First time out with my Eldorado:detecting:

[tabdog]

It quit raining and I had a little time to try out my new to me Eldorado this morning. The temp was up and I was in a T-shirt.

I decided to go to a local park near here. The playground has wood chips that had all kinds of aluminum ground up with the wood. Not added trash but aluminum that was chewed up with the wood to make wood and aluminum chips.

I was unable to hunt this play ground until I recently gained enough gumption to go at it. I've decided to clean this place out no mater what it takes.

The Eldorado is just what the doctor ordered. It is extremely sensitive. I noticed that if I had my ground balance a little positive I would get a response on some granite stones in the wood chips. If I had the balance a little negative the Eldorado would give a rejecting response on the stones. When I was playing with the GB I recovered a piece of pyrite.( Fool's Gold ) What it was doing in the playground, I don't know? It is just coincidence that I was able to detect this fool's gold. It will not give a response on my Eldorado unless I have the GB set to the positive side.

I learned a lot about the Eldorado in about 1 1/2 hours. That's when my son called and announced he was out of school for Christmas Holidays

But I found a few things. Mostly aluminum. That small chain sounded off loud and clear.

It made for an enjoyable time.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow. Hope I can get a little time in. We'll see.

The Eldorado is a dream machine, it works in your sleep.

Tabdog
* Euro Sabre, Eldorado, Silver Sabre uMax, Compadre*

 

[rmptr]

Well that's quite a pile for a short time with a new machine, Tab!

Nice chunk of pyrite...

Almost anything can appear in a playground.
Kids get into everything under the sun!

Discovering this BB and reading the posts inspired me to go out for just as long as you did today.
I should have taken a pic of my pile to show you how much better you did!

...I view each item recovered as a target. No matter what it is, it could have been Au that was unseen.

I'm stiff and sore from NOT working, so will make a point to get out for at least a few when wx breaks.

rmptr

 

[Pap]

The Eldo is quite a good unit. Good to hear that you had the opportunity to start acquainting yourself with it. I'm certain many, many good finds will follow. Enjoy!
Pap

 

[tabdog]

Yes it's good to get out. I have to fight pain and fatigue to get out there. It makes me sore. But as long as I can get out and do it I feel better mentally and physically. I'm fortunate to live in a state where the weather allows me to get out now and then in the winter time. My body can't tolerate to much heat loss and continue to stay healthy. I have to be careful.

happy Holidays,

 

[tabdog]

Ha Rmptr,

Unless you were hunting tot lots the only reason I had a bigger pile than yours is because wood chips are very easy to hunt in. Sand and gravel can be even easier. Many targets can be uncovered by my foot. If I have to dig I have a little plastic hand rake thingy. I can recover a target lickedy split. For sand and gravel I use a plastic scoop.

I recovered 128 coins in 45 minutes one day. Another day I recovered 147 coins in three hours. Both in tot lots. Almost all the jewelry I have found came from tot lots.

I have been so busy hunting tot lots that I am starting to have to drive out of town to find tot lots that I haven't pretty well cleaned out by me. Some tot lots take a lot of doing to get them cleaned out and I still have some close hunting I can do but it's running out.

They become refilled in warmer weather. That makes it a kind of seasonal thing. I think the reason I can be so successful in tot lots is because other metaldetectorist don't know how to find small jewelry. Also I think they fail to see a benefit in hunting tot lots. When they do hunt them, they use discrimination which leaves me lots of goodies.

Cheers,

 

[tabdog]

It wasn't raining this morning, so I got up and headed back to the tot lot with my Eldorado. Got a couple of hours in. I was finishing out the areas I hunted yesterday. Yesterday I hit the hot spots in one area of the tot lot. Today I was finishing that area by methodically covering all of the fringe parts that usually contain less finds. It's a big tot lot and there's lots of tots to be lotted I mean lots more wood chips to be hunted. But I want to be sure and cover the whole thing by not just doing the good parts.

To make a long story short. All I found was trash and a few coins. Two things I did find, of interest to me, was a BB and a small staple.:O

Later, when I came in my 94 year old mother asked me if I found any treasure. I said " no, not a thing ". She said " well, I guess you just waisted your whole morning didn't you? "

I said " No, I learned a lot of neat things." ...She just raised her arms up and looked up, as if to say "why me???"

Makes me feel good with all the support I get around here.lol

I learned how to get close to metal post and large metal objects. The Eldorado did good at this once I got the sweep speed slow enough so the MD could right it self while approaching the object. If the object is within the distance form the center of the coil to the edge of the coil, I can get a response in it. Hunting in all the aluminum is good practice. I can get multiple responses even with a 7" coil and the Eldorado handles it well. It lets me know when something funny like that is going on.

Happy Holidays,

 

[tabdog]

I'm not a rock person, but I'll try to explain what I know about Iron Pyrite.

Pyrite is a mineral. I think Pyrite got named as "Fool's Gold" during the gold rush. Pyrite is the classic "Fool's Gold". Iron Pyrite is the mineral that is, by far most often mistaken for real gold. The gold rush produced more fools gold than real gold. Pyrite has been mined for its sulfur content mainly, and is a potential source of iron if needed. Crystal System is isometric ( square ). Hardness is 6 - 6.5. Specific Gravity is 5.1+ heavier than the average minerals. It is a very heavy mineral.

Pyrite does not give a response like gold at all. From what I've learned and know, the Eldorado is a very sensitive metal detector. The only reason I got a response on the Pyrite is because I was messing around with the Ground Balance on the Eldorado. I was noticing that I could get a response on granite rocks if the Ground Balance was too positive. At that point is when I got a response on the Pyrite.

