GB_Amateur

When I turn on the Eqx I just go down the list, starting with Noise Cancel, then Ground Balance, and all they way down to Recovery Speed. It may have happened to me that I've had to hit an 'Exit' button twice (I typically use the Pinpoint button to exit) but not enough that I've ever noticed. And, yes, after getting started I sometimes change settings, particularly Recovery Speed and occasionally a Noise Cancel sequence. Still don't recall having to hit an Exit button twice. I'll try to be aware of this from now on to see if it ever happens. Oh, I'm using the newer 1.75 software. Outside chance, but could that be the difference?

Beauty! Which detector and how deep?

Great pics as always by you two. But no photos of your panned gold?

Welcome, Jay! You're in a garden spot for gold -- I'm envious. With so many years of prospecting experience you already have the hard part covered. Good fortune finding more with a metal detector.

Not just a semi-key, but in great condition. Well done!

Spelling is actually Whink: https://www.amazon.com/Whink-Rust-Stain-Remover-Ounce/dp/B003KIQIW8/ref=sr_1_3?gclid=CjwKCAjwvJvpBRAtEiwAjLuRPelEblgXOEi5OhfQDq_SQejrzjwNjfDD2-XCBHaTartH1XoTg-kTVhoCpdAQAvD_BwE&hvadid=241645596943&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9016564&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=17298008456077216060&hvtargid=aud-649564993678%3Akwd-1389632425&hydadcr=693_1011790827&keywords=whink&qid=1562864159&s=gateway&sr=8-3&th=1 Here are the Material Safety Data Sheets (msds) for both Alibrite and Whink. You can read there that Whink has between 1% and 2.3% hydrofluoric acid whereas Alibrite has less than 1%. This probably explains why Whink works faster at dissolving quartz. SEPTONE ALIBRITE.pdf Whink-Rust-Stain-Remover.pdf

Today, but how confident are you that it's always been this unattractive? East coast US? You've got 300-400 years of potential loss-of-valuable metal. I'm not a beach hunter but I've been amazed at the old items I've found in places I thought were only recently visited/occupied (and how wrong I was).

Hydrofluoric? What concentration?

Quoting Chris from the article: When I am sniping along a stream, I am normally spending a lot more time digging out a crevice than performing the actual panning stage of operation. I've dug out large crevices that repeatedly yielded one to two pennyweight per panful, but that is not normal. So digging and cleaning out a small but good crevice and panning the material might take twenty minutes. Let's say that yeilds a quarter of a gram, which amounts to about 0.75 grams of gold per hour, and that gives about 42 hours to get an ounce of gold by panning a typical but decent spot.

Last night I read a very interesting (IMO) article by Chris Ralph in the June, 2019 issue of the ICMJ (https://www.icmj.com/) titled "How Long Does It Take to Find and Recover an Ounce of Gold". There are a lot of caveats Chris lists, which makes it dangerous for me to summarize what was written. Further, there is a fine line between showing results from a magazine/journal which needs money to stay afloat and requiring interested parties to simply pay for a subscription. IMO, anyone halfway serious about searching for native gold (and there's more there than just gold) should be a subscriber. Most importantly, his estimates certainly depend upon the ground you are covering -- this should be obvious to everyone and I hope simply mentioning it will squelch any attempt to quibble at his results. Basically there is a lot of uncertainty around Chris's numbers, which he is well aware of, but it's still interesting to hear from an expert who has used all of these methods countless times. I was surprised at some of his estimates. In order longest (least efficient) to shortest: Panning: 42 hrs, Metal Detecting: 40 hrs, Sluicing/Highbanking: 30 hrs, Dry Washing: 30 hrs, Dredging: 20 hrs, Hard Rock Mining: 8 hrs. I think it's worth emphasizing that this is a time efficiency, not a cost efficiency. Panning is clearly the least expensive with hard rock mining by far the most. Chris also points out that the leadup time/research/preparation & cost are vastly different -- hard rock mining being the obvious extreme.

Are these still marketed? I did a quick Google Search ("Joel Farmer Mining") and didn't find them, although there was quite a bit about him.

Welcome! Glad to have another 'reformed' -aholic join us.

I wish it were even that simple. In the US, the two most common pulltab types are the ring & beavertail and the so-called 'square' tab. One problem is that even when narrowed down to these two most common types the TID's vary quite a bit. To give an idea, on the Minelab Equinox the beavertail alone (broken off from the ring) can fall in the 11-13 region, right on top of nickel zone. Most common TID for the square tabs is 14, but broken in half they read 12-13 and 16 is fairly common. The full r&b when completely flat (not folded over) can go as high as 18 (bottom end of corroded zinc penny range). There is a small version of the r&b which reads 13 when not folded over. And you can find every orientation of r&b -- people back then (1965-75 was the time of the r&b) just loved to fiddle around with them, sometimes breaking them, folding them, chaining them together.... The bottom line is that it takes humans to lose rings, and those same humans like to drink their beer and soft drinks (and tossing pulltabs on the ground 😡) in the same locations where they're losing their valuables. Gotta take the bad with the good.

From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screw_cap_(wine) The most known brand of wine screw caps is Stelvin, which is commonly used in the wine industry as generic trademark for any brand of screwcap.[5] The caps have a long outside skirt, intended to resemble the traditional wine capsule ("foil"), and use plastic PVDC (Polyvinylidene chloride) as a neutral liner on the inside wadding. The Stelvin was developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s by a French company Le Bouchage Mécanique at the behest of Peter Wall, the then Production Director of the Australian Yalumba winery.[6] In 1964 Peter Wall approached Le Bouchage Mécanique. The Stelvin cap was trialled in 1970 and 1971 with the Swiss wine Chasselas, which was particularly affected by cork taint, and was first used commercially in 1972 by the Swiss winery Hammel.[7] From about 1973 Yalumba and a group of other wineries - Hardys, McWilliams, Penfolds, Seppelt, Brown Bros and Tahbilk - were involved in developing and proving up the concept and began using it commercially in 1976.[8] Although this article is about aluminum caps used for wine, my guess it that this occurred prior to aluminum caps on soft drink and beer bottles. (That is also my recollection, having lived through those times. 🙄) See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#History where it says aluminum products began around the turn of the 20th Century and really took off after WWII.

Great haul, even for a long weekend! In particular you must have been getting baked. Not sure why you're downplaying your finds by saying: unless you're talking to the Brits.😁 Yes, the East coast has some older stuff but they still have to dig through all the modern coinage (and trash) to find it, and even for them they're a pretty rare find. Thanks for posting such good photos and hope you can make it out again soon.