Deft Tones
Bronze Member
- Mar 24, 2016
- 1,547
- 2,352
- Detector(s) used
- Whites V3i, XP Deus, Minelab Sovereign GT, Garrett AT Pro, Whites TRX (2), Predator Raven, Predator Raptor, Lesche Sampson
- Primary Interest:
- Other
I don’t want to give away my site, so I’m going to be less than specific with some details in this entry. I’m sure you can understand and forgive.
Getting into the truck this morning my Son complains that it’s supposed to rain today. I pause, look around at the horizon, inhale deeply smelling the air and scoff at the suggestion. “It isn’t going to rain”, I confidently inform him. “It is going to be cold, so wear your hat outside today!” It was chilly and overcast with windy conditions.
Exploring the Sovereign at sites I’ve been to in the past for the first few hunts, I continued that pattern by taking Her to an old mining camp in operation from the late 1880’s to almost 1920. I’ve previously located the mine shaft, the air shaft, and several auxiliary building foundations that were there in addition to the main camp. I imagine some of these were supply buildings, equipment storage, perhaps one might have been some kind of general store. I don’t know. There are no known photographs of the mine in operation, nor its camp.
I’ve only hunted this place3 times and there was standing corn each time, so today was a welcome sight!
Structures would have been covering this half of the field.
Here on the access road we would have been looking into the camp structures arranged in rows of tightly packed, brick foundation shacks. Old maps have allowed me to count the structures, and if it’s to be trusted, there were more than 45 of them in this field. There were three roads running perpendicular to this road in the field we are now standing on. This road continued on to the edge of the field before coming to an end at the river channel.
A view looking towards the mine shaft location.
I’m excited because I’m not sure if anyone has ever hunted here with a metal detector. I only suggest this because it was private land until the 80’s. Perhaps someone could have went to the State and viewed the map/made a copy, but one of the best maps of the immediate vicinity only became available as part of an estate collection donated to the State, and only recently digitized in the State’s online archives.
(no image of that, sorry.)
I tried ground balancing a different way this time. I simply let it auto track in AM while I searched for a clean spot. Once I found a clean area I could do a full sweep without targets, I just stood there sweeping for a fifteen count and then flipped to fix then disc mode w I/mask on. So easy!
I went right to it and immediately pulled some shot shells from the corner of the field. I thought they might be easy to identify by tone after a few more. Then I remembered to turn on the tracking app on my field phone. (no image for that either, sorry) Looking at the pattern of the previous coin finds in the field I move to the areas with the hottest spot. A 60 ft. area I’ve found 7 IHP’s in the past. All of the coins from this area date from the exact time period of operation, even the two wheats and single buffalo nickel. I have yet to find silver here, and I know the miners were not rich, but they surely lost some silver here. Perhaps a seated I hope. Modern trash has always been very light in the field.
Moving into the occupied areas I began to get lots of nulling from the iron. Sometimes the nulling was continuous. I reduced sensitivity up to half and that helped some but not enough. I slowed way down so the machine could properly recover. I found out I had to slow way, way down. Not even a crawl. It was literally rest the coil on the soil and wait for threshold, nudge the coil one inch and wait again, repeat. Whoa! This is certainly no zippy Deus. I’ve read you can’t hunt to slow with the Sovereign. Certainly was true!
I hunted that way for about fifteen minutes before wondering what would happen if I just plowed through it at half normal swing speed, and my normal speed of about 2’ per second. That’s what I did the rest of the hunt, alternating between “fast” and slower-ish. I discovered that even when the machine nulls, if it hits another target non-ferrous it will still give a tone. I don’t know what percentage of the time it will do this, but I did recover these — two coins sounding off through the nulls.
Mystery item, 1891 IHP, 1911 Wheat Penny
On the wheat penny, my first coin of the day, I recovered the iron from the hole but nothing else. Strange, falsing?, I think to my self.
I run the TRX all over the spoils around the hole with not a peep. I sweep the coil all over the hole and nothing. Over the plug which has been kicked down - nothing! That's when I got back down with the TRX and gridded one foot sections of the area. I found a coin under a dirt clod laying out on the surface maybe 12" from the edge of the hole. Photographed it in-situ with the tracking program, then swept it again. Nothing. No nulling, no tone. Then I remembered reading something about this. How Minelabs can do this on freshly disturbed targets. Good to know.
