Bowie Knife For Target Removal

[Calvin.Coin]

Hey, the Hori-Hori looks good. I may have to get one of those. Bonsai is cool as well...

peace,
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[Bum Luck]

I happen to live in a state where citizens are allowed to openly carry a gun. It is not uncommon to walk into a local business and see several people packing. Nobody cares about a little knife around here.
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After a nasty morning of surveying in the swamp, my partner & I walked into a bar for lunch not realizing we still had our machetes on. Well, it was no big deal. We ate lunch and left.

[MrSchulz]

I use to use my Bowie Knife, but i've gotten a nice long handled trowel/shovel that makes it much better to recover.

[Mzjavert]

Thought of getting one of those cheap $20 Bowie Knives from the Mega-Store. I would slap a "For Digging Only" sticker on it and keep it off airplanes. Would that be a suitable digger or would it scare the locals too much?

peace,
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I knew it! That nameless mega-store is trying to take "Target" stores out of business.

[Sandman]

For years now I've used a bayonet as a probe as it wedges in pull tabs and rings so they can be popped out of the ground. The screw driver can poke inside and outside of a ring and you won't know you found it. The bayonet is dull as can be but I carry it in my tool pouch with the trash. Instead of a Hori-Hori knife I use a Fiskars as it is less expensive. http://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-7079-G...ords=hori-hori

[Calvin.Coin]

Sandman, that's good thinking about the bayonet as a probe. The small brass ones I have seen would suffer the same problem as a screwdriver in that regard. I also like the looks of that Fiskars. I'm hoping I'll be able to pick up something similar to that or the Hori-Hori when I go for supplies...

Mzjavert , LoL...yea I try to dance around naming mega-stores, hahah, they have sufficient advertising funds to spread their own name!

peace,
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[Connecticut Sam]

Every state may have their own laws, but most state only allow knives no longer then three inches. There is no way I be carry knives in public. Buy a trowel or off to jail you may go.

[Grizzly13]

I do like the Hori Hori model even though I personally do not have one, but it is like the one that I do use. I made my own because of my abuse in the field. I being a welder and metal worker make most of my tools and make them better then waht you can buy. In reality we MD's dig in hostile ground ( not gardens) with roots being the norm. I took a stainless 4" pipe 3/16" thick and 14" long cut it with a cutting wheel on a hand held grinder and shaped it like the tori tori, actually before I had ever seen the Tori Tori. I serrated both sides and sharpened it. It has the curve and heated and crimped the handle side. I then wrapped the handle with rubber insulating tape and it is indestructable ! The handle has to be big and soft so the blisters do not appear. I wouldnt be without it, its a animal and a weapon if needed in those evening hunts in the park : ),

[DirtDiggerDaveinMD]

Here in the People's Republic of Maryland there is no restriction on fixed blade length as long as the knife is not concealed. That said, there are too many sheeple out there that freak if they see someone with a knife. I always carry a knife with me, just not always a fixed blade knife.

[Jason in Enid]

For years now I've used a bayonet as a probe as it wedges in pull tabs and rings so they can be popped out of the ground. The screw driver can poke inside and outside of a ring and you won't know you found it. The bayonet is dull as can be but I carry it in my tool pouch with the trash. Instead of a Hori-Hori knife I use a Fiskars as it is less expensive. http://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-7079-G...ords=hori-hori

Haha, if an officer comes up to you, just tell them you are probing for landmines and they should only walk in your tracks.

[Calvin.Coin]

So, I went for supplies today and broke down and bought the $20 Bowie. It is actually impressive quality. A solid wood and brass handle and an 8 5/8" blade. It's a hefty sucker! I also got two cheap synthetic fiskar diggers (good for the sand I reckon, now modded by drilling small hole in end for strong magnet insertion) and a 2 1/2' mini shovel (don't know what else to call it). I had scoped out the hori-hori online and intended to pick one of those up as well but there were none to be found on the shelves.

Took my MD with me and finally, finally got a chance to do some real detecting! I now understand the meaning of the word "trashy"...The site is a well used (40 plus years and still current) gravel parking lot over an acre in size. The ground is so compacted that none of the above diggers are even the slightest bit effective! I'm gonna get an estwing rock hammer or one of those mini-mattocks next.

To make matters worse, the nearly impenetrable surface is literally littered with metal debris. Nails, staples, bottle-caps, wire, pull-tabs. Around home I only get a beep every hour or so. In that parking lot I could not move the Ace even a few inches without it going nuts. So I tried relic mode, still to noisy...jewelry and coin mode, same thing. Finally I just notched out everything but the upper end of the scale in the custom mode.

I only had twenty minutes to search...so I took it slow and didn't cover more then 10-20 noisy sq ft. I was rewarded with a clad dime and two cents pretty much hidden only by the first layer of gravel. Then about two inches down I found a triangular silver pendant that weighed in at 5.5 grams. I wish I could have stayed longer but I had to go. I will need to formulate a better strategy for de-junking that parking lot...I can see it will be slow going and I'll need some hefty bags next trip, but I'm sure there is plenty of coinage and jewelry also!

Thanks for all of the input everybody I really like some of the digging tool ideas and Grizzly's DIY ones sound awesome.

enjoy the hunt,
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