Does anybody use that big green"Nugget Scoop" from The Outback Prospector ? How do you attach it to your harness ?

I tried out my new Nugget Scoop at Hill End last week. It's the best thing since sliced bread. I am not all that good at pin pointing the target in the pile. This jumbo scoop lets you pick up a heap of dirt and find the target quickly. I got it from www.aurumaustralis.com

BUT................. how do you carry the thing. I found a tool holder for my belt at Bunnings which fitted it perfectly, but now I have bought a new harness from Double D Leather and because he has a big wide pick holder on the left hand side, there is no room for this on the belt. SOLUTION FOUND - SEE BELOW

Do some of you hook it onto your harness ? If so what do you use to hook it on ? I want to be able to unhook it with one hand, so I don't want to use a clip.

Thanks,

Jigalong.

PS. That new Complete Harness was made in Bendigo, by DoubleD Leather. It is beautiful quality and built like a brick outhouse. It comes with an offset leather pick holder, so you can walk without the pick constantly banging into your leg. See them here http://www.doubledleather.com/index.php?c=2

PPS. I have no connection with either of these suppliers.

Get a piece of metal or wire shaped like an "S" poke it thru you harness or attach it however you like, then heat up a bit of metal and poke a hole thru the handle of your plastic scoop easy peasy,make the hole bigger than the "S" so it comes of easy, also have the ends of the "S" bent a bit more than a real s so the scoop doesnt fall off every time you lean forward.

ps burn the hole at the back or top of the handle, if you put the hole in the middle of the hande it will be hard to get off, i dont have one of these scoops but if i did have one this is what i would do.

Gollstar,

Thanks for the answer, you have given me a good idea. If I make an immoveable hook fixed onto the end of the handle, then all I have to do is slide it over the D ring on the harness.

I had tunnel vision and was thinking the hook would have to be on the harness - that would have been awkward to get on one handed. I will have to think of something to make a decent hook out of.

Thanks a lot,

Jig.

Gollstar,

Ooops, I was just thinking what I would make the hook out of. Thinking stainless steel would be nice. Then the penny dropped - it can't be metal. Maybe I should look in the bathroom section of a hardware store for a plastic or nylon one, or maybe a boating shop.

Any ideas about that ?

Jig

Hi Jigalong,
Austenitic Stainless Steel is non-magnetic, Martensitic S/S is magnetic, your kitchen knives would be MS/S and therefore magnetic usually if a S/S has any tinges of rust(colour) forming on it if it has been exposed to the elements it will be MS/S or AS/S if it has come into contact with any form of steel(iron).Aust.S./S. or 18/8 S/S(18% Chromium/8%Nickel) have the same characteristics as normal steel does when heated above a certain temperature, it too becomes Austenitic(non-magnetic), the good thing about AS/S is it won't be picked up by your detector.
I have always had my plastic scoop fitted to a S/S hook that hangs off the D ring that my small pick fits into, it needs to be a long skinny U shape so that it doesn't keep falling off.
Regards Ron

Hi Jigalong;
I use a 1” wide snap catch(similar to the small harness catches).
Attach a press stud (male and female) to the end of some 1” webbing. The studs far enough apart that you can loop it around your widest belt. On the other end of the webbing attach either the male or female part of the snap catch.
The other half of the snap catch attach to the scoop handle.
It works OK for me, easy to release and re-attach and doesn’t get dislodged.
Regards
Scrat

jiggy, ol mate.. I used to use the plastic chain links etc ,, which are available at bunnings etc to attach things to scoops / myself,, cheers spider

Ron,

Great information. I have a stainless steel shop near me at Drumoyne. I know they sell a particular long s/steel shackle. I could throw the pin away, grind off the round bits with the thread and I reckon I would have the correct shape. Then I would embed one end in the handle so I can just slip it down over the "D" ring with one hand.

I will have to run the shackle over the detector before I go to too much trouble though. I used to import cheap s/steel fishing pliers from China, so I know there is many grades of stainless.

Thanks very much for your help,
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Scrat,

That is a good idea too, as removing it would be one handed for sure. Using two hands to put it back on would not be a big deal.

Thanks a lot to you too.
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Hi Spider,

Chain link might be alright with eight arms to unhook it ! Sorry .

Can you describe what you mean by using "plastic chain links". I am not sure what you mean. Do you cut them into a hook shape and then attach them to the scoop ?

Thanks Spider,
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Jigalong

There is a guy that sells a pouch that the spoon fits into. The spoon does not fall out and you can use it as a rubbish catcher as well. It on Ebay from time to time. Cheers...

