Is anyone metal detecting?

I bought a really cheap metal detector recently and have been having fun finding stuff in the yard, which has just been junk so far but still has been pretty fun, I haven't found any treasure yet.

What do y'all use a metal detector for?

Have you found any buried treasure yet, or at least a few dropped nails?

i do not own one but know people who detect
they go to a silver mining area north of here

near you (maybe) i found this location...i did not check the legality of entering for you
https://www.mindat.org/loc-194675.html

i have tried magnet fishing...didnt find anything amazing yet

I am not using one, though i know a friend who was using his to check the logs at the sawmill for nails and bits of metal. seems like a very handy thing to have on a suspicious log....

I looked into getting an XRF metal detector just to see what I had for mineralization as I was out doing soil testing, but found out they are not really accurate in that capacity. That is, they can detect what a metal is if it is almost purely that metal, but when it gets bits of lots of metals, it cannot distinguish what any of it is.

They are pretty pricy, so I was glad to find that information out before buying one.

My brother has a very good metal detector and he can tell by the sound if the detector found junk or something good most of the time.  He has a bunch of those binders that hold coins that are full of coins and medals that he has found.  He spends time researching historic places in the area and finds especially cool things when a road goes through or an old building is torn down, things like that.  He has easily thousands of dollars worth of coins he has found but has no interest in selling any of them.  

They used to run metal detector over my reclaimed lumber, at a mill that I regularly sell to. Blade technology has improved so much that now they just give it a quick visual, for things on the surface and saw through the rest.

I've been impressed with the sensitivity of the metal detector model I have, for a very base model.

This is the model I have, the Bounty Hunter Gold Digger.



I think I got it on sale for about $50 last year here

I like to use headphones with it if I can, since it uses less battery power that way.

It'll give a nice loud and pretty long beep for items buried an inch or two down, and has even picked up very small items a few inches down with a very faint and short beep.

It's fun using it while walking around the yard and just relaxing sometimes, just to see what it'll find.

If I'm trying to cover a specific area, I'll sweep in a line going back and forth to try to make sure I cover the whole area.

I also got this Bounty Hunter pinpointer here, which has been a very helpful little tool.



After locating something and digging out a shovel full of dirt, I use the regular metal detector to hover over both the hole and the dirt that's set aside, to see which one contains the item. Once the item is dug out and set aside in a dirt pile, I use the pinpointer to poke around in the dirt, and it really helps find the item, especially if it is small. The item is usually coated in dirt, and it is much easier to find with the pinpointer than before I started using the pinpointer.

I do wish the pinpointer was just a little more sensitive, maybe giving a soft beep when close and a loud beep when touching the item. For this one, it has to be pretty much touching the item for it to beep. It's still very useful though, just beeping when it touches the item.

My father has one, and I thought about using it (or will let you come on up Steve and have a go of it). On me there is an old Inn, it burnt in the 1880's sometime, but at the time it was the main road from Waterville to Bangor. It is hard to see, but it has these rock walls that radiate out like spokes on a wheel which is where 5 roads converged on it at one time. Well back in those days, there was no bank, so the travelers would go out and bury their valuables in a rock wall for safe keeping, because travelers were often targeted by robbers in the days when the law was a long ride away by horseback. One has to wonder if someone forgot to go back for it?

You would not believe all the stuff I have found on old rock walls...harrow teeth, wagon wheels (brand new when left there) disc harrows, bed chains, plow points, old scythes...the list goes on and on. But keep in mind, the fields were cleared in the year 1800, so there is a poke of stuff left strewn about.

Myself, I have a 2 bit axe that I left out in the woods, I got in narrowed down to about 10 acres...

Steve Thorn wrote:I also got this Bounty Hunter pinpointer here, which has been a very helpful little tool.



After locating something and digging out a shovel full of dirt, I use the regular metal detector to hover over both the hole and the dirt that's set aside, to see which one contains the item. Once the item is dug out and set aside in a dirt pile, I use the pinpointer to poke around in the dirt, and it really helps find the item, especially if it is small. The item is usually coated in dirt, and it is much easier to find with the pinpointer than before I started using the pinpointer.

I do wish the pinpointer was just a little more sensitive, maybe giving a soft beep when close and a loud beep when touching the item. For this one, it has to be pretty much touching the item for it to beep. It's still very useful though, just beeping when it touches the item.

I wonder if you couldn't make a simple wood frame around a piece of hardware cloth.  I made one for sifting soil I bring from my chicken run.  Then you could shovel the dirt onto that and shift for treasures.  This wouldn't work if you are walking on a beach metal detecting or somewhere covering a long distance, but if you were in one fairly concentrated area it may work well.

Travis Johnson wrote:My father has one, and I thought about using it (or will let you come on up Steve and have a go of it). On me there is an old Inn, it burnt in the 1880's sometime, but at the time it was the main road from Waterville to Bangor. It is hard to see, but it has these rock walls that radiate out like spokes on a wheel which is where 5 roads converged on it at one time. Well back in those days, there was no bank, so the travelers would go out and bury their valuables in a rock wall for safe keeping, because travelers were often targeted by robbers in the days when the law was a long ride away by horseback. One has to wonder if someone forgot to go back for it?

You would not believe all the stuff I have found on old rock walls...harrow teeth, wagon wheels (brand new when left there) disc harrows, bed chains, plow points, old scythes...the list goes on and on. But keep in mind, the fields were cleared in the year 1800, so there is a poke of stuff left strewn about.

Myself, I have a 2 bit axe that I left out in the woods, I got in narrowed down to about 10 acres...

That sounds like a good spot Travis!

Trace Oswald wrote:

Steve Thorn wrote:I also got this Bounty Hunter pinpointer here, which has been a very helpful little tool.



After locating something and digging out a shovel full of dirt, I use the regular metal detector to hover over both the hole and the dirt that's set aside, to see which one contains the item. Once the item is dug out and set aside in a dirt pile, I use the pinpointer to poke around in the dirt, and it really helps find the item, especially if it is small. The item is usually coated in dirt, and it is much easier to find with the pinpointer than before I started using the pinpointer.

I do wish the pinpointer was just a little more sensitive, maybe giving a soft beep when close and a loud beep when touching the item. For this one, it has to be pretty much touching the item for it to beep. It's still very useful though, just beeping when it touches the item.

I wonder if you couldn't make a simple wood frame around a piece of hardware cloth.  I made one for sifting soil I bring from my chicken run.  Then you could shovel the dirt onto that and shift for treasures.  This wouldn't work if you are walking on a beach metal detecting or somewhere covering a long distance, but if you were in one fairly concentrated area it may work well.

That's a really good idea Trace, I hadn't thought of making one of those. Our soil here is pretty sandy, so I bet that would work really good.

You can buy pails with screens (called classifiers) on them. With them you can buy the size screen you think you might need. Just search for Gold Prospecting websites...

Travis Johnson wrote:You can buy pails with screens (called classifiers) on them. With them you can buy the size screen you think you might need. Just search for Gold Prospecting websites...

I guess something like this could be used with a smaller screen, and the bottom of the bucket cut out if needed.



It seems like with the right size screen, this and what Trace mentioned could make finding the item a lot quicker process.

Great ideas guys.

i spent a week on florida east coast where the 1715 spanish fleet crashed all i found was a pop top and an old beer can
does that count
do i get a pep badge