A Quick Late Afternoon Early Evening Detect

Hi guys, After working on my schist columns all day, & Mrs JW had a wedding to video, I buggered off at about 5pm & headed back to where I got those last 8 little bits. I planned on going a bit further over  from where I had been going the last couple of times. Still, the spot I chose was an area where I had done well with the GP 3000 & 4500 but was no longer getting gold there with the 4500. I dont think though that I had used the Elite coils here. Any way......I parked up & walked to the spot. Got rigged up & hit an area of semi exposed bed rock schist that the old timers had surface washed. Not even a minute in to it & I had a soft faint signel. Scraped about 1.5 inches off it & that lifted the signal



So I laid in to the dig with a bit more effort. Next minute.



Oh no....you b**tard. Shite bugger damn. Those last few times that I had been smashing into that solid schist to get a few signals out had taken there toll on my pick. I knew I felt the pain for my pick at the time. Didnt I say so. What do I do??? Pack up & come back later with another pick?? Maybe I will just keep detecting & mark spots where I get a signal & then come back & dig them. I picked up the head of the pick & had a go at scraping & digging as best I could.

So...scrape scrape dig dig...wasnt too bad actually. Down in to the schist bed rock which was actually quite rotten & soft & broke out easily



Ye Ha.    A nice little bit of the good stuff.



Not five feet away, another very faint signal...I think. Some times you just think you here a slight hiccup in the threshold or just a hunch that it was a signal as it isnt all ways there with each sweep of the coil. I gave it a few scrapes any way.



The hint of a signal improved so I kept on going down in to the schist bed rock. Into a few crevices



A small bit of gold



And again



Another small bit



This just kept on happening & no crap signals. All gold. Have detected here so often that there is no crap targets left. Bonus now.





Look at the depth. I was lucky that this schist was rotten & soft & peeled away easily



Nice piece



Deep in to another schist crevice



Loving the no crap tagets. Just GOLD



The signals just kept on coming





Thought I saw a bit of rusty crap come out of this hole, as it was a loud sharp signal as well



But no  



Actually got two bits out of that dig



Down in to a deep schist crevice







Time out & a look at the finds so far



In to the schist bed rock again





The hand was getting a bit sore as some of these digs were quite deep



And getting deeper



But still the gold was coming & all off thrashed ground. Loving the Zed.



Two bits from this hole



Well it was time to head out & back to the wagon.

All up 13 bits for 5.33 grams. Sure beat the other days 57 bits for 4.55 grams



The Zed just keeps on blowing me away. What a machine.

Thanks guys.

Best of luck to you out there

JW  

Dang to bad about the pick, I know how that can be...those days the pick head breaks or battery goes bad, I have even had headphones go out on me. I have to say your doing well with the gpz since you bought it. Congrats on your nuggets, that's a pretty good day in my book....

Hi there California, Thanks mate for dropping in & for your comments. Yes....gear failure usually happens at the worst & most inconvenient time & place. My one & only failure (until my pick just now) was with my GP 3000. I had hiked 2.5 hours to a spot & was getting gold & was digging down on another signal when all of a sudden.....no sound. My first thought of course was the head phones. So I trekked back to my wagon where I had a spare set of head phones & a battery curly chord. So I grabbed both. Turned out to be the curly chord, so lucky I grabbed that after the 5 hour round trip. It was a bit of gold too. Thank goodness.    That is the only place that I have walked away from a target as it was right beside the creek edge & once I started digging down a bit the water started coming in to the hole. It was beside & under a large boulder. Had gold written all over it. The 3000 had such a beautiful audio on gold I just knew it was gold. But the water beat me so I had to abandon it as I only had my pick with me. (same pick) I knew that I would be back here one day & that I will bring a shovel, a small one. Well that day was 6 years later & the end of last year. What I hadnt considered was the many floods that happened with in that 6 years. So the gold is still there....some where else. I did dig & tried to find it. No joy.
So that pick that broke was my first pick from back when I got my GP 3000 so it has dug many a hole & has been abused smashing in to solid schist rock, which does make me cringe when I use the pick for that. There has been the odd occasion when my wagon hasnt been too far away & I have gone back to it & got a cold chisel & hammer to deal with such rock. When I got my 4500 it came with a virtually brand new "CC" pick. Well that has worn down to a stubble much like my original Walco pick so I had a mate weld on a hardened steel extension to the warn down pick end, as you will see in the pics (picks ) pun intended. Any way, I am prattling. So thanks again.

Good luck out there

JW  

Very well done,  

Shame about your pick, never mind it had a hard life!

