Panning For Gold Home
In the early days of prospecting the pan was commonly called the "gold dish." Many prospectors carved his/her own from a large block of wood. It didn't take many sophisticated tools to make a wooden pan-just a jackknife to do the rough carving, which could then be "sanded" smooth with gravel from a stream bed.
Cow horns were also used to make gold pans. Carefully slit lengthwise, and then steamed until it was soft enough to be worked, the horn was opened out and shaped into a shallow dish suitable for panning. In the old days the "gold dish" was the only means available to the small miner and prospector for the separation of gold.
Until just recently, the most popular gold pan to evolve was the steel pan. Probably the most efficient pan for the novice today is one molded from tough plastic. It is far superior to the steel gold pan for several reasons. Firstly, it is rust and corrosive proof. Secondly, it can be textured with a fine "tooth" surface to hold the gold better. Third, it is about one quarter the weight of a steel pan, and fourth the color can be made a permanent black so that even the tiniest flakes of gold can easily be seen. Being made by an injection mold process, riffles can be easily formed into a plastic gold pan. These riffles trap the gold much as the riffles in a sluice box, thus speeding up the gold panning process considerably. Old timers often refer to these as "cheater riffles" because they allow the novice to pan for gold with nearly the same degree of efficiency it took the old timers years to develop. There are probably some where in the neighborhood of 3 million gold pans and other gold prospecting tools sold annually in the USA alone.
Trying your luck at panning for gold could lead to one of the most fascinating, enjoyable hobbies you have ever known. The gamble of taking a gold pan full of material and finding precious metal in any quantity, whether only a flake or laden with nuggets, is a sensation that is unexplainable.
