First day out ever, abd mostly skunked

[critter0527]

I don't know how you guys do it.


I went to a very old state park in southern Ohio this morning. Rules say you can only md along the "beach" area. I spent about two hours and came up with bobby pins and pull tabs. I also found about 1.60 in clad coins. I had a lot of fresh air and 1.60 worth of beach club concession stand

I then got to thinking about my home. It was built in 1892 and was at one time the post office for my small town. I went out into the yard and found a ton of nails, an old keychain and what I gather to be a large footplate to an old doorframe. Where's all the silver and gold?

O well, I am starting this hobby to get me off the couch more often. I'm 26 now and getting a little chubby. At least I got some sweat time in and a great picture.

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

what kind of detector are you using that you were having to dig "bobby pins"? And a "ton of nails" in your yard ? I assume a beach pulse machine ? If so, just be aware that a beach pulse machine is going to drive you bonkers trying to hunt land sites. Too much iron and nails in the typical yard, park, school, relicky site, etc.... You've simply got to have a machine with a discriminator on it, to *at least* knock out iron, to hunt land sites. Heck, even a lot of beach hunters also prefer a machine that can knock out iron (like those bobby-pins), using machines like the Sov. or Excal, or simply using a land machine for beaches (as long as they don't submerge it). The only time you need a beach pulse machine (IMHO) is if your beaches are really mineralized, or ..... if you're angling for tinsel thin chains, earing studs, or something super small like that. The downside is, as you've seen, is that then you have no ability to knock out iron

 

[critter0527]

I have a nicer detector I think. I just was digging the iron signals just incase they were gold rings

Really I like to dig holes anyway, have since I was a young boy digging fence rows.

I'm new to detecting, so I guess I'll ask the silly questions. Should I not dig iron signals? Are they always going to be junk?

 

[mr helton]

Don't dig iron unless you're relic hunting. That said, you may have iron covering good finds, and there's only one way to find out...

 

[FreeMindStuck]

The silver and gold will come. But it takes perserverance. What you don't usually see in the youtube videos and tv shows about metal detecting is the mounds of trash and hundreds if not thousands of holes it takes to be successful.

 

[cudamark]

I have a nicer detector I think. I just was digging the iron signals just incase they were gold rings

Really I like to dig holes anyway, have since I was a young boy digging fence rows.

I'm new to detecting, so I guess I'll ask the silly questions. Should I not dig iron signals? Are they always going to be junk?

With some machines, tiny gold and platinum can read in the ferrous/iron range. The average size and bigger won't. I discriminate it out myself as it's not worth the time and effort to dig all those junk sounds to maybe get a tiny piece of jewelry. The choice is completely up to the individual.

 

[pong12211]

Practice.. The more you swing your maching the better you will be able to distinguish the tones.. Nothing willl substitute experience..

 

[Tom_in_CA]

...... I just was digging the iron signals just incase they were gold rings

....... Should I not dig iron signals? Are they always going to be junk?

I'm not sure which machine cudamark is talking about, where some smaller gold items read down into the iron range. That would have to be talking about something like tinsel thin fine whispy chains or something. I would NOT go "digging all nails" on the chance that I might miss something of that caliber. The only exception *might* be when beach hunting, where ... sure, go ahead and dig targets down to that low.

But *realistically*, gold targets will read conductive. Even small ones. Sure, they might be wwaaayyy low into the low foil range, but still conductive none-the-less.

As for what mr. helton says about the potential for iron to be masking conductive targets underneath, ... well, to me, that's a site-specific type issue. In some sidewalk demolition tearouts I'll kick aside concentrations of iron, to "see if anything's underneath". But for most all other sites, no, I'm not digging iron "in case something is underneath". Sure that means you *might* miss something that was masked. But there comes a point where if that's really someone's objective, then why even have a discriminator? Why not just take a beach pulse machine to a park and dig all, including iron, "lest something be hiding underneath" ?

For relicky sites (ghost towns, old-town demolitions, etc....), there are machines that see through small iron pretty good. Some 2-filter machines (like the Tesoro silver sabre, or the Whites Classic) will see through a nail or two, to hear a coin underneath (depending on the size nail, etc...). And if you want to get a Compass 77b (an all metal TR machine from the earlyl 1970s), it will see through up to 3 or 4 nails to see a coin underneath (however it's a bear to keep balanced, and isn't too deep )

 

[critter0527]

I have a bounty hunter pioneer. I'm not sure, but it seems to be a decent detector.

 

[cudamark]

I'm not sure which machine cudamark is talking about, where some smaller gold items read down into the iron range. That would have to be talking about something like tinsel thin fine whispy chains or something. I would NOT go "digging all nails" on the chance that I might miss something of that caliber. The only exception *might* be when beach hunting, where ... sure, go ahead and dig targets down to that low.

But *realistically*, gold targets will read conductive. Even small ones. Sure, they might be wwaaayyy low into the low foil range, but still conductive none-the-less.

As for what mr. helton says about the potential for iron to be masking conductive targets underneath, ... well, to me, that's a site-specific type issue. In some sidewalk demolition tearouts I'll kick aside concentrations of iron, to "see if anything's underneath". But for most all other sites, no, I'm not digging iron "in case something is underneath". Sure that means you *might* miss something that was masked. But there comes a point where if that's really someone's objective, then why even have a discriminator? Why not just take a beach pulse machine to a park and dig all, including iron, "lest something be hiding underneath" ?

For relicky sites (ghost towns, old-town demolitions, etc....), there are machines that see through small iron pretty good. Some 2-filter machines (like the Tesoro silver sabre, or the Whites Classic) will see through a nail or two, to hear a coin underneath (depending on the size nail, etc...). And if you want to get a Compass 77b (an all metal TR machine from the earlyl 1970s), it will see through up to 3 or 4 nails to see a coin underneath (however it's a bear to keep balanced, and isn't too deep )

It was an old PI beach machine I used years ago and yes, it was mainly thin necklaces and chain bracelets, It may not have actually been reading iron but if you discriminated all iron out, the real low end of the non-ferous would disappear too, so in effect it resulted in being "called" iron by the machine. Even small gold and platinum would be a real scratchy sound. I had hunting buddies with other brands that had the same thing happen. You pretty much had to run it wide open if you wanted those items. We found it wasn't worth the time and trouble as those finds were generally not all that valuable. Today's machines with their computerized notch discrimination, it's not so much an issue as the old mechanical knob/potentiometer type control.

 

[TheTreasureAddict]

Patience, it takes time, and location, also work with the machine in your yard, ive seen the bounty hunters pick up some pretty fine gold btw. Id stay away from the skateparks, wouldnt strike me as being a very lucrative area, Stick you your yard and the beach. The yard sounds good, hunt around the steps, old places where they parked the cars, old shed locations and any kind of significant landmark such as a big rock, huge oak tree or things of that nature. Also directly where the windows face out, that way in the old days the people could keep an eye on buried items from their windows. Just get right in front of the window and start swinging out that way. Youll find something if you stick to those tips.

Crackbadger.