Time for a DD?

[Azoverland]

It's been a long time since I pulled anything yellow out of the Earth and I'm thinking about changing my methods. Everyone talks about digging all targets but I have been hard pressed to find any area at all where I can't turn on the detector and find 3 or 4 targets with out even taking a step. The creeks bottoms in Greaterville and other areas around Tucson as I am sure is the case all over the lower 48 are so littered with trash that it is some times a really task to get the coil near the ground at all. I think I'll strap on the stock DD coil and hunt using the Iron Reject setting on the 5000. I've never even put the DD on the detector but I have to done something to cut down the time spent digging trash. Once I hit any gold I can slow down strap on the monos and go to work. Does anyone patch hunt with a DD in Arizona to help weed out some of the junk?

[AZNuggetBob]

AzOverland

The next frontier may be those too trashy patches in well known areas. most people cant handle all that trash myself included.

I dont know an easy way to hunt them. But I'm sure of this, there hiding a lot of gold.you can try and discrim them but that is still going to result in a lot of rusty holes. Im open for suggestions because I know of a lot of these areas. AzNuggetBob

[adam]

I feel your pain guys , but as bob said, those trashy areas can hide alot of gold. I have used the disc on the 2200, but it would only successfully reject ferrous metal when i got next to the target. So basicaly I pretty much already darn near dug the target up before it would disc it out. I found myself finishing the job, just to know for sure. The minelab always disc`d out the ferrous stuff correctly though , without fail.

Heres what I would do. Use the stock 11" DD or the 5 x10 commander DD and only use it in shallow ground. it may actually work pretty good dealing with the shallow trash.

There is always time for a DD

[fredm]

I have raked small areas to get rid of the surface trash which helps a bunch...having a magnet-rake clears much of the surface iron....using an 11 inch or 8 inch dd and working very slow will give the minelab time to sort the iron from non-iron...very, very slowly...

fred

[AZNuggetBob]

Adam

I think what your refering to is what I call the halo effect ?. Anyway It seems that when the iron target leaches (rusts) into the ground it creates a halo around itself.

when this halo is disturbed by digging down to or breaking up some of the soil around it the detector can I.D. the target. I find the biggest problem is multaple targets under the coil at the same time.

Sometimes I'll take a couple swipes of my pick and try to move or seperate the targets so the detector can I.D. them.

AzOverland

Some people just stick there magnets to the head of their picks, I dont.

There are several reasons. I dont like loading my pick head with black sand as I'm raking out dug piles. when you move to a new target and your digging hard you will throw a heap of magnetic black sand into the hole.

You will inevitably break your magnet digging. I also dont like the magnet stealing the target as I'm digging and bits that arent stuck well will fall off creating more confusion.

I keep my magnet on the other end of my pick handle.This style of target recovery has cut my digging and I.D.time for each target way down. Also magnets stuck to a pick head loose much of there strength.

I have watched iron objects jump out of a pile of loose dirt to the magnet on my handle just by pointing it at the pile of loose dirt..check the hole, check the pile and move on. anyway works for me.

Oh as far as mounting It, I just cut a slot in the handle with a hack saw and epoxy the magnet in. it doesn't take a lot to hold it in because being at the other end it doesn't get all the abuse.

Another note: J.B. weld contains ground steel. so if you decide to use it, it will crawl on ya before it sets. If your going to mount it with a lag bolt or screw try to find a super magnet with a hole already in it.

A diamond core bit is the only thing I've found that drills them well and dont overheat them as this will make the magnetism go away.

And one last thing, I use a smaller pick for trashy patches. Its faster and wont wear you down as quick. If I run into a deep one I just go back to the truck and get the "crater maker".

Fredm

I used to drag an angle iron with magnets back and forth but I think your magnetized rake is a much better idea.

BTW the black on the magnet is that rubber tool handle dip. it didn't work that well, it wore through pretty quick.

AzNuggetBob

[Border Boy]

Jason,

Pick a smaller area to hunt, a couple hundred feet of the juiciest looking ground and hunt it especially around the diggins. Trash is my best friend digging over a hundred targets a day youre sure to get sum nugz. Most detectorists have a common problem they love to walk and so do I but only on dedicated patch hunting days. If you go hunting with me again you will notice that i am usually within a few hundred ft away from where I started in the morning at the end of the day, the oldtimers werent digging there for no reason!!

brother trashy areas means undetected areas dig em all!!

Justin

[way2cool]

AzNuggetBob I love that pick lots of charactor on the handle.

[AZNuggetBob]

Thanks Way2cool

That pick has been good to me over the years. It could tell some stories. Thats the second head on it. I just flat wore down the old one. just couldn't part with the handle so I used it again.

