My first dig
nesvt
Posts: 2,214
I mentioned in this thread that I just picked up a used White's Quantum XT 950. Tried it out today.
My neighbor's house was built in 1810. It's been on the market for several years, but it's not selling. They are promoting a lot of the "history" of the house. Built in 1810; belonged to the only doctor in the area; his office was in the house; across the dirt driveway there's an old stagecoach road that once brought you over the mountain. It was later sold to a farmer who buried several cars and tractors in the back yard. I decided to stick to the front and sides of the house. The owner said I could detect all I wanted as long as I didn't leave any holes.
Was there an hour this morning. Set the MD to "Coins" only. Picking up targets everywhere. Turns out, they must have had a copper roof at some point. Shards of copper everywhere.
Found my first coin! It's a 1944-P Lincoln cent. I'm a Morgan dollar collector. How do you folks clean these up? Olive oil?
Also found several nails, a pepsi can, glass, broken bottles, shovel blade, and some other junk.
Now the interesting part.... Picked up a signal on the side of the house. It's jumping from "screwcap" to "coins" to "nickel". Tried to pinpoint it, but it was large. Dug 12 inches down. Looks like a brick. Scrape it. It's metal. Tap it. Sounds hollow. Look at where I am in relation to the yard and house. Pace off.... It's exactly 10 feet from a very old tree in a straight line to the front entrance of the house. I am working from home this week and my hour was up. Had to leave and return home. It's probably a dead cat in a box or some old car part. I'll be returning during my lunch break.
My neighbor's house was built in 1810. It's been on the market for several years, but it's not selling. They are promoting a lot of the "history" of the house. Built in 1810; belonged to the only doctor in the area; his office was in the house; across the dirt driveway there's an old stagecoach road that once brought you over the mountain. It was later sold to a farmer who buried several cars and tractors in the back yard. I decided to stick to the front and sides of the house. The owner said I could detect all I wanted as long as I didn't leave any holes.
Was there an hour this morning. Set the MD to "Coins" only. Picking up targets everywhere. Turns out, they must have had a copper roof at some point. Shards of copper everywhere.
Found my first coin! It's a 1944-P Lincoln cent. I'm a Morgan dollar collector. How do you folks clean these up? Olive oil?
Also found several nails, a pepsi can, glass, broken bottles, shovel blade, and some other junk.
Now the interesting part.... Picked up a signal on the side of the house. It's jumping from "screwcap" to "coins" to "nickel". Tried to pinpoint it, but it was large. Dug 12 inches down. Looks like a brick. Scrape it. It's metal. Tap it. Sounds hollow. Look at where I am in relation to the yard and house. Pace off.... It's exactly 10 feet from a very old tree in a straight line to the front entrance of the house. I am working from home this week and my hour was up. Had to leave and return home. It's probably a dead cat in a box or some old car part. I'll be returning during my lunch break.
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<< <i>Cool, that box is full of double eagles stashed away a long time ago.... until proven otherwise. >>
My first guess is family pet, second is a car part, third is a toxic chemical like mercury that the doctor disposed of in his yard. I'll know in a few hours.
Hurry up & dig it up already.
Click on this link to see my ebay listings.
Do you folks think I'm over-enthusiastic? I'm having a blast. My wife even seems to be taking an interest.
Was there for an hour during lunch. Found a 1975-P dime and a 1966-P cent. Also found lots more scrap metal, square headed nails, copper tubes, door hinge, and an old copper faucet. I'm discriminated against iron, but the old nails are all over the yard. I'm finding them while digging the actual signalled targets.
I need to learn the tones. I'm getting lots of "coin" signals, but finding scrap metal (lots of copper). I noticed the "real" coins seem to give a higher pitch. In the last ten minutes, I did NOT dig at least six "coin" targets because of the lower pitch. Not sure if this is a good idea or not, but the pile of scap metal is building too fast.... and it's a ten acre lot.
The manual says
lower and lift the loop from the ground until little or no change in threshold can be heard, then squeeze and release the Trigger on the handle.
So the coil is flat on the ground; I raise it four or five inches... then lower and repeat. The sound always seems to change. I don't see it NOT changing. What am I doing wrong?
I just realized I've been making a mistake. I was trying to prioritize before they sell or rent the house. I've been skipping A LOT of targets because of all the scrap metal I've been digging up. The metal detector has eight discrimination zones.
1- LARGE IRON
2- SMALL IRON
3- FOIL/SMALL RING
4- NICKEL/RING
5- PULLTAB
6- SCREWCAP/ZINC,INDIAN PENNY
7- COINS/SILVER
8- HOT ROCK
After my first hour or two, I started digging "7" only. The MD display shows "1₵...50₵/1$". I didn't realize IHC's were in zone "6". I've skipped dozens of these because I thought it was screwcaps and newer cents because the display reads "Screwcap/Zn₵". So much to learn.
My neighbors just phoned. They are in town (they live out of state). They're excited. They sold the house. Hoping to have the closing tomorrow. It's been on the market for four years; I picked up the metal detector last weekend.
This afternoon may be my last searching opportunity.
This is the last stuff I dug. Lots of copper pipes and scrap scattered all over the place. Coins are modern. Key reads "GRAHAM MFG COMPANY", "M", and "DERBY,CT".