Detector Scoops

Hi Folks,

Recently a mate bought me a new scoop after I commented on how good his was to use. Have you ever thought about scoops and their design? There are so many possibilities and variations on what is essentially a small plastic hand spade. And yes, there are many of you who don't use them at all and that’s OK as well. I still remember the trip into the big green shed to buy my first scoop. It was one of those cylindrical plastic potting scoops that sell for just under four bucks. You all know the one I’m talking about. Many of you use them. They do the job but in my opinion they fall down in a few areas. They work reasonably well if you dig a large hole and uncover a target that is quite big. On small targets in a minimal scrape, they are painfull to use. The round nose and curved base do not allow material to be picked up easily. As the sides of the scoop roll over, it is a very deliberate act to totally empty all of the contents onto the ground. I had a couple of them and gave them away as I was unhappy with their performance. Here is a pic of the other scoops that I have used over the years.


Each one works well under certain conditions but I do have a favourite that I will be carrying with me on all detecting trips. Anyway, I’ll give my opinion of each one in turn. Many of you may disagree and rightly so. Different detectors, ground, gold size and depth and of course detecting styles and habits will impact on what scoop you use. So here goes……


This is a narrow, inexpensive scoop that has one major advantage. It is quite good at pulling gravel and soil from between rock bars. Apart from that specific use, it is not much “chop” for anything else. It has limited capacity, a rounded nose and curved base. Not bad for digging in soft ground but small targets get “lost“ in the depth of the spoil in the scoop.


Similar to the first scoop but it has a larger capacity. It’s not a bad choice for an SDC where the holes dug are generally small. Again, the curved base and nose makes recovery of small targets a bit more of a challenge. Tapping the side of the scoop or shaking contents will allow gold to settle to the bottom for easier target identification. At a cost of $4, it is an inexpensive purchase.


Similar to the previous scoop except for a pointed nose and a flat base. The flat base allows a small quantity of material to be tested more effectively as the depth of material is shallower across the whole base. At $18 it is an expensive option.


This scoop works quite well when processing large quantities of material quickly. It digs soft ground quite well. The curved base allows gold to settle to the bottom of the scoop if it is tapped or shaken when full of gravel or soil. It does not work well on small gold taken from a small scrape. At $22 it is an expensive piece of moulded plastic.


This scoop moves large quantities of material quickly and also works well at recovering small targets due to its flat base. The square nose allows it to be used like a dust pan for recovering small quantities of spoil on flat ground. At $6, it is an inexpensive option. This is by far the best scoop that I have used. I would be interested in the comments and experiences of other members in this area.

Cheers

Les

That's an excellent post, Les - thank you for the work you've put into it. I'm sure a lot of detector prospectors will be interested in your results from such a wide comparison.

Lesgold.
Agree, have used many scoops over the years and found the flat bottom ones the best. They can pick up a large area of from the dirt pile and a quick wrist shake tends to settle the target quickly and can be used almost like a mini dry pan. The flat bottom allows any target to be passed over the coil at minimum distance.
Been using this one for nearly three years now. The scoop heap was a $2 Childs sand spade from a two dollar shop with my contribution a high quality custom made handle. Hangs off a clip buckle on my harness.
Over a days detecting especially when in rubbishy areas even a minute or two saved in isolating the target can be useful. I have seen prospectors mainly new but some older wasting 5 or even 10 minutes or more of precious detecting time over isolating minute targets. Efficiency counts.

Les, seems like I am No.3 to respond.

I have only had a taste of gold hunting and found nothing, however I have found your review of scoops to be very interesting.
The reasoning behind the choices, it is nice to read those explanations.
Upon return I have been eyeing off a few 'scoops', of the cheap as I can go theme. You may be very surprised as to my personal conclusions and the items I have chosen with my serious lack of experience at the gold game.

Would you mind if I put up my selections in a few days?

Thanks guys. The purpose of this thread is to start a conversation. Putting forward opinions and points of view gives others information to ponder and get the ”grey matter“ working. If it works and you are happy with what you use, that’s all that matters. Greenhornet, I would love to hear about your ideas. I like your “cheap as you can” approach. Gold detecting related equipment is over priced for what it is and we are caught up in a “fever” that is no different to what happened to the old timers over 150 years ago.

Thanks Les, I will take some pictures tomorrow and craft a posting, I will just warn everyone to not laugh too hard.

Tried many , number 4 is my choice , used on its side can refill holes quickly, dearer yes but almost indestructible, has the best feel and if your pick spills your target material onto grass its the easiest scoop to recover the target soil out of the debris.

For some reason I can't see the pics above,, But I have a horse feed scoop, quite flat on the bottom and enables a good scratch about. The only problem is sometimes it holds to much dirt and you miss the target. If the gold is small it can take a while to relocate after you've thrown the gold accidentally aside. So now on small pieces I take half scoops and even sort that by half scoops in hand and trickle the dirt over the coil.

I reality anything that you are comfortable with.
One point I should have made is it’s carriability. I lost a number of scoops sticking them in pockets or down belts before I just tied mine on to my harness using a detaching clip buckle on my non detecting shoulder side. Always at hand and never lost one since. Flat bottomed ones are less bulky in that regard.
Looking at a pile of dirt beside your newly dug hole is like looking at a gold pan you just filled with gravel from some creek crevice.
Time yourself to see how good you can be at the skill of quickly knowing the result and being ready to try for the next one.

Good thread Les...
The Green and Blue have always been my weapon of choice ...the green because of its durability and the blue for areas where I dig big holes with larger coils...though my blue one is "Green". Shaking the scoop while holding it near vertical gets the gold to the back and bottom of the scoop faster, thus speeding up the separation process big time.

