Sooo....You wannaa buy a metal detector ehh !!!!!!

[Harold_V]

Mark,
I own a detector, purchased in the early 70's, so it's not anywhere near the state of the art that is now available.

I'm curious. You said your detector offered suggestions as to what it found. Was it accurate? Did you have an idea of what you'd find after you removed it from the ground?

Harold

 

[Busmike]

Harold,

I bought my first detector in 1991. A Whites Eagle II Spectrum. It had the ability to display what the target might be., and my current detector, a Whites Spectrum XLT also has this ability.
For the most part, the detector is correct. If it tells me there's a quarter at 2 1/2 inches then about 90 percent of the time there is a quarter there. The detector is not always right though. Gold for example, hits in the same range as pulltabs. That is, all new detectors use what's called a "discrimination value" that ramges from 1 to 100. Pulltabs and small gold pieces hit around 35 while a silver quarter hits 87. (a clad quarter hits at 85).
It's the discrimination number combined with the QUALITY of the tone you hear that will tell you what the target likely is. A silver quarter will give out a strong, clear tone, while a rusted tin can will produce a broken, "ratty" tone.
The detector companies have added graphics and text, so when you pass over an object that registers a target in the high 80's you'll see a picture of a quarter and the word quarter on the screen, but it's basically an educated guess. You have to actually dig the hole to find out. If you go out looking for gold, be prepared to dig up a boatload of pulltabs.
I once found an 1851 one dollar gold coin in a hole that the detector was telling me held a silver quarter. It turned out that there was a large, rusted piece of iron at that spot that was actually about a foot and a half deep (the detector was telling me it was at 8 inches). It was pure luck that the gold dollar was in that same spot.
In a nutshell, the more you're willing to dig, the more you''ll find. The discriminator is a tool, but not a perfect one. ]

 

[Harold_V]

Thanks, Busmike. Your account is roughly what I would have expected. Still, it's amazing that they have these things refined to the point where they are actually rather reliable in their predictions.

I haven't had my detector out for years, but I had some great finds, including some early silver coins. Never have found even a trace of gold, however, and that was one of my greatest hopes. I stopped way too soon! Maybe when I've finished building the "house from hell" I'll find some time to explore once again. I really enjoyed what little I did.

I envy you your $1 gold coin! Something like that would have made my day!

By the way, my detector is a Compass, made in Oregon. Don't know if they're still in business, or not.


Harold

 

[Anonymous]

Harold here is a link to a forum dedicated to Compass metal detectors. Browsing the forum if you have this model compass challenger x100 there is a great demand for this model. Probably worth more now then when new.

Quite a dedicated following for the Compass.

http://n2.nabble.com/Compass-Metal-Detector-Forum-f548136.html

 

[Busmike]

If you want to find gold with a detector your best bet is the beach.
you're not likely to find pieces of eight, but you will find lost rings and other jewelry.
This assumes rhat you live reasonably close to some shoreline. I'm in Northeast PA and we regularly hit the New Jersey beaches. The trick is to go in the winter. Some ideocyncracy of the tides causes sand to be deposited on beaches during the Summer, and pulled back out into deep water in winter months (here anyway). So you have a much better chance of finding old stuff in December and January than in the summer. I always tell people that I'm the only person that goes to the beach in bluejeans and sweatshirt

Not sure, but I think that Compass model is like the Whites DI6000 Pro. It also is in high demand despite the fact that it was discontinued in 1990 (more or less). Reason?
Because those models use frequencies that the new models can no longer legally use. Go on Ebay and look at the prices these 30 year old machines bring. Sounds like your Compass might be in that same class.

 

[patnor1011]

I have Minelab Explorer II Pro. I am very happy with this machine but I have found out that it has little bit too complicated menu and settings. It is like mini computer. I have found bucketfull of trash, nails, pulltabs. Say that about kilo of coins some new euro and euro cents, some old irish pounds but nothing of historical value. I have found nice silver ring. I am still waiting for my first gold. I have to say that beaches here are not the best spot as there is no real summer here and that cause that not enough people loosing stuff on beach here :lol:
Also I did not have enough time to go this year but will think about that this winter if weather and my health will be ok. I am going for check up and probably some sort of surgery this thursday to hospital. I have unfortunate illness like every fifth person on earth - hemorrhoids and I suspect that something with my bowel too. Hope that it will not be anything serious as I have loads things to do... :lol:
Anyway, when everything be ok I want to go to beach more often with my minelab. You can do this hobby on beach only becouse of law. There are literally thousands of castles, towers, forts in here but by law you are prohibited to use metal detector anywhere near them and they are everywhere... Most of the land is considered as archaeological locality and you can end up with fine and your detector confiscated.

 

[Anonymous]

My apologies for breaking into a private discussion on metal detectors.

