11/5/17 Report - Sifting Beaches With Merkitch Sifter. Science of Shipwrecks. Castle Cache.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Merkitch Sifter.
Photo submitted by Joe D.

Yesterday I showed some old coins that were found by sifting.  The sifting was done using a stationary sifter.  Dirt was dug and shoveled onto the stationary screen and sifted to find any coins or other objects.

I also mentioned a Merkitch siftter.  The Merkitch sifter is a different kind of sifter.  It is pulled through dry sand. Joe D. found a picture of one of those somewhere.

The Merkitch sifter was made by a fellow with the last name of Merkitch.  As I recall, he published a paperback book that gave plans for building the sifter and instructions for using it.  I once had that book, but no longer do.

Here is my simplified illustration of such a sifter.

Diagram of Merkitch-Like Sifter

The sifter I made was not exactly like the one shown at the top of the page, although it was very similar.

There are several things that are very important about this type of sifter.  The angle of the box, the wheels, and angle of the handle are all very important.  So was the size or gauge of screen.

When you pulled the sifter, you wanted the lip of the sifter to reach a few inches under the surface of the sand.  If the lip was too deep, it was difficult to pull, and if was not deep enough, you would just be skimming the first inch or so of sand.

The angle of the handle was important.  If it was off, the sifter would be hard to pull and the sifter would not extend into the sand the right amount.

The wheels were also important.  Remember they had to be pulled over sand.  I would think that the wheels on the sifter shown at the top of the page would not work very well in loose sand.  Maybe I'm wrong about that, but I'd probably either put bigger and wider wheels on the sifter or use something more like a skid or sled rather than wheels.

Like a sand scoop, the size of the holes is important.  The screen should allow sand to pass through as easily as possible without letting valuables to slip through.

This kind of sifter can be used to good advantage where there is  lot of junk..  Since you can see what is left in the box after the sand goes though, you can quickly pick out the good objects and dump the junk.

You don't miss much that is in those first few inches of sand if the gauge of screen is right.  Small chains and non-metallic targets get caught.

Another good thing is that you can use it where you are not allowed to detect.

The big problem is how much effort it takes.

Another problem is that it can only skim a few inches of sand.  If it sifts too deep, it becomes difficult to pull.  It can take some tweaking before to get the sifter working just right.

You can not use it in wet sand.

I'm always thinking of other ways to find objects besides metal detecting.  For me, metal detecting is not the objective - finding things is the objective and there are sometimes other ways of doing that.  Sifting is one good alternative.

The Merkitch sifter is good when there is a high density of shallow targets in dry sand.  For some situations it is much more efficient than detecting and recovering individual targets one by one.  Multiple targets can be picked up as quickly as a single target.  It is not a good choice when targets are deep or very scarce.

Yesterday's post showed how one reader used a stationary sifter to find some nice old coins and marbles.  Stationary sifters are good for junky areas where the targets are masked or deeper than your detector will reach.  I expect to be posting a detailed report on that reader's sifting experiences in the near future.

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Here is an article entitled The Science of Shipwrecks by the North Carolina Coastwatch.

https://ncseagrant.ncsu.edu/coastwatch/previous-issues/2013-2/winter-2013/the-science-of-shipwrecks/

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In proper storybook style, in a disintegrating cardboard box shoved to the very back of a drawer, in a castle where every nook and cranny is still stuffed with the possessions of generations of hoarding owners, a cache of valuable antique coins, some extremely rare, has been discovered...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/nov/03/cache-of-antique-coins-found-in-drawer-at-scotney-castle

Thats all for now.

Happyhunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/30/15 Alternative Recovery Techniques For Special Situations.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Some guys carefully grid every inch of an area.  Other guys wander around randomly.  Some believe that they have a sense for where things might be.  Some believe in a sixth sense.  You might call it insight or intuition or ESP.  They feel drawn to finds.  Some believe in various forms of dowsing.

Where you stand on these things might have something to do with how you've been doing lately.  It is hard to believe in a sixth sense when you are in a dry spell and can't make a find to save your life.  Maybe you just wonder what happened to your ESP.

For everybody there are hot spells and dry spells.  The more you become accustomed to finding a lot, the less it takes to feel like you are in a dry spell.  When you become accustomed to a lot of finds, any pause or break can be perceived as a dry spell.  Everything is relative.

As you increase your skill and finds, you expect more.   Your standards increase.  You are less easily satisfied.  Even though you might find ten times as much as you did ten years ago, it doesn't seem like you're finding anything anymore - at least not anything that impresses you much.

That is good in some ways.  It pushes you to work harder, more intelligently and be more productive.  But don't let that take the fun out of it for you.

When you hit a dry spell, and you will to one degree or another as conditions change or areas are hunted out, that is an opportunity.  It is an opportunity to make some changes and explore.  It might push you to get a new detector, which is seldom the solution but can be beneficial, or explore new areas, do some research or learn new things.

One thing you should know is that there is always more to be found.  There are always other places to hunt.  There are always new treasures to seek.  There is always a lot to learn.

The key is patience.  Turn that dry spell into something positive.  Think about other ways to approach the problem.  Redefine the problem.  What is it you really want to do?  Break down old barriers and habits.

I'll give you one small example showing what I mean about making a change and doing thing differently.  Lets say you are detecting and come across a dense hole of targets.  It seems there is a target of some sort on every square inch.  Your meter is going crazy. You are having trouble pinpointing because there are so many targets and they are so close together.  What would you do?

If you are stuck in a habit you might try as hard as you can to dig each target separately like you normally would.  But let me ask you a question.  Is there another better way?  Why try to pinpoint and dig each target separately in this situation?  Why not just dig the entire area and then sift?   A sifter might work better than a scoop in that situation.  Or a dredge, if that is practical in that situation.

The tendency is to treat situations the same even when there might be a better alternative.

Have you ever heard of the Merkitch sifter?  It is a sifter with two large wheels that you pull through the sand to sift the top few inches.  That is an alternative to detecting.  It is a heck of a lot of work, but it works, and in some situations is more effective than using a detector and scoop.

I have one very large scoop that can be fitted with a 30 foot pole.  It provides another alternative for working dense or high probability holes in creeks, rivers or lakes.

When I recenly watched a video of a fellow trying to detect individual targets in a creek at a spot that was covered with junk as well as some good targets, I wondered why he didn't just sweep the top inch or so of cover (there was only an inch or so over bedrock) and sift it out.  It would have been a lot quicker than trying to pinpoint each and every target and pick them up one at a time.  There were a lot of things going for sifting.  One was running water.  Another was little soil cover.

If you've ever used anything like a Merkitch sifter, you know how quick it is to visually spot targets in a sifter even if there are a lot of junk targets.  It is almost like laying them out on a table.  Sifting can be especially good for situation when there are either a lot of good targets, or a lot of good and junk targets.

You probably know some places that are too junky to detect.  They might be covered with pull tabs, nails or whatever.  It might be worth sifting sites like that.

My main point today is that different situations call for different solutions.  When you are in a dry spell, that dry spell might be just the right time to do some thinking about alternate approaches.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net