klunker

All that glitters isn't gold. However if it glitters someone will by it. This business of trying to I.D. a mineral from a photo, even a good photo, is some what of a futile exercise. Even an exemplary photo illustration in high quality geology texts can only give a crude notion of what the mineral is like in a natural setting. But I find this thread interesting non the less. I would guess Iron-- if I where to guess.

A lot of the time I handle pin pointing and depth with an excavator. The 7000 is absolutely horrible for pinpointing because it will give you such a big signal on very small gold. With the ML 705 you could dig a coin sized hole. It's very accurate without using the pinpoint mode. I can't imagine any use for a depth mode- your either going to recover the target or you aren't.

It is nice to know that all the crap that I left out in the woods in my youth is now of cultural significance. So instead of feeling guilty I can now say I have created history. I feel good about myself.

But- But dang it all Steve! If I can't blame you , who can I blame?

Well NVC, I can't calculate watt amperes or volt hours or inductance or resistance or impedance or hysteresis loss and such but I can calculate that if a GPZ 7000 package was $10,000.00 and the battery charging system was worth $2.00 and now the GPZ 7000 package is $8000 that is a 20% reduction therefor the charger, as a percentage of the package is worth 20% less than $2.00 which comes to $1.60. If you scratch off the Minelab logo it probably gives it a realistic worth of about 2 cents. Feel free to check and correct my arithmetic as needed.

I stand corrected. Therefore a 20% reduction in the price makes the charger worth $1.60

I have patiently followed this thread. It's been interesting and educational as is just about every thing else posted on this forum. But the one thing missing is Why does a $10,000.00 detector have a $2.00 battery charging system. My 12V adapter shorted the first time I used it and the charger itself has yet to work properly except when plugged into a 110V receptacle. Are we all supposed to overlook this blatant rip off because the charger has ML stamped on it? I am now prepared to accept the consequences of excommunication from the ML religion. May God have mercy on my soul.

Not to worry Fred. youv'e probably only missed a couple of dozen lost coin purses and among those coins probably only a few were priceless and too many gold coins can make a man become arrogant and could create a tax problem. Always look on the bright side. I probably pass up old baking soda cans full of coins all the time. Sure would like to hear SHs take on this.

My favorite is a cotton nail apron. It doesn't hang on my hips, it's light. it doesn't restrict movement, it lasts a couple of years and it's cheep. Heat the shank on a yard sale screw driver and bend it 90 degrees with the blade parallel to the handle for a crevasse tool. That and a good detecting pick ought to do it. Oops. I forgot- and a peanut butter jar for your nuggets. What is your detector and how wet are your conditions?

Gldbrk; It's a long, sad story. Much more sad than long. For years (before detecting) I would fry my bacon in my gold pan. As I get older I become more absent minded. That can be really bad when my mind has a poor attendance record to begin with. Well last I week I mistakenly put my coil over the camp fire and throwed my bacon on it. I made the bacon taste funny and there wern't nuthin' left to cook the pancakes on.

Wow! where did you find that huge dime? I need to replace a mono for the 5000 so thanks for the report.

cagld; Glad Your doing ok! I have a mining partner with delicate knees. He bought some jeans that have built in pockets for knee pads and seems to like them. I'll get the brand and source of supply next time I see him. When you're rained out and bored would you be willing to share a bit of your grand pa's diary with us? My fathers family has a mining past in Butte Co. Ca.

Mr. caligold. Am I to understand that things like falling down, poking yourself in the ear/eye with brush, having bruised knees and needing an occasional blood transfusion aren't a normal part of prospecting? Am I doing something wrong?

Interesting. but at this time I would rather hire Mr. Ralph for a day. But I'll admit I am 30 years behind the times and loosing ground fast.

This was exactly my point in discussions with BLM. A possible solution would be to declare a claim "invalid" or "pending" until BLM fees are paid. In other words you could record with the county and not pay BLM fees and someone could come later, record with the county and pay BLM fees and make the first filing mute and the second filing valid. This way an internet purchaser could see that the claim has not been recorded with BLM and simply file on it himself. 90 days could still be allowed from the date of posting but one would risk loosing the claim if fees were not paid promptly. Whatever happened to the miners having a meeting to establish the local mining laws.

CD; Your absolutely correct. This proposal has been festering for a long time. I was told in my conversations with BLM that "paper hanging" would be used, in part, for justification of blanket fees. On a side note, the person I spoke with at BLM was very helpful, polite and professional.

Holy Smokes Mr. FM! Do you think I'm made out of money! I wouldn't even consider a tutu until my Micheal Jackson outfit is paid for.

A while back I had a long discussion with a member of the BLM legal staff. You can thank the paper hanging website salesman types for having a large part in creating these new regulations. At one point one of these websites had over 60 claims for sale and none recorded with the BLM. We don't police our own. Instead we invite them as guest speakers at mining conferences. I would gladly pay the fees if I were allowed to mine my claims as the mining laws originally intended.

There isn't any one detector that will do it all. I still am not confident that the GPZ has a significant depth improvement over a properly setup 5000. I recently rediscovered a very small area with the Z that I thought I had cleaned out with the 5000. after finishing with the Z I went back over it with a 6" coil on the 5000 and found several pieces more. The only conclusion that I can draw from this experience is - when I miss gold it's obviously the detectors fault.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I started taking dancing lessons to improve my agility. I have taken my first lesson and I will continue as soon as my instructors foot heals.

I'll start with the ugly. The lower shaft on the GPZ is made out of what appears to be a porous ABS plastic. Down close to the coil it is also ridiculously, disgustingly. unbelievably thin. Now the bad. My feet are shaped like a 17" elliptical mono coil. And worse yet is the control cable to my brain sometimes looses connection. So I was detecting on some very steep and slick ground and stumbled and set my GPZ coil down instinctively to catch myself . I have done this at least a million times with every detector I have ever owned and never damaged any thing. Not so with the Z. The shaft broke at the coil ears. I cobbled it back together with a couple of sticks, some electric tape and a spare shoe lace and finished the day (it was 2 mile+ hike into this spot). Now the good. Doc had one in stock and went to great effort to get it in the mail that same day. I somehow get the feeling that this shaft was designed on a computer by a computer genius who's computer told him that this design was adequate. It's not.

Will somebody take these guys out detecting before cabin fever does permanent brain damage! Gees!! gargantuan metal detectors, cleaning nuggets with hatchets, remodeling an entire prospecting forum? What next?

Congratulations Peg! When Wilma prepares a meal the gold somehow becomes less important. VAPaul probably didn't even turn on his detector.

The one on the left looks a wee bit small and should be discarded to keep your average up. You can send it to Klunkers Nugget Disposal Service Northern Sierra Mmountains U.S.A.

Mr. Beardog; Sir. Detecting is all about finding gold. That part I haven't forgotten. gold mining, including nugget hunting with a detector, is an important part of my livelihood. It is vital that I use the best equipment available that I can afford. For 90% of my detecting work that means using the GPZ. Thank you for complementing me as an "elitist" but I must confess, sadly, I am not one.