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a treasure hunt on the beach and in the water

Forum in English -Search treasure metal detectors in the US and Europe

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Reading the beach

Сообщение admin » 20 дек 2016, 17:12

Reading the beach
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For those among us who stalk the saltwater beaches and wade the waters looking for its treasures I write this story to relate to you one more item of information that you will not hear anywhere else. For the last several nights I have worked the low tides on the saltwater beaches near here and found them remarkably barren. Last night for instance I worked a half mile stretch of beach from the fairly deep water with large waves back to the beach. Of course I had to walk a half mile in one direction at one depth and then turn and take a path a few feet shallower so that my coil would overlap and return to the far side. This process had to be repeated many times and I walked miles working this beach last night with crashing breakers, tons of seaweed in the water and on the beach, and I noticed to my horror later on that the Portuguese Man-O-War stinging jellyfish were showing up too. Suffice it to say that if you have ever been hit by one of these you really know you have trouble. This was not to mention the other sea pests like sting rays and sharks(I remembered last night how that the large fish come in to feed when it gets dark!).

All of the hindrances aside I wanted to find something good last night but as I walked miles I realized that I was missing any signals for long periods except as I neared the rock groins I did get to break the silence with some tin tear off lids that the fishermen threw into the water(Oh joy).

Then I remembered that about a hundred yards from the far rock groin there was a very strong rip tide. You will never spot a rip tide unless you are an old salt because it takes keen observation unless you get caught in one. This tide was clearly obvious because the large beds of seaweed were moving out to sea in a small ribbon of water about 40 to 50 feet across and they were coming into shore everywhere else. When I walked through this rip it pulled my heavy scoop straight out seaward and made walking, not to mention swinging an 8 foot arc almost impossible with wads of seaweed hanging on the loop.

In order to spot a rip without the seaweed and without just blundering into one you need to study the sea foam and ripples. You may look at one and never see it because it really takes a trained eye. Look for the movements of sea foam where everywhere else the foam is moving into shore but in a small strip of water it is flowing back to sea. Another less easy thing to spot is the tiny ripples and this depends on the strength of the rip but there are tiny ripples in the rip that you don't see anywhere else.

That is when I decided to get smart and use my experience. Many people would be smart to avoid the rip tides because they can be very dangerous at times pulling your feet right out from under you and dragging you out to sea. If this happens do NOT swim back to the shore! Swim along the beach until you get out of the rip because they are narrow and the current is going the other way just on the other side of it.

A little concept of mine says something like this "Nothing bad happens unless good follows behind it" and ordinarily the rip is to be avoided as one big bad risk. However I once had a curious observation that along the side of the rip as it nears the shore were deposits of goodies. I never was able to confirm this and did not know if it was true and since I had found nothing but one lens of a pair of sunglasses I decided to work the rip eddy. I notice at my location that the rips may be caused by deformations in the shoreline and sometimes wind and the deep washes that form a steady return path for the sea currents. My observation seemed to indicate that the largest deposit of goodies was on the north/west side of the rip tide and I can not figure out why that may be except the undercurrent feed seems to be coming more from the south/east side and I suppose that this is cause by the prevalent winds and waves in the area.

Sure enough, after hours in silence I started hitting targets and almost right on top of one another. I picked up 5 quarters and some other coins there but alas! no gold! The gold and silver are normally found in these deposits but our efficient water hunters (including me) have cleaned out last years loot from the surf while we wait with baited breath for the thundering hoards which will shortly show up on the summer holidays.

You might say that this was a long story to make a point, but this may be the only information you need to put you onto the nice gold rings and I wanted to relate absolutely everything that I knew about the phenomenon.

Good luck and be careful!
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Pulse vs VLF water detectors

Сообщение admin » 20 дек 2016, 17:13

Pulse vs VLF water detectors

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I remember when I first thought that I would get a underwater detector for the surf and the questions that bothered me. I had heard of the pulse detectors and all that anyone would say was that you will dig a lot and that they go deep. Not a word about the other considerations about water hunting or whether or not the pulse detector would work as good anywhere else. Nothing about VLF detectors or if they would even work here. I get asked more questions about that lately than anything else so I will try to inform you if you are considering working the water.

Pulse detectors will work as well anywhere but have no discrimination even though some of them may offer some control over pulse delay or threshold they really don't discriminate well if at all. You will use a pulse detector where you cannot use a VLF detector. Your pulse detector will work anywhere and is a good option if you plan to vacation at many different places just take plenty of back liniment since digging all iron, nails and gold is a lot of work but, of course fun also.

Some places with heavy concentrations of black sand, or very high mineralization the VLF may not work for you or where the iron may be found in fine particles and mixed with the sand. The VLF can be set to eliminate iron or just signal which metal the object is made of with a tone so you can decide if it might be a deep object that signals iron and worth digging. A good VLF detector can save you work in the shallow water where there are often rusty nails, old batteries, hairpins, and pieces of rusted cans but not where the mineralization effects the detector to the point where it will not work correctly.

To determine what kind of beaches that you want to hunt you will have to rely on the other water hunters there and ask them questions concerning what kind of detector that they use and what seems to work there. Check with the local clubs and stop at the detector shops where you may be lucky enough to find an old treasure hunter instead of a young sales clerk. If possible you might be able to rent a VLF detector and try it out in the water to get the feel of it. Information is worth the money! Consider how expensive it would be to purchase the wrong type of detector and have to sell it as used, while you try to buy another detector that will work ok.

