Build Your Own Gold Rocker Box Or Gold Cradle

"Build Your Own Gold Rocker Box Or Gold Cradle"," At the very dawn of the Gold rush to California, the rocker box also known as a cradle was perhaps the most used piece of gold prospecting equipment.
 Mostly this was because the miner could make a rocker for himself in the field from rough sawn lumber cut in the forest.
 Rocker boxes were also popular during the Klondike gold rush for working the hillside placers that were far above the creeks.
 long and 1 to 2 ft.
 At the upper end is a small hopper that may be removed and which has a sheet-iron bottom perforated with 1/2 -in.
 Under the hopper is a canvas apron or tray inclined toward the head of the box but touching neither end of the hopper-box.
 The material is fed into the hopper and screened through by water poured on top; the lighter material is carried over the end, while the riffles in the box catch the gold and magnetic sand.
 The rocker is used for the same type of work as the gold pan in that it is mainly a prospecting tool.
 On the other hand, the easy mobility of the pan as a prospecting device is lost.
 It is not really a desert device and it does use some significant water, but not nearly as much as a sluice.
 So perhaps the best use is in streams and waterways with very little water - where some water is present, but not enough to run a sluice box.
 The rocker is only a primitive machine, having a capacity but one-fifth as great as that of the sluice box, but because it is cheap, requires but little water, and saves a high percentage of coarse gold, the rocker will continue to be used in many districts.
 The grizzly retains all the oversized stones, which are removed by hand when they have been washed clean.
 The cradle must be placed on an inclination while being worked, and under the influence of the continued side-to-side rocking the dirt is quickly disintegrated, passes down through the hopper grizzly and the water and the undersize fall down onto the canvas apron which saves most of the gold and places the remainder at the head end of the trough.
 Riffles, canvas, blankets, corduroy, burlap, or cocoa matting with expanded metal have been used to cover the bottom of the trough and all have met with varying degrees of success in saving the gold.
 The frequency of cleaning up depends on the richness and character of the gravel, but clean-ups are usually necessary two or three times a day.


The rocking motion used should be sufficient to keep the gravel disturbed, allowing the gold to settle out, but a too vigorous movement will cause a gold loss.
 Generally speaking, the rocker is not known for its ability to save fine gold, but with careful and expert manipulation, decent fine gold recoveries can be achieved.
 When gold is found near the lower end of the rocker or sluice box, the potential for losses should be investigated.
 My recommended design for a rocker is to start buy building a sluice box 40 inches long, 16 inches wide on the bottom, sloped like a cradle, and with rockers at each end.
 This hopper box needs to be designed so it can be removed for clean up.
 Square riffles of wood or steel are placed across the bottom of the sluice portion of the rocker.
 Historically, rockers are built of wood, as the early prospectors built them.


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