Diamond Sunday

[Treasure Mike]

The wife says Sunday morning "Drive me to the store". I say okay and I grab my MXT and put it in the truck with us. Last time we were at this health food store in North Seattle I noticed a park next door. I thought I would do a little detecting while the wife shopped. First thing that I noticed is that there were coins every few steps. I started to cherry pick since there were a lot of good signals. In about 20 minutes I had dug about $4 in quarters, nickles and dimes. A soccer team had just arrived so I started to leave the field when I got a solid 35 hit on the MXT. I thought 35? That's a little high for most gold rings. I dig down less than 2 inches and I see this monster ring. 12.8 grams 14k with 5 diamonds. I wear an 11 ring and it fits easily inside this one. It must be about size 14. The MXT is a killer on gold and platinum jewelry.

 

[ring-bearer]

WTG, Mike. I found one like that on Mercer Island last summer with my MXT (only 3 stones though). I don't know any MXT users here in the Puget Sound area and I'm wondering if you find that the mineralized soil here makes you have to drop your gain setting lower than alot of the suggested posts on this forum. I do pretty good with the MXT and also have a DFX but find the MXT much simpler.

 

[Treasure Mike]

I usually run the gain at +1 in most areas and it seems to run just fine.Most all of the rings I find are at average depth of about two inches so more gain than +1 is not necessary.I like the quick "snap" sound it makes in relic mode . Never cared for the coin mode with it's "buzz" sound. I use the Bigfoot coil and this last ring will make # 25 for gold rings amd one platinum since I got my MXT last September.

 

[WJW]

Congratulations on that great ring. That is a beauty. I just started to try and target gold jewelry with my MXT. I found two 10K gold rings last week, bringing my grand total to 3. I am digging a lot of trash, but in the end it is worth it. I was wondering what VDI numbers you look for and dig with your MXT. So far, I have been digging everything from 20 down to 0. If you have any pointers or secrets you would be willing to share, I'm all ears. HH
Bill

 

[gregma]

Wow, great find! As a 2-day MXT user it does me good to hear this. I live in the Redmond area, have you had any problems with metal detecting in King County? The first park I tried was the Coulon Park in Renton (south end of Lake Washington), and no sooner had I got the detector setup when a park guy came by and told me that metal detecting was illegal in any Renton City park.

I've looked on the web and can find no such limitations in Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond, Seattle, or King County parks. I did find that there is a yearly Metal Detecting permit that one can obtain for Washington State parks. Are you aware of any other limitations?

Any suggestions for a newbie to go to in King County?

Thanks!
Greg

 

[Treasure Mike]

I have never had a problem yet with the authorities in the 13 months that I have been detecting. I try to avoid people as much as possible and stay out of their way. I do a lot of detecting very early on week end mornings and I do night detecting. I use my White's pin pointer to read my meter in the low light. Your right about the State parks, you need a permit and they have other restrictions. The State puts out a pamphlet about using detectors in their parks. I avoid them completely. There are too many other good places around this area to hunt. I'm a retired WA. State police officer and I know of no "State Laws" prohibiting metal detecting. Although individual local and county governments can make ordinances prohibiting just about anything. Renton may be one of the few who has such an ordinance. Who knows, maybe the park guy was afraid you would destroy their lawn. Heck, one mole can do more damage then most any detectorist would. If I get confronted by someone about my detecting I would just leave and go to another place. It's not worth the argument.

 

[Treasure Mike]

I usually dig the VDI numbers that run between 10 and 35. The smallest gold ring I have found was 10 k and about 1.5 grams and hit at about 15. The largest ring I found weighed 16 grams(10 k class ring, Redmond High School and found in Kent) hit at 35. On average most of them run about 20 to 26 which means I dig one heck of a lot of pull tabs. But it's not too bad since I dig a lot of clad along the way. What is interesting is that I have dug almost and equal number of silver rings (25) and they all were in the dime/penny/quarter range. Usually they run about 70 to almost 90 on the VDI meter. In my experience I have noticed that sometimes when I really think I have hit a quarter out pops a silver ring. I looks as though people lose gold and silver rings at a similar rate. One thing I usually do is avoid VDI numbers between 40 and 60. They are usually junk items, but not always. If I have the time I will dig most everything 10 and above. A few days ago I got a solid 55 hit and it turned out to be a .925 men's heavy chain bracelet. You never know what your going to find but sometimes time is short so you want the odds in your favor and you have to be a little more picky about your targets. Hopes this helps. By the way, I lot of what I have learned about metal detecting was from reading these forums. Their Great!

 

[Dennis]

I have found three 14k mens wedding bands that VDI at 50 (screwcap) range with my MXT in the dry sand at the beach. After the first one I have collected a lot of screwcaps!

 

[WJW]

I really appreciate your help. With new places to hunt for older coins becoming harder to find and the existing ones being pounded by other detectorists, I am starting to shift my hunting towards jewelry. I know that there will always be jewelry lost, so the targets will continue to be replenished. Also, the jewelry tends to be worth more as well. I can see a lot of trash being dug in my future, but the rewards will be worth it. Again, thank you for your help. HH
Bill

 

[ron-in-idaho]

Mike, I have the MXT and a bigfoot coil and love it. I always hunt in coin mode. I have not used relic mode for coins. Can you recommend it, tell me a little more.
ron...

 

[Treasure Mike]

I believe that the relic mode goes a little deeper than the coin/jewelry mode. Probably because it is not discriminating or shutting down responses below the discrimination setting. In relic mode you hear low tones below the disc setting and high tones above it. There is less work for the machine to do so "technically it will go a little deeper. Even if you only get a 1/2 inch more depth, (a guess), it could make the difference in hearing a target or missing it completely. Hope this helps.

 

[ron-in-idaho]

Thanks Mike will try next time out.

 

[Rob (IL)]

I had a large 14kt man's wedding band at VDI 57 and a 925 silver bracelet at VDI 47. You almost have to dig everthing. Rob