Lost a piece of brass

[DouglasPaul]

My story is this, I foolishly decided to work on my old early 70's telescope mount out in the yard in the grass. Dumb, yes I know. There was a little brass part that resembles one of those screwdriver bits but maybe cut in half that fell out when I wasn't paying attention. I crawled on my hands and knees for an hour and couldn't find it. So I decided to get a Harbor Freight metal detector and tried that with no prior experience.

I think I just found a new hobby to compliment telescopes, especially in cloudy weather which is common here. I would appreciate any tips or suggestions of threads to help me learn how to try and narrow my search to the object I'm looking for if at all possible, seem like there is a ton of objects where it was lost. Maybe a way to keep the depth at or near the surface?
I'm just now starting to understand how much time is needed to get adept at this.

Thanks in advance and looking forward to learning about all this.

 

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[xr7ator]

I suggest asking a seasoned detectorist over and offer him/her lunch and see if they can locate it for you. Should be about a ten minute job. Could be much less than that.

If you want to find it yourself, lower depth to as minimal as possible, discriminate out iron and dig/locate every target.

 

[releventchair]

Maybe mark the boundary of suspected loss area.
Then use a handheld pinpointer.
Unless you have a similar brass piece to test /get an idea how your detector should react to it , recover everything on the surface or very near the surface.

Test your detector on a small target in a clean area. Experiment with sensitivity. When you have the small target on the surface letting you know it is there , raise your coil.
It will "disappear" with distance. The larger the target the longer it holds on. The smaller the target the quicker you lose it by raising the coil.

 

[pepperj]

The Harbor light might not even pick up the little brass item in the first place. So like releventchair suggested get a similar piece and test it out.

Cut the grass down real short-NOT WITH A POWER MOWER!-hand clippers only. I've recovered rings that the owners have searched the grass to no end-couple of minutes and there it was in a little spot where there was a dip and the grass was longer.
Lawns look manicured level, but there's lots of small pockets where things just seem to hide.
Best of luck.
I find a moving blanket, painter's tarp, works great when playing with something outside, at least I can retrieve it again as I'm always playing drop the small item.

 

[DouglasPaul]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, really appreciate it. I may just try and get someone in who knows what they are doing, never realized there was such a learning curve. I do believe I will get a pointer also for future use as well. If I can't figure out how to weed out all the "hits" I'm getting in such a small area I'll probably try to hire someone before the next rain makes things even worse.

 

[cudamark]

I don't know where you live, but, you may want to check with: TheRingFinders.com to see if there is a member close by that can help you. If the item is tiny, you need a detector that can pick up that tiny signal. Some lesser detectors, or ones with big coils don't necessarily do that.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Maybe mark the boundary of suspected loss area.

^Good starting point. CAREFULLY remove one from the telescope (assuming it had others) and see how that registers with your detector. Some prefer a faster sweep than others. Raising the coil four or five inches over the grass can help keep you to surface targets - but makes the detection zone that much smaller. I looked and Harbor Freight has several so it's hard to give any specifics. They all appear to be concentric coils so visualize the detection area as a cone as wide as the coil coming to a point maybe 8" "deep" below that.

I'd suggest marking off three ft by three ft grids with wood stakes and thoroughly searching each one. It is VERY easy to miss tiny parts. You have to pass the coil directly over them. Also if you had pants with cuffs - check there.

 

[cpomike13]

Where does OP live, maybe one of can help out? I'm in SoCal.

 

[cpomike13]

One of us, dyslexia kicking in

 

[bradyboy]

rake the area and sift?
brady

 

[DouglasPaul]

^Good starting point. CAREFULLY remove one from the telescope (assuming it had others) and see how that registers with your detector. Some prefer a faster sweep than others. Raising the coil four or five inches over the grass can help keep you to surface targets - but makes the detection zone that much smaller. I looked and Harbor Freight has several so it's hard to give any specifics. They all appear to be concentric coils so visualize the detection area as a cone as wide as the coil coming to a point maybe 8" "deep" below that.