Guido,
Thanks for the info. I will watch out for it. Is the scoop a big seller in the US ?
Jig

I looked at Ebay today and cannot find the belt spoon bag, Its better than adding a clip or anything else. The spoon just bounces around and it can be annoying not to mention the noise it makes. I have not figured out how to post a picture on this forum yet, so if you want Pm me and I can send you a picture of what it looks like . Sincerely; Guido

I solved the problem, by making a great belt holder pouch for it. I used the bottom of a body wash pump bottle and a tape measure belt pouch from Bunnings. I got my local bootmaker to sew on a velcro strap.

To make room for it on my belt, I cut down half of the length of my DoubleD Leather offset pick holder. The pick holder still works the same as before.

It's a bloody work of art ! If anyone is the slightest bit interested, I will post pictures.

Happy New Year,

Jigalong.

If it's a work of art it's got to be worth a look

I swear by the long handled plastic scoops from mining shops, I use 2 of them for target

retrieval. The handle tip fits inside the narrow end of scoop, so they can be used to crush

softer small target rocks to free the gold, and as a mini dry panning method I found by

shaking side to side and gently blowing air across the tablespoon of powdered dirt or rock

and tilting a little, the gold and often buckshot drops right out of the mix. Nice when a

gold flake is the target and there are half a dozen more smaller bits too small to

detect staring back up at you. I do use a vlf detector and most gold I find is very small.

The top half of the Johnsons Body Wash bottle (shown here pulled out from the pouch) was a perfect, snug fit, for the Irwin tape measure pouch from Bunnings. I just cut the top of the bottle off to fit the dimensions of the pouch, then cut out the bottom so that the scoop handle ( and a bit of the actual scoop) could pass through. I needed this insert, because the pouch had three holes and I kept slipping the handle into the wrong hole. It only works if it passes through the middle hole. The plastic insert blocked all but the centre hole.



I cut off the strap showing here on the Irwin tape pouch (that held the tape in). I used the top half of this bottle.



Scoop pouch sitting on belt after I had removed half of the belt loop section of the DoubleD leather pick holder. It all fits perfectly now. You can see the strap I had sewn on by my local bootmaker. He sewed velcro onto the strap and the pouch. Also just visible is the platsic bottle insert.




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Hi all,
Jig,
When you have uploaded a pic to Photo Bucket place your cursor over the pic in your library and boxes appear below, the bottom one shows "IMG", place your cursor on this and right click and copy. Come back to the forum and again right click where you want the pic to fit, right click and paste. Done!

Have used this set up in varying forms since the introduction of the first SD and it has served me well.
Pick and plastic soup ladle hanging from my chest mount, this version is with the GPX-4500 back pack with a camel back attached.
It is not necessary to lug around a huge pick balanced on your shoulder and a half kilo scoop when the majority of our gold is on or near the surface in easy reach.




The following pic is a sand scoop used for beach detecting, constructed from 100mm PVC.



Cheers
Peter

Very good setup jigalong neat and tidy

Nightjar > Some thing that has annoyed me in the very short time that I have been prospecting is that there is nowhere to put things ..eg car keys , gps, spare batteries, etc etc. Basically you wear a pack frame there is any amount of room to put pockets and such like ...Why is there nothing??? Am I missing something??

Am thinking about getting a cheap light weight Fly Fishing vest to address this problem

G'day Peter,

That is a cunning set-up you have made. I can see you are a man who likes his gadgets "just right". Me too! When I cannot go detecting, I have fun at home getting my gear set up.

Like you, I often use the smallest pick, especially in spots like Tibooburra. When I go to Victoria though, I take Big Bertha, as I usually find some nice pieces of iron about two feet down.

I notice you have headphones for each ear. I should try that, as my hearing is quite poor. I use Ratphone headphones now and they are very good, but they get a bit uncomfortable in the heat.

I have purchased the Double D Leather camel pack, which clips on to D rings on the back at the top. I have not actually tested it yet.

Cheers,

Jig.

U308,

My Double-D-Leather harness belt is not stitched around the belt like the Minelab ones are. So, I have two pouches on it for holding gear. One of these is right at the front next to the buckle and the other is on my right side snug at the back against the battery pouch. Neither interfere with my detector swing. In the bigger pouch at the back, I keep emergency stuff like a head torch, lighter, lip balm, 30+, compass, spare fly net etc. In the smaller one at the front, I keep my smokes - disgusting habit.

My GPS and $20 watch are attached to the front of the harness. I like everything to stay on the harness, so when I get to a spot, I only have to put it on and I am away. Otherwise, I usually forget some small insignificant thing like the pick !

I also have a camel water bag attachment, which clips onto the harness above the battery pack. It takes up to two litres of water.

Jig.


The round GPS on my harness is a beauty. Small and simple to use - good for a techno idiot like me (available at http://www.gpsgolf.com.au/store/gpsbacktracker-p-77.html ).


DoubleD harness with all the gear on- including the clip-on 2lt water camel.

Looks the goods jigalong

Am going to have a word with the man at DD in regards to what he can build up.

I have not that long ago purchased a cover for the SD and was impressed with the quality of his workmanship.

cheers