cache question

[Darren in NC]

I don't have an iron pot of coins to test this, so I thought I would ask since that is precisely what I'm after near my home. This is also posted on another subject elsewhere in this forum, but it fits best here.

What would be the best way to detect for a pot of coins? If you are coinshooting in a park, an iron object on top of a coin will mask the coin from most VLF detectors. So what if I'm looking for a pot of coins? Do I need a mag or pi for the iron? If I use a two-box in lieu of the coin mass, will the iron mask that, too? I know it makes sense just to look for the iron instead of the coins, but I have evidence that leads me to believe the coins may have been in a wooden keg. :idea:

What would you do?

[Cladius]

Buy a Minelab EX II and hunt in Iron Mask or hunt in all metal and dig baby dig. Cladius.

[Ocean7]

well if you're looking for an iron pot - any good detector will pick it up in all metal mode unless it is very deep. Use the largest coil you have - preferably 12"-16" coil. Now if it's deeper than say 2 feet - I would use a two-box detector.

Even a large clump of coins in rotted out wooden container will have the mass necessary to be picked up by the same means. If you want to test your coil - use an old tire rim or gallon paint can. Hold coil 1 foot above object, then 2 feet, etc. Where does it stop sounding off? Well that's basically the maximum distance your coil could ever detect an object that size. And it will be less due to ground mineralization etc.

Trail and error before going into the field will tell you what the limits of your coil really is. I've tested two-box detectors on cars and trash cans to see just how far they really will detect large objects "Theoretically". And I've buried old paint cans 3 feet in the ground and tested my two-box machine on object. ya learn a lot that way. Don't believe everything ya hear or read about 'finds object up to 20 feet'. Do some common sense testing yourself.

Good luck!

[cptbil]

:shock: I think that there is room here to clear up a point!
People talk about, VLF, Pulse detectors and etc.!
But!
What they are all talking about are/is different types of METAL DETECTORS!
Note the word "Metal!"
All of these MDs will detect metal!
There are two kinds of metal, that we are concerned with here!
That is, One! Ferrous Metals...and the other is, Two! Non Ferrous metals!
The pot cover would be the "Ferrous" (iron) metal!
The contents, gold coins, are the other metal.
OR!
Nonferrous metal!
Your METAL DETECTOR will register a signal for both!
The signal is usually a different tone or no tone at all!
Depending on how your METAL DETECTOR is tuned!
But!
Yes! The detector will probably only see the (iron) cover!
So! Are you not going to dig?
A hard and fast rule in MD'ing, is you dig EVERY target!
:?: Who knows what lies below :?:

[Darren in NC]

Hey Cptbil,

While I totally agree with your assessment of metal detectors, I think the idea was to bypass iron if possible. If the gold or silver could be detected while ignoring iron, then so much the better. But if the iron "masks" all else, then "All Metal Mode" it is. I'd rather dig everything and find the cache. But if I could still find the cache and not dig up everything...all the better. Thanks for your post, though :-)

[Ocean7]

it is not possible to ignore iron and still find gold/silver in an iron pot. However you could ignore all small targets that don't pinpoint over a large area. This method is not fool-proof and takes practice. You have to really know your detector and how it sounds over small iron targets like nails or shards. Understand that any large piece of iron will make your detector sound off regardless of settings. A horse shoe or cannon ball is a good example. So you could train your ear to bypass some iron, but only by digging these items and knowing what they look like and sound like in the ground - will you get that training.

Digging all targets is fool-proof but very few people do this in real life, esp. in a mid. to high trash area. A two-box detector can eliminate digging
small pieces of iron - one real advantage.

[sgtfda]

You are missing the point. If you are looking for a iron pot full of coins look for iron. Dig all large iron signals. Use the all metal function of your detector. most detectors with a large coil will pick up a pot several feet down. I also have a 2 box and it works best on LARGE items

[Darren in NC]

What kind of two box do you have, sgtfda?

Bottom line is that it's going to take a while with a large coil in all metal mode, and still longer if it's in a wooden keg - although the iron straps on the keg should pick up as well. But...and that's a big but...if I did find it, I don't know if I'd tell ;-)

Darren in NC

[sgtfda]

I have a Garrett 2 box that attaches to a grand hunter CXIII. I found a 6"cast iron pot lid 2 ft down with a large coil on the Garrett. It was in a corner of a coal bin. Under the lid was broken glass but no loot. A old trick, bury the jar and put a old pot lid on top to protect it.

[Darren in NC]

Interesting...never heard of that one - protect it from what?

