Joe Beechnut OBN

Not a lot of targets for three hours.....First Gold a hematite Intaglio Roman Soldier Ring, I believe this one is dated late 1800's to early 1900's. Second Gold ring a nice 14k monogram signetring early 1900's. 12.5 grams. Water is a chilly 41, air temp 46..with N winds at 23 mph. Had the best January I've ever had with 15 gold rings.

The Ski I use for short hopes, around 2 miles. And if I'm going into a congested area. Anchoring the boats in the congested area's kind of alarm people for some reason, the ski they hardly notice....... The boat I use for distant beach's. I have 4 ramps I can launch from in the bay, ....in area's I hunt. Some of the spots can be up the rivers and over 8 miles distance. So those I use the boat...I feel safer. Here is a jetski spot, very tight quarters..so the ski is perfect. Video from late last year.

I'm Waiting and Dreaming also but Opportunity waits for no man. Winds and Tides are shaping up for next week, I'm not going to miss this because I don't have the "AQ"........

That was a great hunt with treasure and some good communication with the Ranger. Just about all Rangers I have come across have been very friendly, even if they were asking me to leave. Which is rare. I would say you really helped clean the place.

I like the straight shafts on my Excaliburs, but with a curved handle which makes it easy to carry to the beach. I do like the control pod under the elbow with a very tight cuff. Gives me better coil control in the water. I keep my cables trimmed short and tight to the shaft, one thing I hate is a sloppy cable.

Yes, Very careful. I have a long Telescoping Boat Hook I use to check the depth as I'm drifting in...and. I do have a nice ladder off of the back which really helps me slowly get off...and makes for a easy get back on. The boat has been a great tool that has helped me get to spots no one else can being many of the old closed beach's are now private and have no way to get to from land.

It took me a few years to get my gear right for hunting these conditions, but as it stands I have no competition from Dec to about mid May. I did guide my one hunting partner thru all of the stuff needed but since I've gone solo I never see him. I will start seeing a few hunters in June, many in July, Aug, Sept...but then it starts to thin out. ..Also most of the beach's here are Private so that makes it tough for everyone to get into them, but I've set myself up with water transport...jetski and boat.

Chilly at the crack of dawn but had a nice Lowtide, found in about 5 foot of water. 13.25 gram 10k Gold Class ring..1965....Airtemp 26 water temp 40....... 23 MPH winds

Thank you LE JAG, To be honest I've got so use to hunt without visibility it just comes natural. I would say of the 5 hours I hunted................ I hunted with my eyes closed 3 hours or more. I find I have less distractions and can focus on the audio better. Thank you for the link, I will look close at it..

Thanks Steve, I've got 15 from this beach since July. It was the type of ring that was popular for that time period. (And maybe that area) Most are not stamped with a fineness mark .....so it dates them to the late 1800's to early 1900's. You really have to look close to make out the initials ......Also took me a second to figure out how to shoot a photo, slanted them downward in the front. I love this beach for there are so many things that personalize the rings that I find here.

Back out again for 5 hours during a nice lowtide.

Great thread, I'm catching up on all of these since I'm new to the forum. I'm guessing you live around New Hampshire, Maine area since the tides play a big part in where you can hunt. Thanks for taking us along on the ride. And please continue.

Steve I have two bread tray sifters and I'm getting ready to redo one sifters with a smaller plastic mesh. I just came across this the other day and ordered. Should be here in a few weeks...I have one spot I get lots of little things by "accident" .........most come up with another bigger target I was digging......Like. Ear rings, charms, small gold chains....Hoping it's what I need and can help me save a few of the gold ones ......It was a Small beach but really packed them in during the 30's to 60's. I'm not really a Micro Jewelry hunter but nothing worse then seeing a gold earing post fall thru the holes in the sifter....Got it off of ebay, used for the bottom of planters or pots to keep the soil from washing out..I'll keep you informed on this..

The the items need to complete...

