Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/29/2020 in all areas

  1. Seen a opening to get out today but just not the right spot for the "AQ' yet. Come winter I see the "AQ" getting a real good work out here. Today I took the excalibur for I was not sure what conditions I would be walking into. Working in close first nothing..... but Iron and trash..dug a few pieces and decided to go deep, still not a lot of targets. Slowly working my way deeper and parallel to the beach about 600 foot out...shoulder deep I got a couple nickels kind of shallow (2 scoops) then slowed to the snail's pace...Got another signal, broken but being I just got two nickels I'm going to dig all...3 scoops, maybe 12 inch's deep ..surprise...Gold.
    10 points
  2. Most I found and a few were collected.
    8 points
  3. I got out once again today to try and build up my pain tolerance so when I get a deep machine. I hunted a few hours and managed about a dollar in clad plus two wheats and buffalo. I also found a silver ring and this moon brooch/earring. I don’t know if it’s plated or what since I have never seen these markings. Thanks for looking and happy hunting.
    7 points
  4. As I like the Vanquish serie ( I already have a 540 ) 🙂, I decided to buy a 340. Over here the 340 price is 240e , so quite cheap ,almost the price of a coil ... My plan was to do some tests with the 340 and resell it later .. A few days ago I did my usual static depth tests. See pics below. I could see that the 340 had the same depth than the 540 V10 , either on a big coin at 11inches or a small coin at 6inches, so very good news for the 340. I could also check that the 340 is as sensible as the 540 V10 on tiny targets lying on the surface like small hammered coins , good news again .. So today I went to an open field cultivated with wheat. Sandy low mineralized soil. Low to medium iron trash. Actually the conditions were not ideal because the field has not yet been ploughed and I had to sweep the coil 3 or 4 inches above the ground because of the cut wheat. I found many targets , mainly 1st WW rubbish... Among that stuff I could find 2 coins , a 16th century copper coin and a tiny roman bronze coin .. Very happy with these 2 coins 🙂, the copper coin displayed 15 id and the roman coin 11 id . The 340 is very accurate and deep, the same as the 540 V10 actually , I did not see any difference in the field, the only thing there are only 3 tones for the 340 instead of 5 for the 540. Iron separation is the same between the 340 and the 540. The V10 coil is excellent for coin shooting , and very light .. The only limitation I see for the 340 , the same as the 540 and other multifreqs MLs , are high iron trash areas , so the 340 is a little too chatty and slow on these areas . And unfortunately there is no dedicated "FA" ( fast ) mode like on the Teknetics T2 ... On such iron trashed areas I prefer to use my Deus . So if you dont need wireless and backlight and you detect on low/medium iron trashed areas , the Vanquisg 340 offers a great performance for a very limited budget. Even experienced users will be happy with it ... I was thinking of reselling it but eventually I will keep my 340 for the moment .. 🙂
    6 points
  5. Here are a few locals, Bob and Frank.......who hunted the same beach's I do now. Back then it was not uncommon for a hunter to find 7 or more gold rings a hunt. For me to find that many gold rings in a hunt is tough..my best was 8 this year, in one hunt..Rare for sure. I do have one more guy who hunted even before detectors, diving...and by sight. (Harry)...He would find 30 or more gold rings a hunt..more later on him. Hide....I guess I do in a way .......for Joe Beechnut is ... not my real name...As far as a legend, I don't see myself as...I'm just Blessed to be in the right spot at the right time...it's that simple.
    5 points
  6. Thanks Compass!...Yes one of my Hot machines, stock coil for I love that I can run the numbers higher using it. My Skullie head phones, which are extremely loud..in compare the GGA, or Tony's head phones, those run around 91db................the skullies 105+db's, So I can hear things others can't. And I have a few other modifications to the PCB and having the push button on the grip to go to disc to check the target, then back to all metal hunting....But really the big factor is I have done the research over the year and I stay in contact with the beach's l hunt. So I know there history and ......I can't say I can predict them but I have a good feel for them? And let me add, I'm Very Blessed. :)
    5 points
  7. Both silver. Was using the Equinox 800 with 6" coil. Using Park 2, 2 tone, recovery 4, iron bias 0, and sensitivity 24. I like Gold mode too. Not worth much, 2 earrings worth $0.50. Like finding 2 quarters lol. The stone is cz. They are real jewelry though.
