First real day hunting

[darrenb]

Well, I finally got a break in the weather and went out today. Didn't find anything interesting, but did find quite a bit of clad. There were a few hits that were a little confusing. Sweeping in one direction, they would show up as quarters, and 90 degrees to that, they showed up as zinc pennies. (very consistently, that is.) They showed between 6 and 8 inches. I dug, and dug, and dug some more... never could find the source. I am using a BH quickdraw II. Any suggestions on what might have been there? I did this in all metal mode as well as disc mode, with the same results.

 

[Aces High 333]

Just a few questions, might help others also to give suggestions. What was your sensitivity ?? Where were you searching ?? All metal mode was showing also, how big of a target do you think It could be. Glad you found quite a bit of clad. Funny story, I have some deep targets in my front yard from when the landscapers threw coke cans down and got covered up.
Glad you got out....

 

[darrenb]

Chris, sensitivity set at the 3 o'clock position. I was searching an old park. I did find a few cans that were quite deep, but they were all over the ID scale, and I was fairly sure they were junk. From the readings I was getting, the object seems to be rather small. I was getting the signal in about a 1" square area. I may go back and dig more before it is over, just because it's driving me nuts thinking about what 'could' be down there! This park is also headquarters for the city's parks and recreation department, and over closer to the office/shop area, I was finding quite a bit of copper wire and copper splice nuts. They all showed as pennies though.

 

[salmonriverhotrock]

What i'm wondering is if your hitting on melted aluminum. Are there any BBQ or fire pits around?

Here in my area, many of the idiots dump aluminum foil and cans into their camp fire pits and it melts into globs and much smaller peices. This stuff unfortunatly, ends up all over the place and in the river.

On my 505, I typically get a mid to high tone and indicator variance in one or both angles of coil sweep and from the left and or right and back with this crap. I was thinking it was a rule of thumb (not in the all metal mode), if an item can not produce a consistant tone and readout through each sweep of the coil over it, it's not one or the other of the items indicated and has an odd alloy content that confuses the machine on what it wants to call it. In my experience with melted metals from fire pits, some can drive you nuts because they are so small and oxidized while often looking the same as very small gravel or dirt clump and indicate in the silver range. I don't know how many times I've gotten something to the surface but even after being very careful and slow in sorting, still can not see it so again pin point with the detector to find I have moved it. Only when using my fingers to feel for something small and hard in the dirt, would I find some of this trash.

I hope to read what you find though. I just know new and long ago covered fire pits can make life difficult.

 

[darrenb]

There were old fire pits located in the park long ago. I'd bet you are exactly right about what I was hitting on. I have started digging into some of the history of my town, and am hoping to start pulling some older coins. I know most people on here have gold as their ultimate find, but I'm actually looking for an indian head penny! ( yeah, I have low expectations!) Anybody have any suggestions on where to look for the old stuff?

 

[Joel-Winnipeg]

The older parts of towns are likely your best bet.
If you can find out where they held there fairs and summer picnics that would be a start.
Talk to some older folks and find out where events were held.
Find the old parks and even check out the sidewalk to curb where people lose money walking.
Old abandoned home sites hunted with permission could get you some good finds.
Old swimming areas also are good yeilders.
Check out the maps at city hall and do some research.

 

[darrenb]

Robert, I can tell you have been doing this for a long time! Here's what I finally pulled out of the ground, after digging a little over a foot. Big blob of melted aluminum!

 

[dave5710]

Depth readings on a detector are for coin sized targets. Much larger targets can be much deeper than the machine shows.

 

[salmonriverhotrock]

Yes sir, looks like you found one of them dreaded melted globs of aluminum.

I worked a spot this last weekend that I thought would be half decent to search along the river but for the same you found, it was rather difficult to search for all the old fire pits that are now buried and around those that still exist. I have no idea why people throw cans and aluminum into camp fires but they do and though this location was trashed out, I found one Zinc penny and a brass blade from a fishing spinner.

Around here, these pieces of melted aluminum end up all over the place. For locations below high water on the river, the spring run off washes this stuff out of these fire pits and spreads it all over the river. In other areas, when some established fire pits are cleaned out, the contents were not always hauled away but were thrown and spread out around the camps. For other fire pits abandoned, tires in mud help to migrate this stuff all over the place. For a detectorist, melted aluminum is a curse. In my opinion, it's much worse than dealing with pull tabs.

Much appreciate you sharing and showing a Photo of what had you scratching your head. Wish there was a way we could get this stuff out of the soils we search but in some locations, you would be there all day digging trash to just clean it up only to have ten others come behind to burn more cans in a fire.