Keene Engineering, Inc.

Keene Engineering, Inc. Dedicated to providing you with the finest Mining and Prospecting equipment for over 70 years! http We at Keene Engineering view our customers as family.

Keeping in touch with our community and sharing stories is half the fun of prospecting so feel free to share! Send us pictures of your treasure hunts or gold finds at [email protected]. Our CEO, Jerry Keene, loves to hear from you, as do we!

Keene tools are not just for mining. Patrick is using the Keene KCT crevise tool and penute butter knife. Good old fas...
09/09/2026

Keene tools are not just for mining. Patrick is using the Keene KCT crevise tool and penute butter knife. Good old fashion Miners ractions. Pat and the gang just finished moving a bunch of boulders, and now they are cleaning up the bedrock and finding some decent gold.

Pat is up on his annual trip up north on the Yuba. Already showing some good gold. My favorite couple found a 4.2-gram ...
09/09/2026

Pat is up on his annual trip up north on the Yuba. Already showing some good gold. My favorite couple found a 4.2-gram nugget, and more to come. Running there A52S and moving a lot of rocks.

Great news on the DW312Max upgrade!We put another 30+ hours of run time on the prototype, bringing the total testing to ...
09/03/2026

Great news on the DW312Max upgrade!
We put another 30+ hours of run time on the prototype, bringing the total testing to roughly 78 hours, and it is looking fantastic!
The heavy belting that keeps the bellows tucked inward is working exactly the way we hoped. No breakdown, no distortion, and no signs of wear. The bellows still look great and are staying right where they belong.
What makes this even better is that this should be a very easy upgrade for existing DW312Max machines. No major modifications — just a simple improvement that looks like it could make an already great machine even better.
We love this kind of stuff — test it, run it hard, learn from it, and keep improving it.
So far, this upgrade is looking like a winner!

09/02/2026

Here is a new DW312Max upgrade we have been working on, and so far I am really impressed with the results.
We fired this setup up a few days ago for testing, and it is working amazingly well. The new strap helps keep the bellows pulling inward instead of pushing outward and interfering with the bumper mechanism.
At this point, I have roughly 48 hours of solid run time on it between testing in the shop and out in the yard. The bellows still look perfect, and the belt-style webbing is showing zero signs of wear.
The idea actually came from a good customer of ours. He originally used a piece of leather that extended only a few inches into the bellows. His idea worked, but we took it a little further and found that using a longer piece of heavy belt webbing worked even better.
We are always looking for ways to improve our equipment, even when it means making changes to an already successful machine.
We should have conversion kits available soon for existing DW312Max owners.
My brother Patrick is taking one up to the Yuba for some real-world testing. As long as the ground stays dry, it should be a very productive piece of equipment. I am looking forward to seeing how it performs in the field.

09/01/2026

Here’s a quick video of a 4" intake and 5" discharge dredge at work. These guys are opening up the water intakes and clearing out accumulated material to improve water flow.
It’s a great example of how dredging equipment can be used for much more than gold recovery. A machine like this can help clean out waterways, ponds, irrigation intakes, docks, and other areas where sand, gravel, and sediment build up.
And I have to admit—it looks like they’re creating a pretty nice swimming hole at the same time!

Great news on the DW312MAX Dry Washer!We are finally getting production up to speed, and we are already halfway through ...
08/28/2026

Great news on the DW312MAX Dry Washer!
We are finally getting production up to speed, and we are already halfway through a run of 16 machines. This batch should take care of about 90% of our current backorders, which is a big step forward for us.
Our production crew is now trained and getting very comfortable building these machines. The DW312MAX is probably the most difficult and labor-intensive dry washer we manufacture. There is a tremendous amount of detail work that goes into every unit, but the team is really starting to hit its stride.
We should begin shipping these machines during the latter part of next week, and we are excited to finally start getting a lot more DW312MAX units into our customers’ hands.
We really appreciate everyone who has been patiently waiting. Demand for this machine has been incredible, and we are working hard to keep production moving while still making sure every machine is built the way it should be.
It feels great to finally be catching up!

This is another custom component that goes with our 8" Tri-Jet and 8" Quad-Jet dredge systems.Both of these 8" dredges a...
08/28/2026

This is another custom component that goes with our 8" Tri-Jet and 8" Quad-Jet dredge systems.
Both of these 8" dredges are powered by larger diesel engines with 6" pump discharges, so we fabricated two custom heavy-duty splitters.
One is a 6" x 3" x 3" x 3", and the other is a 6" x 3" x 3" x 3" x 3".
The beauty of these splitters is the fluid dynamics. We are trying to keep the water moving smoothly without making unnecessary sharp changes in direction. The smoother we can keep the water flow, the more efficiently we can transfer the engine and pump horsepower into actual dredging performance.
A bulky conventional plumbing manifold with a lot of elbows, tees, and abrupt direction changes can easily rob 10% or more of the system's performance.
On a big, high-powered 8" dredge, every bit of efficiency matters. Better water flow means better jet performance, stronger suction, and less wasted horsepower.
Sometimes the simplest-looking parts require a lot of thought to get right.

This picture probably means nothing to most people, but there is a lot going on here.This is the side of the new 8" Keen...
08/27/2026

This picture probably means nothing to most people, but there is a lot going on here.
This is the side of the new 8" Keene Super Max dredge we are building. We are fabricating a custom aluminum engine-mounting system and mounting the motor on four large rubber isolators. If you look to the left, you can also see the big 40 HP Vanguard mounted on rubber isolators.
Over the long term, these isolators help reduce vibration and metal fatigue throughout the dredge. They also make the whole machine feel smoother and, in some cases, can help reduce noise.
Some people might consider this overkill. But when someone spends this kind of money on a dredge, we really try to build the best machine in the world.
That doesn't mean we don't make mistakes or keep learning. In fact, we made several changes to this model compared with the last one we built. One of the biggest changes was shifting the engine, pump, and sluice box about 10 inches to improve the balance and help the dredge float flatter in the water.
Every machine we build teaches us something, and we keep making them better.

This is a heavy-duty custom 8" oversized power jet, built for a serious high-volume dredging operation. It features larg...
08/27/2026

This is a heavy-duty custom 8" oversized power jet, built for a serious high-volume dredging operation. It features large wear plates, TRI-JET three-jet logs, and our big 8" suction-hose quick-release system.
This unit will be matched with our larger 34" wide sluice box. There is going to be a tremendous amount of water moving through this jet, which is one of the main reasons we need the extra width in the sluice box—to properly handle all that water and material.

You can also see our welder, Javier, in the background. Javier has been with us for over 4 decades and does absolutely amazing, high-quality work. He always has a great attitude and takes pride in what he builds. We are very fortunate to have him as part of the Keene Engineering team.

A big part of our business at Keene Engineering is building custom dredging systems for applications far beyond gold min...
08/26/2026

A big part of our business at Keene Engineering is building custom dredging systems for applications far beyond gold mining.
Our equipment is used for clearing waterways, removing mud, sand, gravel, and debris, and cleaning underneath docks and marinas. These systems can help deepen boat slips and channels, remove invasive aquatic vegetation such as Eurasian milfoil, transfer sand for beach restoration, clean ponds and golf course water features, and even help maintain fish ladders and other waterways.
We also manufacture a line of powerful gravel pumps designed to move mud, sand, gravel, and small rocks over long distances. Depending on the application and setup, these systems can pump material more than 1,000 feet horizontally or lift it over 50 feet vertically above the water level.
Every job is a little different, which is why custom equipment has always been an important part of what we do at Keene Engineering.

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20201 Bahama Street
Chatsworth, CA
91311

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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