Rare Earth Magnets

[PabloP]

Must be very junky area. I have used a similar approach to find dozens of nails in a burn pile on a property that my daughter has purchased. She had put horses in the paddock when I noticed all the nails. A very strong magnet still had problems pulling nails through an inch or two of ash when the ash had consolidated.

Rob P

 

[Goldaddict21]

Hi,
Ive been looking at purchasing a strong rectangular magnet to attach on the underside of the head of my pick. The idea is that it will pick up any metal when i am scraping dirt out of a hole.
Just wondering if anyone has had much success with this and can recommend where to purchase one. I've been googling around but not sure what magnet strength type would be most suitable.

A fella we bumped into on our last trip used a cylinder shaped one that he would place onto his pick when scraping. I wish i had asked him where he purchased it from!

I currently have a round magnet attached to the base of my pick which comes in handy to an extent - thinking something larger, stronger and more direct would work better.


Cheers!

 

[Jaros]

I presume you are using a rare earth magnet. Just try and use the strongest rare earth magnet you can find or stick a few "rems" together and see how it goes.

 

[Moneybox]

Rare earth magnets are available at most prospecting stores. I buy these ten or so at a time off Ebay and we use them for all sorts of things like fastening sun shades and holding things in place. These have a chamfered hole in the centre so they can be fastened with a screw if needed.

I don't like to have it on the pick because it collects too much iron and is difficult to keep clean. Sometimes the signal will disappear when you dig and if the magnet is not clean you can't be sure if it's there on you've just moved it.



I use one of these magnets in my pill bottle and carry it attached to a little horse shoe on the front of my harness. After using it I give it a quick shake and with the movement of the magnet the bottle ends up perfectly clean for next time.

 

[Moneybox]

I've seen people screw the magnet onto the end of their pick handle. Then they place the handle through the pick holder on their belt so the magnet ends up in close proximity to their detector coil. The result is an intermittent signal as they walk or swing the coil towards the side where the pick hangs.

 

[Hawkear]

I don’t know how you can tell before you buy, but have bought bulk of them before but found that many were really brittle.

 

[XLOOX]

Some are more brittle than others but ALL rare earth magnets are brittle - it is just how they are made - by sintering powdered metal.

Some come in a protective cup and are called Pot Holders.

I would suggest 20-30mm dia by 5mm thick with 5mm countersunk hole & N48-N52 strength .

FYI I have attached a rare earth magnet on the pick blade itself as shown in this post

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/threads/detecting-tips.38037/post-623472
It has been there 3 years no prob because it has the mild steeel washer on top. Sides are still exposed. Not as protective as the pot holder typr & no doubt it will break one day but at $20 for 5 from ebay I can live with that.

 

[Moneybox]

I don’t know how you can tell before you buy, but have bought bulk of them before but found that many were really brittle.

Yes that's been my experience too but I think it might be a feature of these type of magnets. The round ones seem to take abuse better than the square ones.

 

[Gold1hunter]

Get the biggest fattest round earth magnet you can find to attach to the blade side near the handle (don't have any metal on your pick holder).
Every time your pick hits the ground the degree of magnetism dissipates, it'll take a long time but eventually the magnet will become weak enough to fly off the pick, it's still plenty strong enough to do the job, so use plenty of Araldite/liquid nails when you put it on the pick in the first place.