HardPack Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Just found this reference to “graphite” in one of Jim Straight’s book on prospecting & detecting, “…some highly metamorphosed schist containing graphite…can act as electrically conductive material.” Graphite is carbon. A google check confirmed the electrical conductivity of graphite. After passing some graphite removed from a drafting pencil over a Legend coil sure enough TID 11 (LG24, Park,M1). Iron Pyrite can also occur in schist. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCR Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 I will dig a Graphite stick out of an old battery now & then on relic sites. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HardPack Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 2 hours ago, JCR said: stick out of an old battery Yeah, I was thinking about that just this morning. The cylinder 6 volt batteries had a center graphite core connected a terminal. That probably got through my filters since the old placer miners didn’t have batteries. Need to look up more often. Graphite may explain schist type hot rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PimentoUK Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 Here in the UK, we occasionally dig up the carbon rods from carbon arc lamps. They are quite large, about 0.5 inch / 12mm diameter, lengths 2 to 4 inches / 50 - 100mm. One of mine was marked with the German manufacturers name, which is how I identified it. I presume the lamps were being used out in the fields, so harvesting etc could continue after dark ... though it's possible they were simply dumped there, along with every other kind of rubbish. But they do give a good signal. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strick Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 On 2/6/2024 at 3:53 PM, HardPack said: Just found this reference to “graphite” in one of Jim Straight’s book on prospecting & detecting, “…some highly metamorphosed schist containing graphite…can act as electrically conductive material.” Graphite is carbon. A google check confirmed the electrical conductivity of graphite. After passing some graphite removed from a drafting pencil over a Legend coil sure enough TID 11 (LG24, Park,M1). Iron Pyrite can also occur in schist. funny you brought this up..a friend of ours just got a job at this place. They make giant batteries that can help run a factory out of carbon blocks..not sure how it all works...or how efficient it is as I have not looked into it. they use solar energy to charge the carbon blocks https://antoraenergy.com/technology strick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HardPack Posted March 10 Author Share Posted March 10 3 hours ago, strick said: they use solar energy to charge the carbon blocks thermophotovoltaic (TPV) technology …could this be the future metal detecting portable recharge-ability? Noticed the company is located in Sunnyvale, back in the 1950/60’s that place was a kid paradise. Ended my career in the newspaper business selling yesterday’s newspaper at the Lockheed main gate. 😃 In school we had a shop teacher teaching us how to build a motor that converted dc to ac. The input and output terminals were connected to separate graphite rods dug from a 12v batteries. We all stood in a semicircle holding hands with the individuals at each end holding one of the graphite rods. When the teacher connected the 12vdc to this armature contraption we immediately discovered the true meaning of positive to negative current flow. How I forgot that graphite conducts electricity occurred at this exact moment. The muscle contraction damn near broke our forearm bones. The good old days when kids were kids and shop teachers were parolees.🤯 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutchman4 Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Interesting way to store electric energy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strick Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 7 hours ago, HardPack said: The good old days when kids were kids and shop teachers were parolees.🤯 I used to go duck hunting before school and show up to school with the ducks and my shotgun in the back of the truck...my wood shop teacher would come out to take a look lol... not any more... that company has a place in the central valley where they assemble stuff I guess which is our friend works.. strick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lodge Scent Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 I have a few sites with graphite. The usually ring in with a VDI in the high 30's on the Deus, but now and then a nice big round piece will sound great and get my hopes up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynk Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 I found this graphite (I think) chunk with the Nox 800. It was a TID of 1 and my hopes were up, too! The piece is very light weight and it took me a bit to figure out what it is. It was a keeper from a TID testing perspective, as well as just interesting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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