Green as grass

[Moonrover]

Just received an AT Pro and a few extras this week. I'm a total newbie to metal detecting, so naturally I poured over the instruction manual and videos like a kid cramming for finals. Yesterday I tried out the knowledge in our back yard. Didn't use the headphones because there is no concern around here about bothering the neighbors. The backyard is loaded with "signals" which sort of overpowered my imagination. After a while, I realized most signals up close to the house are 1" roofing nails. To take a break from all the screaming, I walked way out near a wooded area. Finally, a signal with a clear and repeatable 92 on the scale. When it came out of the hole, I was disappointed because it looked like a long shard of aluminum. When I got back to the house and washed the crud off of it, then I realized it was (or had been) the handle and back for a Victorian hairbrush. My best guess is that it is silver. No way to determine what level of purity it is, but being my first find (other than a couple of pounds of roofing nails), I will just keep the "relic" as proof of my metal detecting prowess.

Now I'm energized enough to sweep the entire yard front, sides and back. Oh, I did learn the hard way about metal scraps near utility poles. Linemen must snip off stray copper and aluminum wire ends with evil glee.

Once I acquire the "trained ear" for various signal sounds and of course properly notch out trash signals, I may be able to dig less and find more. By the way, our cat thinks the detector sounds are cool. He is especially fond of the Pro-Pointer and sniffing in the dirt. It never hurts to "cat scan" a digging just to be sure nothing is missed.

 

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[norbyx]

Way to go. Keep digging every signal you get, you need to learn the machine and the only way to do it at the beginning is to dig up tons of trash. After about 10 hours you will start to understand how the machine reacts to different metals and shapes. Good luck and HH.

Sent from my iPhone using TreasureNet

 

[signal_line]

Use the Iron Audio (set at 35 to start with) to check every signal then dig to see what it is. Soon you will learn to understand what it is saying. There will be some "iffy" targets now and then and you want to dig these. Also, nails many times have an elongated signal and a double beep. But by far the Iron Audio will tell you almost every time if it is a nail or anything iron. When you get a signal you think is a nail, adjust the Iron Audio discrimination level up or down (like the instructional video shows) so you just eliminate it. Still you want to dig the first few targets even if they sound off in the Iron Audio to make sure. Now go back and find the targets that are among the nails. Yes, a 92 target ID is very likely silver.

 

[Stormrider51]

When I started back in the 1970's I had to dig every target because my machine didn't have discrimination. I dug a lot of trash but found things like a delicate gold chain with a small locket in addition to the usual coins. Rings seemed to come my way fairly regularly as well. As time went by I moved up to "better" machines and dug less trash. I eventually realized that I was also coming up with fewer rings and other pieces of jewelry. Discrimination is both a blessing and a curse it seems. I'm now in my 60's and getting down and back up isn't as easy as it once was but I still dig more targets than I pass on. I've sort of reversed my previous modus operandi. Instead of digging only targets that I am fairly sure are good I now dig everything except targets I'm sure are trash. I dig a lot of trash but hey, even pull tabs have value. I wash the dirt off and toss them in a bag. I sold a batch for $46 at the local metal recycler the other day. Treasure is where you find it! Good Luck and wishing you a long detecting career.

Storm

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Nice relic snag! Glad you caught it.