If you know how to use and not abuse them, Aint nothing wrong with a wood handled pick.

Ive moved half ton boulders with it, but that's another story. anyway good to hear from you

again. I hope your doing well. AzNuggetBob

[way2cool]

Azoverland I would hunt the hill sides in Greaterville you should see a smaller trash to gold ratio. I pretty much run a Wallaby 11 x 17 DD

for some reason I love that coil. Must be the gold that it finds. You got alot of good advice on this thread. Good Luck..

[LuckyLundy]

"Crater Maker" lol. Bob, that's a great name for our big picks! Your choice of picks to use for the hunt is just as important as the choice of the coil. DD coils are great for trashy areas, but you will still dig a ton of targets that won't break. Boarder Boy is correct, show me a trashy old timer digging...my next nugget!

LuckyLundy

[AZNuggetBob]

Rick I laugh when I think about it too but I thought the name was also catchy so I bought the dot.com web address for it. I've been thinking about making my own line of picks. who knows I've got a lot of irons in the fire. Keep those nuggets coming, I like to see that Cali gold. AzNuggetBob

[LuckyLundy]

Bob,

I have three different picks for the areas I hunt. #1: Is my all metal pick to include the handle for the real tough soils, with the blade at 8" wide and 24" handle. It's a heavy pick and gets the job done, plus you will never break a handle and go home early. #2: Is my 23" wood handle with 6 1/4" blade for the easy digging soil hunts. #3: Is my 16" wood handle with 6" blade for my shallow hunting Gold Bug 2 trips. Having the custom length handle and blade width is part of the game...the faster you can get the target out of the hole, the more targets you can dig in a days time = more nuggets! Get busy and get your thoughts of your business rolling!

Rick

[AZNuggetBob]

Rick I agree

You just need the "right tool for the job". I was also thinking about building three pick sizes with optional configurations.

No doubt Detectors are going deeper these days especially with the larger coils. and if your hunting in places like the cemented gravels in Plomosa, LaPaz, even Rich Hill for example. Those gravels are tough and if your chipping at them with a chessy little pick your going to be there for a long time digging a single hole, and I've also noticed when I was doing field instruction that people just lose patience with these cheesy little Walfart garden picks and start digging right on the target. I'll tell ya there's nothing worse than joining the one+ oz. club with a dinged up nugget. Dig around it way around it. Ive been digging a big deep one and had to go all the way home and get a digging bar. now I carry several different size picks in my truck and just take the appropiate size out for the area I'm hunting.. but it is nice having a bigger one in the truck.

AzOverland

As far as discriminating and DD's, gold does not discriminate well, you can get good with the signals but it requires a lot of exsperience. all I can say is if your hunting those lower trashy areas your going to miss nuggets that are next too or under larger trash. you can pop a few in between or under small trash but your going to leave some for the guy that's digging them all. Were I find the DD's do best over the mono's is in the hot rock areas. especially the ironites and volcanic hot rocks. Ive found gold areas were these volcanics were so bad that they were basiclly un-huntable with mono's, but DD's would allow you to hit nuggets right through them. they dumb down your machine a bit with filters but some gold is better than no gold.

The dry washes near old camps are the worst for trash. they often used them for dumps. I put them way on the bottom of my hit list. sorry I cant help you there. generaly near old camps the trash is usally so concentrated in the washes I personaly wont hunt it. It would probably be better for a dry washer.

Take care out there, AzNuggetBob

[dand]

Hi guy's.....I & my buddy are new at the Gold detecting but we're going to give it a try here in Virginia. I have a question in regards to a earlier post about the blade size on the fellows picks he uses. When he said an 8 inch or a 6 1/4 inch blade, is that the width of the actual blade or the length of the blade...????? The picks don't look like they have shovel size blades on them.

Any help would be appreciated, as I said we're just starting out. Our experience has been detecting for Civil War Relics.

Thanks.....Dan

[fredm]

Generally they are speaking of the blade width...the width determines how usful the pick is for moving the loosened dirt away or out of the hole.

Picks are similar but of great variety...My favorite so far is the Hermit pick made by Bunk...the blade on the medium size is about five-six inches wide, about that long and the pick is about six inches...this pick in the larger size is great for knocking down drywash piles or digging really big holes. The problem with all picks is that as the depth increases so will the width of the hole, otherwise you cannot get the pick in the hole to do the digging...

If you search on Rob's store you will see some of the picks available...

fred

[dand]

Thank you fred for that explanation, makes a lot of sense. I'll do a search like you suggested....I'm going to check out the Bunk pick also...

Once again Thanks.....Happy hunting....Dan