Rusty nails

[shanemcn]

I've noticed that when searching in my own yard ( 1840s farm house) that very old rusty nails give off a signal that sometimes sounds like silver ?

 

[cudamark]

Yup, they do sometimes.

 

[dustytrails123]

Yup, they do sometimes.

Depending on the machine sometimes could mean every time

 

[Jackalope]

Sharp points on any elongated ferrous target (wire, nails, screws, twist-ties) has the ability to generate eddies that replicate the more generous eddies of a non-ferrous target. However, you can usually tell the ferrous (iron) target because the high tone is truncated (shortened pips and beeps). The TID will usually be in the upper-right (silver) rather than in the bottom-right (ferrous). You can DISC out a few of the top lines in the upper-right to quiet the false iron hits. Note: The more DISC you use the less sensitive the detector (and less depth), so use it carefully.

 

[Dave Rishar]

Ah, yes...the bane of my existance. As Jackalope said, there are some ways to deal with it. And as dustytrails mentioned, it's more of a problem for some machines than for others. You'll develop an ear for it after a while.

Another quick check is to re-sweep the target at a 90 degree angle from the first sweep. A rusty nail usually won't give you a repeatable good signal from another direction. Failing to get a repeatable signal from a second direction is not an absolute guarantee that you're looking at ferrous trash, but it's a safe bet to make if you're not in the mood to dig holes. The eddy effect from a sharp point is dependant upon orientation with regard to the direction of the coil's swing, so swinging from other directions will make it go away. Unfortunately, it's possible for things that are worth digging to present similar directional signals. In my admittedly limited experience (during which I dug up a metric butt-ton of rusty crap before the tones clicked), the non-repeatable sweep from another direction is usually means trash.

 

[RustyGold]

Great tip Dave, Thank you!

 

[shanemcn]

Thanks guys, great info

 

[Fletch88]

I've noticed that when searching in my own yard ( 1840s farm house) that very old rusty nails give off a signal that sometimes sounds like silver ?

A bent rusty nail or staple will look and sound so good sometimes. It's just the nature of the beast I guess.

 

[Chihene]

I've noticed that when searching in my own yard ( 1840s farm house) that very old rusty nails give off a signal that sometimes sounds like silver ?

hit the quick mask and check the numbers...or quickly switch to 2 tone ferrous...it will help you make a decision to dig or not to dig...

 

[Texas Looter]

Not meaning to be a smart a#% but i do feel your pain.
The decent replies above is all that i can offer also. Time on the machine will heal most of the pain.
btya
TL

 

[parkgt]

hit the quick mask and check the numbers...or quickly switch to 2 tone ferrous...it will help you make a decision to dig or not to dig...

What is the "quick mask"?

 

[Jackalope]

What is the "quick mask"?

In other words, when you are hunting in the DISC screen and get a target that is falling within the DISC area (greyed), you will not get a cursor or tone, but you may get a piece of the target falling outside the DISC area that appears to be good (beep). With the E-Trac you can switch the screen to an (mostly or totally) open screen (no DISC) and see where the cursor on the TID is actually falling. This can tell you whether to dig or not.

With the CTX-3030 the TID displays the position of all targets, and the rejected ones are shown with a 'rejected' icon, so there is less need to switch to a second open screen. The second open screen is still good to use on the CTX simply to obtain the highest sensitivity and depth. Targets can be missed with DISC dialed in - and if you aren't watching the screen you may miss a good target that has fallen into a DISC'd area. Another reason is that with an open screen the increased sensitivity will gain you more targets (especially the smaller, weaker, low conductivity targets - like thin gold rings).

Jackalope

 

[parkgt]

Thanks,

I understand how my CTX; works just never heard that term associated with the second screen in a mode.

 

[sask hunter]

I was worried how I was going to be able to tell the difference between our new Canadian clad and a rusty nail, cause our clad has a lot of iron it them, but today I did some air tests with a Canadian coin program for the ctx , and with our loonies, toonies , quarters it showed two targets on the screen , I guess one for steel and second for the other metal that these coins are made from , where as a rusty old nail was just one target , this will be helping me a lot with the new clad D.A.D.D.-Dads against daughters dating

 

[shanemcn]

Hoping that the us comes out with the new dollar coin they are talking about

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Hoping that the us comes out with the new dollar coin they are talking about

What machine are you running? I hunt with a guy taht uses an Etrac, and small bolts and nails gets even him. I use an ATP and have that issue, but it also has an Audio Iron settign to sorta drown out any good signal....Now if the target is 6-* deep or deeper...Im still gonna dig it,

but it does help on the shallow steel bottle caps

 

[shanemcn]

What machine are you running? I hunt with a guy taht uses an Etrac, and small bolts and nails gets even him. I use an ATP and have that issue, but it also has an Audio Iron settign to sorta drown out any good signal....Now if the target is 6-* deep or deeper...Im still gonna dig it, but it does help on the shallow steel bottle caps

I'm using an explorer se pro and still learning but having a lot of fun with it , just started playing with iron mask , it gives you a lot more signals to deal with, a little overwhelming in a trashy area