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Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/08/2022 in all areas

  1. I have been in denial, but with temperatures hitting over 100 degrees on a daily basis I finally have to admit the winter detecting season in the Southern California and Arizona deserts is over. It has been a fun year, and I have met a lot of good people through the clubs I belong to, Bill Southern's YouTube patreon group and just randomly in the middle of nowhere. I have detected mostly with the GPX 6000 and GM 1000. I just love getting out into nature. The thrill of being in a beautiful area with the sense of adventure and the chance to find stuff is exhilarating. My best gold finds were a patch of eight small nuggets in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains, a 4.1 gram nugget with two small nuggets (.2 and .3 grams) each nestled less than six inches away near Yuma, a 17 gram complete chondrite meteorite with regmaglypts and contraction cracks from Coyote Dry Lake, a "perfect" old tin can with solder seam and applied top, a mule shoe found at the top of a high hill in the middle of the Vulture Mountains in Arizona and a bird band in Gold Basin that I reported. I got a bunch of other small nuggets but the artifacts and animals really help me get through those days when I get skunked. I will be making trips to Northern Nevada and the Yuba this summer. See you there!
    27 points
  2. People come up to me and ask me what I've found over the years. My usual response is: "Well, I haven't found a gold coin or a silver dollar." Well, as of yesterday, I can cut that statement in half. I found an 1880 silver dollar. After 20 years of detecting, I finally found one. My knees buckled and my legs shook and I would imagine my heart rate was off the charts. was about 6 inches deep and 3 feet from a road that was a major east west road and trading posts back in the 1800's. It was also known as the Honey Moon trail because newly Weds would take it to Niagara Falls by carriage. Found with a NOX 800, all metal mode, max sensitivity, FE 6 Park 1
    20 points
  3. TV in the UK has, at last, released in full, their 2013 highly successful Metal Detecting series – Hoard Hunters. Metal detectorists Gary Brun and Gordon Heritage are joined by archaeologist Mike Webber as they revisit the sites of known treasure hoards to piece together history and perhaps find more artifacts. The series, from ITV Studios, combines history and humour to show what may have been left behind at the sites, with the boys having the advantage over previous diggers of state-of-the-art equipment, technical prowess, and a proven track record. For many viewers, Gary and Gordon’s passion for the hobby led to their own involvement in the hobby and both remain highly respected around the world. Many hobbyists have inquired about viewing the show outside of the UK. So. It is with great delight, and a helpful poke from Gary, that we introduce you to the full series of Hoard Hunters. Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7
    8 points
  4. This morning they took my left ( Kat er Rack ) from me. Oh, it's going to be a big difference they say. Better night driving, reading, interesting sights at the beach. Their getting my right side in a week. So I'm hoping it improves eyeballing on the hunt. Which has really dropped off for me in recent years. There's a lot of Eyeball stories amongst us out there, I'd bet. ( We'll See )
    6 points
  5. I have a pile of wood pieces I use for rod building as seats. Those are birds eye maple. I engraved the logo with my laser. I have some brass rods I cut 1/16" longer on each side of scales and peened them down with a small ball peen hammer then used my sander to finish it all off. All the stock I used I happen to have in my shop. The knife stock I had for a folding probe which I haven't finished off. Seemed bit long and not sure how well it will work once it is slopped up with dirt. May put serrations on the sides of the tip but so far doesn't seem necessary. So far the polished tip didn't gouge up any of the finds but that would probably change on a pine tree shilling :)
    5 points
  6. If this is of use to anyone, I made an editable Excel spreadsheet to record and keep track of my saved program settings. If you do an update, any user saved programs get erased so I wanted to have them recorded. I had to zip it because you can’t attach an .xlsx file. It prints in landscape if you just want a hard copy. DEUS II USER PROGRAMS.zip
    4 points
  7. Ok, I finally got around to cleaning off the other items that came out of the hole with the necklace. The two chunks of iron I believe were rings that held the whistle, as one of the chunks had the brass tag embedded in it. That means that maybe the whistle was strung on the necklace and then fell off the neck of someone. I no longer think the necklace was what caused me to dig, but rather the whistle and necklace together.
