Next Step Up From A Screwdriver For Digging?

[kac]

Whipped up this little prototype for places that are really finicky about digging. figured I can make a sheath for it and just take my detector and pinpointer along. Thick brass blade so it doesn't ding the finds. Made for plucking stuff out of the turf, shallow recent drops.

Thoughts?

[GB_Amateur]

I've never understood the claim that brass doesn't scratch or damage coins.  Has this been experimentally shown to be true or is it jost one of those "I had a great idea -- must be right" kind of things?  I've certainly read about it multiple times.  Then again, consider crazy conspiracy theories that have been repeatedly debunked but just won't go away.

 

[Ridge Runner]

GB

 I just done a search for hardness between silver and brass . Brass may make a great digging tool but brass is shown to be harder than silver.
 It may not do more damage than someone rubbing a coin on their jeans to see the date .

 Doing that I’ll never understand.

 Chuck 

[kac]

I was curious about brass and how it does against coins too, why I made this prototype. Will give it a try and worse thing I might ding up a zincoln or 2.

[GB_Amateur]

12 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

I just done a search for hardness between silver and brass . Brass may make a great digging tool but brass is shown to be harder than silver.

It likely depends upon the alloys.  Most pure metals are softer than the alloys that they become.  That's one of the reasons the alloying is done in the first place, at least for many alloys.  (Many properties of the dominant metal change as other elements are added, not just hardness.  We detectorists know one of them -- conductivity.)

[kac]

Part of the big issue with digging in parks is appearance. I may be fine with my regular hand digger but looks even less formidable with an even smaller "pretty" digger. Walking around here with a screwdriver may not look so good either. There is the local college up the road from me where a buddy got tossed out with his spade shovel. There is also a city commons next town over that dates back to mid 1600's. I can always keep my larger digger in my pouch.

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Did a quickie test in my yard and it does chip the patina off of copper as well as scratch them. Tested on some clad and clad dimes/quarters will have a brass mark but no gouge, nickels scratch slightly but fortunately the zincolns hole up well haha.

I'll give it a whirl if anyone complains about my regular digger to see if it flies. At this size it is I might be able to try carbon fiber. Will have to see if that passes the scratch test.

[Chase Goldman]

I think as long as your digger is or looks like some sort of gardening tool rather than a weapon, you can get away with saying you are turf expert as well as a detectorist and like to make things look even better than the way found them when repairing your plugs or pops.  I also like to show the trash I am removing especially sharp shards of can slaw, caps, and glass and show that I am beautifying the space and making it safer.  It's about approachability and trying to be an ambassador to the hobby rather than being a slob, curmudgeon, or overtly causing property damage or worse.  Having a low profile but effective digging tool is definitely best in those situations and knowing that you are going to be relegated to shallower finds, as well.

[PimentoUK]

The idea of a more discrete hand-digger is a good one. I have thought about it myself, I have a salvaged steel bicycle frame that's a mix of hi-tensile and 4130 cro-moly tubes, and a digger was one possible use for the metal. But I think the tool still needs to be fairly strong and sturdy, and that's possibly the weak point of your tool. It's nicely made, but you're restricted by the tool that it's created from. The handle, and the region where it joins the blade, look vulnerable areas.

If your blade was attached to a brass handle in a more substantial way ( silver solder ? ), you would have a neat and unique tool.
For my design, I was thinking along the lines of a hori-hori trowel, but smaller:
horihori_trowel

[Chase Goldman]

42 minutes ago, PimentoUK said:

The handle, and the region where it joins the blade, look vulnerable areas.

If your blade was attached to a brass handle in a more substantial way ( silver solder ? ), you would have a neat and unique tool.

The tang appears to go all the way up the handle and is secured by three embedded fastener pins, so that seems substantial, but is still limited by the ductlity of brass at that high stress location at the bottom of the handle, so point taken.  I'll let kac chime in though, as he is an experienced tool/knife designer and has developed an innovative handle design for one of his other digger models, so he is pretty familiar with what would and wouldn't work from a robustness standpoint, I think.

[Johnnysalami1957]

Harder scratches softer. Can push harder soil against the target and scratch it also like sandpaper. Prob won't hold up well in the long run. Excellent execution of the tool! I just dig further away and under a target if I don't want to hurt but still manage to damage some targets. Just have fun everyday!