Detecting around Metal Bleachers...Am i screwed?

[Gabev71]

I work at a Private University that has a football stadium that was constructed in 1950, its probably 75% metal bleacher seats that sit over dirt. When doing work over in the stadium ive taken the time to walk down a few rows just glanceing at the top of the dirt and find coins that have been there awhile and have found 2 different types of gold earrings in the last week. The football program was discontinued in 95 but soccer and other events are still held in there, so thats why im finding stuff on the surface. Since the stadium has been here for 60 years there has to be a treasure of items waiting below the dirt. My question is if i try using my metal detector between all these seats am i just screwed or am i better off just sitting down and just digging down a few inches and turning all the dirt over thru the entire stadium. Here is a picture of what im dealing with, as you can see its alot of metal bleachers.

 

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[jeff of pa]

Bleachers almost always Produce rings
and other Jewelry for me.

Metal Bleaches are a Nightmare.

You either need a Tiny Sniper coil,
or A Good probe,
(Sunray, or Garrett would be My suggestion)
great Eyes for your way, or a screen.

and
what ever you choose,
Alot of Patience

 

[niffler]

Get a sniper coil, like 4" or smaller. It helps a lot. Niffler

 

[lennon631]

If you have the back and time, hands and knees crawl with a probe (Garrett ProPointer) would probably work. Can't say I ever tried, but this string has me thinking about it lol, I'll probably laid up for a week after this feat, buuuuuuuuut thats the name of the game! lol

 

[Shortstack]

Two things you can try.
First: Shorten up the shaft of your detector and wrap the cable snugly in place. Then DE-tune your machine with the coil close to a metal support of the bleachers as you search the first section. Do this with the standard coil or the smaller "sniper" coil.

Second: If you can't get your detector to re-tune / de-tune to search close to the metal supports then build yourself a sifter with one eighth inch mesh hardware cloth and get a small shovel such as an entrenching tool and sift the area a small section at a time. You only have to skim the top 3 inches or so of the dirt to get all of the goodies dropped through the years.

 

[Gabev71]

If you have the back and time, hands and knees crawl with a probe (Garrett ProPointer) would probably work. Can't say I ever tried, but this string has me thinking about it lol, I'll probably laid up for a week after this feat, buuuuuuuuut thats the name of the game! lol

I definately have the time, unlimited access since i have keys to the stadium. Just from spending about 30 minutes total of looking on the surface with my eyes ive found the 2 different gold earrings, $5.28 in change all newer stuff but covered in dirt, and lots of caps and other crap that would be a nightmare for a detector.

 

[Sandman]

The use of a sniper coil or a probe will quickly produce the goods. I like to use my Sunray inline probe as it is like a ONE inch coil that works off the detector settings and has at least a 4" depth. Go at it and have fun.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Gabev71, in Salinas, CA (about 2.5 hrs. from you), there were Rodeo Grandstands blt in the 1920s. They were all wooden, so interference from metal wasn't a problem. We used to scuttle through wide-spots in the bleacher seating, and hunt the hard-pan dirt beneath. It was litterally RIDDLED with coins, when I first did that as a kid, in the 1970s. But yes, caps, foil, tabs, etc.... were also equally riddled through the hardpan, so...... we merely cranked our TR disc, and went for the copper and silver (kiss nickels and smaller gold jewelry goodbye). We got hundreds of silver coins this way.

Then, about 15 yrs. ago, they tore down these grandstands, to prepare to put in new ones. During the demolition process, of dozing around the ground, it was like Christmas all over again, as the disturbed ground re-arranged thousands of coins that had been masked by the disc'd out junk from before. I got hundreds of silver coins, and even a $5 gold piece (which read high enough to be above my tab disc. range, so I didn't miss it )

To answer your question, it depends on how far apart the metal beams and such are. If the dirt between all the trusses are spacious enough, then you can simply detect where the dirt is. Yes you'll get signals once you get too close to beams, but just, as others have said, use the smallest coil possible, and go low sens. My hunch depth will a non-issue. Under bleachers, where the sun doesn't shine through much, and there's therefore no vegetation, I bet the coins are all within the top few inches.

