test run wont pick up on gold chain? help?

[gildeal]

ok, I have bought my first detector last week and have had fun with it so far. I have found some coins, and all kinds of junk, pop caps, and nails, etc.... two pieces of "junk jewelry" witch while digging gave me a thrill at first!
anyway this got me to thinking, I should test my detector against a few pieces of jewelry in the front yard, so we get a silver and turquoise thunderbird necklace, a few large coins, i.e. $1"gold" coin, and a thin 14k gold necklace. ( it is very thin piece) so i kind of coiled it up on the ground to create a bigger target.
ran detector over silver thunderbird piece, bang....strong signal, ok ran it over the $1 coin, bang....nice high coin signal, ran it over the necklace, and nothing! several times, and nothing? weird? any help? wish i owned a gold ring, or something larger to test with, but still it should have registered something?
machine is bounty hunter (pilot) batteries are good.
any thoughts? thanks.

 

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[Dano Sverige]

I have a $1300 Etrac...and i can't pick up thin necklaces either! It's just one of those very "technical" things that someone better than me will explain shortly, probably lol.
Chains need to have a large clasp or attachment to be picked up, especially "link" chains. It's something to do with the links being oval and too much air outside and inside the individual links for the detector to register on it.
Short version - It's not your machine, most of us have the same problem!

 

[gildeal]

ok, thanks Dano! as long as it isn't my machine malfunctioning i'm alright with it.....

 

[bigscoop]

Dano is telling you like it is. Tiny gold chains are tough to pick up with any detector. My CZ-20 wouldn't pick them up either.

 

[luvsdux]

It's my understanding that the individual links on a small gold chain make it a difficult target for most detectors. Sometimes folding it all together helps the machine to detect it and certainly a large clasp or pendant makes a big difference and large chains generally are not a problem. Anyway it's not a problem that's limited to your detector so keep digging and have fun.
luvsdux

 

[sandtrout]

Can't seem to pick them up with my ACE 250 either but have found 3 with my Vaquero.

 

[SeaninNH]

I find thin chains with my BH land star. If I hunt with foil and iron descriminated I will sometimes just get blip so I switch to all metal and it will pick it up.

Test your machine in all metal mode and see if that helps. I've found quite a few really thin gold chains.

I've even found 1-2" bits of thin chains.

 

[njnydigger]

ALL detectors have a tough time detecting chains. Especially thinner ones. Unless (as others have stated) the detector picks up on the clasp or if there's a charm attached to it Not you or your machine...just the way it is

 

[relichunters]

Those thin necklaces are near impossible to pick up. Usually you can with your sensitivity near maximum, and going very slow, on all metal mode. The time you swing over it your beeps go to blips and you probably won't hear it.

The thin ones aren't hardly worth much on the gold market anyways so your not losing out on much. I wouldn't worry about it.

Besides finding a gold necklace you may find two in your lifetime while detecting, so don't wear yourself out looking for them all the time.

 

[Dano Sverige]

Also remember that "air testing" is never a good test. Things react a lot differently in the ground/sand/water. There's lots of info on all this on the site if you trek around a little.

 

[gildeal]

great help from everyone! thanks for the comments, this forum is really great!

 

[Frankn]

I picked up a thin gold necklace with a small gold cross with my surfmaster PI after the storm. It was only a few inches down in the sand. Frank
14kt, value, about 5 bigones!

 

[dcyoung9]

Here is something to blow your buddies mind...
Get two identical washers.
Take one and use tin snips, grinder, drimmel or saw and cut a little section (slot) out of one.
That washer will no longer be detected by the conventional metal detector...
Now when your buddy comes over you can test his detector on the washer.
Simply hold it where the little cut is so he can't see it.
Using the two washers you can blow his mind.
This same thing applies to UN-WELDED link gold chains.
You might also try it with a piece of copper wire. Bend into ring but leave a tiny gap.

A whole pile of fine placer gold is also undetectable. Melt it together and then it is.
I suspect that the same thing MIGHT apply to a stack of gold bars.
Not sure because I've YET to find a stack to try it on. The whole stack might react
as just one bar or part of the bars.

If you have a chain that is not detectable and you pull it tight so the links make good contact.
Is it then detectable??

 

[ramjet2187]

The reason your machine is having difficulty detecting a fine gold chain is that the detector is "seeing" each link separately. Try testing the necklace fastened together. Then the detector "sees" the entire object. Unfortunately, most necklaces are lost since they broke or came unfastened. This applies to the fine linked chains, and not so much to the larger linked bracelets and necklaces. YMMV

Roger

 

[Frankn]

For years that I have detected, since about the 70's, detectors could only tell you metal was down there. There was no way to determine what metal. Then a company, I believe it was Metrotec, came out with a detector with a coil that looked like a flying saucer which would produce a different pitch note for each different metal. It's downfall was that it would only go down a couple of inches. Then came detectors with discrimination that could reject certain metals. The next big step was a display that could show a probable metal type and later a guess as to the object. I worked in electronics for years, mostly on controll circuits, not RF circuits and I have never seen a good writeup on how the detector determines what the target is. I know the government has ships and sats that can identify the target material, but they are big and still classified. I can only guess based on what I know. Has anyone seen a good writeup on how they determine the type of metal? I have always guessed they used a frequency deviation between transmit and return signal plus return signal strength. Frank

 

[bofusmosby]

Roger is correct about the gold chains. The detector is "seeing" the individual links, and not the complete necklace. It usually doesn't matter if the chain is together with its clasp or not, because it still sees the individual links. As far as the "cut" washer or ring goes, when the ring (or washer) is together, the detector is seeing the object like it were a coin. If you seperate the ring a tiny bit, then the detector is "seeing" a small curved piece of metal.

 

[lookindown]

Also remember that "air testing" is never a good test. Things react a lot differently in the ground/sand/water. There's lots of info on all this on the site if you trek around a little.

Is an airtest going to show the maximum distance your detector will pick up an object? Are there conditions when it can be detected deeper in the ground than it can in the air? I think Ive read where people say their machine picks up targets deeper in the ground than it does in the air.

 

[bofusmosby]

To answer your question, let me ask you a question. Have you ever dug a target, and the soil that was around the target (coin) was sort of discolored, like the color of say copper? This is called the halo effect. When some metal objects sit in the ground for a long time, the ground can actually absorb or "leach" some of the metal into it. This is why the ground can be discolored around it. When metal detecting, your detector can actually "see" this surrounding area, like the target was bigger in size, thus detecting it deeper than an air-test. A detector can also detect deeper when the ground is moist. Better current flow from your detector coil, through the ground to the metal object. Now, there are exceptions to every rule, depending on the type of soil, and the type of metal that is being detected.

 

[Frankn]

The reason you don't pick up thin gold chains is surface area. Only two things matter to a detector, the surface area and the material. The detector sends out a signal and the target reflects part of it back. The part sent back depends on the surface area exposed to the signal. It is the reason that a coin turned sideways in the digging process seams to vanish. The surface area has diminished. In the case of the thin gold chain, the surface area is so small as to be undetected. When I found the gold chain with a cross, it was because it was all knotted up and presented a large surface area. Frank

 

[dcyoung9]

Roger is correct about the gold chains. The detector is "seeing" the individual links, and not the complete necklace. It usually doesn't matter if the chain is together with its clasp or not, because it still sees the individual links. As far as the "cut" washer or ring goes, when the ring (or washer) is together, the detector is seeing the object like it were a coin. If you seperate the ring a tiny bit, then the detector is "seeing" a small curved piece of metal.

Have you actually tried the split washer My detectors don't see them at all...