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At the end of the summer we experienced a favorable tide/swell combination but the first 2 beaches I checked out weren't producing. However, as soon as I reached the wet sand of the 3rd beach there were shallow targets every couple of feet. By this time it was already well after 10pm but I could still see that there was a decent cut running up and down the shoreline with lots of black sand showing. There were a couple of other hunters in the area but this was one of those rare times when there were enough finds for everyone to keep digging. It took a long time to find any jewelry but once I did it seemed that they were popping out pretty regularly and even in the artificial light of my headlamp I knew I had some small gold and silver items. As daylight approached I tried one other beach that I was curious about and didn't find nearly as much there but high on the slope I did scoop out a find that got my heart going - a large gem-studded cross and chain with some weight to it. By this time it was light enough outside where I could see that the cross and chain were not yellow gold but I held onto the hope that it could be white gold until I found a .925 stamp on the hoop. Still a nice find! I live for hunts like this and only wish that I had the willpower to keep hunting since these conditions don't come around all that often. Of the 4 gold pieces I found, one was a gold claddagh ring, one a St. Christopher medal and another a gold crown from a cremation urn. I also found over 200 coins on the hunt and probably at least that many pieces of trash. Needless to say, my body was hurting for some time afterwards and I was thankful for the ibuprofen in our cupboard! GL&HH!

I spent several years prospecting for diamonds in the Green River basin in Wyoming. never have found one. Last time I was there I left a couple of 8" x 48" sluices in two dry washes. Went back to check them last week. They were completely covered by sand/mud/gravel, so no longer working as sluices...LOL. But I cleaned them out and reset them, and in one, in an area that has produced the most diamond-indicator minerals, produced some nice gem quality chrome diopside, including one 1.46 carat piece, which is pretty rare for Wyoming. Thought you gem-heads might enjoy the pics. Also a pic of some other diamond indicators that were in the sluice, including ilmenite, and spinel.

The corn is harvested here, time to get out in the fields. I've been wanting to search this particular field right next to an old farmhouse where I dug some silver coins. Right up next to it I dug one IHP and a colonial button, figured there might be more in the field. I'd say it's about a half acre, don't know why they bother but a field is a field I guess. Yesterday was one of the last hot and humid days we can expect here, so why not be miserable for a few hours? 😀 The end of the field the photo was taken from is where I dug the coin and button, as you get closer to the hunt club building it's mostly beer cans. They haven't tilled this field and they probably won't, most farming here is "no till". They may run a bush hog around the edges but that's it. Used the 10x5 coil as usual, it's especially good in corn stalks. I found that swinging it ahead of me on an angle is better than back and forth. I made a short video but don't see .MP4 uploads. In 4 hours I got some clad, one coin spill gave me a quarter, nickel, and Zincoln. The other quarter was up near the hunt club. On the "good" end of the field I dug a 1944 wheat. Near that I got a 25, thought I'd get another IHP but to my surprise I dug an old brass ring. I know it's a ring because of the crown on the metal, doubt it's a compression fitting ring. Sad there was no makers' mark or inscription, but I don't want to scrape all the crud off. As it is something put a nick in it. It does not bend. Here is a closeup of the ring: And here is the trash, one iron relic looked interesting, kind of a hook with a loop. I threw all the beer cans and slaw in the handy dumpster. The shell is a high power .17 caliber. Not sure how old the ring is, so I thought I'd post it.

Just not sure why this guy is using this gear at the beach? Looking for gold jewelry in frozen sand?

Some knows I broke a couple of toes a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday is was attempting to put a TV stand with a very heavy thick glass top on it in a dumpster. That glass came off…. and dropped straight down on those toes. Man that hurts like heck. Well I was determined to do a little hunting anyway. Long slow walk tot the water. It was really moving pushing me a round. Managed to check the transition points with some success. If you get there at low tide you can clearly see what the beach has been doing and where the deep cuts are made. Wend was out of the SW and pushing the waves. Good many coins considering the guys hit it last night. One SS, a silver earring marked Jordan and the small 14k gold 3.9 grams. After today …. Man I’m taking a few days off again

For clad and relics that I want to clean up i use an 18lb vibratory tumbler with carbon steel shot and jewelry tumbling soap. It is not aggressive and does a good job without causing any patina on copper alloys. Tumbler is filled with about 10lbs of steel shot so I can tumble about 7lbs of stuff at a time. I would be careful of cleaning some the old coins as they could be invaluable. Alternatively a fine steel wire brush on a rotary tool will quickly take the crud of and does a good job on copper and nickels. Usually just a light pressure and not too fast.

