Re: What's a good pick?
Hello,
I thought I would chime in, because I have gone through the process of finding what the ideal/best pick for me could be, with nuggetshooting in mind. Over the years, I have bought, made, traded, many picks, taking note about what features about
each would add the most benefit to my search for gold. I have tried the ones with metal shafts, and for my experience with them, found that there could be excessive vibration up through the metal handle, which is something you will not have with a wood or fiberglass handle.
There are some with super wide scraping surfaces, which are fine and quite handy, but the downside there is that you must carry them pretty much over your shoulder, using the one arm hold for your pick, and the other for your metal detector. The reason being, is that you cannot easily holster the pick at your side, because of the wide scraping surface. My method of swinging my detector requires the use of both hands, as I use what is called a swing handle, which requires the use of both arms to provide a more precise, as well as less effort in your coil swing, hence a less tired prospector at the end of a long day. So for this method, a holstered pick is a real necessity.
Moving right along, the prospector needs a pick that has a strong handle of the appropriate length for the work you expect to be doing. For serious earth and rock removal, you will obviously require a longer handled pick, for lighter, less serious work, you will need a progressively shorter handle, and for sampling or lighter work, a then shorter handle, etc. No rocket science here...
Most gold producing areas will have ample indicators of earlier excavations for gold, and work being done, either from hand stacked rock, to drywash piles, etc. Having been worked in this way, there will be remnants of that earlier time, being bits of rusty cans, wire, boot tacks, the list goes on... When you encounter this type of place, there can be many signals, and the bad news is, all of it isn't going to be gold. Most of it won't be gold, sadly. So what you need to deal with these metallic signals, will be a good strong magnet, to speed up your gold search by pulling this pesky rust out of the dirt, so you can keep going, hoping for a nice nugget.
What all this is leading up to, is what I have found to be the best American made pick on the market today, one that fulfills all the above necessities that the prospector requires. Oh, yes, and a good warranty as well is REALLY nice. For my needs, I have found that the Apex pick fills the bill in all categories. Besides being made by people that really do care about the product they make, as well as the product satisfaction by the end user, being me and more importantly, YOU!
Give them a look see at their website, go to other forums that deal with nuggetshooting, do your homework, and give the Apex a try. I know you won't be disappointed!
Just my 2 cents...
~LARGO~
so keep your eye on it, (or those around you).
I have all 3 sizes---set for life -Tons a au 2 u 2 -John
but LL no--american icon in great shape-tons a au 2 u 2-John--does anyone else smell spam here?? 
