Looking for a tool!

[Chris Coffee]

Hello Everyone,

My family and I have made the decision that we are going to attend the Franconia outing on Dec. 14th. I am looking forward to meeting new people, meeting forum members so I can put a face to a name, and hopefully learning more about how to hunt and identify meteorites. And I will be bringing my GB Pro, too, so hopefully I can find a piece of yella metal as well.

I was hoping that someone could tell me where I can pick up one of these "meteorite sticks"? I used to be able to get them on eBay, but I do not see them listed anymore, and the store I got them from does not carry them because they didn't sell very well. I need one more so that everyone in my family has one of their own to use. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Chris

[adam]

A cut off golf club with a neodyum magnet will do. or a wood dowel ... Most use detectors in gold basin I think.......

[Bedrock Bob]

I just cut a couple of golf clubs off today!

I use a 3/4" x 1.5" cylindrical neo magnet that has a 1/4" hole through the center. I put a 3" screw through the hole and down the center of the club shaft all buttered up with plenty of JB Weld epoxy.

You can make one in five minutes for about five bucks.

I have one made from a ski pole and one from a hickory painters pole.

Both ground balance perfectly and will ignore most hot rocks. I use a set of headphones with the ski pole because I feel it gives me better depth but the wooden magnet pole seems to find smaller targets without them. They both run on cooking oil or biodiesel and can be deducted from your taxable income.

I like a little brass "digger" on the end of the pole to loosen rocks. I have learned that a meteorite stuck in hardpan needs a little more than just a good magnet sometimes. They might use a bit more fuel oil with a digger on the end but the convinience is worth the added cost.

[Mikestang]

I use a metal broom handle ($4) from Home Depot with a magnet duct taped to the bottom.

[Au Seeker]

I could only find one factory stick online, but it's not the same as your's in the picture, but several links on how to make one, here's the search link.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=meteorite+sticks&go=Submit&qs=n&pq=meteorite+sticks&sc=4-16&sp=-1&sk=&cvid=9d499f4a69a84f4083fbc07a761a0886&first=1&FORM=PERE

[Bedrock Bob]

I use a metal broom handle ($4) from Home Depot with a magnet duct taped to the bottom.

Mike

I generally spot a rock and can tell with pretty good accuracy whether it is going to stick to that magnet or not. Holbrook is the only place that a meteorite has ever stuck to my magnet and I have recognized every one of them before I put a magnet near them. I find that the magnet on a pole is a good picker upper but not much else.

I may not look at a rock if the magnet did not pick it up. So in this way the magnet pole might eliminate some "wasted time". But other than saving me the trouble of bending over the magnet pole does very little to yea or nay a suspicious rock.

I have almost given up using the pole and generally just use my eyes in Holbrook. That has been the case with cold hunting as well. I generally have a magnet in the truck these days and once in a while I will find a rock that I put in my pocket. I hardly ever even bother with the magnet and straightaway file a window.

I guess I would like to hear your input. Do you use the pole just to save you stooping over or is it something you just gotta have to hunt? A broom handle and duct tape does not sound like a tool a guy uses eight hours a day. How important is the tool in your world?

[saginaw72]

Hi Chris.

The attached photos are of one of my wood magnet sticks. Got the wood handle from ACE Hardware. I used PVC plumbing joints to make heads that protect the neodymium block magnet sealed inside. I've also made PVC heads for cylindrical magnets. Re-purposing these joints takes a bit of time and work to get them to fit together, but I think it's worth it. I designed mine so they are inter-changable with a variety of sticks and heads I use; some light, some heavier and some block magnets, some cylindrical. The stick shown doubles as a climbing pole. It's a hoe handle with a ferrule and a quarter inch bore. I cut landscape spikes to size for the tip. When it wears out, I just cut a new one.

I use the stick(s) when the ground is too mineralized for the detector to be useful and when hiking or walking my dog. When swinging my detector the stick(s) aren't practical, so I use a cylindrical magnet, also in PVC, on a string. When not in use, I carry it by just sticking it to the head of my metal digging tool on my hip. I use N52 grade magnets so I still have a very strong magnetic attraction in spite of it being inside the PVC. These have worked great for me. I've been using these for so long now, I'm able to feel the slight tug of the magnet pulling on objects an inch or so in the ground. The magnet on a string rig is especially sensitive because the magnet will swing oddly and tug on shallowly buried objects.

