The Ultimate "Pingfuckit"

Greenhouse glazing clips.
Took our old greenhouse down yesterday and until I worked out how to get them out, I must have lost about 50% of them. Didn't even see where they went (apart from the one that hit me in the face!) I expect I'll be picking them out of the mower for weeks.

Huge wrote:
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Maybe drag a large magnet on a string round the area?

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The thought did occur (*). Except I suspect they went a fair way.
(* Does anyone else miss those TV CRT focusing magnets?)

On 05/06/2018 10:25, Huge wrote:
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I find that magnets from hard disc drives are excellent.

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They are, but they're a bit small for dragging through a lot of grass looking for pingfuckits.

On 05/06/2018 10:45, Huge wrote:
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Fix a dozen of em along a board and drag that ;-)

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Not such a bad idea! Now, where's the box of dead disks?

wrote:
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Aka "magnetic broom", often with a thing to "turn the magnet off", and drop the bits.
<https://greenwoodmagnetics.com/magnets/easy-clean-forklift/
I want one, but the price, size, and usefulness are not in a favorable ratio...
Thomas Prufer

After serious thinking Huge wrote :
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A metal detector would be quicker and more certain. You can get better magnets from old hard disks these days.

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A metal detector would be useful for non ferrous objects but if you already know they are magnetic then the magnet can do two jobs at once ,find and collect the items.
One of those old TV magnets performed a magnificent job retrieving my Meccano nuts and bolts from the carpet before Mother passed the Hoover over the floor, before I removed it from a telly down the dump The vacuum made such a racket when swallowing them that mother thought the machine was getting damaged. It was my brothers interest in fly fishing that did that.Mother made an expedition into his room quickly pushing the hoover ahead and pouncing on a dead fly on the floor. Immediately there was an unusual whizzing noise which she discovered was the reel on a rod paying out its contents of nylon line which she had not noticed the fly was attached to. 20 seconds later the Hoover was dead as its works ground to a halt with yards of hot melting nylon wound tightly around the brush roller and the drive belt.
GH

Harry Bloomfield wrote:
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It just makes noises does not pick them up.

FMurtz pretended :
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True, but a metal detector can more thoroughly, with less effort and more quickly sweep an area, than can a magnet. Find it with a detector, pick up with a magnet.

On Tue, 5 Jun 2018 10:11:07 +0100, Bob Minchin
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or a metal detector?

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Yes! Had to replace glass a couple of weeks ago, and only one clip went ping - and, amazingly, I did find it, which was just as well, as no spares to hand.

Well you put one hand over them, then gently lever the end of the wire out past the depression. I know what you mean though. Brian