The VLF detector will allow you to cover more ground without digging nails and so your ratio of junk to gold will improve if you can use the VLF. I have used a pulse unit for the water here and when I come in I have a pocket full of nails, bottlecaps, hairpins, and many rusty objects that required a lot of work to dig out of deep sand in the surf.
Take your time and choose wisely because detectors are getting more expensive all the time.
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Surf and deep sand recovery

Сообщение admin » 20 дек 2016, 17:13

Surf and deep sand recovery

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HunterBig scoop

Its a tricky thing to metal detect in heavy surf and large waves and on top of that carefully extract that gold ring from nearly a foot under the sand while attempting to maintain your balance and not loose the spot to dig. More than that you may see a large variety of scoops for sale but you have no idea what would work under those conditions and some scoops are very expensive and you don't want to purchase the wrong kind. Salt water hunting is a challenge but very rewarding to those who take up the challenge and pursue the gold. Did I mention that the hole collapses as the sand from the sides flows down to fill your hole before you can dig out the target? You certainly have to be on top of the job or you can get blasted from a large wave if you take your gaze away from the waves to look into your scoop or hit by a man-of-war stinging jellyfish that fill the waters here in the spring. Not worth it you say? but you would be wrong, its more fun than you might imagine and you can learn how to keep a watch out and dig rings at the same time. The most difficult thing for me is not losing the spot in strong currents when the undertow is pulling my scoop away from me and may cause me to loose my footing. I use a webbed dog leash to put on my detector belt and attach to the scoop handle so if I drop the scoop I can pull the leash and get it back without swimming underwater or feeling around for it as the current carries it away
It is one thing to read about it and another to experience it. If you live away from the beach you can still plan a vacation where you can hunt in the warm waters and sunny skies but you need to know what equipment to use and what to do to get ready. As I mentioned there are lots of different kinds of scoops and when you are choosing a scoop here is what you need to consider. First you need to get the job done fast and recover the rings without letting the sand collapse back into the hole and you will need a large bucket to do that. Some scoops may LOOK big in the ad but you discover that the opening of the bucket is only four inches wide and that won't do in deeper water. You need to extract the object in the first try if possible and you need a big bucket to do that. The bucket should be at least 6 inches across the opening and 8 inches deep and have a long heavy handle that will allow you to use the leverage to pry up the sand without breaking the scoop. One more consideration is that if you have problems with your back the large scoop may be a problem to you and you will just have to get by with a smaller one because you get a bucket of heavy and I mean HEAVY sand and you have to lift it to the top of the water and slop it back and forth to melt it down to your ring it will get to your back quick. In the water many hunters dig everything so you can see that this might be a problem for you. I have used a smaller scoop in the surf and that might be all you can take with you on vacation but the problem is that the sand collapses back into the hole and it takes forever to extract the ring. Once you get a scoop there are several things you must do to prepare it.

Mark the handle on the back side away from the opening so that you can see it in the surf because you may get the scoop backwards under the water and not notice it. Use 1/4 inch hardware cloth, available at your hardware store to insert around inside the scoop and cut a piece for the bottom that will just fit inside it. This does two things, it means that you will not loose the small jewelry and chains and it means that the sand will take longer to melt! I will spend the time to do it right the first time because there is nothing that drives me crazy like digging a deep target only to have it fall through the 5/8 inch holes over and over! Some folks like to glue a small magnet to the middle bottom inside of your scoop to catch the small magnetic trash. However I got tired of the black fuzzy ball of junk there and took it off mine. It only takes about 20 minutes to fit the hardware cloth into the scoop and then I use bread ties to twist around the wire to hold it in where I can remove it if I want to. Once I got a gold ring between the wire and the scoop and almost never noticed it. Next look for the obvious places that are sharp which will tear your hands up when you use the scoop and wrap them up with duct tape so you can't cut yourself with the scoop.

I mentioned that you will need a smaller scoop to take on vacations that you can pack in a suitcase and what you need for that is the small galvanized sand scoops that they sell with the 14 inch to 18 inch handles. Get one of these and take the cover off the back of the handle. Get the 1/4 inch hardware cloth and put it inside the scoop just like the large one and then go to the hardware store and find the electrical department where they keep the conduit. Bring your scoop with you because what you want to do is match the handle to a piece of conduit. It comes in long sections but don't worry because it is cheap. Next go to the bin where they will find you a coupler to fit both ends of pipe together and then you have everything that you need. Measure the length of the original scoop and give yourself another 3 foot or so of the conduit and cut off the piece and join them together with the connector. These will allow you to remove the extension when you are packing. Next the bicycle handlebars handgrip that was used for a handle on the original scoop can be placed on the end of the extension. There you have it the neatest transportable scoop you can get, only don't abuse it by forcing it into the sand or you might break it while you are on vacation.

If the water is cool or there are stinging jellyfish in the water then you can bring the cheap vinyl waders and a pair of old large tennis shoes so you don't get stung. I like the creamy cocoa butter (the lifeguards use) for a skin cream and I know that it doesn't have a SPF rating for ultraviolet but I can hunt with it on all day and never get a sunburn and it doesn't rub off on your clothes.

