Detecting Road Trip... or Cannonball Run?

[Iron Patch]

Today Ironhorse and I did a little one day detecting road trip to hunt with the Patriot and our other buddy Hans. I'm not sure how many days are left to our season, but should this be one of my last it's ok, was a fun day. Can't wait until next Spring to do it again!

 

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[Iron Patch]

It was good to see you boys again and glad it was worth your while to drive that distance...

I knew that you were digging a cannonball when I seen your arm in the hole past shoulders length...Believe me guys I couldn't get over how deep that sucker was...I dug a complete iron pot at 3 feet but a six pounder isn't near the size...Patch really knows his machine. Then again I knew 4 minelabs on one field would do some damage... Did you manage to get anything off that pewter?

PS
Now to plan that 7 day hunt in the spring that I was talking about..

Yeah it was cool to get over there and you know not that far. Oh yeah.... About two minutes after you guys left I said... "Damn! We gotta take the road, they shouldn't have left!" I'd say we were even closer to being stuck than you and I were on the dirt road last year. I got out to push and that seemed to be the difference for the car getting a little more traction and getting up on the grass. No more than 15 seconds on the road and we knew we had to get back on the grass! I think the guy was pretty stupid suggesting we try to drive uphill in those conditions. Ok for you guys, but not for us! Contrary to earlier discussions it was almost a tow away zone!
(Inside joke, never block a farmers access or he might just hook you up!)


The pewter I swear there's something on it but will probably take me quite a while to clean it to see. I'm 100% game for 7 in the Spring, you just gotta sort it out on your end. I'm good!

 

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[Hans R Dirty]

It was good to see you boys again and glad it was worth your while to drive that distance...

I knew that you were digging a cannonball when I seen your arm in the hole past shoulders length...Believe me guys I couldn't get over how deep that sucker was...I dug a complete iron pot at 3 feet but a six pounder isn't near the size...Patch really knows his machine. Then again I knew 4 minelabs on one field would do some damage... Did you manage to get anything off that pewter?

PS
Now to plan that 7 day hunt in the spring that I was talking about..

Yeah it was cool to get over there and you know not that far. Oh yeah.... About two minutes after you guys left I said... "Damn! We gotta take the road, they shouldn't have left!" I'd say we were even closer to being stuck than you and I were on the dirt road last year. I got out to push and that seemed to be the difference for the car getting a little more traction and getting up on the grass. No more than 15 seconds on the road and we knew we had to get back on the grass! I think the guy was pretty stupid suggesting we try to drive uphill in those conditions. Ok for you guys, but not for us! Contrary to earlier discussions it was almost a tow away zone!
(Inside joke, never block a farmers access or he might just hook you up!)


The pewter I swear there's something on it but will probably take me quite a while to clean it to see. I'm 100% game for 7 in the Spring, you just gotta sort it out on your end. I'm good!

Lol we wondered if you made it out but new the farmer had a tractor and if need be you would hit the grass again.
We were pressed for time, kids can't miss the Christmas parade now can they.
I know I can't make 7 lol........cheers

 

[The Patriot]

It was good to see you boys again and glad it was worth your while to drive that distance...

I knew that you were digging a cannonball when I seen your arm in the hole past shoulders length...Believe me guys I couldn't get over how deep that sucker was...I dug a complete iron pot at 3 feet but a six pounder isn't near the size...Patch really knows his machine. Then again I knew 4 minelabs on one field would do some damage... Did you manage to get anything off that pewter?

PS
Now to plan that 7 day hunt in the spring that I was talking about..

Yeah it was cool to get over there and you know not that far. Oh yeah.... About two minutes after you guys left I said... "Damn! We gotta take the road, they shouldn't have left!" I'd say we were even closer to being stuck than you and I were on the dirt road last year. I got out to push and that seemed to be the difference for the car getting a little more traction and getting up on the grass. No more than 15 seconds on the road and we knew we had to get back on the grass! I think the guy was pretty stupid suggesting we try to drive uphill in those conditions. Ok for you guys, but not for us! Contrary to earlier discussions it was almost a tow away zone!
(Inside joke, never block a farmers access or he might just hook you up!)


The pewter I swear there's something on it but will probably take me quite a while to clean it to see. I'm 100% game for 7 in the Spring, you just gotta sort it out on your end. I'm good!

