First Time detecting Can Slaw Beach

[Pi_Rat]

I mark today as my official first day of real metal detecting. I went a few days ago at a local park and pulled 47 cents, what looked like a junk ring, a washer or 2, and minimal can slaw all in an easy two hours. Today I went on a five hour epic hunt at North Avenue beach in Chicago and ended up so frustrated. Not to mention my body is physically aching and sore from walking and digging. Plus a two hour train ride each way. URGH! What was I thinking! I dug so many beer cans with no reward at 1 foot+ deep, I started wishing they were full with brew and or hoping the can just might be a candy like aluminum wrapper to a gold ring and I just might have to peel the wrapper off the ring. Most of my finds for the day were surface finds. The best of the surface finds was a huge Zircon Earring peg that I saw and the Excal did not pick up. Lots of blanking on the Excal. I wonder if I should have had the thresh hold turned up high enough to hear the blanking. Lots of chirping heard with nothing to follow as far as solid tones. On my next adventure I'm going to make a test garden with different coins, items, and pulltabs. Hopefully I don't loose any of my own coins or valuables. lol I might have to tether the coins or glue them to some plastic. I'll be sticking to playgrounds till things warm up. Till next time HH and goodluck.

 

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[Mzjavert]

Some days are like that. Still I'm surprised you didn't score at least a little clad.

 

[olfacere]

I would recommend air tests instead of a test bed. A test bed can be done rightly, but it involves tamping as you backfill and watering-in the targets a couple of times, then waiting for the soil to drain and dry. It takes a couple of days to get a test bed to perfectly resemble actual field conditions. A test bed made in 20 minutes will provide misleading measurements (very little effective detection depth). Air tests usually provide numbers that are much closer to what you will see in the field than a quickie test bed. So, I would suggest either using air tests or making the extra effort to build a perfect test bed (the watering is very important and you can't rush it).