Need tips on how to search very trashy areas

[Hisownself]

I'd much appreciate any advice or links to good reading about searching very trashy areas. I'm using a Tesoro Tejon and looking mostly for old silver coins in the vicinity of an area where an old outbuilding burned down. The place is filled with nails and all sorts of bits and pieces.

I have several years of detecting experience but not with very trashy areas. I would normally pass an area like this, but my in laws who grew up there tell me the shed was used as a ticket booth for about 40 years. I searched it once for several hours and got a bucket full of junk and not a single coin.

Regards!
Dave

 

[Digger2]

My .02 cents would be to go slow, very slow with a small coil or/and keep digging, its a good learning experience!

 

[luvsdux]

Small coil, less sensitivity and swinging slow should help. Also, the more you clean it out the more the odds favor your finding any goodies. Once it's fairly well cleaned out you will probably want to go over it again with a larger coil and more sensitivity. Start with a workable area just a few feet square and when that is well covered take on some more. Granted it's a lot of work, but the rewards could be worth it. Unfortunately, there's not an iron clad guarantee on what may be in the ground, but sounds like it should be a good spot considering the history.
luvsdux

 

[Hisownself]

Thanks folks. The section is well defined as to where the ticket booth was so I think I just have to plan on digging everything and "clean the area out" on low sensitivity. At least I do 't have to cover a large undetermined area. My father-in-law found some old photos of the homestead so we can pinpoint the spot more accurately.

 

[Ronzie]

You've got a great machine. A 5 3/4" concentric would work.

 

[mreese1849]

I would agree with everyone and just started doing the same thing at a site I have been avoiding. I am working an old grist mill from the 1840's thats located in a park. All around the remaining foundation of the mill are pull tab after pull tab, but I just told myself that something has to be there. I started digging every single pull tab up and in one of the holes I pulled up three pull tabs and an Indian Head penny lol may not be the greatest, but that goes to show you that it pays off to just clean out the trash to get to the good stuff. It's in there!!

 

[Dogtirednj]

I'm working a site in the next county over from you. When I first started all I was pulling were pull tabs and iron nails. I filled a bucket with the junk I was getting. But I knew the history of this place. So I dug the junk and just kept going back over it. Before long I started pulling wheaties and then silvers. That pumped me up! This past weekend I found a 1797 King George! Dig the junk. Clean it out so your machine can find the good stuff!

 

[Hisownself]

Interesting thing about my site is the total lack of aluminum: no cans or pull tabs, but tons of washers, nails, bottle caps, jar lids, copper wire etc.

 

[Bum Luck]

Interesting thing about my site is the total lack of aluminum: no cans or pull tabs, but tons of washers, nails, bottle caps, jar lids, copper wire etc.

Older stuff. Keep digging.

 

[Ima Swinger]

Hey Hisownself, I'm not familiar with that machine, but can't you discriminate out iron? You could save yourself some digging if you do that. If you're JUST looking for coins, try to discriminate everything else. But, keep in mind that there could be goodies lurking around the iron. If that area is exclusive only to you, here is what I would do:
1. Discriminate everything but coins. Go over it thoroughly and dig all coin hits.
2. After you are sure that you've gotten all the coins you could get from step 1, then grid the area, and with no discrimination, dig it all.
Your in-laws will appreciate the trash removal and you will find goodies hidden among the trash (coins, jewelry).

You could skip step 1, but I'm a "want to know first" kind of guy. This is just how I would do it, but good luck on how you choose to handle it.

Hey, let us know how it goes.
HH, Lance

 

[Hisownself]

Hey Ima,

It is my father-in-laws private property and he is a coin collector and wants me to dig the place up! I hit it once for a few hours and found a back of a pocket watch, piece of a brass bed, a Dodge brothers emblem, a pen, and tons of nails and junk...but not a single coin!!! We are going back Sep 12 to try again...that's why I'm trying to get a better plan of attack now...to be more successful next time (it's a 9 hour drive to the place so a pretty big investment to get there)

 

[Ima Swinger]

Yeah, that's a long way for junk. I see your point. Make sure you allow enough time...to be able to take your time. If the information given to you is accurate, and likely is, I'm betting there is good stuff there.
Sounds like a nifty trip. I hope you'll update this thread after the hunt. )

HH
Lance

 

[Tnmountains]

Yes get that iron out of the signal. Use a silver coin and some rusty nails and practice. That silver should come thru loud and clear. You still may hit the foil and aluminum though and copper and brass. I am going in reverse right now and looking for the solid iron canister shot amongst the iron nails. Tesoro discriminates pretty good.
You have a good machine for the task.

