WesD

If someone is looking for a disc. Ive used these guys before and they have good prices shipped, at least in my area. https://qualityfarmsupply.com/products/disc-blade-22x5mm-1-1-8sq-axle If you cut a 5 inch head, I believe there is something like 13 or 14 heads in one 24" dia disc. More if you like a smaller cut.

Id recommend an abrasive disc to cut it. The ultra thin ones, and use something like a curved 2 inch flat bar clamped to it for a cutting guide. The cut will come out straight and you can hit it on a belt sander to make it perfect. I dont see how you would cut a large disc on a bandsaw, plus its very hard alloyed steel. 1.375 tube with 1/16 wall thickness works good for the smaller sledge hammer/maul Link brand handles. I have never tore a handle off and use some large 3 foot picks for stripping overburden. As far a heat tempering I wouldnt worry about it. You are not heating the blade much while cutting and you can go slow when you are near the point. All pick heads will wear out no matter what you do, if your in the rocks anyway.

Plow discs are great. You will get a lot of heads from one disc. Get a 24 inch diameter in 3/16 or 5mm, if you want to keep the pick on the lightweight side. This is one I recently cut for a backpack size pick

Dont forget you can always plug in the cord on the 6000. No latency issues there and less emf beaming through the noggin.

I hear you on those loooong audio hits. Too bad there isnt a limiter adjustment to clip off the top end of the signal, as it really kills the hearing with headphones on. Years ago I made a headphone adapter with a push-button switch that cut one of the audio leads. It helped save the ears when working trashy areas and you could still hear a slight bit of signal come through.

I experience something similar Jason, In my case I notice there is a lot of dead zone on the coil when swinging a tiny target over it. The target in scoop or hand, has to be passed right over a "hot zone" on the coil, or its easily missed/ ignored by the detector.

It could be that the ancient natural soil compaction is very good at transmitting the magnetic signal, acting as an amplifier of weak signals. Once the soil is all fluffed up in a pile, that ground conduit no longer exists and our signal is now diminished.

Yep, looks like a lot of 2300s are about to retire.

Look forward to seeing what they have! Hopefully a small bedrock stabber coil will be in the mix.

I used to hit the fruit with a torch while still on the plant. Burns off the spines and easy pickins then.

No kidding, the controllers sure keep a tight rope on the gold and silver prices!

You would have to have some massive beast nuggets like the Ruby Mine to push anything beyond a couple feet. Even then you have to know what your listening for, as the deeper the signal the more it tends to get drawn out and can be confused as mineralized ground noise. RUBY GOLD

If its hard slate, I would say you have pockets of magnetic pyrite in there. I have seen that in Motherload slates. Very deceiving as it sounds so good on the Minelab PI

You might haves some higher emi in your neck of the woods? Some areas Ive been purr along and speaker use is not really a problem. Other places, and Im hitting the tune button constantly or even going DD coil if it gets too bad. Also found like Jason described, threshold gets smoother over time, so not a detector to turn on and off once you get detecting. I used to do that with other minelabs to save battery power, but this one seems to need a stabilization period to get dialed in.

I use the Link made sledge/maul handles when I make my own picks. Ace hardware should carry them. Fitting them is pretty easy and takes me maybe 10 min. If you have a chop saw and table mounted belt sander, you're good. Cut the end off where they slotted it for a wedge so you just have a straight handle shaft... Then sand to fit. Rotate the handle carefully while your sanding and keep checking until your close. Pound it in the tube with some gorilla glue 2 part epoxy or similar, and pin it with a shovel rivet. This one or a similar one might work for you.

Phrunt, Here in the NorCal gold country, most the guys I know that hunt creeks successfully use SDC2300s. Great detector for water hunts, small coil for crevicing, super stable ground balance, and no worries if you drop it.

At least they are square nails. Round nails on the other hand, I take as an insult. To me, they are one of the most vile horrid things one can detect in the gold fields.

I was hiking to a patch in Norcal when a "yellow dog" ran across the trail a short ways in front of me. I thought that's weird, a lost dog out here in the forest, but then my dog theory quickly changed as a big cat returned to the trail for a better look at me, I suppose. I remember he was big and his tail was twitching about.. We stared eyes for about 10 seconds and then I raised my pick, let out a yell, and off he went, stealthy as a cat. I never heard him run. Nothing like a bear crashing through the woods. I can imagine if one were to attach, you probably wouldnt hear it coming, especially with headphones on. Also had a small scorpion bite when I was brushing away dead oak leaves with my hand. Felt like a bee sting and pain was gone in 15 min.

Yep, what Steve said! In California we have thousands of little creeks, benches and rivers with craggy bedrock where small coils are king. 10 x 6 coils are money makers in these environs.

Yep anything small like 8x6 or 10x6 would be the sweet ticket!!! I always felt Minelab wouldnt go there, as it would cut into the sdc sales, but sure hope I'm wrong!

What I have observed, is the threshold will be very stable after an auto tune, but then the instability creeps back in, and again an auto tune needs to be done to keep the sanity. Maybe Minelab will have a software fix for us? posting from NorCal Motherload country

Chet that would be great, but as it sits now if you want a small coil top end gold detector, you have to buy a 2300. You want a big dog 19" coil? You have to but a GPZ. You like that nice midsize 11" hunter, well clean me out! Drop more $ down on a 6000. Minelab has a pretty good gig going and I dont see them dropping the security chips anytime soon. We can hope for aftermarket always!

Boys, up in the Plumas territory, they consider that a bottle of gold dust. Not sure when they call the color a nugget, but I imagine somewhere around the size of a walnut! Truly a promised land.

I found the 6000 is like all the old Minelabs wrapped in one package. Basically the ultimate prospecting detector, like swinging a vlf, 2300, old gpx, and gpz, all at the same time. For new patches of gold this is awesome! For old patches of gold, if you've already gone over them with ALL of the above detectors, the results probably wont be that epic. A few nuggs will be found, but it doesnt seem to be revealing some new dimension of dirt that the combined effort of the old detectors missed.

Ive known a number of guys that had 100k years detecting gold, but none of them had to solely rely on that gold to keep a roof over their head. It was all bonus gold. So ya you can really hit it good sometimes but its a stock market ride and it always busts at some point. No guarantees you will ever even find one more piece in your life. Gold is always spotty, inconsistent, fickle