If you want to find out more about neodymium magnets, a good place to start would be at http://www.kjmagnetics.com/neomaginfo.asp.

Saginaw

Edited November 29, 2013 by saginaw72

[Chris Coffee]

Hi Chris.

The attached photos are of one of my wood magnet sticks. Got the wood handle from ACE Hardware. I used PVC plumbing joints to make heads that protect the neodymium block magnet sealed inside. I've also made PVC heads for cylindrical magnets. Re-purposing these joints takes a bit of time and work to get them to fit together, but I think it's worth it. I designed mine so they are inter-changable with a variety of sticks and heads I use; some light, some heavier and some block magnets, some cylindrical. The stick shown doubles as a climbing pole. It's a hoe handle with a ferrule and a quarter inch bore. I cut landscape spikes to size for the tip. When it wears out, I just cut a new one.

I use the stick(s) when the ground is too mineralized for the detector to be useful and when hiking or walking my dog. When swinging my detector the stick(s) aren't practical, so I use a cylindrical magnet, also in PVC, on a string. When not in use, I carry it by just sticking it to the head of my metal digging tool on my hip. I use N52 grade magnets so I still have a very strong magnetic attraction in spite of it being inside the PVC. These have worked great for me. I've been using these for so long now, I'm able to feel the slight tug of the magnet pulling on objects an inch or so in the ground. The magnet on a string rig is especially sensitive because the magnet will swing oddly and tug on shallowly buried objects.

If you want to find out more about neodymium magnets, a good place to start would be at http://www.kjmagnetics.com/neomaginfo.asp.

Saginaw

Mag Stick 1.jpg Mag Stick 2.jpg

Saginaw,

I have to say that is the most detail oriented meteorite stick I have seen to date. I think I will try to rig up something like this myself in the near future. Thanks for the write up.

Edited November 29, 2013 by Chris Coffee

[Mikestang]

Mike

I generally spot a rock and can tell with pretty good accuracy whether it is going to stick to that magnet or not. Holbrook is the only place that a meteorite has ever stuck to my magnet and I have recognized every one of them before I put a magnet near them. I find that the magnet on a pole is a good picker upper but not much else.

I may not look at a rock if the magnet did not pick it up. So in this way the magnet pole might eliminate some "wasted time". But other than saving me the trouble of bending over the magnet pole does very little to yea or nay a suspicious rock.

I have almost given up using the pole and generally just use my eyes in Holbrook. That has been the case with cold hunting as well. I generally have a magnet in the truck these days and once in a while I will find a rock that I put in my pocket. I hardly ever even bother with the magnet and straightaway file a window.

I guess I would like to hear your input. Do you use the pole just to save you stooping over or is it something you just gotta have to hunt? A broom handle and duct tape does not sound like a tool a guy uses eight hours a day. How important is the tool in your world?

I use it more as a walking stick than a "meteorite finder", it's saved me from a slip on several occasions. I do rely on walking sticks when I hike, so in that regard I do just gotta have it with me. I do not use it as an identification tool. Like you said, with experience you lose that need to rely on "attracted to a magnet" as a form of meteorite identification, but I still do use it often to save from bending down to look closer at a random rock on a playa surface, and I also use it to dig and pry small buried rocks out of the ground. I think Bob Verish summed up the use of magnets nicely: use them to confirm it's NOT a meteorite.

Holbrook is 100% eyes only, I don't pick those up with a magnet, they're so obvious when I see them now, but I do use the stick for walking there. I did actually find my first Holbrook using the magnet, though.

[saginaw72]

I see my mag pole as a safety, as well as a search tool. When I'm working a slope the pole is essential to helping me along. When I spot a prospect stone, I brace myself and I flip the pole around for a quick test. If it's positive, I bring it in to bag and tag.

Other uses include reaching into places I would never stick my arm and hand i.e., under and into thick brush, under and around rocks, and into crevices. The pole also adds length to my reach, which is helpful at times.

I've also had to use it to protect my dog from wandering 'feral' dogs. The spike comes in handy, believe me.

Saginaw

PS: Here is a photo of the kind of slope, rocks, and crevices I have in mind...

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Edited November 29, 2013 by saginaw72