After a day gathering your golden treasures you will wonder what is gold and what is golden. There are different markings that manufactures use around the world and then sometimes you may find a gold object that is old or just not marked but that is rare. Bring a small magnet to see first of all if the object is magnetic. Gold and silver are not magnetic. The markings inside the rings may indicate the karat such as 10k, 14k, 18k, etc. I understand that some countries are using 9k and others use different markings. If you see a silver colored, non magnetic ring it may be platinum and may be marked with a PI. Gold rings may be marked with foreign markings that do not use the karat mark but indicate like some silver rings a rating such as 925 which means that it is 92.5% silver or in the case of gold rings the percentage of gold. If you find a gold ring that is marked with 417 that is a 10K gold ring with is 41.66% gold and rounded off to 41.7 and the decimal is dropped. Use the following formula on the rings with a karat marking to determine the percentage of gold: #k divided by 24k(pure gold) multiplied by 100 equals the percentage of gold as the following examples:
10k divided by 24 and multiplied by 100 = 41.66% pure gold
14k divided by 24 and multiplied by 100 = 58.33% pure gold
18k divided by 24 and multiplied by 100 = 75% pure gold
22k divided by 24 and multiplied by 100 = 91.66% pure gold
I have rings that are silver but marked as such and these may be antique Mexican or Indian rings which have been created by hand in a remote area. The worst thing you can do with a find is jump to a conclusion and throw a valuable ring into the junk box. I use a very strong magnifying glass and look close at gold rings to see first of all whether they have nicks that reveal that they are only gold plated. If there are no nicks indicating another discolored metal underneath then look very closely at the scratches and see how soft the metal is. I look at the deepest scratches because a soft gold ring will scratch deeply and still show gold. It may be necessary for you to create a very small tool to use to scratch the gold to see if it is plated or solid but unless the ring is gold plated over silver it should show as magnetic and have nicks on it. Deep scratches that still show gold are the best indication that you have to show you that you have a gold ring. The karat marking could wear off if the ring is very old and the gold content is high. Beaches where Europeans vacation are good for 18k gold and most domestic beaches just have 10k to 14k gold. Another indication that the rich folks may not come from America.

My scoop cost me under $100 and is available at Alexander's Enterprises that you can find under "local contacts" on my page. If you decide to sell your gold items then please do not sell them to a pawn shop because you will not get anything for them. Instead they can be displayed in a nice ring display box with prices and you can sell them like hotcakes at the flea market.

One more thing, when you are surf hunting always face out to sea and never, never turn around. I was hunting one morning when the sea was as calm as glass and I was having fun and not paying attention when I heard something. I looked around and saw a wave that was 3 1/2 to 4 foot high and racing to me and I was in the deep water!! I have no idea what caused it but there was a series of large waves after that and it dunked me before I could get back to shallow water and shocked me that a large wave like that could just come up on a still sea so keep your eyes out to sea at all times you may even see a large black fin cutting the water like I did. The sea is realtime life and exciting but never to be taken for granted.
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Secrets of saltwater beaches

Сообщение admin » 20 дек 2016, 17:14

Secrets of saltwater beaches

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The sea
Just when everyone you know thinks you are a few bricks shy of a load for going to the beach and metal detecting you might be picking up some of the first hints of the secrets of the beach. Beaches have differences, that is true, but there are many things that they have in common. They are in a constant state of change even though they look to you to be the same. Almost every time you go there are vast differences and you cannot find consistent goodies without this knowledge. Either be prepared to spend thousands of hours going beach and water hunting to learn it, or listen up, and I will add my little bit to get you started in the right direction.

You must have exact information about tides on the area where you hunt and do not think because you know the tide for a beach 25 miles from there that it will be the same because it is not. If you can not get the exact area you wish to hunt then get the closest to it and spend time at your beach to mark the high and low tides and compute the difference yourself. Today the internet contains wonderful information about tides and you can display and print it in several ways including graphs. Only for a short season in the entire year do you have the annual low tides and if you look at a graphic display you will see that at certain times there is a larger difference between the high and low tides and the low tide will go sharply lower than any other time of the year. There may be three or four times when this appears but only one time when it is the most pronounced. Shortly before and after this key day the tides are almost as good but the tides alone do not insure that you will find anything!

You must time the low tide with the occurrence of an offshore wind or (depending on the shape of your bays and beaches) which may not be more than a couple of degrees of the compass off the perfect wind. This wind depends on your area and will drain the water level and expose much more beach. This is where you come in. You have to watch the times when these winds blow at the beach and use a compass to mark the perfect degree to maximize this lower water level. You may discover that the wind blowing along the beach from a certain angle will cut washes in the sand. Record all of your information and don't rely on your memory because the important little things may slip away from your memory.

When you have determined the angle the wind had to blow from and the peak low annual tide they BOTH have to coincide to give you what you want. This is the hard part, you can wait all year for the day to come and instead of the right wind you get a strong wind from the wrong direction and surf that piles water high on the beach anyway. You have a few days around the perfect day to get these conditions just right and don't waste your time unless they are good because a few degrees off of perfect and it is a wasted day.