    4 points
  8. My plans are to hit this beach if I get it before it gets sanded back in. Only a couple of these green (and some undersized) coins in the picture below, actually hit my Equinox 800 (15 inch coil) as coins. Almost all hit as iron, foil or just a threshold blip. Most were in the 12 to 15 inch range (best guess with wet sand caving in on itself) in sand with a lot of black sand mixed in. There has to be gold in the next layer down under these. Anyway, that is where my first date will be when Miss Impulse comes knocking at my door.
    3 points
  9. Nice report... I think the Vanquish 340 is perhaps the best detecting value on the market right now, along with the Simplex for people who need waterproof. It would be fun to see a Simplex vs 340 shootout.
    3 points
  10. I just picked up my Gold Monster 1000. The first one had a low volume issue and was replaced by the dealer. The second one appears to suffer from bump falsing. This may be due to lack of experience with the machine. I used it for the last 2 days and was able to find some really small gold which is awesome. It did a falsed badly with the small coil and some with the large coil during those 2 days. I tested it when I got home by holding starting it and ground balancing it in a clear location. Using the small coil. It falsed badly in 10 and 9 less in 7 and 8 and barely in 6. The issue is not as bad with the large coil. I then held the small coil up in the air and tested for falsing. The issue was still there but 10 was more like the setting of 7 when grounded. I moved the cable while in the air and there was no falsing. I used my scoop to tap the coil and cable so my hand wouldn't effect the result. I have generally concluded that the issue is due to high sensitivity setting more than coil or software issues. I would like to verify this by comparing my machine to another. Some other users could do the same test and see what your results are. This would give us a baseline for what a GM1000 should perform like. Test procedure Turn on and balance on clear ground at setting manual 10 or highest possible manual setting with small coil. tap coil lightly with scoop or something that wont be detectable. Reduce sensitivity until falsing is a non issue. Record this setting Then perform same test in the air and record that setting. Post results on this thread My results would be Grounded 6. In the air 9 or possibly 10. This will obviously vary due to the ground you have and how hard you tap the coil, so the more tests we have the more accurate the data will be. Thanks
    2 points
  11. Thanks for the clarification, Jeff. What surprises me is that the lowest cost and probably best for a newbie (whether s/he's the one making the purchase or borrowing from a seasoned vet) doesn't have a feature that seems like something that would make it easier for someone new to the game to get off on the right foot. I agree that more experienced detectorists (such as yourself) have developed multiple pinpoint methods which they quite possibly prefer. I did a little surfing and found the following comparisons: Garrett Ace Series (originals) 150, 250, 350 -- similar to the Vanquish, the 150 doesn't have a pinpoint feature but the others do. Garrett Ace Series (upgraded) 200, 300, 400 -- same thing -- pinpoint only on the two more expensive / higher end models. Minelab X-Terra (upgraded from 30, 50, 70) 305, 505, 705 -- all three have a pinpoint function. Fisher F11, F22, F44 -- all three have a pinpoint function. I don't know if the X-Terra line can be considered low cost when they were released (in the same ballpark as the other three above, that is). It's been argued that the Vanquish's target (competitor) detector is the Garrett Ace Series so maybe that was Minelab's thinking. Of course they want you to buy a more expensive model. (No need for me to go into that anymore, at least I'll save my typing on this subject.) Definitely understand where you're coming from there, Jeff -- lotta features and performance packed into a low cost product.
    2 points
  12. That is correct. Think Tesoro Compadre or Silver Micro Max or even the Tek Minuteman (awesome detectors by the way) with simultaneous multi frequencies, 3 detect modes, 3 tones, a display, outstandingly reliable numerical target ID on shallow AND deep targets, volume control, depth meter and saltwater beach capabilities............. See why I don't miss the pinpoint function much on the Vanquish 340?
    2 points
  13. I took the 340 V10 coil and mounted it on the 540. So I have the experience of the 540 V10 and 340 V10 and I can compare them together. Both 340 and 540 perform very well with the V10. I prefer the V10 vs the V12 coil because it is lighter , more accurate , less iron masking with almost the same depth perfos .