I'd suggest marking off three ft by three ft grids with wood stakes and thoroughly searching each one. It is VERY easy to miss tiny parts. You have to pass the coil directly over them. Also if you had pants with cuffs - check there.

The detector is this model https://www.harborfreight.com/9-fun...gle&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=&utm_content=

And unfortunately it is the only part like that but I'll try and get something similar.

 

[DouglasPaul]

Where does OP live, maybe one of can help out? I'm in SoCal.

Snohomish county, Washington State.

 

[DouglasPaul]

Right now I have to go to the dentist, I'll get a piece of brass and practice on that and try to exclude other metals later today.

 

[Slingshot]

A lot of good suggestions here. Are you sure that piece is not brass plated steel, as that could be discriminated out as it might read as steel-iron. You might consider using your HF9 in the all metal mode and playing with the sensitivity control to try and detect shallow targets. Try searching the target area from different swing angles also.
Anyways, good luck on your search, as that could be a tough target, especially if it is thin and resting on it's edge.

 

[DouglasPaul]

A lot of good suggestions here. Are you sure that piece is not brass plated steel, as that could be discriminated out as it might read as steel-iron. You might consider using your HF9 in the all metal mode and playing with the sensitivity control to try and detect shallow targets. Try searching the target area from different swing angles also.
Anyways, good luck on your search, as that could be a tough target, especially if it is thin and resting on it's edge.

I am not sure. At any rate, I decided to get a couple different size brass bars that are close in size and fab up a new piece. I tried yesterday to get some kind of discrimination from that detector with no success and the yard was just giving too many signals for it to be of any use. I can't just dig up the yard. It's quite possible it's just my inexperience at fault and not the detector.

Here is what it looks like, the little pin in the v shaped slot. Looks like a slotted screwdriver bit cut in half and the tip ground down to a stub. I think my memory of it is good enough to make another usable piece.


At any rate I think I've found a new interest/hobby so I'll be lurking and reading and trying get some understanding of how this is done.

 

[pepperj]

I am not sure. At any rate, I decided to get a couple different size brass bars that are close in size and fab up a new piece. I tried yesterday to get some kind of discrimination from that detector with no success and the yard was just giving too many signals for it to be of any use. I can't just dig up the yard. It's quite possible it's just my inexperience at fault and not the detector.

At any rate I think I've found a new interest/hobby so I'll be lurking and reading and trying get some understanding of how this is done.

The item won't be buried if lost only recently.
If have mowed the lawn-well that might be the reason for not finding it.
How small of an item? (I missed that one) You kind of explained the size, a 1/4"x1/4" example would be more accurate. Is it a set screw that fell out?

I find it's amazing when I drop something small and if it hit something on the way down the item is usually sitting a good little distance. Then again if it dropped and landed on a part of the tripod leg then fell out when you moved/carried it back inside, it could of dropped out further away from your working area.
Certainly I have done this many times in life when the drop occurs and I ask myself why does this always happen.

 

[DouglasPaul]

I edited the post you quoted to include a description and a couple pics. Thanks.

 

[Silver Saver]

As relevantchair suggested, I would use a handheld pinpointer to locate the item. Since its most likely on or near the surface. You could give the harbor freight cen-tech a try. Wouldn't cost much.

Although I see you were able to make a new one anyway. Welcome to the forum!

 

[DouglasPaul]

As relevantchair suggested, I would use a handheld pinpointer to locate the item. Since its most likely on or near the surface. You could give the harbor freight cen-tech a try. Wouldn't cost much.

Although I see you were able to make a new one anyway. Welcome to the forum!

Thanks, looks like a great forum. HF carries two of them, any suggestions which one would work better at this? One is $40.00 and the other about $15.00.

 

[Silver Saver]

Thanks, looks like a great forum. HF carries two of them, any suggestions which one would work better at this? One is $40.00 and the other about $15.00.

The $15 one was what I was referring to for that purpose. It should be able to find a coin sized metal object on the surface or near an inch down.

It may struggle to detect something smaller sized like 1 cm diameter, and the build quality may not last long. But any pinpointer that isn't high end $85+ would likely face similar issues.