Another thing to know is that the days when you have the largest change between low and high tide will cause sand to be removed from the beach. I have gone to a beach that I have covered every square inch with my coil several times and yet the large differential tides removed some sand and I found a large patch of coins up near the high tide mark that was not there a few days before. It seems to me at Galveston that the strong south winds dirty the water and force the water higher onto the beach and when a very strong cold front blows an offshore wind the sand suspended in the dirty water is carried out to sea revealing more objects that were deeper in the sand and I think that winter removes sand here and summer builds it. You may water detect along one beach and find every target but do not think that there is no need to return and do it again! The winds and tides cause much sand to be removed and redeposited continually and the area where you found no targets may produce good finds in the next few days when the sand is moved some.

When you get to the beach on your perfect day just look at it for a bit and view the troughs and washes that are exposed. these don't always remain in the same location but detect the washes and listen carefully because the goodies may be deep in the sand. Leave to arrive a couple of hours before the perfect time so you can maximize your hunting time. Work the wet sand where it may have been four foot deep under the sea only a short time before and move quickly until you begin finding an area where coins or hairpins are found and then slow down and remember that only the little area in the center of your coil will actually reach deeper, not the large area around it. You will miss the small rings unless you go very slow in these areas. I move down the beach very quickly "until" I find a good spot and then move very slow. Strangely enough the good areas may be in little patches on the beach with unproductive areas all around them and I am not quite sure why this occurs but I know to look for them. Jewelry will often be found with the coins.

Everyone has heard that you hunt after a storm has shifted the sand and washed out areas at the beach but when the water is full of sand and really dirty the bottom may be exposed to a degree that you have not discovered before. Water detect but do not get caught in the storm riptides and undertow. It is not worth it to risk your life for a little gold.

Only after you have water hunted for a long time do you begin to get a feel for the rip tides and where to expect them and how to observe them. The rip tides are also gateways to treasure but careful that you don't have RIP posted over your grave. Know where the riptides are and when they shut down because when they are still for a very short time and you will find that the tides had eddies where they deposited goodies that you can reach in the lull between the tides.

Many shorelines have rock groins extending out into the water and some of these have places where tides have deposited goodies in eddy pools you may find but be careful of the deep pits around some of these groins as they are very dangerous.

In addition to your newfound knowledge of the sea you should locate an internet camera which will display the beaches near you and view it every day of the year as you build your information. Aside from everything you think you know there are dynamics of wind and sea that can only be discovered by watching it on a regular basis. If you are fortunate to live within view of a beach then consider that you can be a great service to those around you by providing a daily picture on the internet for others to see. The cost is very low and I will help you to put it online if I can. Please return the kindness by giving others information to the benefit of us all, because even if you live far away from the beach, you can plan when to take your vacation when you will really find something of value at the seashore.

Much of the beach and sea is still unlearned and much of the information is concealed because it is hard to obtain. I hope you appreciate this information and use it productively. When you learn more about the beach then share it with us all instead of keeping the information to yourself. There are more treasures in the sea than men can take in a million years and never, never, believe that a beach has been hunted out.


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Secrets of the Saltwater Beaches (Part II)

Сообщение admin » 20 дек 2016, 17:16

Secrets of the Saltwater Beaches (Part II)

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In part one you learned about the importance of determining the tides for your hunting beach and the timing must be exact! You must begin with the nearest place to your beach that provides tide information and then calibrate the time differential and factor in the winds too. There is far more to this than even the best saltwater hunter knows. When the tides get so low that they pass below the mean low tide mark we call them (minus) tides which generally occur near to the full moon and the dark of the moon. But don't think just because it is the full moon you can go hunting the surf. My location has the extreme lowest minus tides in early January and then there are still some good ones in spring but they just fade out when they get to summertime and do not return until late November. You may ask "why is this so important?" and the reply would be "it's only important if you want to reap the best harvest of golden jewelry". Yes it does take a lot of work to get the timing right and not only the timing but the wind can improve it or totally ruin the golden opportunity. What you desire is the wind to be at least calm or a strong offshore wind that will help push the water back out. Much of this I have touched on before but I want you to understand the importance of it.

When the day and the hour comes for the low tides and if the winds are good also you might discover that the low tide is at one O'clock in the night!! Shock! "Well you can't expect me to hunt at night can you?". By now you know the answer. You will need a few things to hunt whenever your prime time gets there and it may be at night or it may be in January with a very cold wind from the Arctic blowing at 40 mph. Let me say that I hunt all of these times, and I do well, and I am an old man..... You wouldn't let an old man beat you out to the treasure would you? The key is that it takes whatever it takes and whether you need a hookah diving setup to work the lake or you snorkel or scuba dive to search the bottom of the sea then that is what it takes. The only thing you have to decide if you have the right stuff.

