dry sand dredge

NGE

Silver Member
May 27, 2008
3,506
119
S.E. Michigan
Detector(s) used
Etrac, Explorer XS II, Fisher 1266-X
Primary Interest:
Other
A new use for all your old power lawn mower handles! :thumbsup: Somewhere in all my junk, I have the plans for this tool/toy ???. My friends say, "look, here comes that ding-a-ling with the french fry basket" The operation goes like this, take it to your favorite super trashy beach, pull this behind you in a row, stopping only now and then to dump trash at end of each run (walk). Very hard to run with this thing :icon_jokercolor. It goes as deep into the sand as you want, all you have to do is bear down on the handle or you can make an adjustment on the center strap on the handle. The 'teeth' on the leading edge are supposed to be the business end of old forks, but because I was using it in the water, I made it out of one piece of strap steel and cut slots in it with a cut off tool. :thumbsup:. The measurements are; 24" X 15"X7". From its upright position, it is 38" Tall. It is made with 1/2" hardware cloth (galvanized) 1" strap aluminum, whole lotta aluminum rivets, stainless nuts and bolts. Also, you may want to attach a few strong magnets inside the basket to collect hairpins, nails, and other bits of rusty junk that may go through the mesh. I have successfully used this in swimming areas that have deep sand with numerous rusted nails from old swimming docks near shore. It helps getting the trash out before getting the detector out :thumbsup:. I have attached a rope to the basket and one one the handle end, and taken it to a very polluted stream near my home, and with the help of a friend on the other side of the creek, we successfully dredged that area of the creek down to hardpan, we have made many, many good finds in the bottom layers from when people 100 years ago, used to swim in there. If the dredge got hung up on something, my friend would just pull it back to the other side to get it un-hung. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:. This was NOT the intended purpose of this tool, but who uses their tools for what they were made for anyways ::). Here are the pics of mine......
 

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greydigger

Bronze Member
Mar 28, 2008
1,360
33
Aloha, Orygun
Detector(s) used
wishing stick
Primary Interest:
Other
I wouldn't call it a dredge, but it is a great idea!
I think of dredges as suction devices. Am newbie so maybe am wrong.
I like that a lot. Have heard that beaches on east coast have companies that are paid to rake
the beaches with large things like this with trucks.
Must be nice to be paid to treasure hunt and keep the loot!
Excellent post notgit !
 

OP
OP
NGE

NGE

Silver Member
May 27, 2008
3,506
119
S.E. Michigan
Detector(s) used
Etrac, Explorer XS II, Fisher 1266-X
Primary Interest:
Other
I call it a dredge, because it is not easy, but is enjoyable! How I operate it is more akin to " Draggin' a Line" ???. Like I said, it picks up all kinds of stuff and unless the "land sand" is super dry, you will be shakin' it more frequently, you don't have to literally pick it up, unless you get wet "land sand" in there. Now if someone can motorify it, and put "turf wheels" on it.... Remember..... After you dump trash at end of each row, go back and scoop up all trash and put it in proper place. Another benefit is that you will quickly build your upper body! :thumbsup:. Draggin' a line is an old song by Tommy James and the Shondells, in case you were wondering. My copy of the plans are almost non-readable, because the person that copied them from the treasure magazine, used thermal paper, as the thermal paper ages it loses all print and reverts back to unusable paper again. If anyone wants more photo's of this "french fry" basket, say so and I will take more pics....... Not GE
 

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