flakmagnet

Dale, you guys still set the standard for great detecting videos and common sense borne of experience. It's always nice to see you post.

I agree. I have worked near some incredibly rich areas and it is the forgotten fringes that have produced for me.

I just ordered some Strick. I feel like Bill Murray in Caddyshack in our yard. Thanks...

Ear plugs for the drive?

I agree with JW and Fred's comments. But for the area I am working in, I find that Fred's tip has more relevance. If I get one of those 'maybe' whispers, kick some dirt away and the signal disappears it's almost always because the flake has been turned or it's been kicked out of the scrape. If it's still there then I dig and rarely at that point does it disappear.

I guess this is probably a little off-topic but heck, almost everything is off-topic in a pandemic; Yes we have mountain lions, coyotes and bobcats where we live - because we are living in their neighborhood. Rather pathetically, at least once a week there are little hand printed posters with cute pictures tacked up to the phone poles on our narrow streets saying things like "little fluffy is missing - if anyone sees her please call this number." What the posters don't seem to realize is that little fluffy has become an evening snack for one of the local inhabitants. You simply can't allow your pets to have the usual run of the neighborhood found in other communities.

Fair enough... What I did not mention is that the chicken house was a kit with a set of directions that flat-lined logic and common sense. The raised bed has already sprouted seeds (not shown here JW, if you need proof I'll go out after the rain stops ) I have a half sister who was born and raised in NZ. She and I were chatting yesterday (by phone), and she said she had noticed that NZ has essentially shut off the corona virus with very few cases and one death. I have followed the progress of your leader, she is a beacon for those who look. Best to everyone in these strangest of days.

I agree, but the first swing in the video is a definite 'dig me' sound no question about it. That said, he certainly earned that gorgeous nugget.

fwiw, I think that post is from 6 years ago…haven't heard from him in a while...

Just finished building a new raised bed, putting together a new hen house and (using my gold pick), making a level path along a slope in the bottom yard. This sheltering in place is not for sissys.

Your effort to inform is always appreciated. Thanks. It's pretty hard to imagine being able to go out near where I live and being able to detect. The information on Saturation and how to deal with it is fascinating.

With the 5000 I pumped the coil after every loud-ish sound whether it was a signal, a hot rock or a false…ground balance is everything.

From your statement to ML's R&D dept...

Thank you, I join you in wishing everyone good health in a safe place.

I am on my second coil cover if that says anything (I am not out all that often until lately). I also remember JP recommending having the coil off the ground i.e. not scrubbing and there was a reason for it but I can't remember if it was to keep the detector from being oversaturated. JP?

I would rather defer to more experienced people than me as to what is best. For myself I vary what I do. Sometimes I basically scrub the coil and sometimes I keep it 1/2 of an inch or so off the ground. I don't know which is better, I find gold using both methods.

Mistaken post :)

Weight? (beautiful find Norm)

Bad joke, but as it happened we were both wearing gloves.

I agree, that tracks closely with what I have experienced. But your explanation is much more concise.

After sheltering in place for over a week, my son and I escaped to the desert to refine our social distancing. Instead of playing with settings on the 7000, I decided to work on my personal hunting technique concentrating on swing speed, 'range of motion' as JP calls it, coil control and listening for faint, vague changes in a steady threshold. My son took off to hike while I clambered down a boulder strewn and treacherous hillside with all my gear. I tuned up at the bottom and began to slowly cover ground I had already gone over in a previous post. Almost immediately I got what sounded like a small EMI tone-change in the threshold. But as I made my first boot scrape I saw my son waving from the top of the hillside and motioning for me to come up. I took off my headphones and heard him calling to me to come and help him. Now I am advancing in years and that hill is not for sissy's but he was insistent. A few minutes later I stood beside him out of breath and slightly put out, but when he pointed at a near-by prospect hole and said "can you help me get him out?" I was honored that he had asked me to come and help. Somehow a desert tortoise had fallen into the excavation. My son clambered down, lifted him out and handed him to me. We put him in the shade for awhile to let him calm down after being lifted and carried around. After awhile, refreshed and emboldened, he took off, snacking on Spring flowers and grass shoots as he went. My son continued his hike as I made my way back down through the rocks and resumed my hunting. My first faint change in the threshold produced a flake so small that, if it didn't go off on the detector, I would not have believed it was gold, it looked more like a slice of silica, but it was gold. (0.01g). The next flake was beside a basalt rock and I made out the signal in the midst of the sound the basalt was making. That's where swing speed (slow), and coil control makes the difference between finding a bit of gold or passing it up and moving on. Anyway, all in all, 5 stupidly small flakes - but all of them were found because I had decided to focus on what I was doing rather than what the detector was doing. Best to everyone in this strangest of times.

Sometimes it seems as though the signal jumps out on the third or fourth swing. It's been faintly repeatable up to that point which why you're on the third and fourth swing. My experience many times.

Seriously Dale, you guys continue to amaze.

Nice social distancing Rob...

Reg your suspicion's were, of course, correct. Those shows are tightly scripted. Have many friends who used to work in 'reality' shows, there is nothing real about them. Best...