavanagh8240]

Always wondered how one of the lids off these set up at an angle with a rotator would go for concentrating heavies. Oates Rubbish Bin with Lid Green/Black 75L. Since I'm many kilometres away from a good gold area have never been able to try it.

[@brocojack]

Chris..... that is awesome.

[@twostroke350]

Aluminium is MUCH easier to bend and form once it's been annealed. You heat it up so the crystals in the metal re-structure themselves making it more malleable. Relevantly, gold does the same thing. If you want to draw out a gold wire or hammer it into a thin sheet, you need to heat it up to anneal it as you continue to draw it thinner because it work hardens and becomes brittle. Conveniently, the temperature at which sharpie pen marks burn off aluminium with a blowlamp is the same as the annealing temperature. I believe you might need to heat gold to red hot to anneal it properly.

[@emilmanyarski536]

Cool little pan man

[@jeffbybee5207]

Please would like to hear your opinion on a steeper angle to the pan and also about hitting g the center of the pan to make it deeper a little. What I mean is don't slit the circle all the way to the center and by letting the area you did not cut make a little pockit also it looks like the man you made the center was only down an inch maybe increase to four inches?

[@Adam-mn1wr]

you were so close with the lead! if you wanted to seal the seam of the pan use your blow torch to melt the aluminium, if you want to fill it with something you can use coke cans or foil.. *warning this will take some practice

[@daleparker4207]

Thanks for sharing

[@DrSafely]

You might want to consider keeping that black sand and doing a tin refining video. Tin is a lot more $ than copper.

[@Golden-dog88]

hey Chris, Chris here if youve got a blow torch you can carefully color the al

[@BatteredWing]

When I first started I was using a shallow dessert bowl to learn 😂

[@rolltide5222]

Multi talented 😊

[@MrErikb81]

If you use some thin soft steel sheet, you could probably just hammer one out with a peening hammer. Or if you make a wooden mold, press it with a car jack.

[@Garimpeiro.MT300]

Muito interessante seu conteúdo, já cheguei de fazer uma com antena 📡 ... Consegue fazer uma lavadoura de ouro a seco manual ??? Ja tem um tempo que estou procurando um vídeo relacionado

[@Noxtreme]

Hi Vo-Gus, Long time subscriber. I am lucky enough to have a piece of private property on a gold bearing creek in California. I have prospected this area for 25+ years casually and I enjoy the heck out of finding gold, gems, minerals and all sorts of stuff. I'm second generation of this as well. In any case; I have recently stumbled onto a pretty good gold area. I am getting lots of thin flakes and specks out of a shovel or two. The issue is there is heaps of black sand and other fine heavies with it and I literally can not pan or sluice a bucket down enough to allow for efficient collection of just the gold. The black sand is so fine it hardens in the pan if you let it dry a little. Should I build a miller table?

[@VoGusProspecting]

Classify to your majority sized gold. Then run it through a dream mat micro. Then miller it. That's my process

[@ssnerd583]

A sandbag and a mallet.....dead blow hammer??? and ....BAM!!! beat hell outa it!!!

[@trevdyer173]

If you have a cutting blade for that grinder then shape the cone 1st next time then sit it over somthing and cut it into shape

[@ChrisArmstrong-ir3fg]

G’day mate, Would the home made pan work better if you put the checker plate on the inside of the pan?

[@his18v2000]

Better to cut a paper to make a sample mold to make a con at desires con height the cut the over lay paper, there the shape of paper that you need to be paste on the aluminium to be cut. But at the center you have to make a hole by drilling it to avoid joint tightened

[@chrisgooden9662]

Used mild steel and a hammer to form the shape rather then fold it?

[@breckfreeride]

Hammer and a stump... thats how you bend metal

[@ainschuntayleuhn1147]

Chris… I would have plugged the Hole with Epoxy.

[@82celica]

Could you use the Chalk board paint in the base of the pan? Probably be need to recoated every now and then but would have a bit of added friction maybe...?

[@48thstateprospecting]

Had the same thought sand that aluminum (aluminium) and chalk paint it black

[@VoGusProspecting]

I wonder if it would last?

[@debhester8665]

I recon a matt black spray can would work just as well

[@48thstateprospecting]

@@VoGusProspecting not sure I’ve never painted aluminum… try it and then we will all know lol unless you came up with something already.👍🏼👊🏼

[@trevdyer173]

Automotive paint

[@LangSauce93]

I think some cheap auto body hammers, a torch, and some wood forming would accomplish this without the seam cut🤔

[@philjohnston7920]

considering its amulimiummmm you could have used heat and a ballpein hammer + you boob and no cuts and rivets required anyway if it works it works and good to see the T Shirt we sent you is still going strong

[@thurealhank]

Dude, try painting that bad boy with chalkboard paint

[@danielpapp3995]

I almost want to say we put the riffles on there not because we don't have the skill I think it's just because the gold is constantly getting smaller

[@sammacias8390]

What if you used some black spray paint on the new pan?