Lol we wondered if you made it out but new the farmer had a tractor and if need be you would hit the grass again.
We were pressed for time, kids can't miss the Christmas parade now can they.
I know I can't make 7 lol........cheers

Yeah I pondered for a minute if you got out..like Hans said the farmer could've pulled you out....if not that other farmer down the road would have no problem...free hook ups....LOL

 

[BuckleBoy]

Yes, there are detectors out there that can reach iron very deep, and if they go as deep as I did on that, they do very well! That said, I can cherry pick these targets and not dig any more iron all day, the canister shot, cannon ball, and one other small iron tool (?) were the only iron targets I dug the enrire day... that's 3/3. All other detectors I have used/tried you have to make the choice, chase iron and hope to get something good, or try and avoid it. For several years I chose to avoid it, until I started to try and understand it more, and now can't believe how easy it is to still dig it and not waste anytime finding the unworthy crap. (of course it's far from perfect and I only dig it at older sites) The explorer has very good disc. and the secret is knowing at what point the larger pieces break the null. I'm sure other units have their own tricks too, and maybe hit targets like that, but over all I can't imagine them being better in the sense I just described. BTW... Worthy to me is cannonball, trade axe, and larger items, I do have an interest in smaller relics like iron gun parts because I'm not willing to waste time chasing everything that size.

PS... I'd like to see what a IIb could do with a 15" coil in the right hands. (and decent ground) Also, good discrimination and digging targets in iron is much more important to me than getting 30" iron relics. But as I said, it was cool and made my day.

I hear you about size--and it is true that in order to dig the gun parts and smaller iron with any detector, you have to pretty much dig it all. I cherrypick with my 1266 as well. When I am operating in "relic mode" (the disc knob turned Very low). I can Only dig big, deep iron if I want. The signal itself on a shell or deep large piece of iron is a "wah wah" signal with fuzzy edges rather than a "beep." The shallow iron hits will overload, or not pinpoint accurately compared to where the signal hits in disc mode. So I can pass on those if I wish--because shells are generally not shallow in the ground. The deep iron items pinpoint dead on. I can also raise the coil in pinpoint mode to get an idea of depth. But like you said--it's knowing where the iron breaks the threshold, and also for me it's knowing which crappy signal to dig and which to ignore. At that point, the machine is giving all it can give--and the user is the most important part of the equation. On my 1266 it took a decade of practice for me to tell the difference.


-Buckles

That's another point I should have made in my first couple of posts, it taking you 10 years to really get a good handle on it. Sure anyone can go to a site and dig iron until they hit the keeper, but if that's their method I hope they hunt alone because the other guys will be digging all the non iron finds. So really it's not just about the detector seeing it, it's having the ability to not chase crap until you know you got the right type of signal locked-in under your coil. There, finally I think all the main points about digging iron are on the page... now just to find something good that's not iron!

Exactly!! Now, you need something good that isn't iron. I need 4 more Coppers to meet my goal for this year, and one more Good relic in 2009.

 

[goldnow]

You gotta have more balls than me to hammer a cannon ball. Maybe I'm just bomb-scared after my experience with old live ordinance.

I'm sure she looks great on the shelf...Congratulations!

 

[HomesteadHunter]

Way to go on another very successful relic hunt. You certainly earned that 6 pounder, thats alot of digging for one target. Your very lucky to have old sites that aren't full of modern tractor iron and other crap to hunt. Even if you hit the odd piece of crap, you know that you always have a good chance at a cannonball. I give you alot of credit for really learning your machine well, not many people can cherry pick thru iron and have much success.....I know I can't. Now all you have to do is find the actual cannon that the 6 pounder was fired from. Imagine how impressive that display would be.

James.
HomesteadHunter.

 

[allen]

you did a heck of a job on that cannon ball !!
Can you imagine been hit in the chest with
that thing?

 

[Iron Patch]

You gotta have more balls than me to hammer a cannon ball. Maybe I'm just bomb-scared after my experience with old live ordinance.

I'm sure she looks great on the shelf...Congratulations!

Most balls found around here are solid shot, and was the case for all off this particular site to date, at least to our knowledge. It was just gentle wacks with the hammer and I still was paying close attention for raised material that could have been a fuse. I'm not the type to take any foolish chances and had there been a fuse I probably wouldn't have even taken it home in the first place. Thinking what to do with it would out-weigh the satisfaction of the find.

 

[Iron Patch]

Way to go on another very successful relic hunt. You certainly earned that 6 pounder, thats alot of digging for one target. Your very lucky to have old sites that aren't full of modern tractor iron and other crap to hunt. Even if you hit the odd piece of crap, you know that you always have a good chance at a cannonball. I give you alot of credit for really learning your machine well, not many people can cherry pick thru iron and have much success.....I know I can't. Now all you have to do is find the actual cannon that the 6 pounder was fired from. Imagine how impressive that display would be.

James.
HomesteadHunter.

Thanks James, but cherry picking big iron is much easier the older the site is, and both places we dug were old! Once I get into the 1800s seldom do I waste my time on iron... really depends on what I've seen come out.

 

[Iron Patch]

you did a heck of a job on that cannon ball !!
Can you imagine been hit in the chest with
that thing?