    4 points
  8. About a month ago I had my left eye done and right some years ago. Currently Doc says eye sight is 20/20 and yes, eyeball finds have really picked up. One about a week ago was a $100.00 bill on the edge of a sports field I was detecting. You'll be glad you did it, Dancer. HH jim tn
    3 points
  9. The Equinox is switch on and go, that's why it has default settings, park, field, beach, gold.... go into the suitable one and off you go, if you're struggling with the Equinox you're not going to find any other detector much easier to use. These default settings were set by the designers that knew the detector inside out, I have a funny feeling they knew what they were doing when they selected the default settings. The settings are there if you're trying to get the most out of it as an advanced user, you don't need to use them. Turn it on, pick the mode you want for example Park, set your desired volume level and off you go... find stuff. Worse case scenario do a ground balance or ensure tracking is on if your ground is bad and do a noise cancel if EMI is a problem. Have a flick through the manual, it gives a few hints on using it. Changing from the Equinox to any other detector isn't going to make your life easier. Don't be scared to lower the sensitivity, having the sensitivity maxed out can be daunting if you're struggling to understand it, settle on about half way and get used to it, it's still mighty good with a lower sensitivity and far less troublesome for someone learning it.
    3 points
  10. Everything on the digger came out of the same hole while detecting on a local football field today. The Deus II somehow detected the chain, which I thought was gold at first. The signal was strange, but it was mixed with enough high tones to get me to dig. The chain was spread out in a straight line in the soil, so that may have been the reason it sounded good enough to dig. I have been over this area before with the Equinox 15" coil.
    2 points
  11. Couldn’t have said it better, Randy. Congrats on the nuggets and other finds. That’s a beaut of a chondrite, they don’t get more perfect than that.
    2 points
  12. Great pics. Now here is someone who knows how to show off their finds! I go straight to the pics and tend to skip over the words.. (I read those last 😆)
    2 points
  13. It’s actually two tone if you are using disc with iron volume, the iron will register with a lower tone. Yes you are recovering all non ferrous but you can characterize some attributes of the target (e.g., target footprint) based on the pitch tone width/duration. It’s pretty effective. Not dissimilar to the Excal which is a pure tone machine.
    2 points
  14. The only reason I got them, and they are worth this alone to me, is that I just know I'll swat a bug in the surf and toss the WS6 in the water. 😬 I like them SO much I may even use them on land. 🙂 If the WS6 is comfortable to you, the bone phones are pretty much the same if not better. I never thought I would write this after being spoiled by the wireless.
    2 points
  15. April 13 1937 The sun was rising this morning and the rain had stopped. The temperature had warmed a bit and it was time to get serious about mining. The crew is depending on me for leadership and if Jed were here he would tell me to get going and find more gold. That is exactly what I intend to do. We have the southern kettle to finish. We went up there and shoveled with a vengeance. There was good humor amongst the crew once again and the tom was kept busy with our constant shovel fulls of fresh gravel. By the end of the day we were all tired but had made some gold with an ounce in our jar. We talked over supper about finishing the kettle and moving out to the eastern drift mine and surrounding area. That would require a new plan and I was already mulling one over. TO BE CONTINUED ....................
    2 points
  16. I'm PCM pitch myself, but definitely pitch tones on the beach all the way with D2. Thought I might be switching over to Full Tones occasionally to interrogate for aluminum, but frankly, saw no need to do that. Just scooped it and moved on. Pitch gives you a sense of depth and footprint for the target you are about to scoop (or not). So Beach Sensitive Pitch is my go to on dry, wet salt, and ocean surf.