Currently I'm using André pencils. If the coin is really cool I'll clean it completely, might use 0000 steel wool. I tried washing coins and didn't like how they came out. Now I'm thinking of getting a tumbler. There doesn't seem to be a clear and foolproof way to clean coins and relics anywhere.

I think ditching a large number of their models was well overdue, even retiring brands wouldn't hurt. Teknetics isn't really necessary. Bounty hunter is their entry level brand which is 90 percent of the models they make anyway as evident by the Gold Bug Pro and F19 ending up as a Bounty Hunter. The T2 is really just an old model basic version of the Simplex without the fancy features and waterproofing. I think having less models may improve sales in the entry market as its less confusing and they just need to keep the better ones to remain close to competitive. The Apex must be hurting. As for the 24k at the beach, it would be a killer jewellery detector, especially at an inland lake beach.

I agree. I may be new to metal detecting, but I’ve been collecting militaria all my life. You need a big bag of tricks. ultrasonic cleaners work well on removing greasy grime and dirt, especially out of tight places like proof marks, serial numbers, inscriptions and the loops of 8s, 9s and 0s. They don’t do much for tarnish or corrosion. In fact, as I alluded to in my first post, they can make things worse. I zapped a clean but tarnished copper penny and silver dime. Not only did they not get shiny, but if zapped long enough they developed a mottled appearance. Of course, in antiques, “patina” is important. One man’s “cleaning” is another man’s “damaging.” here’s a before/after

Looks like Jerry Garcia.

Hopefully making room for new stuff. About time they marked discontinued stuff as discontinued, as the site was getting pretty bad before due to lack of attention to things like that. I had a soft spot for the CZ and it’s unique target id system and distinct sounds. We’ve been begging for a smaller digital version for over a decade. Maybe miracles do happen?

Harbor Freight has single and double barrel ones pretty cheap! Or Amazon!👍👍

Went out there this morning and found a 1916 D penny, it was on top of the ground. Really wish these people had lost more silver🤬

A gold pan and a book on geology

Hi Chase. Thank you for your feedback regarding this matter. Firstly this is not in the USA and actually in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai where I live and work as an expatriate. As I said when I replied to Steve. I have been working in the corporate world and fully understand that the utterances of one ML individual does not suddenly become ML company policy. Therefore I would give ML the benefit of the doubt. Now regarding replacement units which I received to date. It was only the control box replaced and the dealer said they were new units. Although I have no way of knowing if they are in fact new or refurbished. They just came in pink bubble wrap plastic bags. Good to know we can buy the control unit out warranty as I have carbon fiber shafts and many other Equinox gadgets, which I would like to see full usage of. Regards Ivan

We finally got a couple of days of decent rain here in Central Texas. It's been dry as a bone for the last few weeks and the ground was getting pretty hard to dig in. The wife gave me her blessings to go hunt all day long, so I headed to one of the parks that has been producing very well. When I arrived I could tell that this place had received a fair share of rain. With hopes riding high I began my hunt. This was my first hunt in some damp soil, I was in for a rude awakening! This dirt is the stickiest gooiest mess I think I've ever dug in. After almost 2 hours all I had to show for my efforts was three or four pieces of clad. My spirits were sinking faster than the Titanic. My plan was the grid off areas until I got into something good. After about an hour and a half of that and only four Wheaties to show for it, I decided to do some freelance and just wander around aimlessly and head to my car and call it a day. I got into an area that I haven't spent much time in and the first signal I got was a big old aluminum token from a chamber of commerce. About 30 ft from there I get another signal hitting in the mid 30s dropping down to 30 but jumping back up to 33-34 on the Equinox. Usually that means sprinkler head or a large piece of aluminum. Cut a plug, took out about six inches of dirt, stuck my pinpointer in the hole expecting to hit the target. I started scanning the dirt that I had dug out and almost fell over backwards when I saw some big shiny in the dirt ball :-) This was the very last thing that I expected to find today. Good thing nobody was around cuz all I could do is just sit there and laugh like a madman as I was taking pictures of it. I spent about another hour wandering around the park and decided to call it a day.

Very nice hunting and glad that you were able to keep going. When you take ibuprofen always take an aspirin with it as it allows the larger compound to flow easier to the pain. Grandfather was told that from where he got his prescriptions at 40 years ago and he taught me about it. Good luck on your next hunt!

Well I bit the bullet and got the 4500. Can't wait for my next day off

No pain no gain right? Awesome run.