    2 points
  14. Thank You!.........12 years now, closing in on 800 gold rings.
    2 points
  15. Good but not necessarily news in the sense that they are both the same detector under the hood just lack of a few features and only one pseudo performance based setting (iron bias level) and lack of relic and pinpoint modes (which you failed to mention but which I think would be a useful feature for the target demographic - beginning detectorists), so I am not surprised in the least by your findings. Depth and TID accuracy/repeatability should be identical. News would have been if you found a significant performance difference. Not a criticism at all, by the way. I am glad you took the time to verify the expected results. Very nice finds, BTW. Just goes to show that bells and whistles wow people and sell machines, but machines stripped down to minimalist essential features can be just as capable and fun under the right circumstances. Great value for the occasional detectorist. Depth obsessed detectorists need to realize that basically all modern, main stream vlf IB detectors have about the same relative depth capability - it really comes down to coil selection, target type, site conditions, and operator proficiency as the factors that make a difference. You don't have to pay a lot for adequate depth and reliable ID capability, the two basic must haves for any detector. There is something about challenging your skills with a less complex detector that makes the hunt a little more exciting (provided you DO find keepers) plus the turn it on and hunt simplicity is kind of liberating when you are not compelled to tweak your machine to the gnat's eyelash because you can't. I felt good about my essentially equivalent success using the ORX compared to the Deus at one of my favorite sites. Just turned it on, hunted, recovered target and moved on. No 30 to 60 second interrogations in multiple modes etc. I compare that with amateur radio operators who challenge themselves in trying to maximize distant radio contacts using as little transmit power as possible. The smaller, less powerful radio and minimalist antenna are portable so they seek out mountain tops and try to make distant contacts. Something like the Vanquish that is light, compact, and relatively cheap can be kept permanently in your vehicle so you can always have something to swing should the opportunity arise. PS - I remain confused regarding the depth and recovery level difference between the three primary 540 modes (jewelry, relic, and coin), so not sure whether lack of relic mode on the 340 presents a slight performance issue in comparison to the 540 What is your preferred mode selection on the type of hunt you documented above (I presume Jewelry mode based on the pic, but wanted to verify)?
    2 points
  16. I found this in April of May of this year. I cleaned it, my brother put it on the grinder, and showed it to my dad. It looked shiny then, but since it darked and starting to chip. My dad looked at it and said it was probably my grandfather who had lost it in the 1980s doing yard work. He used to wear old jeans and maybe fell out of his pocket. My dad told me used to clean his pipe with this knife. My grandfather had passed in September of 2018, so I never got to show or ask him. It is a Trim pocket knife by Bassett. It was made a producer of beauty products I believe and my grandfather ran his own barber shop. I believe he got it through that business. It will never be like new, but it holds sentimental value. I only wish I could have showed him.
    2 points
  17. Was out in the water. I modded my scoop to catch those. They hit really nice with the 6" coil. I put them with my collection of gold and silver jewelry I've found. I was happy finding them. Gold is next.
    2 points
  18. Steve,thanks very much for that quote,it does mean alot for sure,as this was a Equinox thread/post i only basically mention how i use my Nox. But as it was also i guess covering small target/s like say small gold chains and other small gold items in general,i will also mention how i use my main everyday machine the Deus,how its setup with some of the settings and how i also use it.I use solely the HF elliptical coil running 80khz all the time on farmland,and as you have been over to the UK our main targets that we are after are the silver hammered coins both full and cut halves and quarters and you can relate to how small these are,celtic gold hammered coins are even more sort after.So this is why i run my HF elliptical coil in 80khz this is basically the territory of the ' It's a great coil as the old famous Gold Bug ran less than 80khz, and was revered for it's gold finding capabilities' and as most of our finds are in the top say 8'' of soil then i hardly miss much. My style of detecting over the last few years has become so slow and methodical that even snails have over taken my swing speed,i also go that slow that it looks like as if my shoe laces are tied together,but it works for me,methodical swing speeds and slow forward motion are the key as my finds rate has just exploded and just by doing a few simple changes in not only settings but also how i use the detector as aswell.In a previous post i mentioned that i basically run my sensitivity on my Nox down to say 14-15,i rarely mention how low i go with my Deus as folks often think i am joking but most folks run the Deus at 90+or- but on average mine is run down as low as 55-60 as the norm and even on bad ground down to 40-45,folks may disagree with me on this one but it works for me.