I was pretty amazed after the first crack to see how good it was under the very thick coat of rust. Pretty good prep before electrolysis!

 

[Kyle PA]

You gotta have more balls than me to hammer a cannon ball. Maybe I'm just bomb-scared after my experience with old live ordinance.

I'm sure she looks great on the shelf...Congratulations!

Most balls found around here are solid shot, and was the case for all off this particular site to date, at least to our knowledge. It was just gentle wacks with the hammer and I still was paying close attention for raised material that could have been a fuse. I'm not the type to take any foolish chances and had there been a fuse I probably wouldn't have even taken it home in the first place. Thinking what to do with it would out-weigh the satisfaction of the find.

That takes away from the thrill of the recovery, IP. Not knowing whether it is going to blow up or not would keep me thrilled the entire time I was slamming away at it with the hammer.

 

[pepperj]

Way to go on the hunt, and the 6 pounder.
I really don't know if I would have gone after something that deep! Then again if my sites were pre 1800's I might think twice.

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

Yes, there are detectors out there that can reach iron very deep, and if they go as deep as I did on that, they do very well! That said, I can cherry pick these targets and not dig any more iron all day, the canister shot, cannon ball, and one other small iron tool (?) were the only iron targets I dug the enrire day... that's 3/3. All other detectors I have used/tried you have to make the choice, chase iron and hope to get something good, or try and avoid it. For several years I chose to avoid it, until I started to try and understand it more, and now can't believe how easy it is to still dig it and not waste anytime finding the unworthy crap. (of course it's far from perfect and I only dig it at older sites) The explorer has very good disc. and the secret is knowing at what point the larger pieces break the null. I'm sure other units have their own tricks too, and maybe hit targets like that, but over all I can't imagine them being better in the sense I just described. BTW... Worthy to me is cannonball, trade axe, and larger items, I do have an interest in smaller relics like iron gun parts because I'm not willing to waste time chasing everything that size.

PS... I'd like to see what a IIb could do with a 15" coil in the right hands. (and decent ground) Also, good discrimination and digging targets in iron is much more important to me than getting 30" iron relics. But as I said, it was cool and made my day.

I hear you about size--and it is true that in order to dig the gun parts and smaller iron with any detector, you have to pretty much dig it all. I cherrypick with my 1266 as well. When I am operating in "relic mode" (the disc knob turned Very low). I can Only dig big, deep iron if I want. The signal itself on a shell or deep large piece of iron is a "wah wah" signal with fuzzy edges rather than a "beep." The shallow iron hits will overload, or not pinpoint accurately compared to where the signal hits in disc mode. So I can pass on those if I wish--because shells are generally not shallow in the ground. The deep iron items pinpoint dead on. I can also raise the coil in pinpoint mode to get an idea of depth. But like you said--it's knowing where the iron breaks the threshold, and also for me it's knowing which crappy signal to dig and which to ignore. At that point, the machine is giving all it can give--and the user is the most important part of the equation. On my 1266 it took a decade of practice for me to tell the difference.


-Buckles

That's another point I should have made in my first couple of posts, it taking you 10 years to really get a good handle on it. Sure anyone can go to a site and dig iron until they hit the keeper, but if that's their method I hope they hunt alone because the other guys will be digging all the non iron finds. So really it's not just about the detector seeing it, it's having the ability to not chase crap until you know you got the right type of signal locked-in under your coil. There, finally I think all the main points about digging iron are on the page... now just to find something good that's not iron!

The real question is not what detector or even what settings would detect this, but how many of us would dig that type of signal. I know I may have started digging, but after about 20 inches I would be inclined to abandon it and move on.

Next time I may think twice!

Nice going on the coppers too!

 

[[email protected]]

I found a cannon ball a couple days ago also!
I'll try not to get a complex over this but.....Yours is bigger.
LOL. Nice finds I.P.!!!
Dave.

 

[Iron Patch]

I found a cannon ball a couple days ago also!
I'll try not to get a complex over this but.....Yours is bigger.
LOL. Nice finds I.P.!!!
Dave.

I've found two about the size of golf balls lately, and thinking about that, three of the places they have been found have also turned up a ball. Where we plan to hit today actually gave up one so I will be keeping big iron in mind.

 

[Iron Patch]

Yes, there are detectors out there that can reach iron very deep, and if they go as deep as I did on that, they do very well! That said, I can cherry pick these targets and not dig any more iron all day, the canister shot, cannon ball, and one other small iron tool (?) were the only iron targets I dug the enrire day... that's 3/3. All other detectors I have used/tried you have to make the choice, chase iron and hope to get something good, or try and avoid it. For several years I chose to avoid it, until I started to try and understand it more, and now can't believe how easy it is to still dig it and not waste anytime finding the unworthy crap. (of course it's far from perfect and I only dig it at older sites) The explorer has very good disc. and the secret is knowing at what point the larger pieces break the null. I'm sure other units have their own tricks too, and maybe hit targets like that, but over all I can't imagine them being better in the sense I just described. BTW... Worthy to me is cannonball, trade axe, and larger items, I do have an interest in smaller relics like iron gun parts because I'm not willing to waste time chasing everything that size.

