I really wanted to get into beach detecting, but had to do it on a low budget. I bought an older Sovereign XS - Pro 2 on ebay with a 550 meter, 8 inch BBS and 10 inch BBS coils for just over $400. It's such a joy to use on the wet salt sand that my Teknetics Delta couldn't handle (although it's the Delta is remarkable on the dry sand and VERY light).
The couple of times I've been on the beach I've used a hand held plastic pet food scoop that I had drilled 5/8 inch holes into. I've been wanting to purchase a good wet sand scoop, but never seemed to have the money (plenty of other bills kept arriving at the same time I had some extra dinero).
So, last week, on a rainy Sunday I decided to make my own.
Years ago I was given two copper exterior light sconces during a remodeling job. After rediscovering them during a garage cleaning, I realized they had a great "scoop" shape. I pulled the light bulb, lens, electric wires etc. from one and proceeded to solder the two copper halves together. Then drilled 1/2 inch holes (albeit poorly on some) and looked for a handle. I saw that the Home Depot magnet I bought and rarely used had a nice adjustable aluminum handle. Since that was only $14 I figured it would get better use on a scoop than a magnet. Total weight is about 3 1/2 lbs.
I took it to the beach for a tryout. It worked OK, but I found I needed to add a bracket between the handle and the back of the scoop because it would want to turn down as I lifted the wet sand (the pictures show it with the bracket - a deck building connector from Home Depot and 1/4 inch lag bolts with nylon locking stainless nuts). It also wants to wiggle back and forth (the part you step on) as I pushed down into the wet sand. I will try the "improved" version in a couple of days. What the heck, for the price it was worth the effort - and as soon as I find a heavy gold chain....
HH MickTwin
The couple of times I've been on the beach I've used a hand held plastic pet food scoop that I had drilled 5/8 inch holes into. I've been wanting to purchase a good wet sand scoop, but never seemed to have the money (plenty of other bills kept arriving at the same time I had some extra dinero).
So, last week, on a rainy Sunday I decided to make my own.
Years ago I was given two copper exterior light sconces during a remodeling job. After rediscovering them during a garage cleaning, I realized they had a great "scoop" shape. I pulled the light bulb, lens, electric wires etc. from one and proceeded to solder the two copper halves together. Then drilled 1/2 inch holes (albeit poorly on some) and looked for a handle. I saw that the Home Depot magnet I bought and rarely used had a nice adjustable aluminum handle. Since that was only $14 I figured it would get better use on a scoop than a magnet. Total weight is about 3 1/2 lbs.
I took it to the beach for a tryout. It worked OK, but I found I needed to add a bracket between the handle and the back of the scoop because it would want to turn down as I lifted the wet sand (the pictures show it with the bracket - a deck building connector from Home Depot and 1/4 inch lag bolts with nylon locking stainless nuts). It also wants to wiggle back and forth (the part you step on) as I pushed down into the wet sand. I will try the "improved" version in a couple of days. What the heck, for the price it was worth the effort - and as soon as I find a heavy gold chain....
HH MickTwin
