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Giving it a try this weekend ** Update in first post **
WhiteTornado
Posts: 2,102 ✭✭✭
See update below
==========
I have a growing curiosity to try MDing, so I'm going to rent a md this coming weekend. I had one back when I was a teenager, but we're talking 30 years ago and I only used it a few times before it sat and gathered dust until I got rid of it. So, this is like practically starting over for me. I figured it would be a good idea to rent one and see if this is something I will like long-term, before I invest in a unit of my own.
The one I'm renting looks like it will be a Whites M6, per a link on the rental company's web site. This place rents all sorts of equipment, not just metal detectors, so they are not experts but they did confirm over the phone that the brand of the their unit is Whites.
My plan is to just hit my yard and some nearby walking paths and tot lots. I live in central Maryland and the oldest houses in my neighborhood are maybe 40 years old if that. Mine dates to 1976. One thing interesting about the soil in my area is it seems to contain a lot of vermiculite. Per that Wiki link, I assume it was added to the soil in this community as a way to make it more fertile. I'm hoping the metallic-looking flakes do not drive me crazy when I start looking for actual metal!
I will assume the md will not be fooled but my eyes could be.
I've been doing research on here and treasure.net (just registered there recently) and have gleaned a few tips from various posts. If anyone has further tips for a near-newbie, especially regarding the M6, let me know.
Thanks.
========
* Update *
Saturday
I rented the unit fairly early in the morning and stopped by a nearby Home Depot to get a simple digger. After some family responsibilities were taken care of, I was ready for the hunt! It was indeed a Whites M6 as I figured. My 9-year-old son Andrew tagged along, as he was quite excited all week to get the metal detector. Our first hunt began mid-morning.
We first tried right next to the driveway and easily pulled out a scrap piece of metal. Considering we recently had our kitchen remodeled, this was not surprising since the workers were around that area a lot. Not wanting to start off in what was probably a high-trash area, we moved on. We tried another target down further into the side yard, but our digging turned up nothing.
We tried once in the back yard, but the signal resulted in nothing after our digging. With our chocolate Lab getting quite nosy and in the way, we decided it was time to move beyond the back yard fence. We dug a target that was just beyond our fence, in a space that leads to a paved public walking path. We dug a pretty large hole just to yield a pulltab
. The next target was right next to the paved path. It contained my oddest find of the weekend: the bottom end of a light bulb! It was very odd to find that there, considering there are no light fixtures anywhere nearby.
We tried a few more targets along the walking path. In the target areas where there was foliage – clover or moss-covered ground – the digging was a bit easier. The spots which were little more than dirt and rocks were the toughest to dig. We found our first keeper, a Lincoln Cent, along the path. In fact, it was not even a stinkin’ Zincoln, but actual copper, dated 1969.
By that time, we had probably put in about an hour and a half. We took a break for lunch and then I had to do yard work. After that was over, I did one more brief session of about 30 minutes along the path, going a bit farther away. My son didn’t last long, as the mosquitoes were bothering him a lot, even with bug repellant applied. I was in a rut of hearing a target, yet digging and finding nothing, so I didn’t last much longer myself.
About 5:00 PM, I hit one of 2 nearby tot lots. The first one I chose is lightly used, so I figured there would be less of a chance of getting in people’s way or encountering lookie-loos. One thing I really liked about hunting the tot lot is that the ones in my town are almost always comprised of mulch on top of soil. This made for much easier digging and my hands were thanking me for it! It was also easier to shove the mulch back into the hole and leave virtually no trace of activity.
I spent about an hour at this first tot lot, wound up getting two zinc Lincolns and a small wad of foil. I combed the nearby sandbox, but found nothing, not even any toys. That surprised me a bit. I thought I’d have luck at the end of the slide, or around the play fort, but the Lincolns I found were actually off to the side, away from the play structure. At that point, it was time to go home, wash up, and reflect on my first day.
Sunday
I got out a bit early, 8:30 AM, to hit the other tot lot nearby. This one is used a lot more than the one I visited on Saturday. It’s at the intersection of 3 different walking paths, so people walk by there often. I figured by going early, I would encounter fewer people. Also, there was more of a chance of rain later in the day.
