Tips and Tricks

May 2020 by Harry Griffin

I cleared the connector by poking a small Phillips screwdriver through it. To ensure the bore was clean, I dunked the connector into some water and then blew it clean with my shop air compressor.

Metal Detector Testing Methods

February 2015

It will not be any easier than on your table at home, and so testing a very small test target like the ballpoint pen can tell you immediately if a detector is suitable for looking for tiny gold nuggets.

What Equipment Do I Need?

October 2014
Getting started in prospecting often requires the purchase of some equipment, but one can spend as little as $10 and be finding gold or spend thousands and also be finding gold—yet you will probably have many more opportunities and possibilities with more and better equipment. 

Pros and Cons of Big Detector Coils

December 2016
Years later I returned with a new detector with a smaller coil and detector technology more sensitive to smaller nuggets. I found my first nugget within five minutes. I had a second five minutes after that.

Detectors: Past, Present and Future

June 2016
Detectors were invented long before I was born, but it was in the 1960s when they started to become an item popular enough to power a fledgling industry. The key development was miniature transistor technology replacing the old fashioned tube technology of the 1950s, making lightweight, affordable detectors possible.

All About Native Silver

February 2020

Some of the wire forms are strange and fantastic, with wires sticking out in twisted, seemingly random directions. Others have deformed crystals and all of them have significant value to collectors.

Old Patch, New Detector

March 2017
I have been detecting the area on and off since I discovered it. Every time I bought a new detector it was the first place I went to.

Detecting A Trashy Area

March 2022

Some prospectors would have assumed it was another shotgun shell, but in this case it was 17.6-pennyweight nugget!

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