And sandman has a point too: if the coins are prolific enough, you can even use the sunray in-line probe, which will allow you to have the same disc. settings as you set on your machine. I've used the sunray probe to work in tight places like, under stairwells, inside buildings in crevices, etc.... The depth will be only 2 or 3", but, as I say, that's probably all the depth you need. However, your coverage will be very poor. Only a 1" wide swath, so it'll take you forever to cover much ground But you can pick coins out from amidst a lot of tabs, foil, iron, etc... and work very close to the metal beams with the sunray probe.

 

[U.K. Brian]

If you have or can borrow a Whites with the 6" Eliminator coil by Applied Creativity you should clean up.
It will match the depth of the 8" Whites and handles E.M.I. better. Picks up coins on edge better than most coils.

Use it in all metal mode and due to the coil top shielding you can detect right under metal bars, barbed wire fences etc.

 

[Kansas]

There are many times I wish I had a smaller coil with me to detect close to sidewalks, metal posts in tot lots, Baseball backstops, and other small areas where you can't get your regular coil into.
It isn't real pretty, and probably not something everyone would use.
What it is, is a way to use your Sun Ray probe as a small coil. Taking only a second to attach the probe to it, it saves a lot of time of changing coils back and forth on your detector. I realize it wouldn't go as deep as a small coil, but the area I intend to use it in, the items are not that deep. It's weight is only 9 oz. I intend to put some type of strap on it so I can put it over my shoulder when not in use while I hunt tot lots or baseball complexes.
The materials I used was plastic electrical conduit for the stick. I made the clips from 1 inch I.D. plastic pipe. The stop plate to prevent the probe from sliding up was made from the connector end of the conduit and the piece of plastic I cut making the clips for the probe.
I used quick set epoxy to attach the parts, and then used "JB Weld" around the parts to make it stronger, but that may have been overkill.
It is not real pretty, but it gets the job done.
~ KANSAS ~

 

[Southern_Digger]

All the above ideas are good, however, look at the time it will take to search a small area this way and all the metal trash that will mask jewelry. I am going to challenge you to take a different approach. Build a sifter with 1/4 sq. screen. I recommend for durability 2"X4" pine sides-size at a min of 18"X24". I suggest you stain the wood with exterior stain to provide longevity. Get yourself an assortment of diggers. Largest I recommend is a square point shovel- adjust handle length if necessary or have a few with varied handle lengths; also, smaller hand shovels and even a sifting scoop to place dirt in screen in those hard to reach places. However, the sq-point shovel will cover the largest area the quickest. Also, get several plastic buckets. Work only one seat section at a time and scrape it down at least 3-inches deep if possible (if not hard-packed). Quickly sift the tailings. Don't stop and look at it. Just dump all contents in the bucket. This environmentally-concious method would enable you to remove all trash too. Leave a marker peg or such where you last sifted so on your return, you will know wherefrom to continue. Take the collected materials home and at your lesiure, dump it back into screens. Recycle aluminum; segregate and clean coins to re-roll and recirculate; admire the bling finds. This will be much faster and much more thorough then probing thru pounds of trash for that good signal where all kinds of masking signals will slow your productivity. Good Luck.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I own the DetectorPro Uniprobe. I use it to detect around bleachers, and the metal poles at totlots under the play equipment, it works great, I can get as close as I want to the metal and still detect, and the uniprobe is adjustible from 0-6 inches.... Example would be at 4 inches away from a metal pole I can still get about 4 inches of depth with it....

The uniprobe paid for itself with just one gold charm find I made with it when I first started trying to do this, a nice large 14K thick NYC police badge charm.

 

[materdigger1]

I have used my backup detector - a Bounty Hunter Pioneer 202 under metal bleachers - I just disc out until it works and have cleaned up quite nicely on coins and jewlerey.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I tried here

Hey guys, did you see how old this post is? I was one of the ones who chimed in back when the fellow first posed his question, as you can see. As it turns out, the fellow and I discussed the matter further through PM's, and he spelled out a little bit more of the situation, the actual location, etc.... It was/is only a few hours from where I live in CA. So I told him that the next time I was passing through his area, I would give it a try with various methods, and let him know what the results were (so that .... presumably .... he would join in with me, if it were any good).