Teenagers sometimes hang out late at night at this tot lot, so I figured some of them may have dropped coins or even jewelry at one time or another. Due to this aspect, I was also prepared to encounter more trash. Found a pull tab right away, then struck out on a few targets, digging and digging and finding nothing. At least the digging was easy with the thick layer of mulch. I did pull up a couple of zinc Lincolns.
I combed the sandbox, which was about twice the size of the one at the first tot lot. I dug one decent-sounding target but came up with nothing at all. I even tried the “beach” setting on the detector, but that didn’t produce anything. Saw a couple of friends go by . They asked if I was finding anything, and I said no treasures here, mostly trash LOL.
After a while, becoming frustrated at too many instances of hearing a fairly solid tone but coming up with nothing, I decided to try the discrimination on higher settings. While having it very high – on a “coins only” setting – I dug my best find so far: a 1995 Washington Quarter.
I felt very fortunate to find it because it was darkly toned, almost black. It was basically the same color as the dirt! I had put in over an hour at this location, so it was cool to end on a positive note. I was dirty and sweaty and smelled like it too! I did my part and cleaned up some trash lying around the tot lot, mostly a slew of cigarette butts.
On my walk home, someone pulled up to ask how I did. I recognized the lady because she had walked by the tot lot just a short time earlier with her dogs. Told them I just got pocket change and trash and we exchanged a chuckle. I think it’s a good sign that people I did happen to encounter while detecting either thought it was “neat” or at least didn’t pay me much attention.
I tried going out one more time, about 4:00 PM, and my son even wanted to come out this time. We only got about 5 minutes into it, just long enough to dig up a final pull tab, before the winds picked up and the sky grew dark. We stopped and went back inside, and not 2 minutes later there was a strong cloudburst.
Overall, I’d estimate I put in just over 4 hours of total time this weekend. Not bad for a newbie’s first outing.
My observations and lessons learned:
• The detector was lighter than I expected it would be. It can also be a bit loud when not using headphones, especially when it hits a hot target. The detector has a headphone jack, but it’s for more traditional type, stereo headphones, not the smaller 3.5mm iPod-sized headphones. I assume this is typical of most detectors?
• I was surprised at how often a fairly solid signal would yield nothing at all, even after substantial digging. I’m hoping that is a product of inexperience.
• I think the Whites M6 is a mid-level unit, and as a newbie, I found the combination of tones and the display to be a bit confusing. After a while, I started ignoring the display and just listened for the tones.
• Hunting can take longer than you think, and time really seems to fly.
• I was self-conscious at first as to what people walking by would think when I was digging on open space property, or in tot lots. The reality I found was that people either didn’t notice me at all, or if they did make a comment, it was in a friendly way, such as asking, “strike it rich yet?”
• The soil here in central Maryland is quite hard to dig into, being comprised of about half clay and half dirt. The heels of my hands are a bit sore from trying to shove the digger into the dirt. I can tell that I’ll have to invest in a top-shelf digger like a Lesche to make the going easier long-term.
• I’m guessing that once you find your first modern Lincoln, you want to find your first modern nickel or dime or quarter, then you want to find your first Wheatie, and so on. Even after one outing, I can sense the desire to find better quality goodies.
At this point, it’s time to do a bit more research and decide what kind of detector and pinpointer I will be getting. I’ll likely get a more basic unit, one without a display. I think the md-ing bug has fully bitten!
==========
I have a growing curiosity to try MDing, so I'm going to rent a md this coming weekend. I had one back when I was a teenager, but we're talking 30 years ago and I only used it a few times before it sat and gathered dust until I got rid of it. So, this is like practically starting over for me. I figured it would be a good idea to rent one and see if this is something I will like long-term, before I invest in a unit of my own.
The one I'm renting looks like it will be a Whites M6, per a link on the rental company's web site. This place rents all sorts of equipment, not just metal detectors, so they are not experts but they did confirm over the phone that the brand of the their unit is Whites.
My plan is to just hit my yard and some nearby walking paths and tot lots. I live in central Maryland and the oldest houses in my neighborhood are maybe 40 years old if that. Mine dates to 1976. One thing interesting about the soil in my area is it seems to contain a lot of vermiculite. Per that Wiki link, I assume it was added to the soil in this community as a way to make it more fertile. I'm hoping the metallic-looking flakes do not drive me crazy when I start looking for actual metal!