If your low tide is at night you will need a few things before you attempt to hunt. You will need a light to look into your scoop for the goodies and it needs to be waterproof. I found a yellow penlight with a two cell capacity which is sealed by "O" ring and really waterproof because I have had mine underwater. It was also very inexpensive and found at the sporting goods store. It comes with a braided loop you can hang on your belt and I can use it from there to peek into the scoop. When you enter the water at night you are really at the mercy of the sea when you cannot see the area around you so you should wear protective clothing that can keep the stinging jellyfish away from you and do not expose your white legs because feeding sharks may take you for a meal. There was a 10 year old girl yesterday that was bitten badly by a shark at Galveston. They will generally leave people alone unless a white hand or leg looks like something they eat. Also the clear waters of some places like Florida have barracuda which will attack you if they see a wristwatch flashing on your arm so take care and if possible go with a buddy. I am not trying to scare you but just inform you to take the proper precautions.

It is peaceful and pretty at night and can be a pleasant experience. You should hunt the low tides on the wet sand and in the water because you are able to access much of the swimming area that is now on wet sand or shallow water where it had been too deep before to work quickly. Everyone who water hunts tends to work around a certain depth and just walks up and back along the beach not changing the depth a lot. The exposed wet sand is a formidable area to hunt. First of all it is too large to cover, the time is too short, and difficult to be able to work wet sand and the water also in a scant hour or two? I face that problem every time I hunt the low tides but you learn to forget a lot of what you have heard and learn what you need to be able to adjust to that kind of hunting. You should remember that the key is speed so begin with the waters edge and back about 15 feet. That is about two passes along the water for me and I will walk down along the waters edge dragging my shovel and then move over 8 feet and make sure that I don't miss anything. After I have extracted the gold from the wet sand then I begin working the water. I will not work the deep water then because even the knee deep water will be five feet deep on high tides and much easier and FASTER to work than at any time. Perhaps you have still, calm water but I have large breakers that crash around you with strong undertow that pulls my scoop straight out to sea so I can then work that kind of area fast and easy and reap the golden rewards. I have discussed the cold weather attire you should obtain in another story and you should know that it is not too difficult for an old man like me to hunt in early January with strong north winds blasting dry sand out to me in the water and the water temps quite cold. It is just that you need the correct protection to hunt like that and the determination to achieve success in your enterprise.

I have studied the sand erosion because it seemed to mystify me to how several feet of sand could disappear and then re-appear so quickly. I have learned not from books but by studying the beaches every week and noting the changes. The sand is removed by the winds that we get when the cold fronts blow in very strong. Before the front gets here the strong onshore wind has high tides up on the beaches and then the cold fronts suddenly changes wind direction and begins blowing maybe 40 mph out of the opposite direction. The current takes the sand right off the beach and out offshore where the current moves it along as it settles to the bottom. It is both the heavy sandy surf just prior to the front that moves it and the offshore cold wind that blows dry sand over the water. They both move a tremendous amount of sand and of course the coins and jewelry just stay where they were and settle down to the firm bottom where they lodge themselves in the ripples of the clay and sink very slowly. This is why that these things suddenly become available when you had searched the beaches before inch by inch and removed everything. The sand is removed and you have your treasure just like that.

In the summer the reverse happens when the onshore winds blow and the rough waters churn up sand from the bottom and deposit it on the beach and at a fairly rapid rate too. In the early summer you will only find things shortly after they have been lost because the sand is covering up everything so fast. You just need to understand what the beach is and how it works to be able to find treasures all of the time. There is a thrill to beach and water hunting that is seldom experienced on the school grounds or the parks and I believe you can see that it takes some daring to grab the golden ring. As detecting is addictive then beach and water hunting is more so. Reach out and experience this for yourself and when you stand in the surf while the seagulls sail overhead you will find your rewards abundantly.
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Sand scoops

Сообщение admin » 20 дек 2016, 17:16

Sand scoops

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Sand scoop Working sandy beaches or shallow water is easy with the right sand scoop and you don't have to spend a lot of money to have one. A short trip to the hardware store and you can have a good one in an hours time. Buy the smallest piece of 1/2 inch galvanized hardware cloth that you can because two square feet will build this scoop with some to spare. Cut out a rectangle piece 14 inches long by 7 1/2 inches wide. Roll the piece to allow 1/2 inch overlap and mark out a circle on the remaining hardware cloth for the bottom. Cut out the bottom which should be a 4 1/4 inch diameter circle. It is necessary to find or buy a small piece of 1/2 white wood for a handle. Construction sites abound with these that are thrown into the scrap pile. Cut out the handle 7 1/2 inches long with a curved back and drill out a starter hold where the fingers go and use a jigsaw to finish the handgrip. If you don't have a jigsaw just drill holes to outline the grip and chisel it out. When I first built my scoop I did not include the galvanized lip and I noticed that wet sand would bend it some so I found a hot water heater vent laying around in the garage and cut out the galvanized lip to firm up the scoop where it could be used in wet sand or under shallow water. The hardware store will have some galvanized sheet metal or just buy a heater vent and use it. Cut the strait edge 7 inches long and make the tapered lip 4 inches deep. I just used tin snips to cut out the shape without a pattern. Screw the handle onto the hardware cloth with seven 1 inch wood screws and washers. Use brass or galvanized ones so they will not rust. This attaches the handle so it is very sturdy and can take some abuse and not break. Solder the bottom onto the scoop and bend the sharp wires around so they will not stick you. Solder the galvanized tin onto the front bottom of the scoop as shown in the picture. I painted my handle but it is not necessary. You will be surprised how fast you can scoop up a coin or piece of jewelry out of the sand and the scoop is very light and small enough that it will not get in your way when you metal detect. I ran a bead of solder around the galvanized tin where I cut it as further insurance so it would not rust and I have not had any rust or corrosion problems. Scooping is faster than digging and beach hunts almost always pickup pulltabs so this is the most efficient way for you to retrieve your treasures. The scoop works its best in dry sand or under water but it will work in wet sand, it's just a little slower digging.
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Salt water beach hunting

