Anyone ever dig all the iron from an old site?

[Cross Potent]

Ok guys and gals. I have an experiment to try on one of my very early sites. This is a site along a creek where 5 or 6 cut Spanish silver coins were found. LOADS of buttons (many dozens at least) and various relics were pulled out over 3 or 4 seasons. The thing is its loaded with iron fragments. Some years ago I used an old explorer there and the iron just shut that thing down. It even rendered my DFX silent in one section. But the coins and relics date back to the 1720s.

I have a few months off and want to really dig this place up. I have permission from the farmer and the owner to hunt and dig and now the beans finally came out this weekend.

Was planning on putting the Deus in non motion all metal and going for it. I even built a few excavation mesh screens to take along.

There must be some really good stuff under all that iron.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

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[Iron Patch]

Forget the detector and sift it all section by section, starting with the celler hole, or trash pit. WAY more effective than digging every target.Way more fun too!

 

[Cross Potent]

Forget the detector and sift it all section by section, starting with the celler hole, or trash pit. WAY more effective than digging every target.Way more fun too!

You ever do this? I have some other early sites but want to see what happens here.

 

[Iron Patch]

You ever do this? I have some other early sites but want to see what happens here.

I've never sifted, but dug out cellar holes & trash pits bit by bit, scanning the hole and dirt as I went. You won't get a ton of stuff, but you will get some items that the detectors missed from being masked or too deep. If it's not a farm field and never sees a plow, you'll probably do quite well. I was doing my deep digging more on the fly, but with the time and permission, I would have sifted square by square. My sites are plowed so the stuff moves around and masking isn't really an issue, but for an old patch of iron that never seen a plow, and gave up good stuff... I'd sift that in a heart beat.

 

[Cross Potent]

I've never sifted, but dug out cellar holes & trash pits bit by bit, scanning the hole and dirt as I went. You won't get a ton of stuff, but you will get some items that the detectors missed from being masked or too deep. If it's not a farm field and never sees a plow, you'll probably do quite well. I was doing my deep digging more on the fly, but with the time and permission, I would have sifted square by square. My sites are plowed so the stuff moves around and masking isn't really an issue, but for an old patch of iron that never seen a plow, and gave up good stuff... I'd sift that in a heart beat.

These sites havent seen a plow since we found them. All along main waterways where plowing was discouraged years ago. A lot of these fields have been left to grow up - govt actually pays farmers NOT to plant. We're talking 17th century settlement sites in here.

So it would seem sifting is the way to go.

Thanks for the input.

 

[ggossage]

Wow, that site is old! I want to see what comes out of there when you do this!

 

[Cross Potent]

Wow, that site is old! I want to see what comes out of there when you do this!

I'm headed there starting tomorrow but we've just had a full day of torrential rain so not sure about the sifting just yet. But I will at least begin digging out some iron. It'll teach me something about the non motion - AM program on the Deus if nothing else. Will try messing with high reactivity/ TX power using small coil too.

 

[Cross Potent]

Got 2 more cut Spanish coins out of this site today! I'll post them tomorrow. No way to get back here with my truck and all the equipment due to the heavy rain but I can still hunt it. I cant believe how much I pulled out of here with the DEUS and help from Vino on how to set it to penetrate the iron. Just wow man. Awesome awesome machine.

 

[Cross Potent]

A couple pieces! I think its been nearly a decade since I found 2 cuts in one day! Vino da man!

 

[TreasureMtnDetectors]

Nice Finds Cross Potent! I think you will definitely have a lot more great finds from that site the more iron you clean out!

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Awesome finds! Iron, are you using a XP now?

 

[Cross Potent]

Got yet ANOTHER 2 Spanish coins out of this site! One was a cob!



Also got a 1682 Dutch coin!

 

[Cross Potent]

Got permission to go in here with my mower and trimmer to cut back the woods section and creek bank. The foundation area sits right on the edge of these so hopefully I can find something here in the brush and where the dead phragmites are. This has NEVER been hunted. Its starting to dry out some and after my recent luck here using the Deus all I want to do is get back here. Cant get back until after Christmas however. The good news is very little rain is expected in the coming week. Argh!

 

[Cross Potent]

Awesome finds! Iron, are you using a XP now?

Yes, I went back and looked at my finds and it appears i have never even had my CTX 3030 here so its hard to say what i may have found with it. The last detector I had here was my explorer. It didnt care much for all the iron but I did get a cut piece from here with it last season. The Deus just doesnt care about the iron, apparently. For now i see no need to change from the Deus at this site.

 

[Slingshot]

Nice finds! I did some all metal clean out jobs on a couple of hot old coin sites in Atlanta that were "cleaned out" and found my share of older coins masked by all the iron. Lots of fun, but a lot of work too, and you should end up with some nice iron relics besides more old coins. Good luck and cheers!

 

[Cross Potent]

Nice finds! I did some all metal clean out jobs on a couple of hot old coin sites in Atlanta that were "cleaned out" and found my share of older coins masked by all the iron. Lots of fun, but a lot of work too, and you should end up with some nice iron relics besides more old coins. Good luck and cheers!

It is hard work for sure but with the cold weather its an ideal task (38 yesterday with 20 mph winds all over the marsh!). I've got this other site down the road where I also found cut spanish coins and the farmer gave me permission to mow down the old unused field. Was there for over 4 hours yesterday but still have another 1 to 2 hours left to get it prepared (inc some weed trimming). Was checking the dates of my finds and it appears its been 7 years since we hunted it. Crazy how fast time flies by. Anyhow the grass was almost 2 feet high in places and by the end of just 1/2 day of prep I was wiped out. I can not wait to get the Deus on here. Its also loaded with BIG iron so sounds like just the place for the Deus. My memory is getting bad but I dont think we got to search this more than 3 or 4 times before the farmer abandoned the field and it was most def virgin when i discovered it. I plan to spend a lot of January here because I doubt I'll want to cut this grass down like this again. At least I dont have to worry about it growing back until spring.

 

[Kirk PA]

Keep us posted. I am interested in seeing the iron come out. Could you post a picture of the site without disclosing it's location? Would love to see the size of the area you have to sift.

Kirk

 

[Cross Potent]

Sure I can take a picture of that. Man we're getting torrential rain again for the next few days. This stinks for the sifting idea here. The soil is silty and dense as it is.