Pick Magnet Mounting Location (updated With Followup)?

[Dutchman4]

I have that particular Apex pick with the 3 magnet option and it is quite heavy for such a small pick.  They also offer that same pick with a single magnet option and I now wish that I had bought that one instead for less weight and cleaner look.  The Apex badger is one tough pick and seems indestructible but a bit heavy to me.  

[Gold Hound]

I did away with magnets since the 4500 as the larger coils pick them up generally at the end of the cross swing.

So keep this in mind if your using larger coils

[WesD]

I found having a magnet in the  handle end can get annoying, as now both ends of the pick  are reactive.  Makes for a lot more false signals, especially when retrieving targets as the whole pick needs to be tossed further away. Just my experience

[MSC]

I have a large pick and use a large earth magnet ( 2'' X 1'' X 1/4'' ). I wrap my magnet in electrical tape as it makes it easier to remove black sands. I just stick the magnet to the wide side of the pic and just let the magnet hold itself on. 

[Andyy]

That pick has too small of a head to do any good with magnets, in my opinion.    I have a pick with a large scoop for the dirt.  I have 2x high power neodymium or whatever and the hell that alien magnetic substance is.  Gets your fingers in the way of two of them and your finger will be the middle of an oreo cookie.   As everyone said, already, the magnets will move on the head.  A little JB weld will keep them there much longer.  But they will need maintenance every once in a while. 

To answer your specific question on location, I do not put mine near the tip or you are very likely to chip or lose them.  I put mine 2" back, or so.

I also put one on the handle.  Sometimes this is an easier iron checker, if it seems like shallow iron.

 

[Lanny]

If you can find one, get a telescoping aluminum wand (around 3/4 to 1 inch thick, not the little wimpy wands), about three to four feet or so long, with a super-magnet on the end. They are light to swing, and you can get that small end right down into cracks, low spots, tight areas, etc. that you'll never get a magnet on a pick into (not talking about one on a pick handle). And, they pack super easy as you can collapse them. I love mine, and it's great when working a trashy area of bedrock that has lots of bits of track and blade that generate obnoxious signals. 

I know this is not an answer to your question, more of a suggestion as it's something I've been using now for about ten years, and I used pick-mounted magnets for many years prior, and I'm never going back. (My pick gets hard use, and I got tired of messing with trying to weld, drill and screw to fit, etc.)

All the best,

Lanny

[Knomad]

No contest,

A 1 inch by 3/4 to 1 inch cylindrical Neo magnet with a hole through it, mounted with a deck screw to bottom of the handle avoids damage from digging, and more importantly allows you to probe holes of all sizes to quickly not only grab any iron, but to also generally clean up the dirt of micro iron and black sand for a cleaner signal.

You can go one step further as I do and make a copper or stainless sleeve to cover the magnet with a steel washer inside the end so it sticks to the magnet, this protects it and you can easily pull it off for instant cleaning of black sand Etc.

[GB_Amateur]

On 5/21/2022 at 10:48 AM, strick said:

I would leave that Hodan pick alone...maybe put one on the end  handle  instead. They are a real nice well balanced pick I still got one that I bought for the wife. I lost my long handled one off the back of my buds side by side couple years ago. Just buy the Apex with the magnets already attached. They are bullet proof the magnets wont fall out..... you would have to do something foolish to break the Apex pick. The Hodan on the other hand is more fragile and easy to break. Putting more weight up front on that pick would be like changing the smile on the Mona Lisa 🙂

Thanks for the good advice, strick, particularly on the balance issue.  I take a different view on equipment in this case, though.  I'm an occasional prospector (maybe a week a year with a detector, two if I'm lucky).  Investing another $100+ for a second pick is money that can be better spent in my case.  My legs aren't getting any younger and I need a walking device while minimizing weight, so having a pick do double duty makes sense there.  I'm a buyer but not a seller, so the short handled Hodan would effectively become a museum piece.  (Note I didn't destroy the original handle -- so reversible, always my intent.)  On top of all that I like to tinker.

Here are a couple pictures of the 'finished' device:

The brass mounting boss is a fluid plug of some sort which I found detecting and modified for this purpose.  At the top of the photo is shown a piece of steel angle with a vehicle lug nut epoxied onto it.  I will test this in the next couple days to see how easy/difficult it is to break apart.  Now with the magnet screwed into place (with medium strength thread locker compound):

I made an ethafoam cover for the magnet to minimize unintended 'attachments' during travel.   I'll probably lose that during the trip, but at least I'll get out to Nevada with it providing some protection.

One mod I didn't mention was carving down a 36" long single bit axe handle to mate with the Hodan head.  I much prefer some kind of tapered butt end on my tool shafts -- never understood the value of straight handled shafts.

OK, I'll check back in a month to report on the success or lack thereof.

[IronDigger]

I have mine recessed in the bottom of my handle, its been secure and effective for over 7 years.  

[GB_Amateur]

On 5/26/2022 at 1:34 PM, GB_Amateur said:

OK, I'll check back in a month to report on the success or lack thereof.

Would you accept 2 1/2 months?    Well, that just means I can make this post 2 1/2 times as long.  Here are some details:

1) I was expecting to need to use the pick as a walking stick, which it is quite capable of doing.  Turns out my achiles tendon liked the workout I was giving it and by the end of the first couple days in the desert I wasn't even noticing it.

2) Mounting the magnet on the underside of the blade isn't as helpful as I had hoped.  I figured when clearing out dirt in a loosened hole, the magnet would get close enough to scrap iron bits that it would collect them.  Occasionally it did but most of the time they were still in the removed pile.

3) The epoxied-in-place mounting boss never broke loose.  However, the ground I was in wasn't particularly rocky and what rocks were present were mostly loose.  (Steve H. mentioned that he uses the pointed end of his pick for breaking up hard ground and the wide end mostly for clearing the subsequent loose material.)

4) I previously mentioned that I had put a new (flaired end, long axe) handle in place of the original short, straight one.  Even though it was air cured (about a year by me and who knows how long before I bought it) and it fit tight when I left home, apparently the extra dry desert atmosphere caused it to shrink and loosen.  Hodan picks have a (safety?) rivet to prevent the head from accidentally flying off but even with that the head was still loose.

So..., after getting home I set out to solve the two problems encounted.  I found another very similar brass plug in my detecting reject bucket and after cutting it down, mounted it (again with the same epoxy as before) to the top of the blade.  But first I modifed the handle (head end) by cutting a slot in it and then hammering in both wooden and steel tightening wedges.  (That's the standard way of doing things -- so much for lazy shortcuts.)  Here are photos of the results:

With my original boss still in place, I have the option of putting a second magnet there.  Also, nothing says I can't add one to the butt end of the handle as many people already expressed their personal preference for that earlier in this thread.

Lastly, I just got around to seeing how well the epoxied lug nut held to that steel scrap (shown earlier in this thread).  I used a mason's hammer (sharp end) and a direct blow to the joint did result in separating them.  As far as how this translates to the field, though...?  Best if I just wait for it to happen and report back then.