Сообщение admin » 20 дек 2016, 17:17

Salt water beach hunting

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water hunter

The ocean beaches have long been referred to as a treasure vault for gold rings, chains, precious stones and only the few who search for them and retrieve these items can experience this form of detecting excitement. We have all heard the quote "life is a beach" but nowhere is the meaning of this felt quite as strongly as the water hunter understands it. I have always been excluded from this fraternity by reasons that I was sure were quite sound, however my resolve broke after spending many hours walking and detecting salt beaches and watching the water hunters at work.

As many know it is a frustrating task to decide from the many different salt water detectors which one is priced right and yet effective for this purpose. I had no experience with a pulse detector and wild claims are made continually by users who have found that they must defend their decisions to purchase. The users tell stories about the positive side of their experience with nothing about the negative problems with their detectors.

I selected a mid priced detector that used pulse technology and one which was light to carry and yet stable on the beach or in the water. When it arrived my impression was that it looked rather cheap and my air tests only caused me to have more misgivings about my decision. A trip to test it on the beach and wet sand was in order so the following day I walked down onto the beach in front of a plush hotel and turned it on. I had walked about thirty five feet down the beach when I received a strong signal. Digging down to about five inches I saw a flash of silver and grabbed greedily for it but it was held fast. It was held by a long chain and had been buried for a decade at least because the silver chain was encrusted with black crud and finally came free. In my hand was a silver crucifix with a nice blue turquoise stone and a long silver chain necklace. Not the richest find but an impressive first find because I had walked over that spot a dozen times with my other detector. The pulse magic must work! Now to work the wet sand along the high tide area. Galveston is not overburdened with rich trinkets and they may be few and far between but as I walked the beach I had a strong signal and dug to see the water washing the hole and again that flash of silver! However I was puzzled because I seemed to be looking not at a single ring but several rings. Upon inspection that was indeed the case and it had seven silver rings all looped together. All I can say is its a good thing that a water hunter came up the beach about that time and explained it to me. It seems that it is a puzzle ring and when you get the rings in the right order it all fits together.

All I can say is now this pulse detector really had my attention and it was time to get wet. I dug through all of my old scuba diving stuff (I used to own a scuba diving shop) and came up with a weight belt which would fit the slot in the detector just perfect. However the first time I tried to wear my pool shoes the current ripped them off of my feet! So I picked up a pair of old lace up tennis shoes which worked fine. With the detector slung behind me the rod and coil were so light I could see that this was going to be a fun experience. Now the tough part - the water bucket! These things come in all shapes and sizes and price ranges up to several hundred dollars but I went see my friend Bill at Alexander Enterprises (a metal detector store) and wonder of wonders he had just exactly what I needed at the right price(cheap). It was a long handled stainless large basket with 5/8 holes all over it and a tee at the end of the handle. It was tough and sturdy and light enough that I could carry. Now it was my turn again because I could just see the smaller goodies slipping through the 5/8 inch holes. I took some 1/2 inch galvanized hardware cloth and cut it so I could roll it up and stuff it into the basket. Next I cut the round piece to fit on the bottom. If I do say so myself it looked like a good job and the holes now had wires across them to catch the small earrings and gold chains.

Labor day was fast approaching and I wanted to get ready for it so I could look under the surf for glittering goodies. I went to Galveston's Stewart beach before dawn and the sea was calm and the wind was still. Entering the water the threshold sound shuddered once and then adjusted itself to a steady tone. I waded out waist deep and began sweeping the bottom and it wasn't long before I began picking up targets (mostly rusty bottle caps and hairpins) but the water bucket worked like a charm and I was impressed at the depth of some of these small targets. "Editors note; it is impossible to tell anyone how deep a target is in the sand bottom. The bucket would cut as deep as one foot at a time but the sand would quickly refill the hole and sometimes the target would be recovered on the first scoop and sometimes it would take several". Targets would slide deeper or get washed out of the hole sometimes so please understand when someone tells you that they found an object at 11 inches underwater it strains my belief to accept it. Almost all of the objects that I recovered were in water deep enough that I could not see the bottom.

The sun began to slowly rise above the horizon and shine through the clouds with golden rays that did justice to the clear water. This was a very positive experience! The singing voice of my detector seemed to fit and I waited with expectation for the next signal. I quickly learned that faint broad signals often were rusty pieces of metal several scoops deep. Coins made a clear precise tone like a toy train whistle while faint sounds seemed to remind me of a harmonica. My expectation peaked and I was sure that the object that I was digging would have a golden color. As I lifted the bucket to peer into it a school of small fish around me was chased by a larger fish and for reasons known to them headed towards my legs! Just as I peered into the bucket they rammed my legs and I jumped strait up! Wow, this was going to take some getting used to.