    2 points
  17. out yesterday and i got a tid bouncing around at 90 70 and 00.... tones ok ...checked the xy screen and it was a dot in the centre .the ground was stoney and index 72 i dug down 10 inches and found nothing.. not sure whether to keep going... i need to go back with a shovel for the job possibly its a deep target for sure in gold program should i abandon the hole or does it have potential ?????? no litter and it has history ...going back 2000 years ..woodland area never plowed or lived on i hate to abandon a viking hoard as theyve been found nearby a few years ago ..help
    1 point
  18. I finally did it. 23 years ago I wrote a little Christmas story called "All That Glitters." A Prospector's Christmas Story. During those 23 years I have had scores of people ask me to publish the story into a book so they could pull it out each year and read it. This past Christmas Season I had a company called Gold Rush Expeditions ask for a one time licensing fee to publish the story in their annual end of the year magazine. So, I finally published it into a book. The intro to the book reads: --------------- "Sam Lewis had lost his faith in God, his faith in the criminal justice system and society in general. Now, his wife, Mary, had passed away. Sam felt that without Mary his life was meaningless. Dropping out of society, Sam decided to head for the seclusion of the hills and spend what time he had left working his gold mining claim. Miles away from modern day civilization he found the gold he was looking for. Sam also found something he hadn't counted on; something much more valuable. This wonderful tale is sure to delight adults and children alike. It is a story that will bring a smile to your heart and a tear of joy to your eye." ------------- This is a lite read. Only 63 pages long. 10 Chapters. If you like the ol' Hallmark movies, then you will like this tale. I had that in my head when I wrote it. Something like a Hallmark Christmas movie with Wilford Brimley narrating the story. But Wilford died. Guess I shouldn't have waited so long. Every year around Christmas time I get people calling to buy the book. Well there was no book to buy. But now there is. I don't fashion myself a writer at all, but anyone that knows me will tell you I like telling stories. Merry Christmas about 7 months early. Or 5 months late.
    1 point
  19. It made a very loud high noise VDI 38. I thought, yeah, a soda can, but because the ground was fairly quiet, of course I had to dig it.. And of course, I'm glad I did.
    1 point
  20. Thank you so much, Brad! I was going to make one when I got the time and now I don't have to. This is also very useful for me because I like to track the changes I make to custom programs as I test them. Well done!
    1 point
  21. well done , love that region down there
    1 point
  22. The numbers were very high around 38 to 40.
    1 point
  23. Great post, Randy, and congrats to your beautiful collection. 100-105 deg F is my limit too. I still try to do some detecting under these conditions but I will remain very close to my truck with frequent breaks. Let me know when you come up here and I will take you to the high Sierra's. Looking forward to catch up my friend! Best, GC
    1 point
  24. I like his videos too, and I don't really watch many prospecting videos. He seems like a nice fellow I'd take him out on a trip if he ever came down under.
    1 point
  25. Relic program with notch feature for low ID's with heavy iron fields works sweet. IAR 3 to 5. Notch 0 to 6. I was try with DEEP HC but is too noisy for me. Maybe could to be deeper - lower frequency.
    1 point
  26. So english version will start soon. That is good.
    1 point
  27. I'm slow on posting Chase, I dug back into the manual after my post above only to see that you CAN distinguish iron (2 tones). I gave it a go the other day and was pleasantly surprised. No great targets but it was fun in the water after a short trial on the dry sand. Today will be a good test with the bone phones and my snorkel. Overall I'm happy with all this machine can do. Cliff
    1 point
  28. Very nice finds for all the hard work you put into the hunt. Good luck on your next outing and stay cool.
    1 point
  29. 1 point
  30. I'm using Xchange2 that came with my 3030 and a handheld GPS mounted to the Deus stem, it let's me plot everything as a waypoint. Its FREE.
    1 point
  31. I must say, I've been curious about the Bonephones, but I can't do wired phones anymore and I really don't intend to get submerged anytime soon. 🙂 It would be interesting to see some wireless bonephones or with a standard mini audio plug connected to the puck for land and beach-only use though.
    1 point
  32. bklein So , what did that big lab puppy get named ? maxxkatt Looks like he thinks you should take the next left. The MilkBone warehouse is there.😏
    1 point
  33. thank you and well for the small little gold i have found, 2 pieces look like stuff. Didn't know if there was special section for neat finds like metals that look like other things?
