My first sdc outing

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Would have liked to offered a meet up, I'm flat out from 16th Sept to 2nd Oct. School holidays taking the boys fishing & pig shooting. Hope you have success in & around Bendigo. I've only done a few short trips to the Whipstick for 1 bit, plenty of good ground to be covered though no one gets it all.
 
Wishfull,

I decided on the week-end to make the purchase of the SDC2300 and will head to a Minelab dealer in the next week or so to make the purchase. Hopefully their offer of a free training session will still be there. I am cashed up so that's not a problem...just away from home on work stuff and have to get to a dealer.

When I get it I will teach the missus how to use it...she's keen to detect as she finds sluicing and panning boring but loves walking for exercise...stick the 2300 in one hand a pick in the other and turn her loose. Cant wait.
cheers
Mike
 
Got to go for a bit of an outing today To Hallett S.A. well just out of there 500 km round trip.
I met up with a couple of other blokes who were both swinging Minelabs a 4500 and a 5000.
I was in a dry river bed and came across some shale sticking up at an angle see picture below. I was getting a little curious after digging some of it out and sdc was still sounding off.
1472292382_2016-08-27_19.24.19.jpg


Lucky me a piece of wire jammed between two bits of shale. Lots of old diggings around the place. Some very deep holes. You had to watch where you were walking. None of us found any yellow though. Wire, shot little pieces of rusted tin, shoe tacks you know all that stuff. So yeah not much to brag about. But I would like to stay there for a full weekend instead of just a few hrs. You gotta try.
 
Wishfull said:
G'day today I was in the city and went to Bunnings. Walking down the gardening section and came across this. Thinking about heating the bottom with a heat gun and flattening it out a bit. $3.65 bought 2 of them. Better than the pink spade I stole from our 5 y/o charge.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/7460/1472812029_2016-09-02_19.55.59.jpg

Yep, done that a few times...heated the scoop part up over the stove, and shaped it so it was flatter. Works wonders!
 
Can't beat that for price. I grabbed a gutter scoop (Bunnings) cut down the sides (45 deg) heated it up over the coals (while quenching a thirst) and moulded it on the next block of timber that was about to be turned to into more coals :D works a treat. When I got home and showed my boys it went missing and still is that's how good it works :D so I did a second one now it never leaves my kit.
 
Wishfull said:
RM I did what you suggested. Worked very well
Also painted shovel part iridescent orange in case I drop it as I will being me.

Don't know how long the paint will last, but at that price may aswell grab another that way you have a spare. On one trip I arrived and realised I left my scoop at home, found an old discarded / lost plastic wine cup so I cut it down to make a scoop. It worked out well but just didn't feel right, I've still got as a backup though. It'd be good if they made them red to start with.
 
Wishfull Wrote
I think Yorke peninsula is covered with spent bullets and shotgun pellets. There used to be lots of rabbits here and foxes. I obviosly can't count either there is 3 bullet leads there on the picture. I was in a gully that led out onto the beach. Unfortunatly there was that much junk in it that I gave up in disgust.

Hey wishfull, great to see your getting out and about, bet your having a lot of fun swinging that stick mate. My ears pricked up on the comment about giving up in disgust, with all the junk in the gully. Although i can understand your disdain for the gullies running in to the beach in a non gold producing area, it will pay great dividends if you persevere when faced with the same scenario in the goldfields. I recently viewed a nugget the same size as,and as round as a cricket ball that was found in a junk filled gully. 90% of detectorists will walk away from gullies and creeks that contain a lot of rubbish, so if you come across this, your much better off to think your actually in virgin ground and dig it all. a little trick i use when faced with excessive amounts of junk, is to detect until it annoys me, then go for a walk and swing on some clean ground for a while. But i always return until I've completely cleaned the area, 8 out of 10 times this pays off. A little food for thought, keep swinging, have fun and best of luck mate. Reg.
 
Mmm minister of finance and fun suggested I could make one cheaper than those advertised, cheaper maybe because I already had the leather etc. but I won't be making another one because it's not worth the hassle of gluing and stitching that bloody velcro and my sanity couldn't stand it.
 
s a side note to the little leather cover. I am thinking that I may make one up out of something like a piece of pvc down pipe. I'm a bit worried that the leather will soak up water and shrink rot etc. I will see how the leather one goes first.
 

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