This is for those in another thread https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/14912-blisstool-still-around/page/2/#comments Who inquiring about how to do the mods. This is Part 1 Ground Balance Mod Next installment Part 2 will be the Gain Control Mod And then I also have some easy set-up tips. Bliss Mods Ground Balance Part 1.pdf

Also, the Bounty Hunter Time Ranger Pro is the same model. The stock coil choice is the only non-cosmetic difference (5"x10" closed DD is stock on the F19, 7"x11" open DD is stock on the TRP). I recall when General Motors had same models with different branding. Except for the Chevy and GMC trucks, I don't think they do that anymore. (Could be wrong, though.) Ford did similarly back when Mercury was still in existence. Fisher's popular CZ line, first released in early 1990's, had a great run but its weight and non-digital operation left it behind many 21st Century detectors. Presumably as long as they either had components on the shelf or could easily get them it wasn't any trouble to keep the CZ-3D on the market. First Texas gets lambasted for just about any action they take. Well, maybe that's true of every detector manufacturer. We're a hard group to please....

Maybe she is blinded by the light off of all those diamonds and can't find her way back. 😄

my friend still hasn't returned with it.. that makes me sure it's diamonds.. 😃

The WA side is a lot older and different to the east coast. There are hills here and basically all are associated with harder iron sections in the greenstone belts. Greenstone belts are mostly highly metamorphosed basalt. The weathering profile here in the deserts are a result of a very long time with no real water flow. The majority of weathering here is from chemical weathering and wind, but it has been happening for so long that areas have weathered down several hundred meters. When it weathers like this you end up with the majority of gold patches on the surface, flat ground directly above the source. A bit simplified but typing interferes with my afternoon beer. 🍻 refering to central goldfields, Pilbara is slightly different again.

By nature I like to improve things for the better. I took a real liking to the Bliss V5 but, it needed something. Decided to replace the scratchy GB pots. Fine adjust pot is bad between 3 and 7, worn carbon wiper inside. Replacing with RV6 precision mini pots. I was going to use a 10 turn for Coarse pot. That idea was shelved as they don't make them in the 500R ohm range. Both pots will be single turn. What I clued in on awhile back and then saw some one mention on a forum regarding the Gain pot. For the most part you don't need to set it higher than 2. And would like the 0-2 or 3 range spread out further. That was my thought as well. So I will be replacing the linear pot with an audio taper pot. It spreads out the range over half the pot rotation, super fine tunes the lower numbers. I will be measuring out the spread between the linear and audio pots to see the exact spread. The V5 is now open and taken apart. Will have it ready this weekend. Will also see if there are any other improvements that can be made.... I did make a very positive s-handle mod. The angle of the handle was a bit too steep, it would tend to bother my bad wrist after awhile. Not enough so I could not keep detecting. The most comfortable s-handle I found was the White's Space Saver (What they call it). Which I have used for all my Pi builds. With a bit of muscle power, bent the Blisstool s-handle to match. This little mod, that didn't cost a penny made a huge difference. Search coil 7x9", balances just about perfect, and now has a wonderful feel about it. =============================================================================================== Update Made the Coarse and Fine GB pot changes to precision pots. Big difference. The usual cheap carbon pots used like most detectors had poor resolution as you turn the control. I watched on the voltmeter, when you rotate the Blisstool pot, a slight movement jumps the settings about 10 points, you you will never get precise GB setting. That's why trying to GB is very touchy. With the new precision pots a slight rotational movement of 1 point increase in settings can be made. This should definitely help out manually ground balancing, getting a spot on GB. Second change was the Gain control. I switched the Blisstool cheap pot with another basic carbon Alpha brand pot (Tesoro, etc. used them). Instead of replacing it with an identical "Linear' taper pot, it was replaced with an "Audio" taper pot. Since most will run around 2 or 3 on the dial. The rest of the rotation is wasteful. With the new pot orig Gain setting from 0-3 is now spread across 0-6. You can now dial in more precise Gain where you need it. Then ramps up closer to the orig. pot. Also shows a bit more added Gain at 10(max). Thinking some of the other controls might benefit from switching to a precision pot or an Audio Taper pot. For those that have a Bliss in the closet gathering dust, some easy modes might just make the Bliss owner a more happy user. Hoping to get out with the V5 Sunday afternoon for a test run

It's weird how your luck can change week by week.. Last week started off great with a gold ring and finished even greater with a diamond bracelet.. But so far this week it's been nothing at all.. except a 5 cent piece and a load of bottle tops, pull-tabs and aluminium foil etc.. But this is not what makes it weird, the weird thing is that this week comes at the end of the school holidays and a long-weekend public holiday.. It's been a long time since there's been so many people on the island, you couldn't wish for a bigger crowd.. And yet, nothing.. 😬