    1 point
  34. Right now it hard times finding any cables. I can post a few links but not sure if they have. https://www.mouser.com/c/?marcom=198111626 https://www.te.com/usa-en/product-CAT-C73765-M1.html https://www.newark.com/c/connectors/sensor-connectors-components/sensor-cable-assemblies https://www.onlinecomponents.com/en/productsearch/connectors/i-o-connectors/connector-circular/ https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/shopping/catalog/cables/sensors_-z-_switches/pico_(m8)_harsh_duty_-z-_food_-a-_bev._q-z-d_cables#sort=undefined desc&start=0 https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/circular-cable-assemblies/448
    1 point
  35. Personally I like the Relic program. It locks on to coins and bottle caps tend to sound a little bigger and fuzzier if they're rusty. I also double check with the Park program with B.Caps at 3-5. Of course you could notch or discrim everything below 90, but some types of pennies will show up in the 80-90 range depending on mineralization and surrounding contamination.
    1 point
  36. I work for a resort that has 1400 acres and two youth camps. The resort was started back in 1909 so I’ve found some silver here over the past three years that I’ve been working here. However it’s been pretty slow for the past year as I’ve cleaned out most of the grassy areas with my equinox. This weekend is the first time I’ve had the D2 in the older youth camp which dates to the 1930s. Yesterday I hit two mercs, a 1920 and a 1926 just inches apart. Today I went back and got my third (and nicest) walking liberty half for the year. The areas where these coins were found had been hit with my nox multiple times. Is it the deus or did I just miss these three with the nox? I don’t know, but I’m definitely going to hit more of the non-wooded areas with the deus II. I hadn’t taken the deus to these areas before today because I had hit these areas so many times with my nox that I didn’t think I’d find much. Hmmm, I might need to re-think this. LOL!
    1 point
  37. How true for most people, but you can be fooled till it gets in your hand. I remember during the early VLF days I got a signal in a contour channel that was done to stop erosion. At this stage of detecting I had found over 50 ounces of gold. That day I was using my wife's Whites Detector when I got the target. I looked down and saw what look like an inch sized rusty nut. I decided to see how well her detector discriminated. It did not reject it like my Garretts would of done (if Iron), so decided to take it back to the Van and show her. It was a real surprise when I got it in my hand it felt heavier than if it was made out of lead, then I knew it was a good nugget. The nugget was a 2 ounce bit once soaked in full strength HCl acid. Before I cleaned it I asked a couple of full time prospectors what they though it was. They all said junk till I dropped in their hand. By the way, in it original form/state I could drag it along the table top with a super magnet much to everybody's surprize.
    1 point
  38. I haven't used either of the detectors you're asking about....BUT if you do swap keep in mind that there's a big price difference in the 2 detectors, Equinox 800 around $1000, the Xp Orx around $650, just an FYI I compared the prices on KellyCo's website. So if I were doing such a swap I would want some money added in the deal along with the Xp Orx.
    1 point
  39. Seriously, some of you folk that suck this rubbish up must have slept in the wood heap and had your brains eaten out by termites.
    1 point
  40. 1 point
  41. I just saw Sawyer Permethrin lasts 6 weeks or 6 washings. That's great. I got the hiking shoes and leg gaiter coming and will be using Sawyer Permethrin now. I'll be all set against the ticks and other things.
    1 point
  42. I’ll be watching it…I like the Parkers Trail shows better than Gold Rush now. I can’t help it, I love Parker….watched him grow up on tv. Dang, if I were only 40 years younger lol😂
    1 point
  43. Also: my transmission went out in my warrantied Ford. Ford said "parts shortage" prevented them from supplying customers with replacement transmissions, which is total BS because they have thousands of F150's and F250's stacked in the Kentucky Motor Speedway parking lot with transmissions in them and they are still selling new trucks. They were saying it might be 4 months to 1 year to get my truck fixed and that my only solution was to buy a brand new truck, which I had literally just done. Totally unacceptable. You'll note I have my F150 back. The day I decided to contact my attorney and forward Ford copies of relevant federal warranty laws and how they were in voilation, all of a suddent the "parts shortage" ended and I got one sent to me. Companies are starting to use this crap as excuses for their own mismanagement and to do less for their customers IMO. Anyways, just letting people know who might find themselves in a similar situation with truck warranties in the US. We have laws protecting the agreements manufacturers made with us when we paid for what we bought and fulfilled our part of the agreement. If they offshored their entire manufacturing to make shareholders a bit more profit, we aren't the ones that have to pay for it, they are.