    2 points
  19. They are just covering their posteriors. The issue is not the detector, it’s the power cable. Frankly I’m doing the same thing, calling it a wader unit, but the machine itself is good to much deeper than three feet. Great reporting Joe! 👍🏼
    2 points
  20. I’ve been involved in a number of group claim situations created by myself and others. Rather than a club thing, it’s an association claim ownership as defined under the mining laws in the U.S. You need like minded people to pool money and resources in order to own and work a set of claims. There are things that can go wrong with any group, but there are significant upsides. Lower cost for all involved, ability to buy claims one person can’t afford, limited number of owners compared to clubs, and make your own rules. https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/steves-mining-journal/mills-creek-gold-cooperative/ https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/steves-mining-journal/gold-mining-at-mills-creek-alaska/ https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/steves-mining-journal/gold-dredging-mills-creek-alaska/
    2 points
  21. Last week I was training customers at Rye Patch so I missed out on the White's closing and all the comments, but I did make a little contribution (well deserved) in the White's Forum on DP. When I returned I was overwhelmed with many emails, texts and pics of my customers recent finds. One thing about the CV-19 is it allows you to get outside and away from others. Also, what was interesting to me is the different kinds of gold and the states they came from. Here are some pictures of my customers Success, the detectors they used and the states they recently found their gold. Hats off to you all for allowing me to share your success. This very interesting and highly collectible specimen piece was found in Idaho with an Equinox 800 (dang, how did I miss that one?) Notice that is the stock 11" coil. The next 2 pics were found in NV with the NOX and stock 11" coil 2 pics below of the same gold and were found in MT with EQ-800 and small 6" coil. Nice solid pieces. Then there is my customer in AZ with his GPZ-7000. He has been doing really well this year with over a half pound. The 3 pics are from 3 half day hunts in a row. He ended up with about a half oz of gold. He has a buddy come to visit and says I found some right here, why don't you head over there. The 3+ ouncer below was found by his buddy who came to visit. Ouch, that must be one heck of a friend. Notice all those nuggets are pretty rough and have not traveled that far. AZ still has good gold, just need to get a little farther away from the trails. Last is gold from a state most of us to not get to see. Wyoming is not known for gold nuggets, but I do have a few customers who do pretty well. These pieces of gold are very solid and look to be hammered almost. I'm no geologist but think maybe from glacial? I also noticed the dirt coloration is different than most places I hunt and find gold , but I don't hunt WY, yet anyway. Part of the reason I enjoy gold is the natural and unique characters each piece and area provide. Heck, there is a really ornate specimen, some nice jeweler nuggets and some really cool collector rocks with gold. Even the big 3 ounce chunk is quite interesting as the source must be pretty close.
    2 points
  22. I and my wife favorite gold detector currently is the White's GMT, both detectors are body mounts and very welcome feature as most of our hunting is detecting almost vertical tailing piles. We have had every Goldmaster model since they introduced in 1990. We would welcome a PI detector which would probably give us additional depth and help with random hot rocks, but some of this type of crystalline gold specimens we find becomes invisible when using a PI detector.
    2 points
  23. This gold prospecting and metal detecting story takes us all the way back to the beginning - my beginning that is. I was fortunate enough to be born in the Territory of Alaska in 1957. Alaska was still very much on the frontier back in those days. My father was a farm boy from the midwest who headed for Alaska in the early 50's with not much more than an old pickup truck. He worked as a longshoreman offloading ships in Seward, Alaska for a time. He decided to get some education, and earned his way through college in Fairbanks, Alaska, by driving steampipe for the fleet of gold dredges that were still working there. He spent some time in Seldovia, Alaska, working the "slime line" in a fish cannery. He met my mom in Seldovia, the two got married, and finally settled in Anchorage, Alaska. I came along in 1957. My father had taken a job as a surveyor but money was tight in the early years. I was raised on wild game and garden grown vegetables, and as soon as I was old enough to handle it, I was walking a trapline every winter with my father. Dad was a hard worker, and Alaska was having one of its many booms at the time - the construction of the oil and gas fields in Lower Cook Inlet. This was the Swanson River oilfield, discovered the year I was born. The state was prospering, and my father along with it as a surveyor on the new Swanson Field. He got the bug for flying early on, and by the time I became a teenager he finally got his dream plane at the time - a Piper Super Cub, the classic Alaska Bush airplane. Super Cubs equipped with oversize "tundra tires" can land just about anywhere you can find about 300 - 400 feet of open ground. A great little airplane and the one I ended up flying to get my own pilot's license. Super Cub N1769P parked on knoll in Talkeetna Mountains, Alaska It was in this same timeframe that dad got me hooked on gold prospecting. In 1972 I saw an ad in a magazine "Find Lost Treasure" and had acquired my first metal detector, a White's Coinmaster 4. This must have got discussions going about gold, and my father did have some knowledge on the subject having worked around the gold mines in Fairbanks. He took me to a little creek south of Anchorage, Bertha Creek, and I found my very first flakes of gold! By the ripe old age of 14 gold fever was in the air, I had my first metal detector, and already wanted a gold dredge. My first dredge, a 3" Keene with no floatation, was on the way to me in 1973. Keep in mind that the price of gold had only recently been deregulated from the old fixed price of $35 per ounce. In 1972 it was around $60 per ounce, and in 1973 made it to just over $100 per