 

[Hisownself]

Hi Folks, this is an update to the thread. I just got back from the trip to Canada. I did get a 5.75" coil and that worked pretty well. I dug every "coin" signal that I heard. What I accumulated was a huge pile of square iron pieces, a wind up clock mechanism, a completely intact brass faucet, a 1942 license plate folded in half, a decorative iron clock face, a cast iron door to a cook stove, some brass rings, some melted globs of aluminum, a padlock, a brass disk to the front of a lock, brass buckle, some iron tool that looks like it might go to a stove, a 6" piece of a crosscut saw, some iron pieces that were part of farm equipment, several bottle caps, cut nails, wire nails, a piece of 1/4" iron rod, and a bunch of other junk.

And I did manage to find two whole coins!!!!! Nothing amazing, just a nice 1955 penny and a 1986 dime.

The soil is very sandy and very very easy to dig and preserves the stuff really well so that everything I find is in pretty good condition. And there's hardly any aluminum pull tabs, foil, or aluminum of any kind so that was really nice. The big plague up there is nails and bottle caps, and iron bits in general.

The detector ran great and the 5.75" coil is awesome. I practiced with silver coins a couple days to get my ears tuned to the machine. I typically ran the discrimination at 5cent or tab, and then checked with SCAP on the second Disc. since I really just wanted coins and aluminum was pretty much absent. I could clearly distinguish a nice hit, but sadly a 1/4" thick 3" by 3" iron plate sounds just like a coin!

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'll head up again in the spring with the in-laws and this time have even more practice under my belt.

I took some pics if people would like to see them.

 

[Joe hunter]

Hi Folks, this is an update to the thread. I just got back from the trip to Canada. I did get a 5.75" coil and that worked pretty well. I dug every "coin" signal that I heard. What I accumulated was a huge pile of square iron pieces, a wind up clock mechanism, a completely intact brass faucet, a 1942 license plate folded in half, a decorative iron clock face, a cast iron door to a cook stove, some brass rings, some melted globs of aluminum, a padlock, a brass disk to the front of a lock, brass buckle, some iron tool that looks like it might go to a stove, a 6" piece of a crosscut saw, some iron pieces that were part of farm equipment, several bottle caps, cut nails, wire nails, a piece of 1/4" iron rod, and a bunch of other junk.

And I did manage to find two whole coins!!!!! Nothing amazing, just a nice 1955 penny and a 1986 dime.

The soil is very sandy and very very easy to dig and preserves the stuff really well so that everything I find is in pretty good condition. And there's hardly any aluminum pull tabs, foil, or aluminum of any kind so that was really nice. The big plague up there is nails and bottle caps, and iron bits in general.

The detector ran great and the 5.75" coil is awesome. I practiced with silver coins a couple days to get my ears tuned to the machine. I typically ran the discrimination at 5cent or tab, and then checked with SCAP on the second Disc. since I really just wanted coins and aluminum was pretty much absent. I could clearly distinguish a nice hit, but sadly a 1/4" thick 3" by 3" iron plate sounds just like a coin!

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'll head up again in the spring with the in-laws and this time have even more practice under my belt.

I took some pics if people would like to see them.

Love to see pics Canada is beautiful

 

[Ima Swinger]

Hey man, pics are always welcome. Sounds like you had a good time. Thanks for the update!

HH

 

[Hisownself]

Here are the two coins I found. I'm posting from an iPhone and don't know if it will work.

 

[Hisownself]

Pic of area near my inlaw's home.

 

[Hisownself]

Box of "treasures" found with the two coins.




Another pic of the general area.

 

[dave sharky]

hisownself here is what to do take a rake with you tie a few magnets to it and rake the ground all the nails will stick and many coins all so or you will be there all day only digging nails i know i have done that not hard to do just try it don,t be lazy haha i wish you all the luck all ways think i do.