I walked back to another hole I had the same recovery problem and recovered the IHP from that one.
1911 Wheat and a barely legible 1891 IHP. (can't get any kind of good image on the IHP)
I also found this unknown item when I had the disc nearly maxed out playing around with the settings. Any help with it’s ID would be appreciated. It’s not lead, or copper jacketed. I don’t even think it’s a bullet. There is a material that seems to be clear plastic or a kind of resin, perhaps glass embedded into it. It’s heavy like lead though.
What is this?
My eyes found a few things too, lot’s really, but only the more interesting pieces I bagged.
Brick In-situ.
After four hours swinging I needed to give my shoulder and wrist a serious break. What a miserable ergonomics and balance this machine has. At the park when digging frequently it’s not so bad, but in the field over extended periods is much worse. Yuck! Worst I've ever swung being forward mounted under the s-shaft.
The weather had turned a few hours prior and the slight flurries were steadily growing stronger as the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. It was an hour until dusk and I decided to just call it a day.
Walking back to the truck I detour into the woods where there is a creek. Several structures were located around this area as well. The main road was altered back in the 80’s to eliminate a few ninety degree turns. You can see the abandoned bridge as I approach the creek.
Bridge to nowhere.
View from the abandoned road bed.
Found my first pick nearby!
People were dumping trash back here in the past. Evidence of it is everywhere and some of the large humps in the ground are simply vegetation overgrown trash piles.
My first virgin ring-pull!
I’ll always remember this day! And looking how it was opened I guess some old-timer’s habits die hard!
On the way home I yelled back to the Sovereign resting on the floor behind my seat that she needs to change if we’re going to keep swinging together. After a stop at Home Depot I brought her home and set about improving this particular Minelab design and gave her a quick and dirty makeover.
After a home makeover. Much improved!
She feels much more ergonomic and balanced now. I took the bar-end from my 22yr old Cannondale. Eventually I’ll plan to paint the upper shaft orange, or orange with matching blue candy stripes, so I bought some spray enamel and pinstripe tape for the job. Testing first first though.
I may be taking her out today for another romantic interlude.
All finds less mystery itme and coins.
Curious ornamental copper item.
As always, thank you for peeking.
Getting into the truck this morning my Son complains that it’s supposed to rain today. I pause, look around at the horizon, inhale deeply smelling the air and scoff at the suggestion. “It isn’t going to rain”, I confidently inform him. “It is going to be cold, so wear your hat outside today!” It was chilly and overcast with windy conditions.
Exploring the Sovereign at sites I’ve been to in the past for the first few hunts, I continued that pattern by taking Her to an old mining camp in operation from the late 1880’s to almost 1920. I’ve previously located the mine shaft, the air shaft, and several auxiliary building foundations that were there in addition to the main camp. I imagine some of these were supply buildings, equipment storage, perhaps one might have been some kind of general store. I don’t know. There are no known photographs of the mine in operation, nor its camp.
I’ve only hunted this place3 times and there was standing corn each time, so today was a welcome sight!
Structures would have been covering this half of the field.
Here on the access road we would have been looking into the camp structures arranged in rows of tightly packed, brick foundation shacks. Old maps have allowed me to count the structures, and if it’s to be trusted, there were more than 45 of them in this field. There were three roads running perpendicular to this road in the field we are now standing on. This road continued on to the edge of the field before coming to an end at the river channel.
A view looking towards the mine shaft location.
I’m excited because I’m not sure if anyone has ever hunted here with a metal detector. I only suggest this because it was private land until the 80’s. Perhaps someone could have went to the State and viewed the map/made a copy, but one of the best maps of the immediate vicinity only became available as part of an estate collection donated to the State, and only recently digitized in the State’s online archives.
(no image of that, sorry.)
I tried ground balancing a different way this time. I simply let it auto track in AM while I searched for a clean spot. Once I found a clean area I could do a full sweep without targets, I just stood there sweeping for a fifteen count and then flipped to fix then disc mode w I/mask on. So easy!