I will assume the md will not be fooled but my eyes could be.I've been doing research on here and treasure.net (just registered there recently) and have gleaned a few tips from various posts. If anyone has further tips for a near-newbie, especially regarding the M6, let me know.
Thanks.
========
* Update *
Saturday
I rented the unit fairly early in the morning and stopped by a nearby Home Depot to get a simple digger. After some family responsibilities were taken care of, I was ready for the hunt! It was indeed a Whites M6 as I figured. My 9-year-old son Andrew tagged along, as he was quite excited all week to get the metal detector. Our first hunt began mid-morning.
We first tried right next to the driveway and easily pulled out a scrap piece of metal. Considering we recently had our kitchen remodeled, this was not surprising since the workers were around that area a lot. Not wanting to start off in what was probably a high-trash area, we moved on. We tried another target down further into the side yard, but our digging turned up nothing.
We tried once in the back yard, but the signal resulted in nothing after our digging. With our chocolate Lab getting quite nosy and in the way, we decided it was time to move beyond the back yard fence. We dug a target that was just beyond our fence, in a space that leads to a paved public walking path. We dug a pretty large hole just to yield a pulltab
. The next target was right next to the paved path. It contained my oddest find of the weekend: the bottom end of a light bulb! It was very odd to find that there, considering there are no light fixtures anywhere nearby.We tried a few more targets along the walking path. In the target areas where there was foliage – clover or moss-covered ground – the digging was a bit easier. The spots which were little more than dirt and rocks were the toughest to dig. We found our first keeper, a Lincoln Cent, along the path. In fact, it was not even a stinkin’ Zincoln, but actual copper, dated 1969.
By that time, we had probably put in about an hour and a half. We took a break for lunch and then I had to do yard work. After that was over, I did one more brief session of about 30 minutes along the path, going a bit farther away. My son didn’t last long, as the mosquitoes were bothering him a lot, even with bug repellant applied. I was in a rut of hearing a target, yet digging and finding nothing, so I didn’t last much longer myself.
About 5:00 PM, I hit one of 2 nearby tot lots. The first one I chose is lightly used, so I figured there would be less of a chance of getting in people’s way or encountering lookie-loos. One thing I really liked about hunting the tot lot is that the ones in my town are almost always comprised of mulch on top of soil. This made for much easier digging and my hands were thanking me for it! It was also easier to shove the mulch back into the hole and leave virtually no trace of activity.
I spent about an hour at this first tot lot, wound up getting two zinc Lincolns and a small wad of foil. I combed the nearby sandbox, but found nothing, not even any toys. That surprised me a bit. I thought I’d have luck at the end of the slide, or around the play fort, but the Lincolns I found were actually off to the side, away from the play structure. At that point, it was time to go home, wash up, and reflect on my first day.
Sunday
I got out a bit early, 8:30 AM, to hit the other tot lot nearby. This one is used a lot more than the one I visited on Saturday. It’s at the intersection of 3 different walking paths, so people walk by there often. I figured by going early, I would encounter fewer people. Also, there was more of a chance of rain later in the day.
Teenagers sometimes hang out late at night at this tot lot, so I figured some of them may have dropped coins or even jewelry at one time or another. Due to this aspect, I was also prepared to encounter more trash. Found a pull tab right away, then struck out on a few targets, digging and digging and finding nothing. At least the digging was easy with the thick layer of mulch. I did pull up a couple of zinc Lincolns.
I combed the sandbox, which was about twice the size of the one at the first tot lot. I dug one decent-sounding target but came up with nothing at all. I even tried the “beach” setting on the detector, but that didn’t produce anything. Saw a couple of friends go by . They asked if I was finding anything, and I said no treasures here, mostly trash LOL.
After a while, becoming frustrated at too many instances of hearing a fairly solid tone but coming up with nothing, I decided to try the discrimination on higher settings. While having it very high – on a “coins only” setting – I dug my best find so far: a 1995 Washington Quarter
. I felt very fortunate to find it because it was darkly toned, almost black. It was basically the same color as the dirt! I had put in over an hour at this location, so it was cool to end on a positive note. I was dirty and sweaty and smelled like it too!
