Iron Infested Homesite

[RobNC]

i got out a couple hours yesterday to detect a home site that was built in 1900. Was using the Equinox 600 with 6 inch coil. First time out with that combo.
After noise cancel it was time to auto ground balance. In all metal mode it was very hard to find a clear spot of ground. Finally did and balanced up.

Long story short, even with the small coil it was constant iron attack (all metal mode). Was very difficult to pull anything out. At the end of the day I retrieved a quarter, 2 nickels, 1 dime, 4 pennies. No silver.
The deepest item was a 1970's dated penny. It was right at 7 inches in depth.
So, I'm thinking if that copper penny was that deep then finding any silver is going to be near impossible if we look at it from a depth perspective. The iron masking is also horrible at this site, ruling out the stock coil as an option.

Modes used were Park 1 and Park 2.

So why am I posting you may ask? What exactly causes the issue with constant iron attacks? Did someone just throw nails everywhere or is it in the soil itself?
I noticed in this location the soil was dark and usually I hunt in red clay soil. Ground Balance number stabilized around 11. In another spot it was 22 maximum.
What tips or advice can you offer for hunting such a site?

Oh, another thing worth mentioning- This site has chestnut trees and I learned firsthand how sharp old shedded husks are. So there is a good chance for pain here as well. Think I'm gonna write this site off.

 

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[CoinHunterAZ]

I would suggest trying not to ground balance at all next time. Just do the noise cancel in Park 1, and give it another try before you write the site off. That's what I would try anyway. I'd also go with the stock 11" coil if you want more depth.

 

[67GTA]

In that much iron I would give Field 1 a try. It gives a low tone for iron and a high tone for anything non ferrous. Move slow. Easier to pick out good targets.

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

What sensitivity were you running? It helps to lower the sensitivity in iron infested sites. You would think that you will lose depth, but it’s actually the opposite. I would start at 18, keep Horseshoe on, go as low at 15 if the iron is still a constant pinball machine.

 

[67GTA]

What sensitivity were you running? It helps to lower the sensitivity in iron infested sites. You would think that you will lose depth, but it’s actually the opposite. I would start at 18, keep Horseshoe on, go as low at 15 if the iron is still a constant pinball machine.

+1. Didn't think about sensitivity. Sounds like it may have burnt also. Did you see black charcoal specs while digging? This will change the soil and cause problems. Do the nails come out clean or rusty?

 

[RobNC]

+1. Didn't think about sensitivity. Sounds like it may have burnt also. Did you see black charcoal specs while digging? This will change the soil and cause problems. Do the nails come out clean or rusty?

I ran it at 18 sensitivity. I did not see any black charcoal specs. The dirt itself was dark, rich looking in quality.
The nails were coming out extremely rusty, bloated looking with iron decay. Didn't think to try Field modes. Thanks for tips.

 

[RobNC]

What sensitivity were you running? It helps to lower the sensitivity in iron infested sites. You would think that you will lose depth, but it’s actually the opposite. I would start at 18, keep Horseshoe on, go as low at 15 if the iron is still a constant pinball machine.

I did drop sensitivity to 18, and do not recall going lower. Hunted primarily with horseshoe on. It was truly overpowering to the brain, I must admit. Was getting a lot of negative numbers, then sometimes mid tones, and rarely high tones. There were quite a few deep crusty nails that registered as 30's tones. Did from time to time get 18-20 signals but in the past I've learned that is usually a bottle cap. Looking back I should have dug it. Lots of bounce in VDI numbers there. Rain is forecasted for the entire week coming. Cold, rainy muddy mess. It will be a while before I can go back out again, which makes me sort of ill. I'd rather be out detecting on lunch hour but surely not possible for a while.

In general, also learned that when the ground is really wet and soft, that makes the detector go even crazier I reckon due to amplified conductivity (the moisture). It may sound crazy but I believe I will do better once the weather warms up and all this rain stops, the ground being drier will probably reduce the iron and junk conductivity.

Appreciate the tips and help!

 

[smokeythecat]

I don't think the rain will ever stop for long. Here in Maryland you will sink in my front lawn. It's been that way since August at least.

 

[67GTA]

I ran it at 18 sensitivity. I did not see any black charcoal specs. The dirt itself was dark, rich looking in quality.
The nails were coming out extremely rusty, bloated looking with iron decay. Didn't think to try Field modes. Thanks for tips.

Doesn't sound like a fire just good dirt LOL. Square nails that have been in a house fire will not rust like normal square nails. Square nails will drive any detector crazy. Only other advice I can give is to turn recovery speed up to 3 and investigate any repeatable high tone in Field 1. With the Nox I can stick my shovel in the ground and pull back a little to break the iron halo and the "nice" signal will go away or not be repeatable. Sometimes you just have to dig a few nails to get the good stuff.

 

[SultansOfSwing]

A lot of iron comes from roofing. If the house was built in 1900 the roof has probably been done a half dozen times. Any on of those times the roofers could have thrown the old nails and shingles on the ground and just did a quick clean up leaving the bits of nails on the ground.

 

[HighVDI]

Remember too that these machines can be swung slow and still maintain good depth. Try slowing the coil speed down.

