Metal Detecting discussions and finds

Interesting.

 

Ah, thats cool, thanks! Did he make the sheath too?

 

Yep

 

Extremely apologize for the late reply.

I have a home made sand scoop that works pretty good and I have the 8in Stealth Scoop.

The home made one was built from a "bend over hand scoop", which is the one pictured in the OP. I wouldn't recommend it for the heavier "wet sand", but the dry sand it worked pretty good. I still end up liking just to get down on the ground and work the "dig site"... that's always been easier for me... but that is just me.

Water hunting, something I seriously need to motivate myself to get into. Long story short, that is definitely something that one needs to practice with to get good at. In either case though, I can't go to far where the gold really is as I don't feel confident enough with "swimming" and such. There was one time where I had a target that I was sure was going to possibly be gold or something possibly valuable, but the water/waves just kept coming and coming and every time I thought I had it... it was gone... regain the contact... gone... and eventually just gone altogether. It didn't help I was trying out my Garrett Infinium LS for the first time and that was quite a few years ago now.

Anyways, those are the scoops that I have.

 

GPX 6000, and my first review taking her out detecting in the Mojave.

This was our first test with her out in the Mojave Desert and all I can say it's easy walking about detecting with this one. Firstly, there is no stooping over to pick up bad targets with a scoop with this detector, they were all the real thing! And GeoSense works amazingly well, being able to go automatically and easily keep up with wherever I detected was a breeze. I've detected with others that were unwieldly and hard to control in the desert, but this one is really something special. We went for a couple miles on the edge of a dry lake looking for meteorites and she really showed her stuff and almost seemed to know her way over the salty ground and could pick up anything I threw at her. She can easily pick up on the nuggets of every size left by many others, was very quiet and hardly made any noise anywhere I go, even in the most briny parts of the ground covered with salt, underneath the buzzing high tension power lines that cross part of the dry lake, and even the hot rocks did not seem to bother her much. She's quite a detector and we are finally really lucky to have one like this! All I can say is wow, everyone should have one like this for detecting!
She’s a great detector dog, we love taking her anywhere. Happy April fools day!

 

That’s a great and sad story about your lost in the waves treasure. The sea is certainly unforgiving and likes to keep all sorts of things to herself. I used to scuba dive off the beaches here in So Cal and have taken a couple head overs with a 80cf tank, flippers, mask and other gear on while returning to the beach, those were fun. I can definitely see how probably tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars worth gold is buried all up and down our beaches below the surf zone from those who take a spin in a wave and pound the sand afterwards. So yeah, I am curious about broadening my prospecting to go look for beach gold too, I mean the chances of me finding a multi-gram nugget of shiney are much better than finding one of the equivalent size here in the So Cal deserts, right? The only difference being that it’s the desert and the beach is, well... not the desert. Where would go to take a... there? What do I wear? Must I really find a designated spot to park my truck? Why can’t I just park it in the sand over there?

Ah, but actually- with a Nox in hand, I would be interested in hitting the low water line during a low tide, to what kind of long handled digging tool would be good for wet and dry sand that I could use in the moving water too?

 

WOW, This is every metal detectorists dream haul, with one looking like the ring from the Lord of the Rings: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...-engraved-skull-one-nine-treasures-Wales.html

...if I can't find the dream haul I will humbly settle for this find: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...y-gold-seal-ring-set-30-000-auction-week.html

 

The Stealth Scoop is definitely a beast and very nice and rugged for wet use.

I have very little experience of "wet sand hunting", but I can tell you is look for a long handled "wet scoop" that has a "foot kick" and/or a fairly flat/broad back so that you can point the sand scoop down and in and "push/kick/dig" into the wet sand with your foot. You'll see what I'm talking about if you were to watch some Youtub_e videos.

Here's a link to a fairly detailed build thread I did a few years back... The end result is that I knew it wouldn't be strong enough for constant wet sand use and it wasn't meant for it in the first place. I still have it and it does really well for "dry sand hunting". But I still use a hand scoop probably about 95% of the time. I just wanted to make my own long handled scoop... with a kick plate.

Anyways, more to the point, a foot kick is very useful to be able to have. So look for a scoop that has a foot kick or something designed into it. You also want to put a "handle" on the long handle so you can pick up the load in your scoop easier.
https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=121806

Try to look for a "wide bucket" too. You want the ""drain holes" to be fairly big, but also small enough to capture your target. I really don't know how better to explain that one? Add magnets towards the bottom end on the inside as well.

Anyways, something like this type of scoop...

CKG Lightweight Hexagons Holes 8" Wide Wet Beach Sand Scoop Metal Detecting Stainless Steel 1.5mm

https://www.amazon.ca/HEXAGONS-BEACH-SCOOP-DETECTING-Stainless/dp/B011O3202M

I personally like these kinds of scoops, but there are so damn many types and designs to choose from.

I hope this helps you?

 

HAHAHA, good one!!!

 

@wilcam47
Hey Will, I recently found a very good book on the Equinox. I’m not too far along, but I already prefer it to Sabisch’s book. This guy has three books out on the Equinox that I am aware of and they look pretty informative.

 

Nice ill have to look for it

 

FINALLY got out! I went for the day with my brother out to a mining district near Joshua Tree. We hiked a lot and detected with a Gold Monster and Nox out in open BLM areas between areas that were claimed. Near the end of our hike in, we found a place where the entire valley bottom was once turned over by historic drywashing. Judging by the can scatters there, it was probably from the 40s and historic, so we left it undisturbed and only had time to detect a bit on a bench above the valley floor. No gold, but we found lots of very magnetic hot rocks there. The funny thing is, we found out that we could’ve driven directly to there because there’s a trail leading to it that is not on the USGS topo map. Anyways, I am planning to go back there with the truck this time and try to sample it more as it looked like a great area to drywash.

 

Did you see any recent workings or detector holes? This area sounds like it needs a good, hard look. You may have something there!

 

I know, planning to go back and work it carefully. There were no detector holes or new drywash piles evident, it looks like it was undisturbed from since it was originally worked. There’s rather large shrubs growing out of the tailings and cans around them. The drywasher piles are weathered round like that with age. Lots of hand stacking downstream too.

 

That all sounds just right!!!
The rocks are not classified, is this correct?? Sounds very promising!

 

The header piles or stacking? The header piles all look that in the photo, what’s left of the tailings are the bare areas between them in the photo. The stacked piles are rough like they threw the large stuff out of the wash, it looke haphazardly done but was definately a effort to clear the wash of larger material. What is left has gravels and sand and bedrock.

Yeah, looks like its a great spot to go in and rake and detect the tailings and drywash too.

 

Followed a guide book to a deposit out near Ludlow (east of Barstow) to look for jasper and agate, and found some nice pickers in one area that were not artifacts for cutting and polishing. It was hard to find some nice pieces there that were not artifacts. Nice stuff was all over but most had either been knapped on (cores) or were flakes. And you wouldn’t believe how many and how nice the flakes and cores were out there! It’s obvious that Native Americans have been working the deposit for a very long time. My wife found a biface tool made of really nice jasper, so we left it where it is, along with all the pretty flakes for others to see and appreciate.

 

Pics?

 

Coming soon... there were some blood red agate out there along with yellows, clear and greens. The really nice pieces were actually flakes, the Native Americans took all the good stuff!