After your choice of metal detector, the next most important item you can choose is your choice of recovery / digging tool. It is important that you use the best tool available for the job at hand, you would not take to a pristine parklands grassy surface with a garden shovel, so the choice of digging tool is very important. Or would you? You better read on...
There are a lot of choices when it come to digging tools from garden trowels, screwdrivers to dedicated metal detecting shovels. Making the right choice for the location you are detecting will make a huge difference to how easily you dig and how little mess you make recovering your targets. What are you basic choices? It depends on what sorts of areas you are detecting. If you have been metal detecting for any period of time, you will know that the locations you detect will vary quite a bit, from parkland with grassy surfaces of varying quality and ground hardness, to fields and open bushland.
Protective Gloves
Before we get into the whole what tool suits me info, I recommend you ALWAYS wear protective gloves when detecting and recovering relics and coins etc, they can save you from broken glass and other things like rusty tin, better than no protection at all. I use a pair of lightweight leather riggers gloves, available from any hardware store or Ebay. They also of course keep you cleaners, a little warmer in winter as well. I find the detector no harder to use really with a pair of gloves on like I suggested.
Choosing a digging tool to suit the location
Parklands and Grassy Surfaces
If you are detecting parklands, or anywhere that has a well maintained grassy surface, you really do want to leave the area as good as you found it, leave as little trace as possible.
Flat Bladed Screwdriver
Quite a few people are now choosing to recover coins, that are not buried too deep with nothing more than a pin pointer to accurately locate the coin and a flat bladed screwdriver. I personally have not tried this method, but there are plenty of videos on Youtube that will show you this technique. Once you are proficient, this has little to no impact on the grass surface. Practice on your own lawn before you go tearing up parklands to become confident you can do this technique.
Garden Trowels
A cheap $9AUD garden trowel to dig a neat plug can be a great starting tool. Digging a neat plug, not a gaping hole is a very popular way to recover items in grassy parklands, again, very important to practice cutting a neat plug before going out and leaving a big mess. My original choice is the Fyskars Aluminium garden trowel, is around $9, is made from aluminium so it will not rust, has a great handle and when sharpened with a file or angle grinder, is a very versatile digging tool, but, it REALLY does need to be sharpened and kept sharp to make it easier to cut the grass and any roots below the surface. DO NOT cut notches into the sides like pro digging tools have to help cut roots, you will weaken the aluminium and it will snap easily. This tool is also great for working in sand and pine bark areas.
Professional Digging Tools
There is plenty of variety from lots of manufacturers when it comes to pro dedicated digging tools, you really do need a very strong tool, especially when the ground under the grass is rock hard, made from stainless steel would be best as you digging tool will be put under quite a bit of stress while doing recoveries. My choice when it comes to pro-tools is from an Aussie manufacturer called Tyger, I now have 3 of their digging tools and use the right tool for the job. They have a number of small digging tools, the "Cub" is more like a pro trowel, but of course stainless steel and virtually unbreakable. The next model is the "Blade", this is narrower and longer blade and is much easier to dig harder ground. They also have a micro sized version of their shovels called the "Snake", don't own one so cannot comment on that one.
Then they have their larger "Shovels", but of course the blade on these is much smaller and narrower than a standard garden shovel. I have used this larger shovel in parklands, but I still try very hard to not leave any mess.
Kids Playgrounds
In Australia, a lot of our playgrounds either have sand or pinebark fill, both a very easy to dig and leave virtually no evidence you were ever there. The Tyger "Cub" is great here, or the Fyskars Garden Trowel, both excel in digging sand and pinebark making your recoveries very easy and quick. To be honest, my preferred tool in playgrounds is the light Fyskars garden trowel, you can easily dig into sand or pine bark and get to your target quickly and easily.
Beaches
On the beach, if you are going to dig, you better be using stainless steel or Aluminium digging tool, otherwise rust is going to claim your digging tools life. But then again, most beach recoveries are done with a sand scoop, so a digging tool can be a lot slower compared to a sand scoop. See what works best for your circumstances. Sand scoops come in a variety of shapes and sizes, a good plastic one will serve you well for the occasional beach detectorist, but, if you are going to spend a lot of time beach detecting, a good stainless steel sand scoop on a long handle is the way to go - virtually no bending over at all. I personally use an Australian-made SITO sand scoop with a lightweight fibreglass handle off a shovel.
Open Fields & Bushland
Usually, in these types of areas, you don't need to be quite as neat as with a parkland, but, at the very least, fill your holes in properly so no stock trip and break something. In these areas, I would always use my Tyger Shovel with one of the smaller digging tools for doing the finer digging once the hole is open. It is always a good idea to keep things neat, no matter where you are detecting.
Old Ruins & House Sites
This could be anything from the shovel to the smaller digging tools, it will be dictated by the area and any restrictions placed on you detecting there by the land owner. Always be neat, choose the right tool for the job at hand, I would always have the big shovel as well as my smaller diggers so I can easily switch as required.
Parting Thoughts
Whilst I have never personally broken a digging tool, I have always purchased a good quality tool and I look after my tools, even the stainless steel tools need sharpening from time to time to keep them cutting cleanly all the time. I have seen plenty of people who have purchased a cheap full sized shovel, used a grinder to cut it down to a smaller blade size, then found that it broke or bent after just a few uses. It is just not worth the time and trouble doing this, buy the right tool for the job. It really does not take long to get enough $1 & $2 coins to cover the cost of a good digger and over time you can continue to expand your selection of tools.
