10/1/20 Report - Sampling: An Important Skill When Done Correctly. Two Tropical Waves South of Us.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Source: Article by John Cline in

 April 1997 Gold and Treasure Hunter Magazine.

I've talked a bit about sampling in the past and believe it is a very important skill.  That comes from my scientific background, I guess.  Sampling is nothing more than collecting data.  People do it all the time in an informal way.  They visit a site a few times and either have good or bad experiences and draw conclusions based upon their experiences.  They might conclude that the site is not good, that it is too junky, or that it is a great place to hunt. That is a type of informal sampling.  Informal sampling might or not lead to valid conclusions because if it is not done strategically and systematically.

You can go out a look around randomly or you can grid an entire area.  Those are the two extremes.  Or you might "read" the beach to decide where you will detect.  

Reading a beach is a place to start.  You get an impression from looking around.  But do you test your impressions?  Do you collect data in a systematic or thorough enough way to draw valid conclusions?

It is one thing to make a few observations and draw conclusions, but it is another thing entirely to do it in a strategic systematic way.  

As I mentioned yesterday, I ran across an article on sampling in an a 1997 issue of Gold and Treasure Hunter Magazine.  The article was by John Cline.  In that article Mr. Cline presented the diagram shown at the top of this post.

Not only were his samples taken systematically, but the results were recorded.  He recorded what was found at each of the locations sampled.

And he sampled very carefully.  Here is one paragraph from the article illustrating that.

Let's say that the overburden is about three feet deep.  We divide the area into sections.  take the first foot or so from one side, then test the gizzly for results.  We then do the second half of the hole.  If we run into a different layer of material, we clean seach half of our hole to that depth, trying not to go any deeper.  Why?  Well, if we do, we're not getting a good sample of the material and potential gold above that layer.  After we've cleaned the top portion of each section, then we go down to bedrock, again looking for different levels of material, heavy metals, such as lead, steel, etc. working each section and testing before working the next layer.  We continue with this process until we've cleaned our test hole, thus creaing a picture of where the gold flow is located.

That is not exactly the same as you would do for metal detecting, but there are a lot of good tips in that paragraph.  

In metal detecting we are not going down to bedrock.  We are concerned with whatever might be in metal detector range, but there are times when you might probe a little beyond that.  I've talked about that a little in the recent past.

The purpose of sampling is to answer questions.  You have to start with good questions and then take samples in a way that will help answer those questions.  That is what science does.  But for best results it has to be done correctly.  

There is always the question of sample size.  How much of a sample do you need?  And is the sample representative?  You can only draw valid conclusions when your sample is a good representative sample.  In  other words, the area that you take samples from must be like the area you want to draw conclusions about.  In many cases it will be a subset the area you are interested in, but still some subsets will not be representative of the overall area.

One area might be different from another area.  You can sample one part of the beach, which is not like another part.  One part might have tons of targets and the other nothing or just junk.  That means you have to know the basic principles too.

Sampling is an important skill, but to get the best results, it must be done correctly.

---

JamminJack had a few comments in response to my post about metal detector companies going out of business.  Here they are.

Tesoro was supposed to keep servicing their machines, but still no response. I own a Sand Shark, and is for sell, but I think no one wants a machine that cannot be serviced.

I think Garrett is making some adjustments. I noticed that several of their popular models are no longer being made.

China and other countries copying their models it is hard to keep the integrity of a company together.

I have had my Minelab Sovereign GT and Tesoro Sand Shark listed on Gainesville Craigslist since last year! I have to keep renewing, but hoping one day they will sell.

Most interested buyers are wanting to know if both machines are serviceable. Minelab told me they have parts for both Sovereign series and GT. Tesoro has not responded since folding.

---

Rusty did a lot of the service for Tesoro. Maybe he will still do it. I know he sometimes sold detectors. Anyone know how to contact Rusty if he is still around?

It is too bad that there aren't people who will repair metal detectors.  I'm sure some people know how to do it, but it might not pay off.   I often decided that if I was going to pay for repairs, I might as well get a new detector instead.  There were some companies that would service their detectors for a reasonable price though. 

---

We're having heavy rain this morning as the cool front is hitting the humid air coming from the souteast.  

Source: Ventusky.com.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

There are a couple systems to the south of the Treasure Coast, but they probably won't affect us much.

The surf is up a touch to two or three feet.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net