A month or two later, I found myself in his part of the state on other un-related business, so I swung by to take a look. The metal bleachers sit only 6 or 8" above the ground. So using any kind of standard coil is out of the question, as you'd merely be picking up the signals above the coil. And the trusses (upright supports) are also close enough spaced that .... even the unique Garrett coil that only sees down (but not up), might also be problemsome. After trying various things, it turned out that the Minelab in-line probe worked the best. But naturally, coverage was tedious, to cover ground very quickly. As his post said, you can practically eye-ball the coins (once your eyes adjust to the shadows of the underbelly of these seatings). So depth was not the issue. And nails were everywhere, screws, rivots, etc.... from the construction and upkeep of the metal seating over the years.

And no, southern digger, screening the entire contents of a stadium's under-belly is simply not an option (the coins in any one spot are not prolific enough to merit such extenses). You simply could not process that amount of dirt, to be worthwhile, for this particular site. I mean, as slow as a probe is, you'd still be faster doing that, than thinking you're going to screen dozens of acres! And sure, a bunch nails over a coin will mask that coin *even* with a probe. So nothing is perfect.

My take was about 100 coins, of which I recall about 6 or 7 were silver, and a handful of wheaties. As was said, the bleachers only date to 1950, so nothing was particularly old. After getting these reconn. results, I tried emailing and PM'ing the fellow (who works at this college), and could not get ahold of him. I dunno whatever happened to him. He was not an md'r, and had just, I guess, found T'net through googling, upon being inspired after eye-balling coins down there.

The place is still worth a try, for anyone who's close, and wants to goof around for silver roosies and washingtons. And no, I didn't angle for jewelry, because it's a sea of tabs and foil under there. I high disc'd.

 

[Garbagebill]

I'm about 15 minutes away from there (UOP University of the pacific) and I'd LOVE to have at it!! But with my knees and back it would probably kill me! Lol

 

[mariposagold]

I agree with Garbagebill. I think it will take at least 3 of us to work the grandstands at said school. And since I am also familiar with the area (lived there), we should for a posse to catch all those pesky rings.


;-)

HH
Mariposa Gold

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I use my detector pro uniprobe for searching around metal bleachers and metal poles of tot lots.....

Just one of my finds, a nice 18k NYC police badge charm with melt value of over $200 was enough to cover the cost of the uniprobe. ..



We will NOT go quietly into the night!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

For you guys that figured out where this is, you're more than welcome to go ply your luck. The stadium, to my understanding, is open even when not in use. For use, for example, for persons jogging, or persons who like to use the bleachers for stepper/stair-climb exercise, etc... For whatever reason, when I was there, you can walk right in. And there's coins to-be-had if you have a pinpointer probe to "squiggle" around. But you can imagine the time it takes to get any coverage/swath of ground coversed, with only a probe as your coil! It's the only way however, as the metal slat seats are scarcely 6" over the ground. And the upright supports are also spaced every 4 or 5 ft. along as well, making for a LOT of metal to interfere. And all sorts of screws, washers, bolts from the seating itself litter the soil there , so there's no doubt a lot of coins masked. And there's going to be so many tabs and foil, that you'd have to use high disc., and angle for just the copper/silver/clad. That rules out the hand-held probes. Will have to be the sunray inline probe, so that you have disc.

And the coins won't be particularly old, d/t the OP indicates the stadium was only blt. @ 1950. But it was an interesting hunt nonetheless.

 

[cudamark]

I use my detector pro uniprobe for searching around metal bleachers and metal poles of tot lots.....

Just one of my finds, a nice 18k NYC police badge charm with melt value of over $200 was enough to cover the cost of the uniprobe. ..

Wow, you must have gotten a much better deal on your Uniprobe than I did! Mine was over $300.

 

[mariposagold]

Tom, apparently I did not notice the original posting date. Ooops. Good to know it's a good open site. There a few tnet member in that area that like to hunt. I've have a few spots near my step sons house in Lodi that I'm dying to hunt gain. And the grand kids love to help pick up scrap metal for me and separate the finds. LOL.

Being a Monterey County transplant. I can think of a few areas in your neck of the woods that I'd like to hunt as well. So many place, so little time.

HH

Mariposa Gold