Whats the smallest item you found?

[melnatcat]

What's the 'smallest' item you found?

A couple of years ago, my daughter caught one of my favorite earrings on a tent string and it boinked right out of her ear! We searched on hands and knees and never did find it. It was just a post with a stone wrapped in silver. Pretty small. What are the chances of finding it? I see a lot of coins, relics and rings, but no earrings. Well?

 

[jeff of pa]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

no problem, I'v found items smaler then an earring stud. so small in fact, they couldn't be id'd as anything more then a speck

 

[melnatcat]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

Great! Then maybe I will have a 'pair' again! Who knows, that may be my first silver find! (it's in my yard)

 

[TORRERO]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

Since its silver you have a chance, if it were gold, then you might have a hard time.
But in silver you still will need to dig all the lowest of the low signals.... you might have a lot of work ahead of you.
good luck
Richard

 

[stoney56]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

Hopefully the lawn mower didn't ick it up and zing it. Tried to find a 1 ct. diam. eng. ring at a local hotel but that didn't call me till after they had thatched the lawn and used a yard vac. on it.

 

[minelabex1000]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

Try to narrow down the area as much as possible. Use the smallest search coil you have and setup a string line to follow. Keep moving the line until you cover the area. Over-lap your swings and hunt slowly. Also, you lost this only 2 years ago so most likely your target will be in the sod, not under it.

 

[melnatcat]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

Yea, I thought about how many times the lawn has been mowed since then. ?But maybe it was small enough to where it wasn't thrown around. ?Ah, only time will tell. ?We are supposed to get another 8 inches of snow before tomorrow. ?I have a fabulous view to the west-northwest, and I can see this storm moving in. ?I can only dream of the day my detector gets here, the snow melts, and the ground thaws enough to get out and do some searching! ?CABIN FEVER! :P

Stoney, did you ever find the ring? ?My guess it went into the yard vac...

Good advice Minelabex! I ordered a 4" with my detector. But why the smallest? would it pinpoint the smaller item better? wouldn't the larger be better? This newbie wants to learn more! Thanks!

 

[stoney56]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

No, never did and it was a platinum setting which I think has an even lower conductivity than gold. Dug everything I could without making the manicured lawn look like a rototiller went through it.

 

[minelabex1000]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

This is the type of thing small coils were made for. They're more sensitive to tiny shallow objects. However, larger coils can be used. You might try a fast search with a larger coil just to see what turns up. If no luck, use the line method I posted above.

Too, don't be surprised if while hunting for that small item you find something you never knew was there. Maybe something really extra cool!

Best of luck! Let us know if you find it or whatever you find.

 

[omnicognic]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

was at the beach a few weeks back and my MD sounded off like it just discovered the ATOCHA! turns out that it was just the tiniest fragment of an earring (about 2 mm.)at about 6" deep! I don't see why you couln't find yours! Good luck! HH 8)

 

[melnatcat]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

The string idea is great! ?We have almost an acre of yard. ?Nice way to keep track of what was searched!

This place was built in 1917. ?Our whole little town is old, late 1800's I believe. ?The church was founded in 1865. ?The cemetary has undated stones. ?The property was owned on and off by Northern Pacific or Soo line rr's. ?7 miles to nearest tracks. ?The old post office is next door, next door to the p.o. is the old original bank building, and the slab for the blacksmith shop is still there. ?One problem, tho, about 10 years ago, the town board decided that the residents had to put in the mound sewer system. ?So some of the ground has been disturbed. ?But they did use the original dirt to cover the mounds over. ?There is also a little dedicated ballfield. ?My husband went to the old elementary school (the parish uses it for a social hall now)....hmmm, some 40 odd years ago. ?Population 99...and that includes the chickens!

Come to think of it, I could spend just the whole summer hunting here! ?Cabin fever, tho, I am ready for a road trip!

The yard to start, tho, will be a good practice area! ?

WOW! 2 mm! How's you sift that out? ?

 

[Jason in TN]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

I would agree that a small coil the DD type may be your best. I have found a lot of earing's and earring backs at the beach. Good luck and let us know how it comes out.

 

[omnicognic]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

WOW!? 2 mm!? How's you sift that out??

I found it in the water near the edge of the beach, the sand was very fine. I simply waved the sand away gently and it eventually turned up as a glimmer in the hole. I couldn't believe that this little speck caused all that noise in my detector but that was it! 8)

 

[foolserrand]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

Smallest for me would be a pellet gun pellet (not a BB, but a lead pellet). I was looking for civil war bullets at the time & was digging up every signal. Oh ....also i have found one penny coin bit about the size of pellet gun pellet. Coin bits are what I call tiny pieces of coin that have been chopped up by lawn mowers or those miracle shears/scissors that were popular years ago.
Smallest piece of silver I have sound were 2 items about the same size..... a "usa" pin & a silver earcuff.

 

[Monty]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

The smallest thing I have found is .22 short hulls. .22 short use to be very popular because it didn't cost as much as hi-velocity or long rifle ammo. I was searching an old abandoned WPA road way out in the boonies that use to lead to a quarry. I kept getting hits on my detector indicating pennies and thought I might pick up a few wheaties. I kept coming up empty and couldn't figure it out. I got my pin-pointer and found a .22 short hull. Now when I hunt this road I have to ignore penny signals as it is a .22 hull about 99% of the time! Maybe it's just peculiar to my machine, but they drive me nuts!

 

[TOWcritter]

Re: What's the 'smallest' item you found?

Just the other day I was at the playground and the MXT said VDI 22, 4 bars, nickel and I dug and dug. Evey time I checked the signal stayed the same but it moved all over. I was looking for a nickel but I finally found a 1/8 th inch long (barely) diode from something electronic. A little brown one with a gold stripe. Tiny invisible little thing.