Down the beach with the Sovereign

[Sandta]

Originally i was going to make my own , still am , slow work in progress
Bought this one on line

Its actually better suited to what im doing than my original plan ,
I like it ,but it isnt as tough as it looks or needs to be for getting amongst the rocks

 

[Goldpick]

I don't think many of the advertised SS scoops are really suited to prying rocks, they are made with a light weight in mind, as both mine and SA Bogan's scoops have also bent/cracked from working in rocky areas. Might be worth looking at Paulmarr's scoop, as it seems more robust than ours.

 

[slipped disc]

Mbe a piece/length of rebar with some hose over the end for grip, as a lever to pry rocks etc. you can also get a short pry bar with the curve also, on one end.,about 5ft long. I have one, from Hong Kong tools Parafield. they have some handy gear there. Design a scoop yourself and have the local - blacksmith -knock it up. If it's a good style and price it may sell on this and other forums.

 

[Ramjet]

Thanks sandta, Goldpick. Currently reading through all the threads I can find with scoops in them. SA Bogan's scoop does look the business.

Looking at these scoops... http://stavrscoop.com/en/8-sand-scoop

with this one looking the strongest maybe.

 

[Sandta]

Is this Bogan's scoop

 

[Ramjet]

Yes I believe that's it.

 

[Ramjet]

There is this one and he is just down the road from me. Not sure if it will drain well enough. Or the strength of it.

 

[Sandta]

The one im making is very similar ...
Bloody heavy thing to be dragging around though

 

[Sandta]

Ye , i saw them up there myself .... S&J or similar, i think ,from memory
Didnt like them for the price .... But ,i am a tight arse :lol:

 

[Ramjet]

Cheers for all that sandta. I'll stop hijacking your topic now.

 

[Sandta]

Thats ok , no worries from my end

 

[Sa_bogan]

i didnt see your question before on the scoop above - that one is the old mans which has a smaller mouth on the scoop but a duck bill which is really good at getting under rocks and not digging a manhole looking for the target - mine on the other hand doesnt have the lip on the scoop but a large mouth and is better and prying the larger rocks and digging faster

after a few sessions you dont really notice that they are heavy but i do recommend gloves with some grip as when the steel handle is wet its hard to pull it out of the ground

 

[TTKooAu]

A little while later , this little drop dead gorgeous girl walking past , we made eye contanact ( well eventually did , i was just perving at her boobs)
She saw the whole thing with my 3 non ingrish spicking friends , told me i had the patience of a saint i thought ,she wouldnt have said that if she knew what i was thinking. Then again , the fact that i kept staring at her tits , probably gave the game away.
I certainly didnt rush to distance myself from her.

Don't the rules here say "if there are no pics it never happened"
Thats just like saying I found a 1 kilo nugget and not putting up pictures.

eggzackery!.. pics please

 

[Dingo]

I have a Stainless Steel Stavr SAND SCOOP EVROEXCAVATOR-2 V.22 which is the best scoop I have ever used and fitted it with a light steel handle which only lasted 2 years with lots of use and then the handle bent while digging deep in wet sand using a pi machine.

Since that I have fitted it with a stainless steel handle so I never have to replace it like other people using wooden handles which won't last if your digging deep often in wet sand but it makes it a little heavy but you know it won't break or need to be replaced.

Then I stretched a bicycle inner tube over the handle for grip hope this helps.

 

[treasureman]

Plenty of those condom wrappers floating round. No shortage of codom wrappers in my neck of the woods

 

[Sandta]

Back down the beach this arvo..
Met up with Ramjet for a play date today ... between the 2 of us ,we scoured the beach pretty well.
The coin patch that i have been hitting on the last couple of visits proved to be illusive today, but did manage to uncover another small patch at another section.
I pulled $5.15 from this patch

Thought i hit the jackpot with this ....... Certainly raised my heart rate when it came out

But its a junker

 

[Ramjet]

Was great to meet you sandta. Thanks for the tips and advice. The first thing I learnt is I need to upgrade my gear. A wide, plastic shovel just does not work in the wet, compacted sand, so a scoop is on the shopping list. Sandta heard a target with his sovereign and I swung my At Pro over it... silence. It was a $2 coin. This tells me the Pro just won't cut it as a beach detector. I moved up to the dry sand where the pro might have a chance of finding some recent drops. Total was 10 cents. Overall it was a lovely few hours on the beach. Great weather and stopping for the odd chat with sandta. Thanks again.

 

[Sandta]

5 weeks comes around pretty fast... Its my turn 'on call' again or the next 7 days :|
Which means i probably wont get much detecting done
But i couldnt help myself tonight , i had to try and redeem myself after yesterdays poor effort with Ramjet
Low tide 9:45pm , i was there.... First target ,gold bangle ... Yahoo here we go.....WRONG :8

Im sure that the sand cover is increasing on the main beach. Didnt find anything there at all
The bangle , $1 and totally worn away 2c were in a rocky area seperate from the main beach

The 2c coin tatally worn down to a knife edge

The bangle ... Just a junker 8.(
And to top it all off..... I busted my scoop .
Now that the handle is so bloody tough , i collapsed the rear of the basket
Oh well ... If your not breaking em your not trying :lol:

 

[Goldpick]

Bummer about the scoop. That's why I use a fibreglass handle, as it will bend to a degree, bit like a fishing rod, and has a metal sleeve on the bottom section for strength.

 

[Paulmarr]

Our first shovels/scoops didn't last too long either Sandta - and the reason I bought the little duck billed shovel with the metal handle for $200 - I have been using it for six months now and other than the basket going a little out of shape it is lasting pretty well. As. Bogan has said - when it comes to moving rocks this scoop can get under the lip of the rock and using the handle I can leverage it right out of the hole without too much muscle involved. We patched up the first metal scoop we had but the welds kept breaking - that design is great for moving sand but rocks not so much.

If you think about it ... If you are a beach hunter you hopefully will be leveraging rocks more than you wil be shovelling sand otherwise you are in the wrong section of the beach to find anything but recent drops.

Thanks for posting Sandta - every hunt isn't a successful one so posting your finds when they aren't great shows the newbies it isn't all silver coins and gold rings every time you detect ... I know when I first started I thought something was wrong when I didn't get the same results - now I know these guys go detecting far more than the few posts they show there good finds in. I also like members posting there junk finds ... Because newbies get the impression that you discriminate out all the junk and only find treasure - and that can't be further from the truth. Infact if you are not finding pull tabs and bottle caps then you will never find the gold rings!