Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com
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| Basic Portable Sifter With One of Two Removable Floats. |
There are times when sifting is better than detecting. For example when targets are packed so densely that it is a waste of time to pinpoint and dig each target individually. Sifting is also good when you are hunting non-metallic items, such as shells, sea glass or fossils.
Another time when sifting can be good is when there is a lot of junk, shells or stones or something like that, which can make finding small targets in a scoop difficult. Just dump the contents in the sifter so you can spread it all out.
I made the sifter shown in the photo and have used it on various occasions.
You'll see other articles giving instructions on how to make a sifter, but this one is a little different from most of those. Most sifters that you'll see are heavy and rigid and can not be so easily modified for different situations.
I prefer a light-weight flexible sifter, rather than one of those heavy rigid jobs. This one can easily be rolled up and easily carried a good distance along with your other equipment.
Another reason I prefer this one is I can hold the sides where the boards are and by repetitively pulling the boards apart in short bursts, the sifter bounce the material which will sift more quickly that way.
The floats aren't always needed but can easily be attached or removed depending upon your preferences and the situation. The sifter will actually float without them. It just depends upon how much flotation you want.
The floats can be easily attached, either above or below the boards, very quickly and easily by using three plastic slip ties. Just clip them if you want to remove them again.
A simple rope can be used to tie the sifter to a tree or some other stationary object while you detect or dig.
As you can see, I simply got some 1/4 inch chicken wire. Cut it into a square. Then put a small board above and below the edge of the wire, and nailed the boards together to hold the wire, and did the same thing on the opposite side.
I only did this on two sides because that allows me to roll up the sifter, and it also gives me more control over the sifter and how I use it.
I found a couple of those floats along the road one day. I could cut them to the exact length of the boards but didn't find that necessary.
When working in very shallow water, the floats just get in the way.
The sifter can be used by one person, but if you have a partner and make it a two-person operation you'll seldom need the floats.
If you use the floats, attach them either above or below the boards, depending upon how high you want the sifter to float. The boards make good handles.
If you plan on dumping a shovel full of heavy material onto the sifter all at once or are working alone in deep water, you'll probably want to use the floats and add boards to the two open ends
But if you are working shallow water, which is where I was the last time, you won't need that.
I'll should make a video or at least take a few pictures of the sifter in operation.
Well, it didn't look to me like we got the predicted 4 - 6 foot surf yesterday, but I found some good swells and waves this morning. The waves were forming nicely and there were a lot of surfers. The beaches were awful mushy though. Very poor detecting where I was. It seems the northern end of the Treasure Coast got more surf than the southern end, but I didn't see that.
I did see a nice old piece of shipwreck wood down by where an anchor was found either last year or the year before. I'll have a picture of that for you by tomorrow.
There aren't any storms to watch now.
The surf is supposed to decrease the next two days. And the tides are pretty flat now. They aren't going down very much.
I'll have to get out to check some more beaches to see if I can find any of the effects of today's slightly higher surf.
I also need to get around to taking some more find photos.
There is one big project that I can't wait to show you, but I can't talk about it yet. Really fun and amazing. Someday I'll be able to show you all of those finds.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net