Hi Jen, Thank you   . The pick will be rebuilt....better......stonger.....maybe a longer handle too. Will that still make it the same pick Cheers

Good luck out there

JW

Get the mate to weld the head back on the pick and it will be as good as new, and sharpen up the point a bit while at it.

Great gold and I know that you will be back to all those old spots some more with the Z, as it keeps on winning for you.

pablop wrote:Get the mate to weld the head back on the pick and it will be as good as new, and sharpen up the point a bit while at it.

Great gold and I know that you will be back to all those old spots some more with the Z, as it keeps on winning for you.

Hi there pablop, Thanks mate. Yeah, my thoughts too with the pick & it is great to be able to go back over all my old haunts & score gold again. It has been better with the Zed than the times I have gone back over ground with new coils on my 4500. There are many spots I did well on when I got the 14" Elite & went back over them. Be very interesting going over them with the Zed. Cheers

Good luck out there

JW

Very nice finds again JW. The worst thing that I have done was I saddled up and headed off from the vehicle got about 200mts from it and got a good target signal, went to get my pick from the pick holder on my belt. Yep I'd left it back in the vehicle anyway I couldn't be bothered going back to the vehicle to get it, so I found a good solid stick and started chipping into the hard ground.......... Well I eventually got the target out and yep it was a nice little 1.5gr piece of gold at about 6" deep. Well I still do it now and again, but I usually don't get to far from the vehicle before I check. Thanks again for sharing your great pics and finds JW.

Cheers.

Mike.

Well done on the gold finds JW, to bad about the pick.

You can see need one of my "Gold Digger Picks"
https://golddetecting.forumotion.net/t23496-gold-digger-prospecting-equipment
https://golddetecting.forumotion.net/t23582-gold-digger-picks



cheers dave

Mike54 wrote:Very nice finds again JW.         The worst thing that I have done was I saddled up and headed off from the vehicle got about 200mts from it and got a good target signal, went to get my pick from the pick holder on my belt.  Yep I'd left it back in the vehicle anyway I couldn't be bothered going back to the vehicle to get it, so I found a good solid stick and started chipping into the hard ground.......... Well I eventually got the target out and yep it was a nice little 1.5gr piece of gold at about 6" deep.         Well I still do it now and again, but I usually don't get to far from the vehicle before I check.          Thanks again for sharing your great pics and finds JW.  

Cheers.

Mike.  

Mike....Only 200 meters & you couldnt be bothered to go back & get it.  Bloody hell....try a 2.5 hour walk back to the truck then 2.5 hours back to the spot.   Mind you...that wasnt for a pick. Cheers

davsgold. Yeah I would love one mate but the cost of shipping is ridiculous. Think I will just repair the old one. Cheers.  

JW

Well done on the gold JW.....great write up as usual...... the GPZ will have paid for itself in no time mate.
Don't dare retire your old pick off mate...... just remember how much sweat, blood & GOLD you have shared over the years. Just shout her a new head & throw in a handle as well. She'll be like new.
Rob.

Good onya JW, a nice little collection for the day Bloody piss weak picks, that's why Dale does all ours now. Failure like that in remote locations is the end of a trip and a expensive trip in travel and lost time on the ground. Glad you are loving the zed, nice pic's as well.

G'day hotrob, Cheers mate. The size gold I am finding it will be a while before the Zed comes any where near paying for itself. But bloody good fun in the process.
Davsgold did me a deal I couldnt refuse & a new pick is on its way across the ditch as of today.  Dave.  That old pick was my very first going way back to my GP 3000 days. It has seen many a hole & wee nugget over its life. I wore it down to a stubble but put new life back in to it with that extention welded on. I will get it welded back on & it can be my spare. Cheers.

Hi there bloodgold2 (Dave) Thanks mate. That pick had a good life & was used once too many instead of a cold chisel & hammer  You should see the state of my hands after carrying on just using the pick head in my hands to dig & scrape those bits of gold out of mother earth. Blisters, cut finger tips from sharp schist racking out crevices & skined knuckles  I knew I would pay a price. I can but imagine the grieve it would cause Dale (how is the bugger & Tremain too?) to have a pick break on him in the places he gets in to. That would really tear his undies. If he wears any  Cheers Dave & all the best for 2017

Good luck out there

JW  

Great gold JW, the poor nuggets didn't stand a chance with the shape of that schist cap hey? All they want to do is get down the hill but no chance there.
Great work without a pick handle mate!
"Mark them and come back later" hahaha Who are you kidding that was never going to happen.
Cheers,
Hoff.

Hoffs Gold wrote:"Mark them and come back later" hahaha Who are you kidding that was never going to happen.
Cheers,
Hoff.  

The thought crossed my mind for but a second. You are right.....it was never going to happen. Cheers mate.
Good luck out there

JW