One reason I made this type of Sifter is I have several beach's I have to walk a distance to get to so I needed light weight and easy to carry. I just loop the pull rope over my head and it crosses my shoulders to carry, it rides on my side. I used a bread tray from the local grocery story, trimmed it up but did leave the handle on one side for when I need to empty the shells or debris in the water I just push the handle down to flip the sifter and push it back. Plus its a good way to carry it coming out of the water. Very easy to make, some short cable ties, 4 inch and larger one's for the Noodle,.... 24 inch heavy duty Then the mesh, I get from McMaster Carr. And a friend of mine gave me something called Rock shield which seems to last forever. The Pool noodles I have used several and found I like the real big Jumbo size, and the reason is I like to slam my scoop in the sifter when I'm dumping the scoop. The big jumbo noodle breaks the shock of the scoop when the handle hits the noodle. Saving the plastic mesh, got those off of Amazon.

Thank you....Here is some info on the sifter, McMaster Carr is where I get the mesh when I first started..............some one just asked a few weeks ago so I did a vid for them also.. Also a friend of mine got me something called Rockshield Mesh...which has been the best I've used...he works construction, they cover the pipes with it then fill in with rock, the mesh protects the pipes. http://www.typargeosynthetics.com/products/pipe-protection-underground-marking/protectamesh-hd-rockshield-mesh.html

12 years detecting, early on I did fair..last 6 years have been the best 4 Excalibur's used...paid around 500 each for them...found over 80,000 dollars in gold (as of 2019) and one 2 carat diamond plat ring, valued at 23 to 27 grand...Silver found and sold 3000.oo Melted ...Clad found, don't even keep track, clean it and spend it. 1 Minelab CTX used...found one gold diamond ring..sold the machine for what I paid for it, luckily right before the Nox came out 1 Whites DF used..never found anything good...sold it ..lost 300. dollars 1 Garrett Infinium LS New...found some gold, ...lost 400 dollars even with the gold found I'm with most here, Great for the body, soul, and mind. At 67 I keep telling myself "keep moving"..And it's easy since I love finding treasure.

Been nice if Carter Pennington got one of the first "AQ's", he does do some interesting tests. And he hunts in the water with most, not just the wet sand.

During the winter here in the Chesapeake bay my main goal is to watch for the best conditions, then try put and myself in the right location to find gold. I seen a Opp coming Monday mornings lowtide, No winds and calm water. Perfect conditions and I knew where to go, a spot that has been very good to me since July 2019. First target of the day a Nice 14k cigar band, 45 minutes later gold ring number two for the day. A Victorian ladies gold ring, no fineness mark. Ring was badly stained. Third and final gold came as water was starting to get rough. Cutting across in the water and headed in I got a strong signal, two scoops and out came a badly stained gold band. Unmarked / No fineness mark which is very common for this beach since it opened in the 1880's. Not many targets this hunt, 3 gold rings, 2 coins, several sinkers and a few pieces of brass in a little over 3.5 hours. Water temps are now in the low 40's, a month from now should really be some great hunting with constant lowtides and NW winds......water will be in the lower 30's but I can do about 4 good hours with my drysuit setup....Thanks for looking...Joe

Steve you really have me thinking about a beach rake, and a Save the Bay T-shirt. I have down days where conditions are not the best at the Bay front beach's, be good to give this ago on those days at the smaller cove beach's.

Steve....Off subject.......Interesting question about using a rake would be many State and Federal beach's are closed to metal detecting. Some year round....... some summer only. It would be a interesting the reaction one gets from the local park rangers on the use of a rake. Maybe something to consider not only for the little chains.

I think I posted the same a few months ago on the other forum, No Disc ...Straight PI. ..........Something to compete with the Whites beach hunter TDI's .........price range. I think it would be the death of the Beach hunter TDI.......

I'm not much for relics at all. But love your story. Thanks for sharing and keep us updated...when it's all over..

Thanks for sharing and all of the time and effort that went into the field test. Hats off to you and those who helped. The test from my point of view shows One's knowledge of his machine is what makes the difference. A very close Second and Third would be having the correct machine and familiar with those hunting conditions.

I'm wonder how the "AQ" will do at the edge where the rough water and wet sand meet. A very abrasive area, as far as the coil to shaft fittings....That's a lot of contact points for sand to get in and wear. A problem once in the saltwater also....... specially when a person hunts over a thousand hours a year, like Dew. Me, the "AQ" won't be my number one for I plan on using the excalibur to locate area's of interest, then go in with the "AQ" and dig all. So the "AQ" maybe looking at 400 hours use a year for me. So how is this ...Zero Pressure Technology.....going to hold up? I'm looking at it and thinking sand..composite material....Mixed....problems in time.