 

[61 silverman]

Harold ; In responsce to your question , yes the detector did show the NAIL icon on screen, however being out for the first time with intent of finding anything!the signal was definate and repeated in the same spot, So i dug...did not notice the depth guage being correct or not, I'm still getting used to that part also.. It is a bar graph 1 bar on either side of center means deep--4 on either side means shallow...Gum foil will send your beeper through the roof also, it was everywhere i looked..The beaches are 90 miles away from Home, Free gold panning site 60 miles, the other way.near Salem.
( WHICH WAY DO I GO----WHICH WAY DO I GO ) I will have to make a trip soon....
Mark

 

[Busmike]

Patnor1011,
I'm sorry to hear that. I've always wanted to go to Ireland and detect. Are you in the North or the South? I've tried to contact the Irish embassy here several times to get an answer about detecting there, I have yet to get an answer. I think detecting around stream and river crossings would be very productive, but I don't want to wind up sitting in an Irish jail. This is the first time in a dozen odd years I've heard anyone say ANYTHING about the legality of detecting there.
I would think the beaches there would be fruitfuil... The Spanish armada was destroyed off Ireland's western coast, wasn't it?
I had heard that English law determined what you could keep there... that the government got first dibs on your finds, and could either keep them and pay you the find's value, or let you keep them.
Is this wrong?

 

[patnor1011]

english government is far better considering detecting. what happend here was that man and son found burried treasure with nice chalice. all that got confiscated, they went to court, eventually got something and after that irish changed law and virtually anything found has to be surrendered to government. anything which is considered archaeological artefact or significance. detecting is prohibited anywhere near archaeological sites - they are literally nearly all fields and so on. detecting is tolerated only on beaches in between high and low tides something like that and becouse of some old naval laws I supose.

There must be lots of hidden treasures around as ireland was often invaded by tons of different people and armies and folks surely hid everything in advance and all that is still under oaks, wals, stones.....

there is nice ruined castle close to my home and I went there once. I got signals everywhere where I went with detector but I did not dig as wifey shoes got wet and she start feeling cold... That castle is little bit of the road and partially hidden by trees but still it is bit riskey to detect there...
same situation here with gold panning. You are allowed but if you will find any gold you have to give that to tax office as all gold not yet found is still property of state.

something from irish boards about detecting:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055304201
story about chalice:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrynaflan_Chalice
http://www.slieveardagh.com/info/derrynaflan.html

 

[Busmike]

Wow....
No wonder I never got an answer. I was pestering the Irish Embassy in 1994 and 95. The law was new then and likely nobody wanted to put thier neck on the block. Guess I won't be detecting in Ireland any time soon.
Here, it's illegal to use a detector in a federal park. These include Civil War battlefields. When I was a teenager, A friend of mine's father was into detecting. He had one of Heathkit's first models which they sold as kits that you had to assemble. I grew up in Manassas, Virginia, the site of 2 major battles and Confederate encampments. He still has an amazing collection of artifacts.Today if I got caught on park property they'd take my detector, the car I drove there in and anything else they thought they could get away with. But it's legal to detect private land where civil war related things happened as long as you have the landowner's permission. Archeologists here lobby Congress every year for laws like Ireland's So far we've held them off. :mrgreen:

Why didn't the Webbs claim that there was no law in effect at the time of the discovery? Perhaps they did. I used to know a guy here that would sneak into the parks at night. If he saw anyone, he'd drop his detector and gear and walk away from it. As far as I know he's still getting away with it. My detector cost me $600 and I got it cheap (listed for $900) no way would I drop it and walk, so I stay legal. I do pretty good.

My family came here from Ireland in 1892. They were literally running from thier landlord's agents for back rent. The story passed down to me says they (my great grandparents) buried "keepsakes" they couldn't carry. Probably nothing valuable though... They were running cause they couldn't pay the rent! Thier farm was on the shores of someplace called "Loch Lein". I have no idea where that is, I've looked at detailed maps of Ireland many times and can't find it. Oh well, I'm American now.

Thank you for answering a question that I've been asking for decades. You obviously must NOT work for the government... none of those jerks would give me any kind of an answer.

 

[patnor1011]

hehe isnt it amazing that bunch of "educated" people wants to tell you that whatever you find is not your but theirs... big brother want everything what he can lay his fingers on... now we have these enviromental laws comming when they want to put carbon tax in effect and we will end up paying tax for breathing and even more for farting... I supose there will be few jobs comming like farting intensity inspector and so on... :lol:

eh... you put an idea in my head about that spanish armada... going to check up where it was drowned, water currents, might be ill dug out my first gold this winter... unfortunately i am now in the middle of ireland and beach in any direction is at least 60-80 km from my place...

 

[patnor1011]

you were right about that spanish armada ships. even if that was not much treasure in them there was significant amount of soldiers and noble people with their own pocket money, wages, jewels and so... somebody might be lucky some day and find something of that lot...

 

[Busmike]

Yea...
It's hard, being perfect :mrgreen:
I don't remember where I read it, but there were stories of bodies washing up on the beeches for months. Likely the archives of the newspapers in the lagrer cities might still have copies.
What I read basically said that the Spanish defeated themselves. Apparently the fleet was thrown together quickly and not all the ships had the same types of cannon aboard, and the balls they had mostly didn't match the guns.

