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 Replies: 9 / Views: 2,052 |
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Valued Member
United States
100 Posts |
Well, guess I should have done what it said in the book and tried a playground with sandy soil first.
I wanted to go right out to some land I have leased where there are a couple of old homesteads. Found out quickly what can be the problem with such locations. There were aluminum cans, coppper tubing, pipes, sheets of tin, cans, etc. - JUST ON THE TOP! Everywhere I went I'd get a hit everywhere often multiple times in one spot.
I'm beginning to wonder if the Garrett works right. It would indicate silver/coins but I'd dig and find other metal, brass, scrap, ie. Crap.. Changing the descrimination didn't seem to help it still indicated coins/silver when thre were none - did not find one coin (found lots of trash).
It would even go off on buried rocks and there were ALOT of rocks in the clay soil of this place.
I don't know if this was a problem with the detector or due to circumstances of where I was detecting. There was a rain of several inches this week. I've read that increases the conductivity of material in the ground. Also, this land was burned heavily and hotly a few years ago. The first few inches of topsoil would be black from the fire - maybe this plays heck with the detector?
Oh and it doesn't' help at all when it says there are silver coins at 8" only when there is a darn aluminum can either on the surface or 1" that I didn't see...grrr..
Think I'll do what it says and go find a playground tomorrow :)
Earl
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5953 Posts |
Welcome to the world of induction. Where aluminum and gold are so close that you have to dig a ton of cans to find one gold pendant.
Sounds like you are searching in a trashy area. Your detector would appear to be working correctly as its finding metal. Also sounds like you have the sensitivity set way to high. one or two bars should be more than sufficient. Some rocks do contain metal. The scale on the top is a guide only the It is my only complaint with the 250 as I hear all the time. "But it said silver" There are a lot of other alloys that have the same inductive properties as sliver...
In heavy trash areas its going to take a long time to find any hidden treasures below as you are going to have to clear all that trash first. (Think of the scrap value)
I would suggest your yard is a good place to start. salt the ground with various coins and learn to read your machine. If the signal varies then chances are its not what indicated. if it stays solid on one bar every pass then its probably correct. Swing level and slow or you will spend all day digging false signals. The most important rule. Never dig before you have pinpointed. Pinpointing not only gives you an exact location it tells you the size as well. Quarters are not the size of coke cans but a can will ring as a quarter if its buried 4 or more inches.
This is supposed to be a hobby and it should be done for fun and exercise I doubt one in a hundred detector owners find enough in their first year to even cover the cost of the machine.
I spent literally hundreds of hours practicing and learning before I got good. I'm 99% certain I know what I am going to dig before I recover even so I still recover every target. Pull tabs are not my fiend but the more I remove the less there are next time I visit the area and the more chance there is I will find something a little more interesting.
Edited by nohope587
01/28/2012 11:12 pm
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Valued Member
 United States
100 Posts |
Thanks for the tips nohope, will give it a try again tomorrow - first in the yard then maybe some area parks. Yes, I definitely did have the sensitivity up to high. Earl
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Moderator
 United States
16679 Posts |
If you are in areas of bad ground (high mineralization) or trashy areas, yes, turn down your sensitivity dramatically. You will still hit targets, just not as deep and small (I'm always thinking of gold nuggets here on the West coast)!
swcoin.ecrater.com
Edited by vermontensium
01/29/2012 04:13 am
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Valued Member
United States
325 Posts |
you might want to turn down the sensetivity and when you're working the homesteads lay out a 10 x 10 area and slowly go over it removing the trash and disposing of it instead of throwing it back down.
You'll find the goodies but sometimes it just takes time.
I spent 2 hours at a worked over beach yesterday and came away with 1 Lincoln that was trashed, one copper earring, and one small silver snake. Along with a hand exerciser(who brings that to the beach?)several pull tabs, a tent peg, and a bunch of crab trap pieces. This beach has been picked over countless times by countless hunters but sand and tidal movements always uncover or recover items.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2661 Posts |
Quote:
In heavy trash areas its going to take a long time to find any hidden treasures below as you are going to have to clear all that trash first. (Think of the scrap value)
 Last year this time I sold all the scrap copper, brass, aluminum, and steel I found in 2010 with my 250. In all I hauled nearly $600 in metals to the scrap yard. After I had an area mostly cleared of trash I would then start to find the good stuff. It is a lot of work but pays off in more than one way. 2011 trash totals are Copper- 116 lbs, Brass-74 lbs, Steel-over 600 lbs, & Aluminum-41 lbs. Now all I need to do is get the old beater truck running again and haul it all off and start over. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4333 Posts |
Lots of good advice on here. EarlB, I'd like to add that whenever I buy a new detector, I take it out over a "coin garden", a spot in my yard where several different coins are buried, clad, silver, quarter, dime, etc, to get a feel for the signal quality and depth of target. You are on your way, good luck in the search.
When I listen to LED ZEPPELIN...so do my neighbors...
Roll hunting since '77
Dirt fishing since '72
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Valued Member
United States
100 Posts |
Thanks guys. I never even thought of hauling all that crap off to the junkyard...this is the time of year to do it, hopefully no rattlesnakes underneath!
When doing so do you have to have it sorted by metal type or are the junk buyers content with a truckbed load?
Earl
Edited by EarlB
01/29/2012 1:06 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7123 Posts |
Earl one of the things as far as advice I didn't see mentioned is to sorta divide the area up into smaller areas, maybe 10 foot X 10 foot squares , work one area until you rid the surface of trash and then until you get no hits before moving to the next area to work it the same way.
I have large areas that I play around in and this is how I do it, and it works well for me. It saves you from having to do or feel like you have to do all of the area two or three times to feel confident you didn't miss anything.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
570 Posts |
I agree with fistfulladirt, I would also take a couple of different coins with me when I am searching a new place and test them against the ground to see what signal they produce. Some detectors have a number scale and people follow that closely to determine what is in the ground. I would bring out a couple of test pieces when you are in that clay and see what kind of signal you are getting. It will also help you adjust your sensitivity. Good luck out there!
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Replies: 9 / Views: 2,052 |
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Posted 01/29/2012 02:10 am
