Parks?

[BareBones]

Hi guys, I had a couple questions I was hoping some folks could chime in about their park experiences.

Since I have not had the time to make the drive over to the beach, I have been hitting some of the parks closer to home. I've mostly been covering the sanded playgrounds and getting clad and garbage; nothing new for any of you I'm sure.

But tonight I decided to drive to some of the older parks that I played in as a youngster and much to my dismay, I find the play areas with covered canopies and wood chips in the play area instead of sand and all new equipment. What's up with that? Is it even worth my time to hunt these wood chip areas?

Second, I did two sanded volleyball courts and came up with a rusted bobby pin, bottle cap, coke can and a piece of wire. Is that normal? I mean I did not even find clad. I thought sure I'd find some broken piece of gold jewelry; OK, I hoped I would find......

Only thing I got was some exercise which I'm sure we all need.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

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[Tank69]

Hey Barebones , DO NOT over look the wood chips my man allot of sweet finds have been made in them ,I can only speak for the area I'm in but I know the volley ball courts here are hit an miss mostly don't really find much but every so often its like somebody yelled empty your pockets , I hit the parks here an almost allways at least find clad , some of the parks I hit are better than others for trash I have two that rarely have trash then I have one that's like a garbage dump , but they all throw a decent find every now an again , don't give up on the parks man you would be amazed to see things that have been found in em .I don't know about where you are but most tot lots are magnets for hair pins so be prepaired .

hope this helps a little .

HH Tank

 

[BareBones]

Thanks for the encouragement Tank. I'm in Miami, FL

What is best to dig the wood chips? I don't think my sand scoop is going to cut the wood!

 

[Xraywolf]

Woodchips are the best, you'd be surprised what some of those kids lose.
I've found at least 40 or so gold & silver rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets in woodchips these past few years.

Look for the ones with a decent chip layer, the ones that are worn down and spread thin are generally worthless.
Not much is needed, I carry around a 5 in 1 paint tool in case I have to dig down a few inches, most targets can be picked up easily by hand.

Don't expect the gold rings to come flying at you & land in your pocket though.
Like anything else, it takes time, effort and luck.
Some of these places you can barely take a step without finding at least coins, others are dry as a bone - Presumably already hit by someone else.
But of course, the beauty is that they replenish, especially with school season coming up.

You need to hit a variety of locations, and know in advance some outings will be duds, other rewarding.
If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

 

[BareBones]

I'll give it a try. I just looked at the packed chips and thought that anything lost would be laying right on top of the chips and would not get lost.

I did not even think to see how deep the chips were.

I just looked at them and thought to myself you have to be kidding. What next plastic trees?

 

[Xraywolf]

Deeper the chips, the better, as things get lost easier and are more unfindable ,,, Unless you have a metal detector !

They do have rubber chip playgrounds, they suck.
Tends to be alot of metal chips, pieces from the shredded tires valves and whatnot.
Gravel too, prefer that over rubber, but not over woodchips.

 

[Tank69]

actualy you'd be suprised to me it seems everything in wood chips sinks faster than in sand , I just use my beach scoop with the 5/8 holes in it , make a scoop hit the spot with your detector if it dont sound off start taking the chips out of your scoop.or atleast thats how I do it I dont know if anyone else has a better method or not , but like Xray says you'll luv what you find when you hit the good stuff


PS the gravel tot lots suck lol

 

[BareBones]

Are you guys calling gravel sand or gravel like pea rock? I've been digging in white beach sand or sugar sand.

Haven't seen rubber chips yet. I do see spongy rubber mats at these parks with the wood chips.

I really need to hit the water at the beach. That is the only real shot I know of around here to pick up something decent. It's just that parking is such a pain in the butt unless I head over to Key Biscayne, but then I have to pay a hefty bridge toll and pay for parking too.

 

[Tank69]

gravel ....like pea rock gravel

 

[BareBones]

OK, I have not run across that type of playground yet.

So far just the sand and wood chips.