Good Luck! post pics of any worthwile finds

 

[4metals]

I have an old Fisher pulse 8 underwater detector that I used in the sand around shipwrecks while scuba diving off the coast of long island. That was in the 80's. How does my detector compare with what's out there today?

 

[Anonymous]

I have an old Fisher pulse 8 underwater detector that I used in the sand around shipwrecks while scuba diving off the coast of long island. That was in the 80's. How does my detector compare with what's out there today?

Fisher manufactured the first pulse induction metal detector, 4metals your Fisher pulse 8 from the 1980's today sells in the $1000.00 range. Pulse induction detectors are best for beach combing, underwater use and highly mineralized soils.

Of all the metal detectors on the market, Pulse Induction are the highest priced, Why - because they work.

I'm building a pair pulse induction from plans found on the Internet called ( Gary PI ) , so that the wife and I can go out and play. No matter wither you purchased or made your own detector - search coils are the secret to successful treasure hunting.

The following search coil information is from Gary's website. http://www3.telus.net/chemelec/Projects/Metal-2/Metal-2.htm

Really Small Objects: ID = 2.62 inches & OD = 6 inches with 52 turns. Coils wound on Ferrite Rods are also good.

Medium Objects: ID = 5.8 inches & OD = 8 inches with 34 turns.
Its Best to use this size coil for finding Coins.

Large Objects: ID = 8.2 inches & OD = 10 inches with 28 turns ID = 10.4 inches & OD = 12 inches with 25 turns. ID = 13.6 inches & OD = 15 inches with 21 turns. ID = 39.2 inches & OD = 40 inches with 12 turns.

 

[Anonymous]

Sooo....You wannaa buy a metal detector ehh !!!!!!. No I want to build one!

I asked those responding to this thread which was the best technology used in todays detectors, BFO, Pulse Induction or VLF.

The winner is VLF, but I'm still going to build Gary's PI and wind my own search coils. http://www3.telus.net/chemelec/Projects/Metal-2/Metal-2.htm

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/~jesse/treasure/misc/howdetector.html

 

[eeTHr]

61 silverman;

The best spots to hit at a festival site like that are where they had the food booths, on the outside of the counters or windows. And also any other sales or ticket booths. If there is a sports field there, that would be the hottest place for jewelry. All this stuff will never see the light of day again unless you detect it.

You can get a false signal at the end of your sweep if there is trash there just below your discrimination level---you pick it up with just the edge of your coil instead of the center, which is non-optimum for generating a phase shifted return from the target which is truly representative of the targets conductivity, and that plus the sudden reverse in direction can fool the discriminator. Try readjusting the ground balance, and if it still has that problem reduce the sensitivity a little at a time. Make wide smooth sweeps, with the coil always about one inch from the ground. Changing your discrimination level a little can help, too.

When you have located a target, pinpoint it exactly using the "X" pattern with your coil, then pass your sweep directly over where you have pinpointed it to get the most accurate descrimination and depth readings.

A coin laying at an angle will give a better signal from its flat surface than from its edge, so it can give varying signals as you sweep it from different angles, sometimes even a "double beep." Also, if it's on angle, it might pinpoint off center, as the return signal will be at an angle. Trash will usually sound harsh, if it tries to break through the discriminator.

Aluminum trash and gold jewelry have amost the same conductivity (equal same discrimination level), however. Also, Rings give a nice sounding signal because they are a completed circuit, but so are the finger holes on pull tabs!

Different types of targets will produce diffenent patterns of the tones, too.

If in grass, dig a three or four inch horse shoe, leaving the one side of sod still attached, like a hinge. Lift it up, use your handheld pinpointer, retrieve the target, backfill any additional soil you dug out if the target was deeper, and flip the sod back down then step on it. Nobody can accuse you of "damaging our park."

This part is very important---Have fun!

 

[Exibar]

Sooo....You wannaa buy a metal detector ehh !!!!!!. No I want to build one!

I asked those responding to this thread which was the best technology used in todays detectors, BFO, Pulse Induction or VLF.

The winner is VLF, but I'm still going to build Gary's PI and wind my own search coils. http://www3.telus.net/chemelec/Projects/Metal-2/Metal-2.htm

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/~jesse/treasure/misc/howdetector.html

My Dad built a Heath-kit detector back in the early 80's. I still use it to this day finding all sorts of goodies with my son

anyone know anything about these old Heath-Kit models?

Mike B

 

[eeTHr]

Exibar;

I don't know much about the Heathkit detectors, but from what I recall having read, people were successful with them. Here are a couple of sites where you should be able to find some information about them.

This one is mostly about using metal detectors, but if you scroll down there is a special section about different brands and stuff---
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=a511eca7d092f45d6cbb26a6df5839a7&

This one is about design, building, and testing of detectors, and I think i saw a schematic or two of Heathkit detectors and some discussions---
http://www.geotech1.com/forums/