Find's Treasure Forums

Welcome to Find's Treasure Forums, Guests!

You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.

Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.

Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.

Click here to register!



Need Support Help?

Cannot log in?, click here to have new password emailed to you

Changed email? Forgot to update your account with new email address? Need assistance with something else?, click here to go to Find's Support Form and fill out the form.

My trowel, my friend - the Badger

dahut

Active member
I have used a lot of digging tools over 20 years of detecting. Some as small as a tablespoon, some the size of full blown spade. Ive even come behind scrapers and backhoes, so I guess you could count them, too!

But here is one tool I am NEVER without. It has served me for years and shows no signs of slowing up this season. I cannot imagine detecting without it and were it to disappear, I would make a new one just like it. Yes I said MAKE - it is handcrafted... well, handmade anyway. I am not sure about the craftsmanship part! You can buy pretty, factory-made equivalents now at 20 times the cost, but I wouldn't.
Here it is:

The BADGER
[attachment 87010 DSCF0028a.JPG]



The scoop part is 3" EMT electrical conduit, split in half lengthwise. That was shaped and sharpened as you see. Then I welded a 4" length of black iron pipe to the scoop at a slight 20 degree angle. To that I screwed on a pipe coupling and added other pieces of iron pipe untilI had the length right. Finally I capped it of with a bell reducer "knob."
This season it got the bright yellow and black paint job seen here. The "bumblebee stripes" are graduated for measuring in-the-hole depth and it is ultra Hi-Viz. This makes it harder to leave behind (which I've done)!

Hope you like it.
 
haha, dahut, it's the killerbee badger deluxe! just look at the colors! i can tell it's a good spade. i have 3 different that i use: an old butcher knife for fine cutting plugs in lawns, it's very fast and clean, a modified cleaver for heavier digging, same principle, just heavier and fits in my back pocket, also a custom job, and the let's get it on wer'e goin' diggin' queen mama talahootchie river diggin' beast mr. short spade. looks a lot like yours, as long as i run the ol' grinder across the edge once a month, it'll cut thru any root this side of the mississippi. best 5 bucks i ever spent. isn't it funny how us old diggers take such pride in our digging irons? all three of my diggers have made coins and relics shake out the ground at the very sight of 'em. hahaha, just kidding. hh,
 
Well, like all old timers. I've tried about every tool that comes along. Some I like, some I accept and others I dispose of. In the end like you, I end up with what could be deemed non-standard gear.
The Badger is a keeper. Ditto my short spade, also handmade. I'm very hard on these tools and out them to the test every time out. If I want to dig in soft grass and turf, I have other things for that.
Some of the new tools to hit the garden center look pretty good, as long as they are full tang. I find, though, that they give out when the dirt hardens in the summer. Plus they lack leverage.
And while fancy tricks and 7-in-1 one tools are neat to behold, you can do miracles with the proper leverage.
 
well dahut, i don't know about the others on here, but in drought season or it gets real hot here in central va., i stay away from detecting. only time of year i don't go out. the ground gets real hard here too at times, but i reckon it's just a question about how bad you want to get out. sc is known for it's hard ground and sand fleas,[and also my home state] so i know you've got some sturdy digging irons in your stable, and a good measure of persistence too. i would be interested to see what our counterparts up north use to dig with.
 
Top