It’s been a year of not doing what I want to do when I wanted to do it due to delays on work and home projects, i.e. little time for prospecting. So when I had an unexpected free day yesterday that coincided with a weather window I jumped at the chance to get in one more day in before things freeze up solid for the year. I went back to a spot in a canyon where I had detected a picker a month ago, and started swinging. I got a loud signal right away and started chopping into the frozen ground with a rock hammer. Thinking it was another chunk of rusted iron I wasn’t working too enthusiastically, but to my shock there appeared flat 1 gram nugget buried in the tiniest crack in the bedrock. I’ve never found anything bigger than .25 of a gram in this area so I let out a choice expletive did a happy dance. Not far from where I found the nugget, I got another good sounding signal in the slate bedrock on top of quartz seam and started hacking away. I was having a hard time pinpointing where the signal was and kept digging deeper and wider into the bedrock, fortunately it was decomposing, but it being frozen made it harder. After spending a half an hour working on this new slate quarry of mine I was surprised when our popped another 1 gram nugget. Omg, best day ever. It was getting below freezing so I was considering packing up but checked the hole before moving on and was surprised with another clear signal. I expanded the hole and after another 15-20 minutes of chipping away bedrock I had finally moved it. I couldn’t pinpoint it by waving handfuls of broken up rock over the coil so I kept dumping the rock into the pan till I got the signal in the pan. Of course I’d forgotten my rubber gloves so I panned it out in the icy water with my bare hands. When I panned back to hr concentrates there was another 1 gram nugget. What?! I was starting to lose daylight so I had to pack it up as hiking out of the canyon on ice and snow in the dark isn’t high on my fun list. Now I have to wait 7-8 months to see else is there!

I think it is Steve!! What, no name credit??🥸 He must have "forgot" the sand scoop, and swim trunks in Nevada; Reno specifically!!🤣👍👍

Is it Steve? It’s hard to tell, I don’t follow detecting world fame and royalty much. Gold is gold and I suspect it would make a decent jewelry and aluminum bits machine. No argument there if they are also trying to market it as such. Hopefully it was obvious that my comment was meant in jest and I believe the picture is photoshopped from a different background if you look at others on their site. I’m just guessing whomever is doing their marketing or website editing is not paying attention to details or clueless. Not sure I would expect someone at the beach with a rock pick? How about a sand scoop or even a shovel? Maybe those clothes in colder weather? I don’t know, it stood out to me. Bringing it back to the original post somewhat, Garrett is at least putting more effort into their web presence which Fisher is clearly lacking.

You know who that guy is right? 🙂 I've used a gold machine on the beach and for combing towel lines, cuts and damp sand you can do really well with small jewelry. You won't get a lot of depth in the wet and may false some but running gb close to 0 on most machines and dropping the gain as needed can reduce falsing. Small jewelry and chains don't sink fast like rings.

Thanks VL, I've read that mixing the 2 might not be good for some but I'm glad it works for you. They are in the same class of pain relievers and may increase the chance of side-effects in sensitive people. Fortunately for me, ibuprofen by itself seems to work fine for my old body!

Yup....I'm going to get back to that hunt next season. I got a little burned out and quit for awhile, but it's time to get back. I've got some pretty good ideas on the search, and tools for it. I'm drawing up a Pleitz jig right now that will be portable, and run on 12v. That'll reduce water use. I also went through my pics of what I call Little Valley, and noticed I'd identified a spot that I thought at the time was the remains of a kimberlite pipe near where I'm finding all the indicators. I need to build a 12v core drill so I can get down a few feet to investigate. Still, thinking on that. Jim

Great story thanks for taking us along..perseverance put you in those "right spots at the right time" strick

Love THAT kind of cuts.👍

* I’m showing my age. How many people today know what a broken record sounds like? That depends on just how broken the record is....can you still turn it over and start playing it over again, over again , over again.....?

No problem mate, try my way of running the 5k, you are better to learn the most productive way to start with in my opinion. The 5k is a great Detector and I could still make a good living off it if it was my only detector!

Here is link to page on TreasureNet with settings sheet in JPG format which I believe I can use for now. OK, I am not allowed to post links I guess.

Right place at the right. Don’t see a really good cut like that often.

I had never heard of these before! Wikipedia doesn’t even have an entry on them. Just ordered a set from Amazon.

Hopefully not out of business. I like my F Pulse under warranty and still have my F22 which is not a bad little detector and weatherproof unlike the Aces or Vanquish. Just blows my mind the site is so archaic and they still have some of the still available detectors marked as new when they have been around for a few years now. And then their updated GB2 with the screen was just announced and it is not marked as new? How is their web presence not a priority? I think old dudes even know how to use mobile phones and computers to web search no? Garretts site is actually not half bad as an example.