I used to use a ladle. I've tried a few and have recently moved on to #5. So far I like it though I also have to only fill it partially on small targets. I try to locate the target before taking a scoop and can usually get it in the first couple of scoops.

Hi Les,
I like the green one because it has a longer handle I have trouble bending over and getting down on my knees requires a crane to get me back up. Getting old is a bitch.
Cheers
Bob

maxwell4 said:

Hi Les,
I like the green one because it has a longer handle I have trouble bending over and getting down on my knees requires a crane to get me back up. Getting old is a bitch.
Cheers
Bob

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the ground didn't use to be so far down when we were younger, Bob. I think it got moved with the changeover to the metric system, because I'm not any taller but it's clearly further away!

I keep on having a dream about not having the strength to lift a full scoop up due to its weight. Unfortunately, that issue has never arisen.

A few 'scoops', of the cheap as I can go theme.

Detecting is one of those hobbies you start out mostly not guided, and I have tried many bits for digging and scoops
for sand more than anything.
My knowledge of hills hunting for gold and those soils is pretty much nil, but the trip to Marlborough got me thinking,
one scoop may not be the 'one and only' tool.
Les's thoughts seem to mirror my own somewhat, and if I am making similar choices as a very experienced gold seeker
then I must be somewhat on the right path.

Being fully plastic, all of these could be drilled and a bungee or cord attached so they don't get forgotten, spray painted
bright colours (I loose stuff), or even reshaped with some heat applied.

The reason you see two of everything is because I also provide for Kato .....

My current pick is still the mug, but I think that will change to the Woolworths scoop or the spoon.
I sort of got used to the mug, and yes heavy things settled to the bottom fast, but bits of tin were hard to see and extract,
that's why the other two will likely edge the mug out.

All the stuff that does not workout, just goes into the 2m x 2m sand pit for the kids. No waste.


$4.50 Gutter scoop - cheap, way too long and just crap to use.



$2 Potting scoop - deep and sides hold dirt inside, weak handle connection, not worth it



$12 Horse feed scoop - just way too much in there, even with holes drilled all over it
was not worth taking to the beach.



$3 Kmart Plastic camp mugs - this was an idea from this forum or some YouTube site,
it is not too bad, good for digging but with the tall sides, hard to see the spread of things in the bottom.
Durable and the handle clips onto any thing easy.
Purchased in a hurry for that great, but unsuccessful trip, and it sufficed for me at the time.
20 cent coin for perspective.





$2.99 ALDI ladle spoon with handle trimmed off.
Since coming back from the trip, I have been looking for other things to try as a scoop,
saw this and figured it was worth a splash, it was wider than most I have seen, with a slight lip around the edge.
20 cent coin for perspective.





$4.99 flour measuring scoop - Woolworths
I was not sure about this, it seemed a bit big but is well made and quite rigid,
considered it would scrape and dig, and the flat bottom would be easy to see into.
20 cent coin for perspective.

As an additional item, my el-cheapo finds bag for that trip was a tool belt from Cheap As Chips, a $2 shop.
It cost $12, had belt, two nail bags, a hammer loop, you get the point.

I actually just cut off the extra bits I did not need hanging from the nail bags.
Pin-pointer in that nail bag, rubbish from the field too, the plastic mug was hanging from a clip on the harness (thank you "YOU KNOW WHO")
Pick in hand or belt hammer loop, and off I went.

Lastly were boots, Kato and I always wore boots with toe protection, just can not do that when looking for gold, I was advised.
A 6 minute trip to Kmart and we had boots with NO metal in them.
$19 a pair, x2 - Can't complain about that.





(Boots pic to come, cant upload it)

Thanks Greenhornet and everyone else who has contributed. I’ve been away for a few days so I couldn’t really make any comments. There has been some good ideas and thoughts presented over the past week. One point I should have raised was the colour of the scoop. Is it important to you? in my situation it can be. When the gold is clean or shows a glint of what is hidden beneath, the background colour of the scoop provides a contrast to that beautiful yellow colour we are chasing. I have a preference for green, blue and black as they tend to highlight the gold well. (Just like gold pans) It’s not critical but it can save a bit of time when recovering small pieces in areas like Tibooburra.

Les, I was thinking this same thing last night, I forgot to say why I chose darker coloured items.

I used to keep birds and the thing was to paint the front wire with a black or a dark green colour,
that way the bird plumage and the inside of the cage would be far more visible.

My thoughts for the 'scoops' is exactly the same, have a darker background that will show the gold better.
And after re-reading your first post, I agree that picking rubbish out of the wide flat bottomed scoop will be easy.

Wonderful how great minds like ours think alike...


Seem's like I can't go back and edit my post to put the picture in with my Kmart (metal-less boots).

I have worn them nearly every day since that trip and find them to be fairly durable (surprisingly), fastest shop with a girl in tow that I have ever done.
BUT I have really found it to be a good thing even for detecting bits around parks and paddocks, no more strange targets as I take a step.

I use the number 2 scoop 4-5$ At the big b hardware store. I’m happy being black it shows the color for me. Tibooburra fly poo size. And as mentioned a few taps and the heavier stuff does fall to the bottom.
Cheers Andy

This is my first bought and only scoop I have ever owned.
I purchased it from Goldsearch Australia in Dunnoly in 2014.
I bought my first detector from Dean there and he recommended these purpose made gold scoops at the time.
I’m glad I forked out the $20 for it as it is very practical for nugget recovery with it’s flat angled nose, wide belly and riffle ridges to trap tiny gold when jiggling the spoil.
It is made from practically indestructible hard plastic.