Does iron mask coins?

[Rock22]

I recently found a spot on my land that has turned up lots of iron nails. The land was once a farm from back in 1840 so I am always hoping for some old coins. I am not sure what this spot may have been but I am thinking a pen of some sort. I also found a 4" spike that has a square head on it.I am starting to get tired of digging nails but at times the detector shows silver in the dollar range but I just cant pinpoint it and keep getting nails. Does iron mask/confuse my machine and could there be silver in the ground? Thanks for any help.

Bill

 

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[Jublain]

Yes. What machine do you have?

 

[Sandman]

Because of the conductivity of rusted iron is will read as high numbers or Silver on any detector. When you use enough Disc to not sound off on nails or even pull tabs, it will mask out the coins. Silver coins being very conductive May be also masked out.

 

[Rock22]

I bought it about 10 years ago but I believe it is a Whites Classic IDX. i am not 100% sure though until I get home later today and look at it. I paid about $500.00 for it if that helps? I just have a feeling that there is something in the ground but I am getting frustrated.

 

[Jublain]

My only advice is no discrimination and move slow. Dig any repeatable signal. I have a yard that's so littered with small nails and roofing tacks it's almost impossible to detect. I have managed a wheatie outta there with a small coil.

 

[airscapes]

If you have not read these articles, do so, they will help you a lot.
Truth About Search Coils
Halo Effect

 

[ivan salis]

it can especially if its a bigger item than the coins --and rusted iron can give off all kinds of crazy numbers

 

[Rock22]

Thanks for the articles to read. I am reading through them now and never realized how many small mistakes can lead to finding nothing. By the way.. I am new to this hobby and really appreciate the help I receive here.

 

[bootybandit]

Try coming in from different angles. My omega 8000 is pretty fast at separating targets.

 

[signal_line]

If all else fails, do your own test with a nail and a coin. Adjust the discrimination until you can hear the coin next to the nail.

 

[Dave Rishar]

Does iron mask/confuse my machine and could there be silver in the ground? Thanks for any help.

Bill

More than you know, on both counts.

Dankowski Detectors Metal Detecting Training and Knowledge Webpage

 

[BC1969]

Good one Dave was going to post the same one, everybody should read that...just don't try that method in a local park.

Mike

 

[Dave Rishar]

Good one Dave was going to post the same one, everybody should read that...just don't try that method in a local park.

I'm not sure that I'd try that method in my own yard, let alone a park! An interesting read nonetheless, and one that should make us cautiously optimistic about those hunted-out areas.

 

[Higgy]

I'm beginning to think that the best way is just to dig everything you hear. Do you guys think this is a good idea?

 

[Jublain]

I'm beginning to think that the best way is just to dig everything you hear. Do you guys think this is a good idea?

If you are able and have time, go for it!

 

[Frankn]

OK, here's how it works. You will read the metal directly under the coil (THE METAL ON TOP.)
Example. If you scan over a jar of gold coins with a brass lid you will read brass, or possibily iron because the lid is made of iron and brass plated. You won't read gold, trust me on this.
Now if you go over a nail, You might pick up the nail, but if there is a large amount of other metal protruding out from the nail you might read that even though it is lower in the ground. Some detectors will get the gitters and switch back and forth. Some will even converge the two signals and give you the resulting signals metal which is not there. It has a lot to do with the programming of the detectors chip. That's why some detectors cost more. With my Whites XLT, I can slowly walk the coil up to the target from the side and see the ID bar change from one to the other. If I dead center it, both metals will show up on the ID bar at once. Just my experience. Frank...-

 

[RobRieman]

I'm beginning to think that the best way is just to dig everything you hear. Do you guys think this is a good idea?

It may be a good idea but you will never detect an area bigger than a football field if you spent the rest of your life attempting to clear every signal. Some form of cherry picking is a must. Anyone that says they dig every signal is pulling your leg.

 

[mouseman60]

What about changing coils And make ajustment as you go along

 

[Dave Rishar]

To add to what Frank said (and possibly to clarify what Mr. Dankowski observed), sometimes a very small piece of junk will obscure a larger target. If that piece of junk as been discriminated out, it's possible for the obscured target to disappear as well. In the case of a machine that doesn't null on discriminated objects, the result will be complete silence. You won't know that you passed over an iffy target because there won't have been an iffy target, just silence. It's easy to find Youtube videos showing machines hitting on targets with junk directly beside or even on top of them, but the videos of machines finding targets with the junk a few inches above them are less common. There's a reason for that.

Some machines have a reputation (deserved or not) for winkling those targets out, but even then, it's possible to miss things. The only way to be absolutely sure that you didn't pass anything up is to dig everything in all metal. You probably don't want to do this. On public land, I'd argue that you should never do this, at least not all at one time. If someone was really interested in truly cleaning up an old park (and I've thought about it myself), the proper way to do it would be to cherry pick, then drop down to zincs, then drop down to foil, and then finally drop down to iron, spacing each trip out by a few months or so to let the turf recover. Finally, you would hammer it with a PI machine; depending on the amount of tiny junk recovered, you might have to repeat the process again after that.

I'm not sure that I have the patience for this approach, but if I wanted to call a location truly and completely hammered, this is how I'd do it. Even then, it's possible that a different machine might find a thing or two, or approaching from another direction with the same machine might turn up a few more items. Such are the vagueries associated with metal detectors.

Mr. Dankowski has written several articles about this phenomenon, complete with experiments in the field. You'll find them on his website. Suffice it to say that when a place has been "cleaned out," there may be more there. The question is whether your time is best used in finding them, or finding a better place to hunt.

 

[Rock22]

I was up in that trouble area the other day and started to dig everything that made any sound at all and I continue to dig nails and small pieces of rust. The interesting thing I did find was a blue marble and 2 wheat pennies 1942/1945. From my research on the land the last time that it was farmland was about 1945-46 because after that the barn was knocked down and a small house was built. My guess was that it was a pen of some sort. How and why the pennies and marble got there are anyone's guess.