What can I expect?

[halgreene]

I'm taking my F5 out for the first time tomorrow. Will fool around in my own yard for a bit to see if I can figure out how the machine works and then I've scoped out an old abandoned farmhouse and vicinity to hunt. I'm curious what I can EXPECT to find the most of. Pull tabs? Quarters? Washers? In other words, I don't want to set my expectations too high (and I'm just doing this for fun, anyway, don't expect to find buried treasure).

So what will I be pulling out of the ground the most? Any tips for where to hunt? It would seem to me that beneath the bleachers in some local fairgrounds should be prolific. Yes?

Thanks!

 

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[DeepseekerADS]

Those who find treasure of value are indeed very fortunate on their first trip out. Be prepared to dig trash until you can understand more about your beast. Do NOT set your discrimination too high, as you might miss something of value. Be prepared to start loving that trash - annoying and disappointing YES, but you're digging and you will find cool things.

You'll need a smaller than stock coil under bleachers - all those supports and things. Make no mistake - there's plenty trash under them too, and lot's of clad....

The best advice for a beginner with a yard, grid that yard off and cover as much of every inch you can, and then hit it at 90 degrees - the best training ground in the world, and a great, great teacher. If you don't want to disfigure your lawn, you'll also learn how to dig and not kill the grass - long before you ever destroy park grounds! Learn how to pin point, probe and pop out with screw driver, and how to cut a plug.

And, keep your frustration level off to the side - you will find oodles of trash. Dig every signal for quite a while and use your ears!

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

old farm house? I think you should expect alot of odd Iron pieces and mucho trash....but you just never know, thats the thrill of it.

Keep us posted on your finds!

 

[halgreene]

Those who find treasure of value are indeed very fortunate on their first trip out. Be prepared to dig trash until you can understand more about your beast. Do NOT set your discrimination too high, as you might miss something of value. Be prepared to start loving that trash - annoying and disappointing YES, but you're digging and you will find cool things.

You'll need a smaller than stock coil under bleachers - all those supports and things. Make no mistake - there's plenty trash under them too, and lot's of clad....

The best advice for a beginner with a yard, grid that yard off and cover as much of every inch you can, and then hit it at 90 degrees - the best training ground in the world, and a great, great teacher. If you don't want to disfigure your lawn, you'll also learn how to dig and not kill the grass - long before you ever destroy park grounds! Learn how to pin point, probe and pop out with screw driver, and how to cut a plug.

And, keep your frustration level off to the side - you will find oodles of trash. Dig every signal for quite a while and use your ears!

So I can't do the bleacher thing with the 11" DD? Too much signal? Darn, we have TONS of bleachers around here, was really looking forward to mining them. Guess at some point I may have to spend even MORE $$$ on this hobby, huh? Also...pop out with a screwdriver? What is this? I thought you pretty much had to dig everything? How do you know what you can just pop out? Because it's so close to the surface?

Was just walking around in the park the other day, imagining what it would be like to mine it, and found an old nickel (1912). With no machine! Took that as a good omen, haha...

 

[Escape]

The good thing is you always start off with beginners luck. No telling what you might find.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

So I can't do the bleacher thing with the 11" DD? Too much signal? Darn, we have TONS of bleachers around here, was really looking forward to mining them. Guess at some point I may have to spend even MORE $$$ on this hobby, huh? Also...pop out with a screwdriver? What is this? I thought you pretty much had to dig everything? How do you know what you can just pop out? Because it's so close to the surface?

Was just walking around in the park the other day, imagining what it would be like to mine it, and found an old nickel (1912). With no machine! Took that as a good omen, haha...

Most bleachers, or at least the ones I've seen have metal supports, 4' or so apart. Larger coils - you get within about a foot, the support start sounding off. So you're limited to essentially the very middle N/S - E/W between the supports. A smaller coil allows you to get closer, cover more territory.

Don't know where you're located geographically, so your ground conditions would determine whether you could effectively use a probe. If you've rocky soil, then a probe might not suit you - but still worth doing. I spent years in Michigan and Ohio, with their spongy soil, few rocks. I took a long thin screwdriver, and filed down the tip to blunt it. I'd pinpoint the signal, and gently insert the screw driver around the area until I hit solid. And that solid hit was very often the coin, got rocks occasionally (the feel). But most often, I'd find the exact location of the coin. If it were as much as 2"-3", I had another screwdriver with a bent end. I'd reach that in to beneath the coin, and just pop it out of the ground without leaving much of a hole at all - essentially leaving no trace I'd been there. You have to be gentle in your probing so you do not damage the coin.

Over time as you use this method, it's like detecting itself - you'll get the "feel" of what the target is you've probed down to. Certainly not coin ID, but the difference between coin or rock and even trash.

A good successful example of this, one time I hit a signal, pinpointed, and inserted the probe - found the target on first effort - it was 1 1/2" down. Stuck in my bent screwdriver under the target and popped out an 1894 Indian Head cent - no damage to it whatsoever.

This is a great skill to learn, and in fact, I think I'll post this trick as it's own thread. I've not found mention of it here yet.

 

[airscapes]

Just stick to your yard till you are 90% correct at guessing what you fond before you dig it up. Also learn how retrieve the target and make it look like you were never there..
Expect to find a lot of junk. I found the best stuff in my own yard so far. 2 1940s army men, a 1940s toy truck and a 1950 French Frank.. In the local parks all I have found is clad and trash.. BTW fond the army men last weekend and it was in a spot I had gone over 4 or 5 times already.. the more junk you remove from the top, the more is exposed below. There is something called masking (explained in detail here Truth About Search Coils) but in a nut shell, if you have a nail at 2 inches and a silver coin at 5 inches directly below it or even slightly to the side, The nail will prevent you machine from seeing the coin. Good luck and take your time.

 

[Limitool]

Best of luck to ya guy.... There is just NO substitute for experience. And this goes to learning how to dig and how to handle your machine. I've had mine for awhile and am still learning. FYI: Here in Middle TN. we don't dig... we chip away and then remove the loose "stuff". In Mich. I could dig a 6ft. hole in a few minutes.

But, have fun and expect a LOT OF TRASH... 99% Trash to 1% "good" finds.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

99% Trash to 1% "good" finds.

Thats dead on....and that 1% good find will make you forgot all the crap you just dug...Good Luck man!

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Have you watched any of the videos on digging or target retrieval ?
There's one, one page back (page 2) of this forum tilted: "Metal Detecting Digging Techniques for Sensitive Area" . Posted by: Nickeltabs

Dig all targets in your yard first so you learn what the different tones on your detector is telling you. When you can dig and refill your holes so you can't tell you even dug there then your ready to dig public lawns.
G L. &. HH!

 

[SusanMN]

I predict there will be tons of nails and unidentifiable pieces of iron. Coming in at number three will be ticks crawling up your pant legs.

 

[justdon]

Don't expect instant gratification..Practice/patience and hanging in there also research.Location means alot.Good luck.HH

 

[bulrush]

I can still say I'm a beginner with my Pioneer 101. My biggest issue is understanding that it's still very sensitive. It can find larger objects with more mass 10" down or more. Coins down to about 6" (my experience).

My experience: 90% is junk I throw away, 10% coins. Out of the coins 80% are modern clad. Zero rings or jewelry, but I'm just counting this year after taking a 5 year hiatus. But I did well on a virgin piece of property where people have lived 100+ years.

I have had good luck with bleaches which are wooden, but modern bleachers are metal and make it impossible to find anything there. The bleacher legs set off the MD. The more massive the metal is the further away it will set off your MD. So a fire hydrant might set off your MD at 8" away. Anyplace where bleachers USED to be are great.