How Deep Do you Usually Find Relics?

[RiverRat]

I live in Northern California, and, especially because of the drought, the ground is super hard...It's hard enough to find anything really old (pre 1950) on the west coast, but even if I'm in a ghost town or something, it just seems like most of the "older" finds , at around 5-8", usually consist of an old tin can..!...so, I admit, I tend to give up at 5" or so....
Are relics consistently deeper than that, and if so, how deep?...I'm tired of just getting clad!
Thanks.

 

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[tcornel]

In Northeast Ohio I am finding things from 5 to 12 inches. However the deeper it is the more likely that it is big iron.
Yesterday I found a WWI in service button at 6" and an American Locker key at 8 to 9.

We have had so much rain that most of the time I can push the Sampson into the ground with my hands, sometimes up to the hilt.

When the ground is hard I do not believe your signal goes as deep as when there is a higher moisture content. If you can get a big coil for
your machine your depth should improve.

 

[RiverRat]

Hey, thanks..appreciate the info.....I'll look into a deeper coil...and pray for rain!

 

[cudamark]

Relics can be at any depth, just like coins. Usually, at a particular site, the deeper the older, but that's not etched in stone. Soil type, moisture (or lack thereof), ground cover, freezing and thawing, excavations, etc, will all have an effect on target depth.

 

[Frankn]

The depth is determined by the type of vegetation in the area and the time it was lost. It's that simple. Here in Maryland, 200 years back for say an ax heat is app. 10". A penny lost in the '40 is app. 3.5".
Out in the desert of AZ, something lost or just left 100 years ago, just might be laying on the surface. There is no vegetation to cover, only wind blown shifting 'sand'. It's not really sand, more like dust and rocks.
There can also be erosion that can cover or expose items. Usually in hard ground with sparse vegetation, it's not deep. Just my evaluation based on 40+ years of TH all over the USA. Frank...-

 

[OWK]

How Deep Do you Usually Find Relics?

From 8.35 inches, to 9.125 inches.

Unless it has been raining.

 

[gleaner1]

I find relics on top, by eye. I find relics over twelve inches deep too. Big relics.

 

[RiverRat]

Hey, thanks everybody...especially you, Frankn...really good info!...much appreciated.

 

[DigIron2]

5-8 sounds about right typically.