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Sunday, March 2, 2014

METAL DETECTING TIPS AND TRICKS #1

Hello everyone I hope you all are enjoying my blog so far. Recently I have been commenting on a few Youtube videos, answering questions on how to tell trash from coin. Here are a few tricks I have learned along the way, they are not 100% effective but has cut down on my bottle cap, pull tab, and nail digging a bunch. I can't guarantee these will work for you or your area, but they work here in the heartland most of the time.

Bottle Caps:

As anyone who swings a detector knows, one of the sweetest signals you can get is the quarter range. All your hopes and dreams could be just seconds away and your mind drifts away dreaming of large silver, .999 gold, and all the other wonderful things that pop in the quarter's beautiful realm. Then you dig the hole and find, like the creepy kid in school lurking behind every corner, a grotesque, vile, and unwelcome enemy to the detecting community, a bottle cap. It happens to us all, no matter how much experience we have or how advanced our detector is, the darn things will not leave us alone. But, I have found a few ways to determine the difference between sweet, glorious treasure, and this king of trash.

1. Make sure the object is centered in the middle of your detector. Swing your detector over the object, if the A. the numbers stay in quarter range but are jumping around, this could be a warning sign, rotate a quarter turn and repeat the process, if the numbers stay the same dig, if they change or continue bouncing around, go to number two. B. If your machine doesn't have a target number ID, do the same as A only pay attention to your indicator, if it gives a quick jump out of range, or the sound changes, it is a warning sign, and continue to the second test, if it stays the same your possibility rises, but I would still do the second test.

2. Make sure the target is centered in your coil, as you swing your coil, slowly raise it to a couple of inches, if the signal changes, it is most likely trash, if it stays constant, get to digging! This test and the one above works with all coins. Remember, most detectors are programmed to recognize the U.S. coin sizes, so anything in those sizes will usually come up as a coin, by using these two tricks, you may be able to weed out some of the unwanted garbage.

Nickel vs Pulltabs:

Unfortunately it is a fact of life we all have to deal with, and causes a great deal of soul searching and decision making on our part. Do we dig pulltabs all day hoping for a nickel or gold, or do we not waste our precious detecting time, and skip what possibly could be a find of a life time.

This is where having a detector with an  ID numbering systems gives the detectorist a great advantage over others who go by indicators or sound. Granted, if you listen close, the echo of aluminum compared to nickel can be heard, and gold usually has that distinct ping echo at the end, the chances of hearing them in a littered area are slim, and understanding what your hearing takes awhile to master. I call it listening for the ghost whispers, you know when your just standing there and all of a sudden you think you hear something that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up, that is the ghost whisper, and when you learn to hear that in your headset, the whole world opens up to you, and the finest of treasure awaits your arrival. For those who have not reached Nirvana yet, and have the ID #'s on their detectors, this is what works for me.

Numbering ID is different with each company, I wish it was standardized but, like teens, they all have to think they are different. The example I will use is for the Teknetics ID system, adjust to your own VDI by burying a nickel at 4 inches, make sure the object is centered and find the number. then rotate a quarter turn and repeat, the number should be the same or within one or two numbers. For Teknetics there is a golden rule, Nickels will very seldom, in fact I have never dug on over, the number 57, center your target and go over it, if it bounces over 57 ( or the number you have chosen as your designated nickel number) it is most likely not a nickel, rotate and repeat, if it stays under 57, dig it. Buffalo nickels tend to bounce around in the nickel range but never go over the 57 mark. This is only for nickels, gold is a whole other animal and we will treat it as such. Silver Nickels, I have noticed usually stay under 57 but have dug a few that bounced to the high dime range every few passes, pulltabs will stay in nickel/screw cap range but usually stay around 58 to 62, and they rarely stay on a solid number.

Nails:

Many times nails come up in high dime and quarter range, the same techniques under bottle caps is what I use for them, but, it is just a fact of life, you will dig some nails. The dryer the ground, the more likely you will be fooled.

Why Silver Drought is the Correct Term

You ever notice that you don't find many or any silver at times. We call it a silver drought, but, the drought part is a big key to this frustrating phenomenon that frustrates all who detect. You begin to question your coil, your detector, your headphones, your ability, your relationships, and life can become very difficult to handle when the dreaded silver drought occurs. Relax! It is not your machine, or your loved ones restricting your detecting time that is causing it. The fact is the silver is masked by irons halo. WHAT! KD HAS GONE CRAZY THINKIN IRON IS AN ANGEL OR SOMETHIN, is probably what your thinking, but, the fact is, the dryer the ground the larger irons "halo" or rust ring is. This ring of rust dust spreads and mixes with the soil causing your machine to react as if you hit something sweet, then after you pinpoint you discover it is just iron, and if you have iron discriminated out, the target disappears on you. When the soil get like this it is time to search out the neighborhood parks, ball fields, river banks, and beaches where water is delivered to the soil, i.e. sprinkler systems, and natural under ground saturation. This will increase your chances of staying on the silver and saving your loved ones from the silver junky's withdraws.

I hope these few tricks and tips will help you to find more treasures and dig less trash. Again, I can't promise you it will eliminate all the deviants that plaque our otherwise favorite activity, but, if they work for you it will save you a lot of time and energy. Thanks for reading and I wish you all good luck and HH. As always Keep the coil to the soil and I will do the same.

KD

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