gvanvekoven
New member
I am sorry to hear so many are having health and personal problems at this time. Detecting sort of provides a healthy distraction from all the troubles this world has to throw our way. When I am out, I tend to run Bible verses through my head and it gives me time to talk with God. I know you all do the same. When I head back out today, I promise to keep you all I'm my prayers.
Back to the detecting theme - I bought one of those cheapo aluminum extension garden trowels at the local hardware store back when things were just starting to get cold. When I tried it out in the frozen ground, it bent like pot metal usually does. I threw the thing in my shed and that's where it has been ever since. Today I headed back to the hardware store and picked up an edging tool - with a specific purpose in mind. I heated the spade end up and bent it into a good plugging configuration, mounted it to a 1/2 piece of galvanized water pipe, and then adapted it into the defunked extension garden trowel. Wella!!! It is strong enough to handle the hard ground, cut roots, etc. and compacts down small enough to fit in my back pack. Not so intrusive looking to scare land owners off (like carrying a shovel would). I needed something to help identify targets BEFORE I went down on my knees for the delicate ground level work (weak knees). I can stand, plug a hole (without damaging the grass), flip it up, wave the coil, and almost do all the work needed from a standing position. It works!!! A bit on the heavy side due to the water pipe and high carbon steel spade - but it has to be tough to handle the hard ground areas and rocks. Thought you folks might be interested. I cooled the metal down quickly in cold water to give it some harness, but it is probably going to be a bit brittle now. My bending technique is not that precise - because I don't have an anvil or some of the other blacksmith tools some of you might have. It was not hard to make - took me about 1.5 hours, and is quite a bit smaller than a shark or mini-shovel is. Like I said, I don't want to scare people into thinking I am out there digging holes all over the place. The plug is quite nice - and flips right back into the hole leaving no trace that I have been in the area. I painted it flat black because I thought it might not look so obvious when I carry it.....however, a bright paint might be better - in case you lay it down in the woods and need to find it easier in leaves, etc. Would be neat to make a detector shaft that can expand and contract I think - similar to this tool. That way a person could fold down a detector to a nice carrying length to fit in a smaller bag - take it out, extend it back out to the desired (comfortable) length, and go to work. Maybe something one of you smart people can figure out.
Back to the detecting theme - I bought one of those cheapo aluminum extension garden trowels at the local hardware store back when things were just starting to get cold. When I tried it out in the frozen ground, it bent like pot metal usually does. I threw the thing in my shed and that's where it has been ever since. Today I headed back to the hardware store and picked up an edging tool - with a specific purpose in mind. I heated the spade end up and bent it into a good plugging configuration, mounted it to a 1/2 piece of galvanized water pipe, and then adapted it into the defunked extension garden trowel. Wella!!! It is strong enough to handle the hard ground, cut roots, etc. and compacts down small enough to fit in my back pack. Not so intrusive looking to scare land owners off (like carrying a shovel would). I needed something to help identify targets BEFORE I went down on my knees for the delicate ground level work (weak knees). I can stand, plug a hole (without damaging the grass), flip it up, wave the coil, and almost do all the work needed from a standing position. It works!!! A bit on the heavy side due to the water pipe and high carbon steel spade - but it has to be tough to handle the hard ground areas and rocks. Thought you folks might be interested. I cooled the metal down quickly in cold water to give it some harness, but it is probably going to be a bit brittle now. My bending technique is not that precise - because I don't have an anvil or some of the other blacksmith tools some of you might have. It was not hard to make - took me about 1.5 hours, and is quite a bit smaller than a shark or mini-shovel is. Like I said, I don't want to scare people into thinking I am out there digging holes all over the place. The plug is quite nice - and flips right back into the hole leaving no trace that I have been in the area. I painted it flat black because I thought it might not look so obvious when I carry it.....however, a bright paint might be better - in case you lay it down in the woods and need to find it easier in leaves, etc. Would be neat to make a detector shaft that can expand and contract I think - similar to this tool. That way a person could fold down a detector to a nice carrying length to fit in a smaller bag - take it out, extend it back out to the desired (comfortable) length, and go to work. Maybe something one of you smart people can figure out.