    1 point
  44. Yes in some cases, depends on what program you are using. Relic program does it a lot. You're in a different country which has much older history. The oldest iron we will find here in the US is about 400 years on average. UK history is much older, and iron is far more plentiful. My advice to you is to rely on more positive/reliable signals and IDs, rather than driving yourself crazy or wasting time chasing deep iron, unless a heavy bag is your thing 🙂 it's so much more likely that you are digging deep for iron than coins. You may miss a few, very few, but IMO you won't regret it knowing the alternative which is carrying 20+ pounds of iron. Good luck and get those good ones! 👍
    1 point
  45. May 1 1936 I drove up to the dig site and found nothing disturbed. I took a walk around the perimiter of the area and saw nothing out of the ordinary and went to work with my pick at loosening some heavy river rock. I dug out some loose gravel underneath one of the bigger stones. Before I put the material in the bucket I took a close look at it as it layed on the spade. To my surprise there were a number of pieces of gold about the size of a pencil eraser or a bit larger. I picked them out and put them in a small bottle in my pocket. I am definitely on to something here. The digging today was slower due to heavy rock that needed to be moved with my bar. I have no idea as to the depth and breadth of this gravel deposit. I am down close to 8 feet and digging to the wall of the pit adjacent to the fault. My strategy is to stay along this level and work the fault north and south as long as the pay stays good. My bucket count was down to 65 today but I have a good feeling about how the wash will come out. I am expecting John's arrival tomorrow. He is a good friend and can be trusted. He is a veteran of the Great War and can handle himself in the face of adversity. He knows hard work as well as I do. Tomorrow I will wash the gravels and get a weigh. TO BE CONTINUED ..............
    1 point
  46. APRIL 28 1936 Last night was peaceful with no critters in camp. After a good breakfast of meal and hot water cornbread I worked at washing the fault gravel. With a large grizzly and hopper over the head of the tom and good powerful water down the creek I was able to easily get all my work done and weighed well before dark. The gravels washed today were from a deeper area in the fault and proved out quite well. The weigh showed a little more than 7 grams with much of the gold course. Between my sampling efforts and my start at mining I am nearly to the one half ounce. I have it well hidden and will go back to the dig tomorrow. Tonight it will be hoover stew, corn bread, and whiskey. TO BE CONTINUED ................
    1 point
  47. APRIL 27 1936 I had a bear visit last night. I heard it moving around camp and I was able to dispatch it back into the woods using a whistle and a holler or two. I'd rather deal with a bear than a lion. I'd rather deal with a claim jumper in the middle of the night than a lion. I awoke to a better day than yesterday as the sun was coming up bright and clear. My mood was good and the gold was waiting for my shovel. The springs on my truck are not up to standard and I must be careful to avoid overloading buckets on the bed. Times are hard and I have no money to replace a broken spring. I feel that better times will come as the gold is found. The day was spent back in the good gravels which seem rich and easier to dig and not requiring much pick work. I will learn more after washing them tomorrow. I worked very hard with only a few breaks and hauled out a total of 95 buckets which was even better than yesterday. If they prove as rich as I think and they are plentiful I will see my ship come to port. TO BE CONTINUED ..............
    1 point
  48. Used Minelab recommended quick start settings only for all three detectors which hampers the GPX 6000 the most in my opinion since Auto1/Difficult is very tame compared to High Yield on the GPZ. To go through all that work to setup the testing and just run default settings………seems like a bit of a waste of three great detectors.
    1 point
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