I did my part and cleaned up some trash lying around the tot lot, mostly a slew of cigarette butts.On my walk home, someone pulled up to ask how I did. I recognized the lady because she had walked by the tot lot just a short time earlier with her dogs. Told them I just got pocket change and trash and we exchanged a chuckle. I think it’s a good sign that people I did happen to encounter while detecting either thought it was “neat” or at least didn’t pay me much attention.
I tried going out one more time, about 4:00 PM, and my son even wanted to come out this time. We only got about 5 minutes into it, just long enough to dig up a final pull tab, before the winds picked up and the sky grew dark. We stopped and went back inside, and not 2 minutes later there was a strong cloudburst.
Overall, I’d estimate I put in just over 4 hours of total time this weekend. Not bad for a newbie’s first outing.
My observations and lessons learned:
• The detector was lighter than I expected it would be. It can also be a bit loud when not using headphones, especially when it hits a hot target. The detector has a headphone jack, but it’s for more traditional type, stereo headphones, not the smaller 3.5mm iPod-sized headphones. I assume this is typical of most detectors?
• I was surprised at how often a fairly solid signal would yield nothing at all, even after substantial digging. I’m hoping that is a product of inexperience.
• I think the Whites M6 is a mid-level unit, and as a newbie, I found the combination of tones and the display to be a bit confusing. After a while, I started ignoring the display and just listened for the tones.
• Hunting can take longer than you think, and time really seems to fly.
• I was self-conscious at first as to what people walking by would think when I was digging on open space property, or in tot lots. The reality I found was that people either didn’t notice me at all, or if they did make a comment, it was in a friendly way, such as asking, “strike it rich yet?”
• The soil here in central Maryland is quite hard to dig into, being comprised of about half clay and half dirt. The heels of my hands are a bit sore from trying to shove the digger into the dirt. I can tell that I’ll have to invest in a top-shelf digger like a Lesche to make the going easier long-term.
• I’m guessing that once you find your first modern Lincoln, you want to find your first modern nickel or dime or quarter, then you want to find your first Wheatie, and so on. Even after one outing, I can sense the desire to find better quality goodies.
At this point, it’s time to do a bit more research and decide what kind of detector and pinpointer I will be getting. I’ll likely get a more basic unit, one without a display. I think the md-ing bug has fully bitten!
0
Comments
Don't discriminate out bottle caps... dig it all.
keep your plugs neat and clean, use a dirt cloth and cover all holes. Rent/buy a pinpointer like the propointer or pistol probe. The time savings are immense.
don't rub silver coins if you find any!
keep and properly dispose of any trash.
Don't expect much from a first outing with an unfamiliar detector, but there IS always the possibility you'll make a fun find.
Enjoy it, and let us know how you do!
I'd say even one funky older artifact, or a single Wheat penny, counts a success.
I didn't know what Vermiculite was until now. Hmm. Probably won't affect the machine too much in terms of false signals, I wouldn't think.
I'll also try to get some pictures of any finds, so hopefully you will be looking at something besides old nails and scrap metal LOL.
Good luck.
Successful BST deals with mustangt and jesbroken. Now EVERYTHING is for sale.
<< <i>Not bad for a start....it took me two weeks before I found a coin....funny story, my wife and son went with me the first time I went. We got to a local park and I started detecting, my son and wife went over to the swing set..after 30 min, I hadn't found anything, and he had found almost 95 cents in change around the swing set on top,of the ground! LOL! >>
That is too funny! My goal was to get any coin, and my next was to get any coin higher in denomination than a cent.
Next stop, your first Wheatie, then your first silver.
Then your first gold, then your first double eagle, then your first chest full of...
(Whoops. I always get carried away. Haha.)
As LordM said, next goal is a wheat cent, then silver, then gold, then gold coin, then... haha.
Regarding your phantom signals. Just for kicks, try lowering your sensitivity to make sure there wasn't any electrical interference or other things messing with the signal. It's possible there was a lot of iron that was causing the false signals.
I did a lot of my research on Youtube actually. Get some recommendations for detectors in your range, read about the specs, and finally see them in action on youtube. It helped me narrow down my decision.