200 years of metal 1% treasure

[relic lover]

Heres the dilemma I was raised up in a log home built in western pa in 1792. my mother still lives there. there is an amazing amount of metal in the ground. I have total permission to use any means necessary to T.H. the 5 acre lot but the junk layer is impenetrable it is not lust ferrous junk but my former hobby was shooting so there is tons of brass everywhere. there has to be real old goodies there but I cant seem to recover them yet my Ace 250 sounds like a casino slot room with each pass. I about gave up started hunting other sites not so junky. then I got an idea what if I marked off a 10 by 10 foot area and pulled out every target, a lot of time involved sure but I have all the time in the world to work this site and as long as it is returned to its original cond. lawn damage is not an issue. I also thought of pealing back some sod to detect deeper. I would love to hear any advice or ideas or past experiences of more seasoned hunters or newbies with fresh ideas. I need a plan for spring when the grass can recover from my efforts more easily. all responses are appreciated.

[Montana Jim]

Man... if you want only clean targets start with full discrimination, sweep a given area clean, then back off the disc. a little bit at a time and repeat till your only digging iron...  or until your done with that area..

I have never used an ACE so I have no idea what the machine's capabilities are but I know you'll get lots of advise from Ace owners, there are lots of them here! 

Good Luck!

[relic lover]

The ace has 12 channel disc. not a super high tech machine, halo effect on very old iron seems to defeat my discrimination. I also forgot to mention a fire we had back in '87 that burned the attic and the roof that makes even more junk where the best coin locations should be. I guess I am just a wishful thinker there is probably no good way to do what I want. there is good stuff there, I will save the junked up areas for last. Heck I found the breast plate in my avatar just laying in the root cellar exposed there were several but I lost the others when I was a kid, I diddent know what I had. I guess I need to learn patience, something they don't sell you with the detector!

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Turn the sensitivity down and the discrimination up. Stake off a 6' squere area and search it, then again with the discrimination down a bit (1/10th) lower, and keep going until you've peeled the spot like an onion.

[N.J.THer]

If you have not done so already detect the in the root cellar. If there were two breast plates there then there may be more CW relics or even a cache of some sort.

As far as picking a small area then cleaning up all the junk that should work but to increase your chances of success pick an area that would have the greatest chance of having coins or other treasure. Some suggestions would be by the front or back doors, under clothes lines, by old outhouse locations, where old sheds, coups, barns, carriage houses, etc were located.

If you know where the old trail up to the house was before the time of the automobile try there it should not be as trash filled as around the house. Also try locating where the old dump was...you may find some bottles worth a pretty penny.

Good luck Hunting.
NJ

[relic lover]

I did find the dump when I was a kid finds included blown glass eggs, decanter with shot glasses, and lots of bottles too bad it is not on our property its a goldmine the owner saw our diggings as an eyesore and asked us to stop it still sickens me to this day