[@asjamuir5534]

An anvil and hammer with some heat u can bash out the cone shape defo a few days of hammering slowly for maximum fun

[@rickeyboatright6237]

Use solder bro. Its easy and any hardware store will have a small roll.

[@E-BikingAdventures]

Use a nibbler. It's a $15 attachment to a drill. Cuts sheet metal.

[@VoGusProspecting]

I didn't know those exist

[@reybuccatjr.2693]

holy shit i never expected to hear the aluminum switch up. im fucking crying

[@joeryerson9295]

A propane torch, a ball peen hammer and circle of rocks or any other depression should work to shape a pan and no need to cut the slit down the middle or the rivets

[@lefthand2638]

столько раз упоминался черный песок в видео... что он означает? неужели это признак присутствия в породе золота? веселые у вас видео, слабо понимаю английский, но всё равно смотрю потому что весело и позитивно. Спасибо :)

[@markfryer9880]

On the creek that Chris and Gadzee frequently work and film on, there is lots of raw tin ore (the black sands) and it's size and weight means that it ends up being found in with the gold mixed in. Because it is non magnetic, it is very difficult to separate the gold flakes and specks from the tin ore black sands, hence the need for a Miller table either bought or home made. I hope that this explanation helps to clear things up. You might be able to use the Closed Captions feature, but it may have difficulty dealing with some Australian English language words and phrases! 😂 Just roll with it and eventually you will tune your ears to understand the guys! Mark from Melbourne Australia

[@notthatgreatgaming9140]

you didnt have to cut it Chris. you could have put the round on a sand bag wrapped in canvas, heat it up with a propane torch, and smack it with a hammer, starting in the middle and working your way out.

[@JesseJames-rq4ee]

A bag of sand and a hammer Ball peen and around face, not a claw hammer And start tapping on it, lay the metal on the sandbag and tap against the sandbag and work the circle until you get to the angles you want

[@epicname1549]

Could have made the batea pan out of a sturdy plastic for cheaper, and it would weigh less.

[@RICDirector]

Or heat gun an old plastic gold pan....?

[@CapraObscura]

Sir Chris, can chalk rivers contain gold?

[@auca]

you were once doing a series about collecting alluvial gold earnings and buying more tools from scratch. i found that series interesting, but you didn't continue it. developing your own tools is like a continuation of it.

[@johnwoods1247]

well ill just comment on the fact your color cordinated today🤣🤣. RARE! 😂😂

[@VoGusProspecting]

Oh lord its an effort to get colour cordinated!

[@WheelieShinyGold]

Fun fact: the Chinese invented the riffles in the gold pan. You're welcome

[@piratescrew1869]

Old chimney caps also work. The older the better! They are already black on the right side and saves your sharpie 🙄

[@piratescrew1869]

Thanks for that James. Your comments are always so helpful and interesting!

[@piratescrew1869]

No worries. It’s the least I could do for our amazing community!

[@RandyKuhn-dk9pd]

I made a sluice out of straws.

[@Sk8rdad420]

Ive been waiting for this video.

[@Yuckster]

I think if you made a 2 one clap it to a trash can without cutting in wile it’s still a circle and drop something here in the middle over and over it is bends to a cone shape I think it could work idk tho I’m not super smart but I’d try it idk 🤷‍♂️

[@metalfenderguybradwalker1916]

And to change the color use concentrated bleach or you can use a bluing stuff that they put for on rifles it's a rusting compound

[@oldinuselesshancox5194]

Greetings bra Thanks for da post, was thinking a sledgehammer an dip in ground + anger at wold of suits ( ev'a noted how the worst people all ware suits) might work , do ya think an old metal hubcap could work as well? Give that pup a scratch in her itchy spot from me an thanks again for helping keep one out of black dog mind set 💯👍🤙🖖

[@breckfreeride]

Just torch it to get it dark

[@PrabeshCarkey]

Big size aluminum pan make part 2 sir am from Nepal 🇳🇵🇳🇵

[@brocojack]

Am I the only one who wants to buy one? How much man?

[@Robert-t5b2g]

Why buy a pan for $20.00 when you can spent $100 to make your own? 😂😂