Nails, Nails, and more nails!

[Stuperduke]

Well here it is, partially a story and partially a question. I have a site on federal land that I camping at a lot up near Nevada City. It's an old hydraulic mining site from the 1800s. I have detected this site about 15 times for many hours at a time and have never turned up with anything aside from square head nails. I'm talking hundreds of them, all over the place. Now the odd thing about the whole situation is that I have literally never pulled anything aside from these nails out of the ground there, not even a scrap of trash. It is only nails, constant nails. Now, I generally would keep on going as the nails indicate that there was enough traffic to get them there but I am starting to get concerned that either I am not using my detector correctly, maybe settings, maybe something else, I have used Iron descrim and it seems to alleviate things a bit but I am starting to get the old frustration bug. My question is, at what point would you abandon the site or start making changes to your method? Would you just keep on beeping the same nail farm? Thank you in advance.

 

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[vpnavy]

Shame on you for even asking this question! You do realize that the next hit could be the big one! Why, you could hit the mother-load of gold coins!

 

[Stuperduke]

I know I know, but with 35-40 hours of nails, its hard to not ask it. I have so many I started making a coffee table with them.

 

[vpnavy]

Just for the fun of it - you should try selling some "antique nails" on EBay.

 

[RustyGold]

Good idea on the coffee table. Sounds like gold to me.

 

[Icewing]

Simply put, once once my curiosity about what's there fades and frustration sets in, I push the power button and move on.
I don't do it to cause frustration, I do it to get rid of the frustration in other parts of daily living.
Good luck.

 

[Stuperduke]

well put.

 

[HighVDI]

I recently cleaned out a spot that was producing nails, and other iron and the only reason I stayed there is because I started digging buttons.....and then a few LC's then more buttons. After removing that many nails and not finding any non ferrous targets like you describe I'd walk away. Could easily get burned out.

 

[villagenut]

That much of a concentration of square nails may indicate a burned structure.

 

[Slingshot]

You might do better to hunt that site with an older TR machine from the 70's 80's, like a Compass 77b, in a nail field they have a big advantage over the newer VLF detectors. I have an under $50 Harbor Freight 9 function detector that has some very good "see through" in nails. Other options would be to dig all the nails and learn to love them, find a new place to hunt, or jack your discriminator up to max and be happy with what pops out. Whatever you do, best of hunting to you.

 

[Obsessive]

The coffee table sounds like a great idea, but I'd be scratching my head too.

I think I'd want to re-examine the site to look for a different area where there may have been more or other activity, and probably also hit the current area with a different detector and compare notes. Meanwhile, run some tests with my current detector to make sure I've got all the knobs dialed in right for those conditions.

 

[digger27]

Well, if what your info says is true you are using a GPX 4000....no wonder you are frustrated.
I hate digging tons of trash, I wouldn't even attempt to hunt that kind of site with this kind of machine.
The 4000 is a pulse unit and I read your manual, it says you have something called iron reject but no other disc from what I can see.
You also have blanking, if you are using this feature with so many nails you could go silent over good targets close to those nails if it is blanking them out.
This is just the totally wrong type of detector to be using in this kind of site IMO.
You need something with different disc capabilities, a normal VLF unit with different features than that PI, something that can deal with all those nails better.
Depending on how deep actual good targets are there there are several that might work and find you the good stuff even masked targets...if they are there.
A Compadre might work and it is super cheap but not a huge amount of depth.
The Mojave is deeper as is most other Tesoros.
I know my F70 can handle a site like that, the Patriot is a much cheaper version with all the same abilities.
Then there are a slew of other great detectors that will probably work much better there than that PI and keep you sane while you try.

 

[pepperj]

Using the 4000 at the site would be challenging. Though it has been suggested the your on a burnt building site have you tried the side away from the nails? It could also be a case where you aren't the first to detect this so=ite and your getting the leftovers.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Stuperduke, correct me if I'm wrong, but isnt' the GPX-4000 a prospecting (nuggets) machine ? If so, what-the-heck are you doing trying to use that for relics/coins? (or were you angling for nuggets?)

The iron-disc. feature ("so-called") on those machines is only good for the top couple of inches of the depth of those. Everything beyond that will sound the same.

I hunt ghost-townsy sites all over your area and nevada, and NEVER dig a nail or iron . Unless sometimes a large ox-shoe or cast-iron stove part to fool us.

 

[Onedigger]

I changed to a GoldBug2 and went back to my favorite old hydraulic site near Nevada City, where i too was only finding square nails, and found several tiny nuggets.

 

[Stuperduke]

I'm already on my way to a VLF as a companion. Where I am confused is that is the PI minelab, albeit old, is the best for gold and whatnot, if it can find small nuggets sub gram, why can't it be good for everything else? DD with discrimination running.

 

[1320]

Try some non-Federal land

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I'm already on my way to a VLF as a companion. Where I am confused is that is the PI minelab, albeit old, is the best for gold and whatnot, if it can find small nuggets sub gram, why can't it be good for everything else? DD with discrimination running.

If I understand your question correctly, you seem to be asking why CAN'T a high-powered nugget machine be used for "everything else" ? Well, let's dissect that question:

A) IT CAN ! Yup, you will MOST CERTAINLY find any coin that is there. You will MOST CERTAINLY go deeper than any coin/relic/disc. machine on the market. You will MOST CERTAINLY be able to effortlessly cut through the nastiest mineral. Hence: What more could a guy ask for. Right ? But the devil is in the details:

B) That "discrimination" knob you might see on your nugget prospecting machine is only good for the top couple of inches of depth. Everything beyond that is going to sound the same. They are simply not the same as coin machines (standard discriminators) where you can knock out iron to the full depth of your reach.

C) If you were angling for nuggets (and not coins or whatever), then ... you just have to put up with the nails. You have not been to clear on this: Is your objective nuggets ? Or coins/relics ? If you're angling for nuggets, have you even found a single one in that sea of nails you're finding ? If not, you're simply in the wrong place to angle for nuggets, IMHO. There are tailings piles where the ratios are not that punishing.

D) If it's coins/artifacts you're after, then get a standard coin machine. Like a Racer, a CZ6, an impact, an explorer, etc... etc.... Stop trying to use nugget machines for purposes that they weren't designed for.

E) Also: If you're looking for coins/artifacts (instead of nuggets), be aware that the "work" zones of those yesteryear mining areas are NOT the places you should be hunting. Oh sure, they may *look* inviting. Because perhaps you still see old processing mill foundations, sluice metal debris lying around, tailings piles, etc... Instead, when hunting gold rush sites for coins/relics/artifacts, you need to be hunting where they LIVED and SLEPT, not where they worked. The work zones will, of course, have industrial commercial debris/hardware junk all over. Contrast to where their tent city zones were, is where they ate, drank, slept, gambled, etc... And those worker tent city zones might be a long ways off from the work zones. And since it was often-time just temporary tent cities, there may be nothing visible now to mark those sites. So the untrained eye is drawn to the landscape scars of the work zones, when in fact it's the LIVING zones you want to be working.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Try some non-Federal land

He's ok on federal land. As long as his coins/relics are 50 yr. old or newer. So ... how good is his math ? Heck, he's looking for nuggets, meteorites, and that boyscout ring he lost there as a kid. Knowing Nevada city environs myself, me thinks he's in the middle of nowhere type environs.

 

[1320]

Uh oh....lol

"It's an old hydraulic mining site from the 1800s"