Down in a Well

[Metal Monkey]

I crawled down in my neighbors 200 yr old, hand dug well tonight. I thought there had to be some coins, that people over the years, had thrown down in there. The bottom had a lot of soft, sticky, sandy clay like silt in it. I tossed in a penny just to make sure it would read under water. Worked fine. Then I started stomping around, detecting. I was getting scattered and jumpy signals. After a couple of minutes, I'm sure I stepped on the penny by now. I was unable to find this penny? Is there something I don't know about silt, clay, ect? I know there has to be some coins in this thing. I was using a Garret AT Pro.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

You should have found one. What coil are you using? If its really target rich Might slap on the 5x8.

 

[Metal Monkey]

That's what I used. I just don't understand what happened to the penny I put in there. Should I have ground balanced it under the water? Could there be something in the dirt that's causing the signal to not read right? I think I'm going to post this question on the main forum also.

 

[jeff of pa]

Are you Nulling out in the Bottom ? if you are there could be allot of iron

are you tuning your detector in the Bottom ?
if you are tuning it down there perhaps whatever is there is being tuned out
because of the Small space.

or If you are not tuning it down inside, try tuning it down inside

in other words do the opposite of what you tried the last time.

of course it could be bad luck & your not swinging over the Penny or it's standing on edge,
either against the wall or in mud.

Could the mud be so deep you stepped it down ?

there are allot of possibilities.

You say you were getting Jumpy signals but Don't say if you dug any Targets.
Could there be iron in the walls that are interfering

how did you climb down ?

Please don't say Aluminum Ladder
(don't laugh ! I read one member hunts in steel toe Boots )

 

[Metal Monkey]

I made myself a rope ladder to get down. I get the famous "one swing dings", is what I call them. It only sounds swinging one direction, plus my numbers will jump from 60's to 80's to 90's, ect, when I get these hits. I balanced it outside the well, maybe that's my problem? I think it balanced out around 80. I just wanna know what happened to that penny.

 

[lookindown]

There is probably a bunch of trash targets down there making it hard to get a solid signal. Go down there with a shovel and sifter. How deep is it?...lets see a picture.

 

[OWK]

The best technique I've seen used on wells is to have someone lower 5 gal buckets on a rope.

Fill them up with the muck from the bottom of the well. Hoist them to the top, and search them there.

Lather, rinse repeat.

 

[Metal Monkey]

That's my plan. There is about a foot of soft, sticky mud. Who knows how much dirt has washed through the rocks and into the well over the past 200 years.

 

[Metal Monkey]

The well is about 15ft deep. I always thought that hand dug wells where usually deeper than that.

 

[Kodiak43351]

Are you Nulling out in the Bottom ? if you are there could be allot of iron are you tuning your detector in the Bottom ? if you are tuning it down there perhaps whatever is there is being tuned out because of the Small space. or If you are not tuning it down inside, try tuning it down inside in other words do the opposite of what you tried the last time. of course it could be bad luck & your not swinging over the Penny or it's standing on edge, either against the wall or in mud. Could the mud be so deep you stepped it down ? there are allot of possibilities. You say you were getting Jumpy signals but Don't say if you dug any Targets. Could there be iron in the walls that are interfering how did you climb down ? Please don't say Aluminum Ladder (don't laugh ! I read one member hunts in steel toe Boots )

awesome advice. Love the advice from the very exp hunters. It helps us out a lot even though some won't admit it. This site has helped me so much since I've joined.

 

[david680]

The well is about 15ft deep. I always thought that hand dug wells where usually deeper than that.

I think any type of well is just as deep as it needed to be to find what they were looking for.