In areas where there is not enough water to prospect with a gold pan or sluice, a gold drywasher can provide a great alternative way to find gold. Drywashers come in a variety of sizes and can be very expensive. An alternative to buying one is building one. There are three main types of drywashers: hand bellows, motor driven bellows, and blower driven.
What follows is a set of plans for building a drywasher from scratch. It is a gas driven bellows drywasher, but you could easily convert it to a hand crank bellows style. When drywashing for gold, it is important to remember to run dry soil through the drywasher. If the soil is moist, then gold can pass over the riffles in dirt clumps. In hot areas, you can usually remove thin layers of dirt from the area you are working. This allows the moist ground underneath to dry out. For this reason, gold drywashers tend to be more popular in desert areas.
If you decide to use these drywasher plans, let me know how it turns out. Also, don’t forget to bring some of those inexpensive white masks that cover your nose and mouth when painting or doing other dusty tasks. Drywashing really kicks up the dust, and you will be grateful to have them with you.
Here are some do it yourself gold drywasher plans. Building a gold drywasher will require some mechanical skills.