 

[RobNC]

It was another cold rainy day today. After a long day of work I needed to hear some beeps and do some air tests. I printed out "Monte's Nail Board" and put the nails in the spots and then tried differing types of coins and objects in the #1 and #2 coin spots.
I used the 6" coil for this test inside the house with the paper elevated off the floor a bit. Sensitivity at 15. Settings left at default and used in non-horseshoe mode.
coins used = mercury dime, copper penny, clad quarter, 10k gold ring, clad dime, IH penny, can pulltab

Park 1 default= worthless
Park 2 default=not good
Field 1 default= impressive and hits more often than not in 3 different directions with item in #1 position. #2 position a bit iffy
Field 2 default= same as Field 1 but 50 tone gives more indications of good target. Really hot on gold ring.

Findings- In Field 1 and Field 2 both, when I got a good signal through the nails the target ID was much lower than the item is without iron surrounding it. This is not good because on some items it makes them appear to be bottlecaps or pulltabs. Especially in the case of the IH Penny. It can easily dive into the 16-18 range, where junk usually resides.
I have not tried the stock coil yet, and will save that for another night. There are surely enough cold rainy days left for me to do that.

 

[HighVDI]

All for nothing without dirt.

 

[RobNC]

All for nothing without dirt.

I agree with you. However at least with this it's in my head the unit is capable. So the rest is on me to understand what it is saying. There is no dirt right now.. only water and mud along with cold air. I'm grasping at straws here man!

 

[vferrari]

It was another cold rainy day today. After a long day of work I needed to hear some beeps and do some air tests. I printed out "Monte's Nail Board" and put the nails in the spots and then tried differing types of coins and objects in the #1 and #2 coin spots.
I used the 6" coil for this test inside the house with the paper elevated off the floor a bit. Sensitivity at 15. Settings left at default and used in non-horseshoe mode.
coins used = mercury dime, copper penny, clad quarter, 10k gold ring, clad dime, IH penny, can pulltab

Park 1 default= worthless
Park 2 default=not good
Field 1 default= impressive and hits more often than not in 3 different directions with item in #1 position. #2 position a bit iffy
Field 2 default= same as Field 1 but 50 tone gives more indications of good target. Really hot on gold ring.

Findings- In Field 1 and Field 2 both, when I got a good signal through the nails the target ID was much lower than the item is without iron surrounding it. This is not good because on some items it makes them appear to be bottlecaps or pulltabs. Especially in the case of the IH Penny. It can easily dive into the 16-18 range, where junk usually resides.
I have not tried the stock coil yet, and will save that for another night. There are surely enough cold rainy days left for me to do that.

Gimmick's like Monte's nail board and air tests really cannot be correlated to real world situations as far as I am concerned. Air tests are good go/no-go tests to determine detector functionality and perhaps target ID's but not much else. Monte's nail board is similarly flawed because it is a rare situation for all the targets to be lined up at all the same depth and flat orientation. But at least it is a consistent frame of reference for comparing modes or detectors. Suspect the stock coil will do worse. One reason Park 1 fails is because it has such a high iron bias setting which tends to exacerbate ferrous masking. See how Park 1 does with IB 0 and at the highest recovery speed setting.

That being said, at an old home site, if you are really bypassing non-ferrous signals in the 16-18 range assuming it is all junk, the you can forget brass buttons, lead, and pewter relics as well, which are to me, as recoverable as coins and could also be the down-averaged high conductors as you observed. Unless I am at a site just inundated with non-ferrous trash, I am basically recovering all non-ferrous and iffy signals. Amonst the trash are the keeper targets left behind by those who have come before you who simply assumed they were trash.

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Around a cellar hole that is promising, 1800’s or older, Field2, down to 15 sensitivity, 25% of your normal swing speed and arc length. Anything 5 -20 that you can repeat at least one way is a diggable target. Might be a 22 casing, shotgun shell or flat button or old nickel or IHP. If you get 20-35 bouncy (like -5/25/15/-4/38) with lots of iron drag, it’s most likely a rusty nail. If you get a 22-32 and it’s a nice small target, 2-3 notches deep, hits consistent both ways and when you lift the coil it goes away.... time to pull the camera out for a live dig!

 

[RobNC]

Around a cellar hole that is promising, 1800’s or older, Field2, down to 15 sensitivity, 25% of your normal swing speed and arc length. Anything 5 -20 that you can repeat at least one way is a diggable target. Might be a 22 casing, shotgun shell or flat button or old nickel or IHP. If you get 20-35 bouncy (like -5/25/15/-4/38) with lots of iron drag, it’s most likely a rusty nail. If you get a 22-32 and it’s a nice small target, 2-3 notches deep, hits consistent both ways and when you lift the coil it goes away.... time to pull the camera out for a live dig!

Thank you for this crucial information.

 

[HighVDI]

I agree with you. However at least with this it's in my head the unit is capable. So the rest is on me to understand what it is saying. There is no dirt right now.. only water and mud along with cold air. I'm grasping at straws here man!

LOL! I hear ya. I'm sooooo ready for Spring it's not even funny.