I worked my way down the long beach and through the deep troughs and shallower bars between them and I noticed a stingray rush out from under the edge of my foot (from now on I will move the coil across the bottom where I want to walk). While working in the shallower water I got a target and dug out a gold plated ladies watch! The watch didn't have any water in it so it might work when it was cleaned up but the band was broken (oops! did I do that while digging....) The thing that you notice when you first experience water hunting is that you are in a sort of time machine and the little hands of the watch just fly around. The hunt was over and I had a great experience without locating any great treasure but I was happy and charged up ready to go again on Labor day when the crowds would come back.

The day finally came and conditions were perfect as before and I noticed a large shrimp swimming through the clear water (Galveston usually has dirty brown water with winds and waves) but I have noticed that the only time in a year when it seems to get just right is around Labor day. While I moved through the water and gazed at the placid sea my head turned to see the seawall which was painted to look like the creatures of the sea and along where I walked I could see pictures of large great white sharks with open mouths and great big teeth. Not something that I wanted to think about in the warm water of the Gulf. I worked water as deep as my armpits and expected to find the heavy gold rings that the guys wear when they go farther out in the surf. The signals just seemed not to be there and I had to come back to waist deep to pick up targets again. I watched the swimmers and not many had any jewelry on (maybe they had noticed the water hunters) but the women had some but only came deep enough to get wet and walk back to sit in the shallows. Lovers were the only ones oblivious to everyone else and had gone far out in the surf and most folks just stayed around the first trough. I had picked up a pocket full of bottle caps, fishhooks, nails, bobby pins, coins, and pulltabs when I decided to work the shallow water.

There are numbers of targets in the shallow water (mostly pulltabs) and I was digging up another I supposed when I looked into the bucket and didn't see anything. I had just decided to dump it when the flash of gold dazzled me. Jammed into the hardware cloth wire was a gold ring with a small stone in it! Thinking back on it I have to wonder if some of those targets out there in the deeper water turned out to be the gold ring and I had not noticed it. I admit that I wear reading glasses and when in the water I just look into the blurred basket for big gold objects. I'll work on that. I was happy... my detector had vindicated itself and I had a golden prize. The time machine had done its work and it was time to go home again. drat!

I decided that I would like to go again and work the beach this time. This time the wind had died and the mosquitoes were thick along the beach. I walked fast to avoid the bugs and neared a stairway down to the beach where I got a good signal. Digging down five or six inches I was pleased to discover that there was a digital sports watch with the correct time! It had 30m on the face and I supposed this indicated that it was a diving watch good to 30 meters deep.

So far I have hunted for 32 hours on my first set of batteries and I was concerned because some have indicated that the pulse detectors were battery hogs. The batteries still indicate good! Nifty detector I think that I am going to enjoy this.
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Dry beach hunting

Сообщение admin » 20 дек 2016, 17:18

Dry beach hunting

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Galveston Texas on Stewart beach - Labor day 1996

Metal detecting the dry beach is a lot of fun and quite productive. In the month of July my wife and I found jewelry and over one hundred dollars in coins. We hunted about three times a week for two or three hours and we learned a lot about analyzing a beach. When I took my detector to the beach for the first time I did not know how to hunt a beach, when to hunt the beach, or where to hunt. The best months this year have been June and July (June we found over $80 in coins and jewelry). I want to give you some ideas and perhaps save you some time at the beach. I will write on water and wet sand hunting at a later date and just concentrate on the dry sand for now.

Most of the hunters I watch on the beach don't find much and don't hunt frequently. For the most part they walk the waters edge and leave the dry sand alone. If you are faced with miles of beach and don't know where to hunt it you will have to watch the weekend or holiday activities and begin in these areas. Sometimes there are surprises like the huge hotels along the beach where you would expect all of the affluent people to drop the coins and jewelry is not all that good. The cheap beach where the guy with six kids and the old Ford car may be a better beach. The beach umbrella's may not appear on that beach because these people won't pay that kind of money but it seems that there are more coins on these beaches.

Look for the hot dog stands where folks walk away with a hand full of coins. Watch the trails that people walk and the stairway down to the beach. People seem to either walk along the waters edge or higher in the sand more or less in the same paths and everywhere that there is a stairway or entrance to the beach is good.

The lifeguard stands are good under them for coins and around them for jewelry (where the girls rub on oil to tease the lifeguard). The very best place to hunt is about twenty five feet above the high water level. Too far away from this area and the finds drop off rapidly. At the back of the beach in the deep dry sand look for flat rocks or logs where people either sit or lay their valuables while they swim. Hunt in all metal mode (if you can) and dig everything. If you do not find coins on the beach then forget jewelry! They seem to go together and many beaches are metal detected and the presence of coins will indicate whether to hunt or not. When you hunt down a new beach keep hunting if you at least pick up pennies fairly frequently and try another beach if you don't.

Keep a record of the finds on each segment of beach and you will notice strangely enough that there are only certain stretches of beach where you will find the goodies. Continue to return to these beaches until the crowds stop coming. If it is very hot weather then hunt at dawn because the crowds are gone and the other guys that hunt the beach may come later in the day. If you are lucky enough to find a good beach then take it foot by foot and extract as much as you can. Anywhere that anyone can sit down may be a place to look for jewelry because I think it is when they are rubbing on the sun tan oil that they loose the rings and earrings. Look around areas where there is evidence where people have been sitting or laying down like cigarettes or paper trash.

