New machine impresses in visit to old colonial site

[Bill D. (VA)]

I've been dying to take my brand new F75 Special Edition detector to one of my old sites to see what it could do in a heavily hunted iron patch. That opportunity came yesterday, and I made a return trip to the site I hit very hard last winter, and one that had given up a gorgeous 1795 liberty cap cent, a W&M halfpenny, and 6 pieces of colonial silver including a cut hammered coin that my digging buddy Dan recovered along with many buttons and buckles. This site has a heavy duty iron patch which is bisected by a dirt and gravel lane leading to the owner's house. I had hit both sides of it with a vengeance earlier in the year, and it was getting near impossible to get any non-ferrous hits at all. Yesterday I put on the small 5" shooter coil and used the FA mode for fast recovery speed, and was amazed at how the targets began to sing out. I wasn't able to walk over a coin, but a number of early buttons and buckle pieces made their way into my finds pouch. I was also successful hunting the actual roadway which I didn't hit too hard before. It was hard digging there, and I had to use my lesche knife so as not to upset the owner by tearing up her lane. I dug 3 early pewter buttons, one with the long, stand-up shank that I like. And the broken one appears to have some sort of design on the obverse but doubt I'll be able to decipher it. Another interesting find was a nice little silver cuff adornment which was constructed like a rivet instead of a regular cuff link. It has a floral design on one side and a "C" on the other. And I thought it was odd that I dug 3 identical decorative colonial buttons within a 20 ft radius near the driveway. Those had to have come from a discarded piece of clothing. Anyway, I was thrilled that the results of the hunt proved the merit of this new machine, and I can't wait to give it a shot at another of my old sites (or maybe a new one too).

 

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[Bass]

That's a great post Bill. Looks like you were successful with this technique and it may be a great way to hunt those tight areas. Wishing you success in the future

 

[Old Dude]

All are great finds. Nice way to break in a detector. Apparently it wants you to keep it, lol.

 

[zaxfire69]

Looks like you did very well. Did you get a chance to try the new stand on your new machine?

 

[joeyfresh]

Great assortment of finds Bill. It looks like you have a winner combo with the FA mode and small coil. Were you running at max sensitivity or did you knock it down some?

 

[Ahab8]

Bill what a fantastic and exciting result. I just watched a video of the FAA mode and was blown away. Now that I have the T2 SE and F75 LTD I am beyond psyched that I will have 2 upgraded machines that should kill it under and conditions. Some of those buttons are amazing buddy

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Looks like you did very well. Did you get a chance to try the new stand on your new machine?

Yes, I've been using it David. But I had to drill holes through it so I could attach it firmly to the F75 shaft. Otherwise it would move all around. Since the new F75's come with a series of pre-drilled holes just in front of the electronics box, it would be nice if the detector stand came with matching holes as well so it could be snugly secured with a machine screw and wingnut. Just a thought. But I do like it a lot, and wouldn't use my detector without it. It provides much more stability and keeps it out of the mud.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Great assortment of finds Bill. It looks like you have a winner combo with the FA mode and small coil. Were you running at max sensitivity or did you knock it down some?

Joey - I've been playing around with that and feel that it's best if I leave the sensitivity maxed out at 99. With the small coil and fast response in FA mode the higher sensitivity is not a problem. Plus, if you turn it down much it impacts depth as well as makes it difficult to hear a target in your hand when sweeping near the coil.

 

[Brian C.]

Nice saves.

 

[Steve in PA]

That's a fantastic hunt in my book Bill. Two nice buckles, several nice buttons, and (I'm confused) a silver cuff link with three hearts, and a round silver piece with a C (or are those the same piece?). Hopefully you will be able to hit a lot of your pounded iron patches and pull some nice stuff out.

 

[mangum]

Wow, the new machine definitely sniffed out some great finds! The little silver cuff is very interesting. Would the C be the makers mark? That is really neat that you found 3 identical buttons. Awesome hunt as usual

 

[CRUSADER]

Good result, looks like that machine will serve you well, I'm loving my new machine as well.

 

[cjon455]

Some more great finds, nice to go back to old sites with a new machine, sort of makes the site new again!, I really like that silver cuff item, very interesting

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

That's a fantastic hunt in my book Bill. Two nice buckles, several nice buttons, and (I'm confused) a silver cuff link with three hearts, and a round silver piece with a C (or are those the same piece?). Hopefully you will be able to hit a lot of your pounded iron patches and pull some nice stuff out.

Steve - those are from the same piece. You can see a side view of it in the next to last pic.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Wow, the new machine definitely sniffed out some great finds! The little silver cuff is very interesting. Would the C be the makers mark? That is really neat that you found 3 identical buttons. Awesome hunt as usual

Josh - the "C" is probably a personalized mark representing the owner's surname. Unfortunately, that doesn't match up with the last name "Davis" who owned the property in 1802 according to chancery court records.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Bill what a fantastic and exciting result. I just watched a video of the FAA mode and was blown away. Now that I have the T2 SE and F75 LTD I am beyond psyched that I will have 2 upgraded machines that should kill it under and conditions. Some of those buttons are amazing buddy

Thanks Abe. Can you post or send me a link to that video you mentioned? I'd like to check that out.

 

[Ahab8]

Thanks Abe. Can you post or send me a link to that video you mentioned? I'd like to check that out.

Hey buddy I just emailed you a link to one of them that shows the FA pretty well. There's a couple others that I will look for after work today. Have a great day

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Hey buddy I just emailed you a link to one of them that shows the FA pretty well. There's a couple others that I will look for after work today. Have a great day

Thanks man. Getting ready to leave on a road trip to hopefully dig out a colonial pit Joey and I found last week. Wish us luck.

 

[masterjedi]

Maybe its a clover and not 3 hearts?

 

[Don in SJ]

Your silver "rivet like" piece is interesting, it evidently was used with something thicker like leather I would think, not footwear, but maybe outerwear? Guess it still could be classified as a cufflink? Overall your relic finds were great and glad you did so well with the setup on your detector......