How long before GONE FOREVER?

svensken77

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Jun 29, 2012
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Guess theres no definite answer to the question but:
About how long does it take for lets say a ring to sink so deep in the sand in the water that a metaldetector cant pick up the signal from it.
Obviously it has to do with what kind of sand there is and winds and stuff but are we talking days or weeks or even years?
Maybe there is no answer but the reason i ask is that beaches here in Sweden are only used for about 2-3 MONTHS PER year AND NOT VERY CROWDED with people (loosing stuff) and since my garrett AT PRO dont do good in saltwater i might have to get a better and way more expensive detecctor for that and was thinking about Minelab Excalibur. But Maybe its not worth all that money try to find something if it only takes maybe a week after someone drops for it to sink too deep.
What im trying to say is that in the dry or moist sand i could find stuff (mostly coins so far)that people have been loosing for many years, thats not the case in water?
 

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CASPER-2

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most beaches will have a clay layer - hard mud layer - a dense sand layer or rock layer under soft sand layer
so most stuff with get trapped on top of this layer - some beaches will have a few inches of soft sand to 5 feet of soft sand
some beaches i have hunted - have a little bit of each in different areas
storms will remove layers and bring old stuff to the top - some storms will bring more sand in
if you dont want to spend the money on an Minelab - try getting a dual field Pi for about half the money
will go deeper than Excal too
 

lookindown

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Your right, there is no definite answer. The sink rate is different on every beach and can change daily even on the same beach.
 

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svensken77

Jr. Member
Jun 29, 2012
44
6
westside
Detector(s) used
Garret ACE 350 (sold)
Garrett AT PRO
Garret pro pinpointer
Minelab Excalibur II
Your right, there is no definite answer. The sink rate is different on every beach and can change daily even on the same beach.
Thanks for the answers guys, thats what i thought, it was more a question of 2 days or 2 years but hard to know i guess since you almost never know when stuff is lost and how long it have been there when you find it..
Does the AT PRO works good in the saltwater for you lookindown or do you use the CZ21 for that?
I think im gonna try to sell one of my detectors but the market here is very small, a bunch of stupid rules and laws makes it almost impossible to get permission to search with MDs.
The easiest places to get permission is just the beach (if theres no shipwreck close to it) and thats why i need one that is good in salt..
As it is now the i think the ACE 350 work better on the beach but i think the AT PRO is harder to sell here.
 

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svensken77

Jr. Member
Jun 29, 2012
44
6
westside
Detector(s) used
Garret ACE 350 (sold)
Garrett AT PRO
Garret pro pinpointer
Minelab Excalibur II
try getting a dual field Pi for about half the money
will go deeper than Excal too
You just got me interessted in a PI detector for wateruse now and im looking at White's dual field pi and tesoro sand shark but is there any guarantee that its not gonna have problem with black sand and salt or is there a risk i will get a THIRD dry sand detector?
 

Buried Crap NJ

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I read this back in the 1980's and have seen it reprinted again. But if you ever want to know how fast a ring will sink in the wet sand, here's what you do. You take a wedding band and tie a piece of 2lb test fishing line to it and drop it in the sand and hold onto the other end.Keeping it loose. Its not perfect but works. You'll look like a dope and people will ask you what the hell your doing but you'll see what happens. It doesn't always do what you think. I have had a ring sit on top and disapear and reappear for a 1/2 hour. In my test over the years the ring took some time to get more than a inche or two. It will be different where you are. Just tell them your walking your ring! Other test that helps you, are painting coins and throwning them in the wet sand and come back 8/12 hrours later and see how many you can find, and where. Many times you learn where they end up piled in one location. I use nickles as they tend not to sink as fast.
BCNJ
 

jeff of pa

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Gone Forever ?

I don't know what was the Oldest item ever pulled out of sand ?

AD or BC ?
 

lookindown

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Thanks for the answers guys, thats what i thought, it was more a question of 2 days or 2 years but hard to know i guess since you almost never know when stuff is lost and how long it have been there when you find it..
Does the AT PRO works good in the saltwater for you lookindown or do you use the CZ21 for that?
I think im gonna try to sell one of my detectors but the market here is very small, a bunch of stupid rules and laws makes it almost impossible to get permission to search with MDs.
The easiest places to get permission is just the beach (if theres no shipwreck close to it) and thats why i need one that is good in salt..
As it is now the i think the ACE 350 work better on the beach but i think the AT PRO is harder to sell here.
My AT pro works GOOD in the saltwater at the beaches I hunt. My CZ works GREAT in the saltwater...I use my CZ for saltwater and my AT in freshwater.
 

wrecker

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Mar 5, 2008
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I'm on the other side of the Baltic Sea, across from you in Germany. So I guess our conditions are similar. I'm doing fine with my Excalibur 1000, last weekend I found 5 goldrings in 2 days plus silver, clad, junk jewelry etc. One of the rings was a 14 K wedding band from 1952 and tarnished like 9 K gold would normally be. So I guess it had been there in the water and black sand for decades. There is no clear answer as to how fast a ring sinks till out of reach. Reading the beach, location and finding cuts in the sand are essential. Weather, waves, wind and currents keep changing the conditions permanently and what is buried deep today maybe uncovered tomorrow. I have found 100 year old silver coins on a popular beach after a storm when the sand had been washed away down to the layer of rocks that's normally under 3-5 feet of sand. I have my 3-4 favourite beaches that I would usually hunt, depending on the actual conditions. If one is too sanded in I move on to the next one. Some of them have webcams so I can check in advance what it looks like and choose the most promising one. I'll keep using my Excalibur, maybe get an Excalibur II 1000 some day. But I decided to get me a PI too for the days that my beach is sanded in a bit too deep for the Excal. Still not sure which PI to choose. I'm looking at the Garrett Infinium, Sand Shark or even Aquascan Aquapulse. And I'm going to make me a bigger scoop, mine is just a little too small for deep and moving sand. HH
 

