How LONG, Long Tom?

[Sierra Sam]

Is there a formula for the length of a long tom? Or width, depth?

[russau]

none that i know of.

[Sierra Sam]

Well then, How often did the old timers "clean" theirs, or did they?

I mean, they couldn't have cleaned them the way modern day sluices are cleaned since they appear to be semi-permanent structures from what I've seen in old photos. Other than picking out the "pickers" how'd they recover fines from a Tom?

[golden optimist]

Here's some pictures from the old days cleanups in alaska.

http://golddredger.com/kennysphoto.htm

Click on the pictures for a larger version. These were scanned from metal framed 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" glass slides.
Leonard

[Hoser John]

WOW GO now thats a long long tom-cool-thanx much--John

[golden optimist]

Those were on my other site, pre-video. There's a story that goes with the pictures at http://golddredger.com/kennysgold.htm

Leonard

[Geo-George]

A Bud and I are finishing up on our second 21 ft x 10 inch wide x 4 inch deep "Tom".
We cleaned the first one out at the end of each day, but I really think we can go two or three days.
That's one of the trials we want to run. As I see it, it all depends on the material and how much you are processing. Some areas contain more heavies than others, filling the riffles. Gotta watch the angle's effect on the flow over the riffles, and the heavies/values retension. A balancing act, so to speak.
I find the 10 x 4 to work very well with a flow of 3+ inches. Two of us can run plenty of material and have good stratification/classification.

[russau]

the setup from your pics looks like itll do just fine!

[Sierra Sam]

russau - don't know if you were talkin to me. If so, Thanks.

My BIG problem with the rig is getting it in and out of the creek. It's HEAVY

Here's the same rig after a Pine tree fell on it.



http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=12 ... 26&theater

I know there's folks who don't "do" the facebook thing. My son gets upset with my cuz I call it MyFace

[Geo-George]

If ya build the sluice so that you have interlocking segments it's a whole lot easier to move around.
My "Tom" is in 4' sections. Each section is a trough formed from 1/8" alum.