Iron Pyrite, as it is known, has a trace of iron content. Not enough iron to get a response from a metal detector under normal circumstances. But because of the way I had the Ground Balance set, the Eldorado could tell the difference between the low iron content of the ground and the higher iron content of the Pyrite. There for it would give a positive response if I had the GB set to the positive. If I had the GB set to the negative, it would give a negative response. If I had the machine properly Ground Balanced, I would not get a response, and if I did it was like back ground noise.

Iron Pyrite is sold in rock shops around here and some kid just probably lost it in the tot lot.

Them rug rats will make off with the family jewels if you don't watch out!

Best Wishes,

 

[Bowie]

Heya tabdog, you shoulda gone picked up that youngun to do your diggin. Glad you like your new addition. We have several tot lots around the area and I find myself in the same situation as you, they need restocking,lol. We had a very old baseball field,was built back in the 40s. It was a huge wooden construction that covered the stands, even had a semi pro team that played in it earlier on. City tore it down years back and constructed tot lots and walking paths over it. Ive hit the tot lots numerous times but havent found the time to get out in the field to hunt for older coins/jewelry.
You were talking about support, my wife thinks this hobby is for old men,lol. My daughter is worried her friends will see me,lol. Who cares!!!
Im gonna hit a couple old towns in your state after Christmas,old saw mill towns. Road trip!!!lol
Happy for ya tabdog,
Merry Christmas,
John

 

[tabdog]

That sounds like a neet place with the old stadium and all the tot lots. Thoes cituations make for interesting hunting.

There is a park in my area that was part of a US Army training facility up until after WW I. They were still using horses and mules to haul weapons and supplies. I have pulled several interisting artifacts out of that place.

These are artillary time fuses I found. They are worth some money intact as these are. They are hard to find. I also have fragments of these fuses.

Here is a cut away vew I got off the Internet.

Never know what you might find in a city park,

 

[Bowie]

Wow, those fuses are really neat. You never know what your gonna dig up. We had a huge WW2 air force training field in out area. I can recall as a kid seeing some of the old buildings out there. Its all gone now,and an industrial area and whats not built on is so growed up with weeds,vines and saplings your coil would never get close enough to the ground to detect. Ive looked at old maps of the area and drove around it looking. Very disappointing.
Well, Im waiting for Sears to open. Wife wanted a new stove for Christmas,shes a pretty good cook,so I said sure,lol. Went out to the store several days back,after shopping around at different appliance stores. They were out of stock on numerous stoves,so they ordered it and said it would be in today but you know how that goes.
Maybe I will get to make an afternoon hunt.
Merry Christmas to all you guys,
John

 

[Pap]

hope it came in and you can have a New Years Day dinner made on it! Merry Christmas!

 

[Pap]

for some reason it seems to like jewelry and it found 17 quarters along with other clad for me one Sunday morning in about two hours in an area that I had hunted before with another brand of detector.
Setting it slightly negative will sometimes help the depth however it will become noisy because it is responding to the mineralization in the ground. Normally I prefer to hunt slightly positive and turn the threshold up fairly high if I'm trying to get more depth.

 

[holey dollar]

Tabdog
How fast did your heart start racing when you found the Pyrite ??If i had found a piece that size in Australia think i would of dropped dead on the spot,
After your finds my Beach Beer bottle tops sound boring, yes i know i could disc em out, anyway found 2 x 20cent coins so I'm in the dosh,

All the best to all at Christmas
Holey Dollar.

 

[tabdog]

Hi Holy Dallar,

Yaw, when I found that "gold" about fifty thoughts went through my head: Is that gold!!! What's it doing here!!! Is there more around here!!! How much does it weigh!!! What am I going to do with it!!! How pure is it!!! And finally...............Oh,,,, It's fools gold!!!

Some rug rat left me a zinger!!!!

Oh well......I get my share of bottle caps.....And I don't use much if any discrimination.. Odd thing is that I usually know in my gut that it is a bottle cap, but I dig them anyway... I don't want to miss a possible good target... I dig more trash than I should... But I have been pleasantly surprised enough times that it's worth it to me to go ahead and dig.. In tot lots I never use disc any more. It turns of small gold jewelry and reduces sensitivity...


Best Wishes In the Coming Year,

 

[holey dollar]

n/t

 

[holey dollar]

Tabdog
My wife said to me the other day, why call yourself the holey dollar, this by the way was the first minted coin in Australia,she said you should call yourself The grait Crap Finder.Let me tell ya Australia is full of old iron etc, funny in the UK Old iron can be Roman.Not just happy finding bits of old junk,i bring all the junk home and keep it.
Think I'm changing, after my beach trip today i very nearly tossed the old bottle caps in the bin, but had second thoughts and yep kept them.
Double check the Pyrite you never know,
Catch ya
Holy Dollar.

 

[tabdog]

I went back to the tot lot with my Eldorado again this morning. It was cold, humid and the wind was blowing like crazy. This is Arkansas and yesterday it was sunny and you could go out in a Tshirt. Now it's spitting a cold rain with some sleet in it. Berrrrrrrrrr................

I was about to give it up when I got a blast out of my Eldorado and dug up a nice Gerber 450 Stainless Steel pocket knife with a serrated edge. Just the thing I need for metal detecting. I like it because I can put it in my pocket.

.....<> I'll Take That <>.....

Happy New Year