If you are the first to the beach in the morning look for wadded up paper money. At night people sit along the beach and the wadded up money falls out for the enterprising treasure hunter to find in the morning. The beaches that are farther from the highways and that are frequented by locals and not the vacationing people who generally go down to the beach in front of their hotel are sometimes better for jewelry.

The best way to dig these targets is a sand scoop with 1/2 inch galvanized wire. I built my own and it works great! Pickup all of the pulltabs on the beaches that you frequent and then the next time it will be much easier to hunt. If the sand is packed by either very high tide or rain showers then NOTHING will be lost until the beach can dry out and the sand must get dry and loose down several inches where dropped valuables disappear out of sight into the sand.

For the best beach hunting be at the beach just before dawn after a weekend or holiday and only hunt the best beaches. Labor day is coming up very soon and I have my fingers crossed that the weather will be hot and dry and the crowds big. I will hunt every day following that until the goodies are all mopped up because I don't expect to hunt dry sand much until next year after that.

When you get a reading of a small target try lifting the coil a little to see if it disappears. Sometimes foil scraps will waste your time indicating a deep target but are lying just under the sand. Have fun while you can because winters on the way!
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Rings and wet beach sand

Сообщение admin » 20 дек 2016, 17:18

Rings and wet beach sand

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beach

Hunting for rings and jewelry at the beach can be a challenging pastime and each beach is a little different but people play at the beach the same everywhere. In the above picture on Galveston Texas beaches note there are a concentration of people building sand castles at the waters edge. If it comes to rings the more valuable rings are generally women's diamond rings and we can pay for our detector with just one good diamond ring. Note that people generally place beach blankets on the dry sand or set in umbrella chairs. Not much jewelry is lost there but there is a crowd at the waters edge and one in the water. There will be some rings lost in the water and I have discussed water hunting before but I want to focus your attention on the activity at the waters edge. Most often women play in the sand with young kids whether they are trying to teach the kids to build sand castles or just finding an excuse to do it themselves they dig in the sand with their hands. This is generally after they have oiled up with suntan oil which makes their fingers slippery.

You see the picture of an accident waiting to happen. Either the rings come off in the sand when working on the sand castles or when they sit at the waters edge (as women love to do) their hands on the sand get covered as the tide and waves cover them with sand. As often is the case with people who sit at the waters edge a large wave will race to the beach and swamp all of those sitting at the waters edge. They will jerk their hands out of the sand to protect themselves from the large wave and off comes the rings.

I have found men's jewelry at the waters edge and I think that's because it's easier to find. Women's wedding bands and diamond rings are generally very small and v-e-r-y difficult to find even when you know where to hunt. Most of these tiny rings are almost impossible to find over three inches deep. We find so many pulltabs and metal screws and nails that we get used to a good strong beep and the diamond ring may only be a whisper near to the surface.

Now I dig those signals also (because I find a mans big ring now and then) but we cannot hurry the process and we must train ourselves to listen for the weaker signals. Sometimes a non-motion detector is good for this because it will give you an indication of the size of the target. A small, weak signal is a must dig. I watch beach hunters who walk fast and swing fast and I know that there is no way they will bother with a very weak signal. Even a pulse water unit will sound a weak signal at 3 or four inches and only diligence and the careful detectorist will find many of these rings.

Sometimes pulse detectors have a problem of their own. If the pulse duration is too slow that may mean that you have to swing the loop slow or you will miss small targets and only find beer cans. Some beaches will simply wear you out with too many trash objects. Your best option there is that if the beach activity supports your efforts and there are plenty of people there playing at the waters edge then your job is clear. You must clean the beach yourself! I know that this takes time but go to the beach on the low tide and when there is an off-shore wind to push the water out. Begin by wearing a large coin apron and just dig every target even iron and start cleaning the beach yourself. I would do this when I am not observed if possible so everyone else doesn't benefit from your efforts. Clean the beach before the big weekends and holidays just when the big crowds will hit. Then hunt it late in the evening before anyone else has a chance to find your goodies and when you may not be seen by many. This trick of cleaning a good area to hunt can work in other places as well! Try cleaning the areas behind home base in the ballfields that are used frequently or a favorite picnic area.

I just got back yesterday from the beach and the weather was cool so I decided that I wouldn't water hunt but instead I would hunt the wet sand with my Piranha pulse detector. Usually this entails digging pockets of pulltabs but on my sixth hole at the very waters edge I picked up a weak signal and turned up a pile of sand and watched as the waves washed it down. Imagine my excitement when I spotted a golden shine at the edge of the water. I picked up a gold ring in a ball of wet sand and when I started wiping it off the sun displayed a lovely green sparkle. This was beginning to be fun and I took my time wiping the sand away and discovered two diamonds along side of the emerald. Wow! At the same time my wife came walking over towards me and grinning also. She had found a large silver earring, a gold earring, and a full pack of Winstons. All of this happened within five minutes of arriving at the beach. Many detectorists begin the hunt and listen for the weak signals and then when they get tired they just look for the loud beeps. Wet sand hunting requires digging the very weakest signals and your full attention to the job, but such nice rewards!
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