Commercial places have an assortment of good products for classifying - there are hundreds. But I recall my first classifier that worked ok. I was shoveling dirt from a rather high bank which had a lot of embedded rock. The stuff had been gathering from forceful flash floods down the large arroyo where I was working. It was probably my second trip out prospecting.
I had a trash basket made of heavy plastic that I had found in the desert - somebody evidently forgot it. There was no way to find an owner so I took it. Being frugal and not ready to buy a lot of commercial equipment (and that is the way everybody should look at it at first) I decided to use an old barbecue grill made of pretty heavy steel that I had saved from my last old barbecue that had its bottom worn away. Thought it might be useful, and it was.
I placed the grill on top of the basket and proceeded to shovel, clear, and shovel again. Even though some of the material was a bit courser than I would have liked, it was a lot faster than picking all the rocks out! One could put cross wires on it to make the openings squares instead of long skinny openings - depends on whether it is worth your time. In my case I went from that to buying 1/4" mesh at the hardware store and sandwiching it between a wooden framework - 2 classifiers that each fit on top of a the same old trash can or 5 gallon elastomeric paint buckets that I save. The photo below shows all the different types of stuff you can use to classify, most all from thrift stores.
This image was taken by jcazgoldchaser at http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/gold-prospecting/311828-how-make-my-own-mesh-classifier.html
For those wanting a basket type arrangement, fry baskets work great. Maybe a McDonalds or some such place has some decrepit things they don't want? You can see commercial ones of all kinds and prices at
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/14417/fryer-baskets.html?gclid=CO7d7NiJ0rUCFYk7Mgody2QApg
A Treasure of Free Gold Prospecting Equipment Plans and Commentary-- I gold prospected in Arizona 15 years. Am on a budget working on success mining. If you want gas money, cut corners to get to the claims. I began homemade equipment in 2008. First just looked at other folks' equipment; copied on my own. Took tape measure to a meeting or an outing & measured parts. I looked for plans on the Net. Posting commentary on free plans is offered. URLs are here too.
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