[sgtfda]

To keep the glass jar from breaking

[Darren in NC]

Looks like it didn't work for your coal bin guy ;-)

Has your two box ever paid off for you yet?

Darren in NC

[sgtfda]

In my opinion the 2 box is only good for looking for large, deep objects. A real pain in the butt to carry about. Nice to have if you need it. It is just one of the tools you need if you are treasure hunting. You need to get a good idea on a location first. You don't want to run about in the woods with that large of a detector. Thats why I just bought a Troy Shadow x5, lightweight and twice the depth of a normal detector.

[Monk]

? ? ?Well Darren, I think youve gotten some good info on how to go at getting the gold coin you be after. And I'll believe youve swung a detector alot, so you ought to already know the answer to your question. and sounds like your playing with us. My question for you is what do you think the odds are that the cache is still there? If its a city park your looking in you know there worked to death and a lot of coin shooters turn on all metal were the trash has been picked out by others and go for the deeper coin. The wise ones will carry a probe to check out a larger signal, so I guess I'm saying its likely already been found by a closed mouth hunter. If its a State Park your talking thats different. That could be worth a hunt if you had the area down. Good Luck!? Monk

[bakergeol]

Hi Darren
The answer to your question was given in the tread above about deep detectors. Two issues here-1. depth of iron pot of coins 2. Do you want to dig all iron trash?
Use a Magnawand-magnetometer. It will ignore small iron and will tell you if you have hortizontal iron trash or an iron object with depth(e.g. pot, iron pipe,iron barrel).
You don't want to be digging deep iron trash items.

George

[cptbil]

? Hey! Guys!
I hope that you didn't get the idea? from my "post" that I won't waste/effort time, digging any "ferrous Metal" targets that the detector sounded off on!
? Here's a true "Sea Story"?
I was out detecting when my partner's detector signaled a find!
He checked it out and said, "It's nothing but or it is just iron"!
And! He walked away!?
I went over? ? a checked with my detector...
Yep! It was iron OK!?
But!? 8) I decided to dig anyway!
What I found was the best find? ? in? many a trip!
? It was an old Pistol!
It still had/has three shots in the cylinder!
? ? ? Is there need to say any more about digging any signal

[Darren in NC]

Monk: Thanks for your post. I have been metal detecting for years, but this summer I got serious about cache hunting. At the beginning of the summer, I didn't know the answer, so I wasn't playing with you guys Now I'm a little wiser, but I've still got a lot to learn. My prospective cache I'm looking for is on private property in another state. I won't get to go til Christmas. Sounds like something out of a book, but my grandfather told me before he died about a miser who buried a stash out in his hog pen. He was the landlord and never went to look after the miser died, but knew a lot of money was hidden. As far as he knew he was the only one who the miser told. He said he had forgotten about it until he told me (a few days before he died). I don't lnow if he was delirious or if his long term memory was all he had left, but we'll see.

George: Thanks for the info on the Magnawand. I think you shared it before, but I had forgotten about it. I've never heard of a mag having that ability, but it would sure save on the useless digging!

[gldhntr]

darren, i have walked the tracks myself. dug piles of spikes.still go there.found 3 spots there where 2 not 3 -15 quart iron pots had at some time been buried and dug in each hole.. i cleaned out the holes and you could even see where the three spike feet were on all these . the size is exactley the same as a 15 quart pot. there was nothing metallic around these spots leading me to believe that the sites were not marked. as for duchase, the confederate government was not so stupid as to have records regarding secret agents or detachments. i know this as i have a ggggfather that there are no records on although i have them. try to get records on one of davis' personal gaurds. you need to read "treasure hunt in reverse" u.s.naval proceedings. i think this is where most of my info came from. i can give you full info on this when i get back to my computer as i don't have it on this laptop. if i'm not mistaken there were like 104 of these pots with the top secured with wire buried. when they went back they only found like 52. they started burying them after passing the mccleansville flag station and buried them along 16 miles of track to the haw river.its been a long time since i did this research but i do have info in some box somewhere. the officer over this burial went to mexico after the war.

[Darren in NC]

Hey gldhntr,

Welcome aboard. I was referring to a Louisiana cache in this thread, but I have also been to the Elon area to research the Confederate story as well. I mention in another thread that I believe it to be a hoax. Read it here:

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.p...ic,3766.0.html

But I am always open to new documentation. Since you seem to live nearby, I'd love to hook up sometime and see the documents you are referring to. Maybe we could compare notes and hunt together sometime Thanks for your input. I hope to hear from you.