Smoogle

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where I live has one of the highest concentrations of mineral sands in the world -there a sand mines etc, in the early days, at a beach to the south of me, prospectors actually found payable gold in the heavy black deposits - nearly every beach has it here or there - especially when there is erosion - my SS wavers at it - but in VCO there is no heightened pitch - and it is easy to tell the difference between concentrated black sand and a higher pitching target. - I know of a beach up north with a clay base less than 2ft under residue sand - just biding my time till I can hit it, the gold is trapped and like Hamid says it is not all luck.
above all else Specific Gravity of the ring, shape / obstacles on way down / weather etc will determine drop - my 20c -but I also have an old staircase area where it is obvious nothing has moved for over 100 years , HH
 

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svensken77

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Jun 29, 2012
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Garret pro pinpointer
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I'm on the other side of the Baltic Sea, across from you in Germany.
Hmm. many good answers here. To bad this hobby is very small here Swe, it would be easier to buy and sell stuff but the good side is that theres not much competition. i dont think i have seen someone with a metal detector ever :) Having that said i have never found any gold either :( But i will as soon as im able to get in the water.
Im gonna do another try with my AT PRO and if its still no good ill guess i will contact Garrett and see if theres something wrong with it which i doubt or ill have to try and sell that or the ACE 350 and get maybe Whites DF PI or tesoro sand shark and DIG DIG DIG.. and keep one garrett for dry areas.

Hey Wrecker do you know any good Detector sellers in Germany that shippes to sweden?
I mean we buy all our Beer from you so why not buy a detector too? :)
 

Smoogle

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also believe that even all Md'ers dig dig dig - just not iron but new caps, sinkers and pulltabs are on the excal, fisher and other menus too!
 

Smoogle

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sorry for stalking your post but I live on the "other side of the world" too, access USA ebay through your local fleabay, find barg deal, - ask sellers will they send to you - many detectors and rip offs here - be careful - make sure they have a history of good sales, and you'll get a barg like I did buying my SS from Hawaii.
 

ron lord

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Svensken77 this may help you. I found a copper Plate 3' sq. I been told it's about 1,000 years old . I found it in 3 feet of water and about 2 to 3 feet in the sand. It was below the beach sand, below the shell bed, below the clay ( about 1 foot thick ) into the suger sand which is fresh water.I have had two Archeolegest look at it, and am waitting for the British Museum to get back to me.The Copper Plate is a Sanskit Bible.The museum is the Worlds leading authority on Sanskit.
 

GibH

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My opinion is that on most beaches a ring will keep finding it's way to the top. As stated, sand will cover and uncover it repeatedly, much the same way a larger nut will rise to the top in a can full of smaller nuts when agitated. It is called granular convection. Wave action provides the agitation and can also carry more sand with it to cover it up again.
 

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svensken77

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Jun 29, 2012
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Garret ACE 350 (sold)
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Garret pro pinpointer
Minelab Excalibur II
That does it. Im gonna order a new detector asap. (if AT dont do good next try) Have to scan the internet for places to buy from. Bought 1 from US and 1 from Austria so far, and the pinpointer from US also, wonder where i will find the next one. :)
Hard to find places in Europe to avoid taxes and customs for the Tesoro Sand shark or the Whites Surf DF.
 

Native Floridian

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Last night i hunted a beach where a stiff NE wind had piled sand onto the beach creating a steep slope. Being that it was high tide, with the pounding surf i could hunt only the top of the slope. it was mushy sand and i held out little hope of finding anything of value. I did manage one silver necklass, but most surprising where the greenies. What are greenies? Long buried coins. I pulled several green quarters from the mush pile of sand. How long were these coins buried? Weeks, months, years? I don't know, but there they were with the fresh drops.

From what I've experienced and witnessed along the shores of NJ and SW FL, nothing is gone forever. I've pulled dozens of 100 year old plus coins from the beach. And dozens more of silver coins from the teens to the sixties. Friends have found 200 and 300 hundred year old coins on the beach. If we ever get another Nor easter i hope to find some too. Nothing is gone forever. It's out there!!!
 

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nickmarch

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Anything that is dropped in the water will move parallel to the beach and away from shore due to longshore drift/current and gravity. The longshore drift will move the items parallel to the beach and gravity (and current) will move heavy items out into deeper water while moving parallel to the beach. As the heavier items drift out into deeper water and away from the longshore current they will move slower and into deeper water until the current is not strong enough to move them or it drops into a hole or is obstructed.

Longshore Drift Animation

https://www.google.com/search?num=1....5.5.0.64.601.10.10.0...0.0...1ac.14DptRjKKT8
 

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ron lord

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Native Floridian,you can't get nor easterns from FT.Myers Fl . Only Nor western and South Westerns
 

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bigscoop

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Seems to me most opinions here hold some truth. There are so many variables that factor into our ability to access gold it's really not a matter of how fast it sinks, but rather a situation involving the many factors that can come into play which provides us the opportunity to access it. On calm freshwater lakes less factors come into play, but on ocean beaches that contain a lot of sand that is subject to the effects of the ocean, such as its tides, currents, etc., what was too deep to access today may be only a few inches from the surface tomorrow, or even with a single tide cycle change. Don't let "sink rate" psych you out too much, even though gold can sink very, very fast. I've found very little gold in recent weeks and yet I know it's only a matter of time before the sand moves in such a way that I'll be able to access a lot of it.
 

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