Hey Paul, I just bought one recently too, and tried it on some coins this week! Same thing, mixed results! I cleaned my "good" coins first, separating the types, with a mix of distilled water, a few drops of liquid detergent, and some peroxide, for about ten minutes! Those were a "little" better! Then did clad, then pennies! Did not really do much for those! I think I will just use it on jewelry from now on! I've had better luck with other methods, just soaking!👍👍

Do you have an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner? I bought a $35 home model. I’ve had mixed results. I tested some worthless items first, and found if you zap them too long you can mar the finish of some coins and knock loose paint/plate finishes. I’d be afraid to use it on something truly valuable. And you definitely need warm water and some cleaning solution to get the best results. But if you zap things in short bursts and use a soft toothbrush between zaps, it can remove caked on grime in tight places.

I know I sound like a broken record*, but 5 months into the hobby and I’m still amazed at the quantity of coins people manage to lose in parks! Especially something like your silver half-dollar. First, it’s a substantial item. Wouldn’t you notice if you dropped it? Second, 50 cents was a significant amount of money 100 years ago. Even 55 years ago, I could have bought 5 ice cream cones for that amount. Wouldn’t you get down on your hands and knees until you found it? I suppose it could have fallen out of some young man’s trouser pocket while he was sitting on the grass, pitching the woo to his sweetheart, and he didn’t notice. If those old coins could talk! * I’m showing my age. How many people today know what a broken record sounds like?

They didn't "lose" it! It's all buried in Mason jars, too deep for your detector! And not being hit by plowing!!🤣👍👍

KDOCAC, Depending on where the show you saw shoot the view is where the answer to your questions are. Australia, as mentioned above, has various geology of various ages depending on location. Here in the US much of or gold geology is pretty much dependent on young and tectonicly active geology, thus rugged and mountainous area's are where gold found. Australia's geology is much more stable and much older. Australia's tectonics are more pronounced and younger on the east coast and their west is stable so much of the land is effectively flat there. The way one aussie explained it to me in the West is that the mountains have essentially eroded away and left the iron and gold behind. A similar process occurs in our own western deserts. Having detected WA's gold fields many times, yes much of it appears flat. Especially on camera. But there's a lot of rolling out there as well as some steep hikes.

Yeah, I hear ya, Just have the family replace all the gold in your pockets, with all those lead sinkers we beach hunters save! That way, you won't float back up, and scare some unsuspecting swimmer (or detectorest) at the beach!!🤣👍👍

I just had to read up on "no-till" as I really had no clue! Where I go in Georgia, everything is still tilled! That's how we find arrowheads and pieces, usually every year! "Maybe" environmental sound, but sucks for detecting and sight hunting!!👍👍

I had to YouTube it. 😄 Just throw me into the sea, but check my pockets first just in case I'm hiding some gold.

As Norvic said all terrains are here. These shots are were I got my first ¼ ounce of gold by myself once I got my wheels, over 55 years ago. Walhalla is the start of Alpine Walking Trail. The Australian Alps Walking Track winds through the high country of Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT. It traverses rugged remote alpine country and bushwalkers must always be experienced, self reliant and have good navigation skills. To walk the whole trail can take between 5 and 8 weeks. Food drops or a support crew are necessary, as the trail passes through no towns, although it passes close to the ski resorts of Mt Hotham, Falls Creek, Mt Baw Baw, Thredbo, Charlotte Pass and Perisher. The 650 kilometre track generally follows ridges and high plains through some of the highest country in Australia. In many ways, it is the grandest and most difficult of all the long distance tracks in Australia. It is not the longest but with over 27,000 metres of climbing and descending it is indeed a tough walk (equivalent to more than 3 ascents and descents of Mt Everest!). This equates to between 550m and 800m of climbing and descending each day - definitely not a flat walk! It also crosses a lot of Australia's best alpine scenery making it a very scenic varied walk. The start of the walk at the towns rotunda. I have walked solo over the first 200 Km both ways as well as some of the other sections all of which has Gold mining history. Note the start of the track heading up from the right of the rotunda. Walhalla's gold value at only $600 a ounce. As you can see not flat like the shows you see.

Nah, OZ has rugged mountainous gold country, has flat gold country, desert gold country and varying gold country in between these extremes, OZ is a big Island that in area is not much smaller then the US in area and we have have similar varying gold country I suspect. Tis just that the flat gold country is where the gold shows are at. My backyard gold country up in FNQ is not too far off the equator thus we zip around fast but tis rugged billy goat country where you need one leg longer than the other ie. has not eroded greatly since its last upheaval. Like the old Irish saying "gold tis where tis"..