ounce. The money was not my motivation at all. I already just loved finding gold, and the connection to the prospectors of old and the historical quest for gold were more compelling than any dream of striking it rich. I just wanted to find gold! My first metal detector and first gold dredge (my 3502 had the older aluminum header box & a power jet) A young man with a new detector, new gold dredge, gold fever, and a father willing to fly him anywhere in Alaska on adventure. How great is that? Now there was only one problem - where to go? There was no internet then, so it boiled down to libraries and research. In short order I discovered the United States Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.) bulletin series and the number one Alaska title of the series, Placer Deposits of Alaska, U.S.G.S. Bulletin 1374 by Edward H. Cobb. This one book and the references contained in it became my prospecting guide to Alaska. My desired target? Remote locations with large gold nuggets! I read the book and certain places just jumped out at me. One was the Iditarod area and places like Ganes Creek and Moore Creek - tales told elsewhere. This paragraph of page 114 caught my eye: "Placer mining in the Chisana district, first of creek gravels and later of bench and old channel deposits of Bonanza and Little Eldorado Creeks, has always been on a small scale with simple equipment. The remoteness of the area, shortages of water on some streams, and the small extent of the deposits all prevented the development of large operations. There has been little activity since World War II; the last reported mining was a two-man nonfloat operation in 1965." Wow, that alone sounds pretty good. Nothing really about the gold however. The secret to the Placer Deposits series is not so much the books themselves, though they are great for getting ideas, like I did. The key is to use the references listed and in this case the main one is The Chisana-White River District, Alaska, U.S.G.S. Bulletin 630 (1916) by Stephen Reid Capps. It turns out I had stumbled over the location of the last actual gold rush in Alaska in 1913. It was a small rush and did not last long, but it did mark the end of an era. The world was on the brink of war and the age of gold rushes was soon to be history. The history of the area is covered in the report starting on page 89. It is fascinating reading, but it was this note on page 105 that really sealed the deal: "The gold is bright, coarse, and smoothly worn. The largest nugget found has a value of over $130, and pieces weighing a quarter of an ounce or over make up about 5 per cent of the total gold recovered. The gold is said to assay $16.67 an ounce." Gold nuggets a quarter ounce or larger make up five percent of the gold? And that $130 nugget at $16.67 an ounce? Somewhere over seven ounces. That's all I needed to know. Very remote, worked by simple means, and large gold - I wanted to go to Chisana in general and Bonanza Creek in particular. Even the creek names scream gold - Bonanza Creek, Big Eldorado Creek, Little Eldorado Creek, Coarse Money Creek, and Gold Run. Now all we had to do was get there. But when I said remote, I meant remote. Chisana is practically in Canada 250 air miles from Anchorage. To be continued..... Chisana, Alaska location map
    2 points
  24. A mile stone in my metal detecting hobby, my first wheat penny. I found it today in my yard near my driveway, at the edge of my property. I though it would be a memorable penny(just like the rest of the pennies I found in my yard) but it turned out to be wheat. A 1942 D to be exact. The house was built in 1940, so it was there most likely ever since. I am glad to have it. I cleaned the dirt off with dawn and a paper towel. Do you think it needs to be cleaned more or is it nice the way it looks?
    1 point
  25. Goldhound, OMG!!!! Gerry, those look like Equinox headphones in your photo at the beginning of the thread. I wear mine a lot too. To say the Equinox 800 is my absolute favorite detector for just about everything including gold jewelry and gold nugget prospecting would be an understatement. I have used most of the "gold specific" VLFs and the Nox and its many available outstanding features for gold nugget prospecting are hard to beat. Swung a Tesoro Lobo for many years successfully. I just started using the SDC 2300 so I can't comment too much about it except to say that I really like it so far. I have used TDIs and Minelab's SD, GP and GPXs too. Never swung a 7000 and probably never will since I could barely afford the 2300!!!! thanks for the topic Gerry Jeff
    1 point
  26. I know this topic is about the 340. Personally, I would rather see a shootout between the 440 and the Simplex basic model. The 440 has more similar characteristics like a pinpoint function and more discrimination segments. There have already been some comparisons between the 540 and the Simplex+
    1 point
  27. From experience the 340 in jewelry mode with the V10 coil is remarkably good in most situations and has made many detectors from other brands that cost 2 to 3 times as much look simply inept as far as target ID at depths of 4" or more in both mineralized and mild dirt and sand....... I am not referring to the Equinox by the way. I had similar results with the 440 and 540 in jewelry mode. I do not miss the pinpoint function much on the 340 with the V10 coil except for separating adjacent targets which makes the 440 and 540 even more capable. I used my 340 in jewelry mode at a South Carolina beach recently in dry, wet and shallow surf. It performed very well and was easily hitting 10" coin and coin sized trash targets with the V10 coil. I agree with palzynski about the V10 coil and weight balance. It makes the 340 and 440 very balanced. The V12 coil feels nose heavy and does not offer much more depth. I actually preferred it in shallow (1 foot or less) surf to the Equinox since the 11" coil on the Nox feels somewhat like a boat anchor in the water. My admiration for folks who spend all of their time swinging the Nox in surf has definitely grown. I too toggle between "all metals accepted" and jewelry mode for target interrogation. Two quick button pushes and I'm back in jewelry mode. For whatever reason, coin mode is my least favorite mode on the 340 and 440. It just does not seem to be set up well for my conditions. The soon to be released US made simultaneous multi frequency detector will have to be very good to make me leave my 340 or 440 at home.