I ordered an Ace 250 and it should be here on the 3rd. I think I'll take that back there since my PI machine just goes way too deep.

I was getting targets below the sand liner under the volleyball court. Who knows what they were, probably roof nails from Hurricane Andrew.

 

[Tank69]

the Ace 250 loves tot lots , I have found alot of clad with mine an jewelry in the parks , I run mine in jewelry mode an dig all the loud solid signals .

 

[TORRERO]

OK, I have not run across that type of playground yet.

So far just the sand and wood chips.

I ordered an Ace 250 and it should be here on the 3rd. I think I'll take that back there since my PI machine just goes way too deep.

I was getting targets below the sand liner under the volleyball court. Who knows what they were, probably roof nails from Hurricane Andrew.

My experience tells me that you can find just about anything in these places, but there has to be
some strategy going here...
You said your in Miami ? I'm sure there are lots and lots of others doing what your doing.
You have to look around as you drive and watch for any and all tot lots.
Churches have them, schools have them, parks of course have them,
But if its in the open, on a main road it will most likely have nothing, because someone else is
watching that one,

The best ones I have ever found have always been in those places that were out of the way of
most other peoples eye's.

The one behind the big Church, that can not be seen from the road.
The private school yard that most think they can not enter without permission.
A county run school that is not near the city, but has been placed in the country where it is close
enough to bus several towns to this school for convenience.

Most of the public school lots are too clean for me.
If you enter and walk 10 - 15 minutes and find only a penny or 2 then it is kept clean by someone else.

What do you expect from a tot lot, not cleaned ?
The best one I ever hunted was one next to a private school / church in a busy part of the City where I live...
I got almost $24 in change and the guy I was with got $13 I think, in 2-3 hours there....
Only one ring.
That is one time in 25 years of hunting.
A few others produce $3-4 dollars in change and a gold ring, and maybe a silver ring or trinket.

As for digging in the bark, I use my hand digger that I have for regular hunting, some of these coins
go real deep in this bark, I don't know how.
Sand is a lot easier, and although I have not found much in Pea Gravel, I have occasionally.

So if your finding nothing in the one your in...
Look around and move on and try a differant one..
eventually you will find one with some good stuff...

 

[extractor]

I did two sanded volleyball courts this morningwith my TDI and came up with these goodies . This is about the average for me

 

[treasurehound]

The wood chip tot lots are a great place to hunt and I am sure you see many people on here finding things. Some suggestions are to dig every target. Remove all the trash you find. Cover up the best you can. If you dig under the chips as some targets will be buried, please do not dig thru the fabric. This is there for a reason and will cause problems if you cut thru it. We all find targets that are under that fabric and it is best to just leave it. These tot lots are a great place to find jewelry and coins and other items. Good luck and post your finds so we can see them.

 

[BareBones]

If you dig under the chips as some targets will be buried, please do not dig thru the fabric. This is there for a reason and will cause problems if you cut thru it. We all find targets that are under that fabric and it is best to just leave it.

I would never consider cutting the fabric barrier, no target is worth it.

Thanks for the tips. I'll let you guys know what I find.

 

[CRAZY-TEXICAN]

I have to lower the sensitivity to about 3 when i hit the wood chips to avoid detecting coins that are below the fabric , i did however find my first gold on the chips , and not to mention loads of clad ..

 

[Tank69]

just a couple finds outa the tot lots gotta luv that gold an silver

 

[BareBones]

You really found that stuff in wood chips?

I would never have guessed it possible.

 

[Tank69]

theres more but yes all my play grounds around here are either wood chips or sand the majority are sand , gotta love em an they get replenished daily , just a hint for you monkey bars are great for dropped pocket change you will find anything from mild to wild in them parks an some stuff that you would never expect ie: I found a G-string once had a lil fake silver heart sewn on it thats what set the detector off.

lol HH Tank

 

[Xraywolf]

My best tot lot find

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,264150.msg1880532.html#msg1880532