[Kelly]

A friend decided to take up gold mining, then meteorite hunting. For those unaware, meteorite hunters use magnets to test finds. My sense of humor, inspired by the use of magnets and metal detectors for meteorite hunting, pushed me to make this walking stick, which I dubbed the Poor Man's Metal Detector.

The Poor Man's Metal Detector has a rare earth magnet on the end, which, when I set the stick on my cabinet saw, holds it in place at about a 55 degree angle. The magnet has nearly a hundred pound pull power.

 

[Kelly]

My dad used to take us out in search of those buried teapots of gold often. We'd hit long abandoned mining towns and such, so found some fun things ALL the time. You know, like once for every five hundred holes.

We, also, used to go on regular bottle hunting ventures, so the detector helped find dumping grounds where such treasures were buried. I still have a few hundred bottles begging to be displayed. Some quite valuable by the standards of those crazy enough to chase such things.

I've never had much luck metal detecting. Most of the time I'd locate buried cables, bottle caps or once in a while a
nickel, dime or quarter. The ground is too hard here making it difficult to dig down more than just a few inches.
Metal detecting is great for sandy beach exploration but inland it's not so practical unless you know where to look.
My best find was when I went to an old trading post site and found a spent rifle cartridge from the Civil War era.
Good luck to your friend! Hope he hits the motherload!