    1 point
  28. Nice hunt to find that and hope things get better for you.
    1 point
  29. Beautiful find Joe- congrats! Must have been down there a while to be in such great condition.
    1 point
  30. Ah the Excalibur is still such a good workhorse.......hopefully my horse will be up and running soon.....thanks to Joe 👍 Nice chunk of gold too !
    1 point
  31. I’ve had a pair of Tony’s headphones since last summer. I use them with my Tarsacci. Great quality, great fit and the sound is good too. Their holding up very well, no problems! Aaron
    1 point
  32. Great find Joe, I hope you have your shark deterrent on! That's a long way out to get any help!😬 I don't know if they really work! The detector may overpower any wearable deterrent!! Or if detectors attract, or repel them! There is some evidence that PI's can attract sharks from up to a nautical mile away, and cause them to be aggressive! But there is info going both ways!🦈👍👍
    1 point
  33. Man that's a honker! GaryC/Oregon Coast
    1 point
  34. They are only using M8 (8mm) connectors and the cable itself is thinner yet. Way smaller and daintier than what you seem to be imagining. That's the whole problem with the power cable in general - too small and dainty, not thick and robust. I have all the required parts on order and will probably have something to post and look at in a week.
    1 point
  35. First of all thanks Steve H for moving my thread to the correct Forum and discussion. Yes Skullgolddiver the QED is definitely not submersible including the coil. As far as I know this is the only video of a QED operating over wet salty sand at a Beach environment although this is an earlier PL1 version that may not of had the Beach Mode included.. The operator does not mention what settings and if it had or was being used in Beach Mode which operates without the use of a Ground Balance. Therefore he may of been operating using one of the QED's other Modes which allows you to Ground Balance to the ground conditions so the QED PL3 in my test if set for example in Mode 10, which operates at 12.5uS, then the distance on the 9K & 18K Gold rings drops by around 6" to 7".
    1 point
  36. They are civil war minnies of various types. I've dug several thousand of all types starting in 79.
    1 point
  37. My wife doesn’t like yellow gold too much but she did confiscate my last yellow ring because it had a little blue diamond. HH
    1 point
  38. Here are most of my good finds of the past year. I have a lot of pennies, a few dimes, 2 quarters, and 1 nickel. I saved a few old pull tabs because they were out of use before I was around. I have a button, a toy car wheel, A few bottle caps, a spoon head, a few keys, a EP co cap, a knife, and a broken toy gun. I have a few finds not shown here. Like an arrow to a bow, a game horseshoe, another toy gun, and a few older coins that went into my coin collection. The gun in the bag in from the 1950s I believe, and a picture of a mint condition one is below. The mason jar liner was un broken when I found it but I hit is with the shovel( I saved it anyway). The zinc cap was to far gone to save. Hope they are interesting to look at.
    1 point
  39. I just saw this post about FRED what can I say that has not been said before, and not a bad comment in 8 pages. I will surely miss him.
    1 point
  40. I put on the 6inch coil for nox to test my hoop earring first in pk2 multi freq and 22 sens. and got pretty good hit at some angles with low number id plus some iron id numbers.in 20 kz. it was weaker and a ugly signal with bad id.In 40 kz. it was a better hit with not as ugly a signal. 20 kz. was 24 sens and 40kz .was 25. I would normally dig multi and probably 40kz.I then put it in gold 2 and multi with 23 sens and it hit very hard with 2 inches to spare with nice id mostly and more angles that were better.In 20kz. at sens. of 24 it gave a nice signal with mostly iron id.In 40 kz. at 25 sens it hit very hard with mixed id and 2 inches to spare.i liked multi best here and this target was easier then GMX to work because you can move nice with short fast swings to isolate target. Equinox best here in my opinion in multi gold mode.With the GMX you are not as confident in the id as the Nox since it can wrap around more.Still the Gmx hits it very nice when you center it in the bulls eye.