PS... I'd like to see what a IIb could do with a 15" coil in the right hands. (and decent ground) Also, good discrimination and digging targets in iron is much more important to me than getting 30" iron relics. But as I said, it was cool and made my day.

I hear you about size--and it is true that in order to dig the gun parts and smaller iron with any detector, you have to pretty much dig it all. I cherrypick with my 1266 as well. When I am operating in "relic mode" (the disc knob turned Very low). I can Only dig big, deep iron if I want. The signal itself on a shell or deep large piece of iron is a "wah wah" signal with fuzzy edges rather than a "beep." The shallow iron hits will overload, or not pinpoint accurately compared to where the signal hits in disc mode. So I can pass on those if I wish--because shells are generally not shallow in the ground. The deep iron items pinpoint dead on. I can also raise the coil in pinpoint mode to get an idea of depth. But like you said--it's knowing where the iron breaks the threshold, and also for me it's knowing which crappy signal to dig and which to ignore. At that point, the machine is giving all it can give--and the user is the most important part of the equation. On my 1266 it took a decade of practice for me to tell the difference.


-Buckles

That's another point I should have made in my first couple of posts, it taking you 10 years to really get a good handle on it. Sure anyone can go to a site and dig iron until they hit the keeper, but if that's their method I hope they hunt alone because the other guys will be digging all the non iron finds. So really it's not just about the detector seeing it, it's having the ability to not chase crap until you know you got the right type of signal locked-in under your coil. There, finally I think all the main points about digging iron are on the page... now just to find something good that's not iron!

The real question is not what detector or even what settings would detect this, but how many of us would dig that type of signal. I know I may have started digging, but after about 20 inches I would be inclined to abandon it and move on.

Next time I may think twice!

Nice going on the coppers too!

It totally depends on the site. This spot had been deteted and cannon balls found, and it was probably near two hours before I had a worthy iron target to chase, so it wasn't really a choice whether I should keep digging. I absolutely love the fact how obvious the signal was and prooved my explorer is as deadly on big iron as I had thought. That's good considering how well it blocks the small stuff. To me that's about as good as it gets.

 

[Rusted_Iron]

I was just reading on the internet how this one Rev War fella in my area could carry cannons that weighed in excess of 700 pounds.

That's because he's from PA.


Hey Iron Patch, congrats on the cannonball. The deepest I have dug in search of deep iron is about 28 inches. Once you hit the hardpan in these parts, the digging gets a little discouraging. More like chipping through concrete. Unless you wait until after weeks of rain, in which case the hole fills with water.

Amazingly, I have found objects in the hardpan. Not often, but it happens.

I do wonder how many of those iron signals I am ignoring are larger relics, 2 or 3 feet deep.

I agree with you that there aren't really any other units that are better than the Explorer, at least for the use you mentioned... just comparable. They definitely do have their tricks. On the Tejon, the big, deep iron has a slightly different quality of sound than the smaller, shallower targets. It's an ever-so-slightly more "diffuse" sound.

 

[Iron Patch]

I was just reading on the internet how this one Rev War fella in my area could carry cannons that weighed in excess of 700 pounds.

That's because he's from PA.


Hey Iron Patch, congrats on the cannonball. The deepest I have dug in search of deep iron is about 28 inches. Once you hit the hardpan in these parts, the digging gets a little discouraging. More like chipping through concrete. Unless you wait until after weeks of rain, in which case the hole fills with water.

Amazingly, I have found objects in the hardpan. Not often, but it happens.

I do wonder how many of those iron signals I am ignoring are larger relics, 2 or 3 feet deep.

I agree with you that there aren't really any other units that are better than the Explorer, at least for the use you mentioned... just comparable. They definitely do have their tricks. On the Tejon, the big, deep iron has a slightly different quality of sound than the smaller, shallower targets. It's an ever-so-slightly more "diffuse" sound.

I think it was my deepest because it's the same deal here on the hardpan, but it's good to know I can reach em that deep.

Yesterday I chased maybe 5 or 6 and came up with the bayonet. I knew the % wasn't as good there as where I was last week, but when you only have to dig 6 holes that have a chance, it's worth it.

 

[Brian(upstateNY-Central Fla.)]

Sweet find IP

 

[Bavaria Mike]

Congrats on the canon ball and coin! My canon ball was about 18" down in the clay, still have to preserve it, will be a good winter project. HH, Mike