Handy & Inexpensive Magnetic Pick Up Stick.
This is a handy device. It can be used by beach hunters to pick up small ferrous items and junk. It works well. The circular face of the magnet has a diameter of three inches. The handle that it came with is 36 inches long.
One nice feature is that the end holding the magnet is bolted on and can be easily removed.
I took it out to try it out and was very happy with the results. 'When you suspect a shallow or surface ferrous target you can simply put it over the pin pointed area and if it is shallow enough, as is often the case, it will pick it up without any digging at all. That saves some work.
I found that sometimes it will pick up several small pieces or flakes of iron when you simply put the magnet in the area where you got the signal.
If you use pin-point or all-metals mode, as I often recommend, you will probably detect a lot of very small pieces of iron. Sometimes they can be very difficult to see in the sand. This will help you find those almost impossible to see needle thin pieces of iron.
One alternative is to mount a magnet in you scoop. I've talked about that before. Some of our readers always use that.
While the device works well as is, if I was going to use it with the current handle, I'd drill a hole to insert a bungy cord or something so I could hang or drag the device. I'd probably also replace the handle with a wood handle.
What I'll probably do, is unbolt the end holding the magnet and attach it to the other end of my scoop handle. I'll test that sometime and see how I like that as compared to having the magnet in the scoop.
I've already satisfied myself that it is worth the $3.00 that I payed for it.
If you noticed an increase in readers this weekend, it is because this blog site was listed as a resource in a CNN weekend travel article. I'm amazed at the attention this blog has been getting. I was contacted a few weeks ago by the Discovery channel about doing something for a TV show. I declined that one, but might do it in the future when the opportunity arises. I liked the CNN thing, and was amazed by how prominently the blog site was listed and how much interest it caused.
I want to thank the loyal readers of this blog. I've heard from many who say they read the log every day.
The biggest number of readers are from Florida. There are also many from the southeast US as well as the northeast.
The city with the most readers outside of Florida is New York. What surprised me is the city with the second greatest number of readers outside of Florida is Pittsburgh. Who would have guessed?
As you know, I like finding all kinds of things, especially old things and useful things. A few months ago, some old planking washed up on the beach next to an old wreck site. That doesn't happen too often. Something evidently uncovered the old wood after quite a long time. I don't know if it was Mother Nature or what, but it probably was in the ocean for a long time. I showed a photo or two of some of that planking back then.
I thought the wood was interesting. Not only was it full of toredo worm holes, but there were also some pieces of spikes left in the wood. Here is a piece of similar old shipwreck wood that was treated and coated with a clear finish. A nice label will be added and the wood mounted. I think it will make a nice piece of nautical decor.
Notice the remains of an iron spike right of center.Here is a web site that tells how to preserve old wood the right way.
http://nautarch.tamu.edu/crl/conservationmanual/File6.htm#Polyethylene%20Glycol%20Method
Five Common "Sweeping" Mistakes.
1. Having the coil too high off the ground.
2. Not keeping the coil level and equally distant from the ground as you sweep from one side to the other. Not only do you lose depth when the coil is lifted at the end of the sweep, but you can increase the frequency of false signals.
3. Not keeping the coil level to the ground front to back. Having the tip of the coil either too high or too low relative to the back of the coil. The front and back of the coil should be the same distance about the ground.
4. Sweeping to fast.
5. Missing too much ground when you are not sampling. Sweeps are too far apart.
Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.
The wind is from the northeast his morning and the sea is still very calm. Again there has been no change in beach conditions and there is none predicted for the next several days.
Conditions for finding cobs on the beach remain poor.
Low tide will be around 6 AM and PM.
The NOAA Hurricane Center shows no action in the tropics.
It's more of the same.
Happy Hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