    1 point
  41. Excellent, I'll do some experimenting this week and report back.
    1 point
  42. A bluetooth module is not that easy to integrate because the detector is so sensitive and stable, that a bluetooth module on the card brings additional noise quite easily. Sometimes you have to make the right choices increased sensitivity or wireless headphone. I preferred keep the maximum sensitivity on this model.
    1 point
  43. Hydrofluoric acid will disolve quartz. It probably won't when put into wink as the potency is diluted, but you still should reduce the time you leave it in it. I have worked with hydrofluoric acid and I came about an inch from getting it on my arm. At that close call, I swore I would never use it again. I was disolving quartz and arsenopyrite (arsenic) off of a specimen. The stuff I used was a mix of hydrofluoric and nitric acid. Hydrofluoric acid will disolve glass as well as quartz. I have a chapter on this in my book, The Nugget Shooter's Field Guide. Muratic acid won't change the texture of the quartz specimen but will strip all coloration out of it. Manganese, iron etc... It will turn rose quartz snow white.
    1 point
  44. At this point I was feeling a little funny. I am the sort of person that wants everyone to find gold. If I start getting too far ahead I get this weird guilty feeling, like I am cheating or something. When this happens I tend to back off a bit and maybe lend a helping hand to somebody else. In this case just like on my last trip Dudley was finding that the gold dredging was not a get rich scheme. I thought he was actually doing pretty good as he was getting close to a quarter ounce a day with the 4" dredge. He would not be satisfied with that however and would move to a new location looking for something better. It did not get better, more of the same, but then time lost moving around. I decided to be his assistant for a couple days and help set up a second dredge at a new location while he worked the main site. Then he could sample the new site to see if it was any better while I looked for yet another spot and moved gear there. 2.5" dredge sample location And another sample location Dudley working test dredge at second sample site Try as I might I could not find anything better than what Dudley was already working. And truth be told after a couple days I was quite happy to get away from the water and get back to metal detecting. Dudley kept plugging away but as I slowly pulled ahead of him in gold production he was starting to see that maybe metal detecting is not so boring after all! Dudley working along rock wall with 4" dredge The gold being found gold dredging To be continued....
    1 point
  45. The main problem with a Super Cub is the lack of cargo space. Fuel can also be a problem in Alaska, and you often have to bring your own. That being the case the best way to access the Chisana area is by driving supplies up the highway into the Slana area, and then ferrying out of there into the mines. From Slana a person flies southeast towards Nabesna and through Cooper Pass. Nabesna is closer but the airstrips there are private. The old boom town of Chisana is in the valley down below the gold creeks, and has been more or less continually occupied until the present day. There is a very large airstrip there but no facilities or stores, just some private residences. We always bypassed Chisana and flew straight into the mines, and only used the Chisana strip if weather at the higher mine elevations forced us to land and wait for better conditions. The desired destination is a small dirt airstrip near Gold Hill, the small mountain that many of the gold bearing streams center on. This is a classic Alaska bush strip, just a cleared area running at quite a bit of uphill slope into the side of a mountain. It is basically a Cub strip but can handle planes as large as a Cessna 206. Even with a Super Cub it is an exciting airstrip to work out of. Due to roughly 5000 foot elevation and the angle of the strip into the mountainside, a pilot basically has exactly one shot at getting the landing right. A Cub might be able to power out of a failed approach if it was aborted soon enough, but it would be a risky thing. The entire area is above treeline, with only some sparse willow growth in a few areas. Here is a view of the landing strip from the bottom looking up. The uphill slope is considerable, like maybe a 15% grade at a guess. Landing strip near Gold Hill, Alaska The closest creek to the airstrip that the records mention as being rich in Gold is Skookum Creek, some distance away over typical high altitude tundra. From the 1916 report "The pay streak was narrow, averaging only 6 feet in width, but was unusually rich." and "The gold occurs for the most part upon bedrock and is very coarse, little fine gold being recovered. The largest nugget found had a value of $52, and pieces worth from $10 to $20 were numerous. The gold is said to assay $16.50 to the ounce." My plan was pretty simple. Fly my new little 3" gold dredge into the airstrip, then pack it the couple miles to Skookum Creek and go find some gold. Now, keep in mind that at this point in the spring of 1973 all my mining experience boiled down to some panning and sluicing at Bertha Creek. I maybe had 100 flakes of gold in a vial weighing less than a quarter gram total! I don't remember anything in particular that proved a particular challenge