I went right to it and immediately pulled some shot shells from the corner of the field. I thought they might be easy to identify by tone after a few more. Then I remembered to turn on the tracking app on my field phone. (no image for that either, sorry) Looking at the pattern of the previous coin finds in the field I move to the areas with the hottest spot. A 60 ft. area I’ve found 7 IHP’s in the past. All of the coins from this area date from the exact time period of operation, even the two wheats and single buffalo nickel. I have yet to find silver here, and I know the miners were not rich, but they surely lost some silver here. Perhaps a seated I hope. Modern trash has always been very light in the field.
Moving into the occupied areas I began to get lots of nulling from the iron. Sometimes the nulling was continuous. I reduced sensitivity up to half and that helped some but not enough. I slowed way down so the machine could properly recover. I found out I had to slow way, way down. Not even a crawl. It was literally rest the coil on the soil and wait for threshold, nudge the coil one inch and wait again, repeat. Whoa! This is certainly no zippy Deus. I’ve read you can’t hunt to slow with the Sovereign. Certainly was true!
I hunted that way for about fifteen minutes before wondering what would happen if I just plowed through it at half normal swing speed, and my normal speed of about 2’ per second. That’s what I did the rest of the hunt, alternating between “fast” and slower-ish. I discovered that even when the machine nulls, if it hits another target non-ferrous it will still give a tone. I don’t know what percentage of the time it will do this, but I did recover these — two coins sounding off through the nulls.
Mystery item, 1891 IHP, 1911 Wheat Penny
On the wheat penny, my first coin of the day, I recovered the iron from the hole but nothing else. Strange, falsing?, I think to my self.
I run the TRX all over the spoils around the hole with not a peep. I sweep the coil all over the hole and nothing. Over the plug which has been kicked down - nothing! That's when I got back down with the TRX and gridded one foot sections of the area. I found a coin under a dirt clod laying out on the surface maybe 12" from the edge of the hole. Photographed it in-situ with the tracking program, then swept it again. Nothing. No nulling, no tone. Then I remembered reading something about this. How Minelabs can do this on freshly disturbed targets. Good to know.I walked back to another hole I had the same recovery problem and recovered the IHP from that one.
1911 Wheat and a barely legible 1891 IHP. (can't get any kind of good image on the IHP)
I also found this unknown item when I had the disc nearly maxed out playing around with the settings. Any help with it’s ID would be appreciated. It’s not lead, or copper jacketed. I don’t even think it’s a bullet. There is a material that seems to be clear plastic or a kind of resin, perhaps glass embedded into it. It’s heavy like lead though.
What is this?
My eyes found a few things too, lot’s really, but only the more interesting pieces I bagged.
Brick In-situ.
After four hours swinging I needed to give my shoulder and wrist a serious break. What a miserable ergonomics and balance this machine has. At the park when digging frequently it’s not so bad, but in the field over extended periods is much worse. Yuck! Worst I've ever swung being forward mounted under the s-shaft.
The weather had turned a few hours prior and the slight flurries were steadily growing stronger as the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. It was an hour until dusk and I decided to just call it a day.
Walking back to the truck I detour into the woods where there is a creek. Several structures were located around this area as well. The main road was altered back in the 80’s to eliminate a few ninety degree turns. You can see the abandoned bridge as I approach the creek.
Bridge to nowhere.
View from the abandoned road bed.
Found my first pick nearby!
People were dumping trash back here in the past. Evidence of it is everywhere and some of the large humps in the ground are simply vegetation overgrown trash piles.
My first virgin ring-pull!
I’ll always remember this day! And looking how it was opened I guess some old-timer’s habits die hard!
On the way home I yelled back to the Sovereign resting on the floor behind my seat that she needs to change if we’re going to keep swinging together. After a stop at Home Depot I brought her home and set about improving this particular Minelab design and gave her a quick and dirty makeover.
After a home makeover. Much improved!
She feels much more ergonomic and balanced now. I took the bar-end from my 22yr old Cannondale. Eventually I’ll plan to paint the upper shaft orange, or orange with matching blue candy stripes, so I bought some spray enamel and pinstripe tape for the job. Testing first first though.
I may be taking her out today for another romantic interlude.
All finds less mystery itme and coins.
Curious ornamental copper item.
As always, thank you for peeking.
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