on this first trip. The main thing is that due to the elevation, there is a very short season on Gold Hill. June may or may not have too much snow on the ground and so is a risky month to go in. By July it is pretty much guaranteed to be melted out. Serious snow can be expected sometime in September. So about 4 months max but really only July and August can be counted on at the higher elevations. Lower Bonanza Creek is over 1000 feet lower and has a longer season. We pitched a camp at the airstrip, and packed the 3" dredge down to the head of Skookum Gulch. Since we were backpacking everything I picked the first decent bedrock exposure I could find that had a decent place to set up. I was already learning getting a powerjet stye dredge with no floats may have been a good idea when it comes to saving weight and bulk. The problem is since the junction of the jet and hose must be at or below water line finding a place to set up in a shallow creek can be a real pain. This nicely placed rock had a lot to do with this being the location I chose. Steve's first gold dredge, a 1973 Keene 3" with no floatation And here are a couple more shots. You can see that Skookum Gulch is just a narrow little thing with very little water, and in fact it dries up often in a low water year. You can see bedrock in the water in the picture above - blocky granitic rock heavily fractured by thousands of years of freeze/thaw cycle. The oldtimers tore up as much as a dozen feet of this stuff in places. The gold seems to never quit - it just gets smaller the deeper you go into the bedrock. Steve working 3" Keene dredge on Skookum Gulch in 1973 View looking down Skookum Gulch - my brother messing with an old sluice box in background I cleaned off a nice little patch of bedrock. I got a little bit of fine gold, but was thrilled to find a nugget weighing maybe a pennyweight (1.5 grams) that was not only the largest nugget I ever found, but probably weighed more than all the gold I had ever found at this point! Here is where things get funny. It never in my wildest dreams occurred to me that this remote location with early 70's low gold prices might have mining claims. I was a rookie still and had not found out yet that even when gold was $35 an ounce people still were mining gold around Alaska, and that historic old areas often still had active mining claims. At some point we took a break and wandered down Skookum Gulch around that corner you can see in the last photo above. It was there we saw a couple people working a sluice box in the creek. Yikes, we might be claim jumping! Being older and wiser now I would have just went and talked to the people. However, I basically just freaked out and decided to evacuate post haste. We packed everything back to the airstrip and called an end to this first adventure. I was understandably disappointed. I don't remember how it happened, but Alaska was a much smaller place in those days. Inquiries were made, and we contacted one of the claim owners, a gentleman by the name of Don Dipple. Long story short Don did not mind some kids playing around looking for gold if we flew in some goods for him also when we came in. My father has never been much on finding gold per se - he did it mainly because I wanted to - but he was interested in caribou and sheep hunting in the area. We basically had permission to come up and play around going forward. It turned out to be more complicated than that. There were several partners in the claims, but due to some dispute one half of the group was not talking to the other half. Yet everyone was always nice to us - I think they liked seeing youngsters taking an interest in something that at the time was the province of an older group of people. Regardless, the stage was now set for visits in future years. To be continued... View of Gold Hill
    1 point
  46. Can you believe I still remember when we had a hand crank phone and a party line in our house? Geez, I am getting old!! I literally saw Anchorage grow from a true frontier town cut off from the world (I watched the first live television satellite broadcast in 1969 - the moon landing) to what is today just another American city with all the big box stores. Not that different than Reno really except for the weather. Communications kind of ruined everything. You can be out in the middle of nowhere and there is a satellite dish and internet connection these days. It was that being off grid, totally on your own thing that got lost in the process. Dear old Dad is going strong at 87, though maybe a little slower. Yes, he is an amazing man in many ways. He let me do things I would be too scared to let a child of my own do but which instilled in me a great sense of confidence and self-reliance. My father ended up being a partner in the surveying firm he hired on with, and later founded his own surveying company. He worked from one end of the state to the other and his name is on records all over the state. He was one heck of a bush pilot and flew supply plane on many of the jobs. My good fortune again as I got to see a lot more of Alaska than most people ever will. My goal is to add a "chapter" to the tale each morning covering the time from the 1970's until the present. Chisana was a big part of my prospecting life but I have never told the story in full until now. So check back daily for new entries.
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...