Nickels vs Square tabs

[Ronk]

Are there any tips to id a square tab from a nickel using a non metered single frequency detector?

 

[BarnacleBill]

Square tabs come in a variety of alloys/shapes/sizes. If your single frequency detector has an adjustable discrimination setting you can raise it over each target till the target audio drops out. By taking the more common tabs & practicing you can make a note of where that is. This is commonly called thumbing the Disc.

It really gets pretty silly after a while because you are in effect doing a manual metering of targets. It puts stress on the Disc control, wears it out faster, scratches the paint, wears down any silk screening etc. To say nothing of how much it slows you down. It's just more logical to get a metered machine if you are going to constantly be doing this.

HH
BarnacleBill

 

[Flintstone]

Hi Ronk, I know what you are saying have a Classic III with Mr. Bills Mod. done on it. But can,t seem to get the hang of it. I think i am going to trade for a metered detector like Classic 5, or any good metered detector. This is a very good detector has Blue Max 950 coil. But i just cant get time to understand it. Good Luck with yours Dean

 

[BarberBill]

Your percentage will improve with a metered machine, but you'll still be fooled quite often. On a single tone machine, turn the disc. to where a nickel gets scratchy and turn back just a hair to where it is solid and mark it. Do the same for one of the more common tabs. Then, if you get a good sounding hit and the knob is past the nickel mark you'll know it's either a tab or a clad coin, penny or silver. You can also make the same mark for zinc pennies if desired. I've found this method to be nearly as good as either of the metered machines I use. My two bits.
HH
BB

 

[dirthound]

I am not positive but I think audio disc is deeper than a meter disc.

 

[silversmith]

I'm familiar with a pull tab, what's a square tab?

 

[Ronk]

A square tab IS a pull tab except it's square or rectangle and it's suppose to stay on the can but people who don't use detectors tear them off the can so we that use detectors will have to dig them up while they are standing close by behind a tree laughing at us digging the tabs up.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Yup, the square tabs were designed to stay on the can, right? That's why we never find them, right? haha

There are different varieties of square tabs, depending on the brand of soft drink. Using the Whites scale as a reference: they can read anywhere from just above round tab-ish (high 30s) to the mid 40's. They should all read well above nickel. So if you have an ascending/descending knob (as opposed to TID, notch-ability), the only way to get nickels while rejecting square tabs, is to roll the dial up and back for each target, to see where it "falls out" at. You can put a little paint indication on your dial area, to know where the different levels are at. Sounds like a chore, but believe it or not, some of us used to to that in the days before TID was invented. Sheesk we've come a long ways, eh? ha

 

[Monte]

Are there any tips to id a square tab from a nickel using a non metered single frequency detector?

Ron, I could dredge up all sorts of tips or hints or suggestions or smarty-pants ideas for you, but ..... to be very honest, there's no rock-solid method to distinguish the difference between a common US 5

 

[slingshot]

I'll vouch to that. I had my Royal Sabre set at a point that rejected most of the older ones, but, as Monte said, still found the newer ones-which leads me to believe there is a conspiracy going on here. After a while it got rather boring and the thought of missing a ring won out. Plus the fact that if this practice continued at a regular hunting site, the trash would just mount up. This way it is removed and after a while the hunting's not so bad at a regular site.

 

[Dang]

Not all gold rings fall in the nickle/pulltab range but many do. Dig them all and sooner or later that pulltab is a gold ring instead.
Corroded zinc pennies annoy me more then pulltabs. Just my 5 cents worth.

 

[jim tn]

I'm with Dang on the corroded zinc pennies. I hate them as much as any piece of trash. With my CZ's. F 75 and T 2, I have recovered gold items with low foil readings and as high as zinc penny readings. Depending on the size of the gold piece, gold can read well below, through and way above tab readings. Often gold does have a little more mellow tone to it, but to get any appreciable numbers of gold, one really has to dig a lot of foil and tab readings....IMHO. HH jim tn

 

[dahut]

Are there any tips to id a square tab from a nickel using a non metered single frequency detector?

 

[BarberBill]

I find the corroded zinc pennies a pain as well. However, I've picked up several jewelry finds that ID'ed as zinc pennies so I dig them most of the time.
HH
BB

 

[Cal_Cobra]

I find the corroded zinc pennies a pain as well. However, I've picked up several jewelry finds that ID'ed as zinc pennies so I dig them most of the time.
HH
BB

Just curious BB, the gold (I assume) jewelry finds that you recovered which ID'ed as zinc pennies, did they bounce around like a corroded zinc, or was the TID pretty stable?

 

[Flintstone]

Ok, I am a dummy i just cant get the hang of the Classic.Dose any one want to trade for a metered detector? this has Mr.Bills Mod. done on it it is in very good condition a 9 out of 10. Let me know for i put it on classified Thanks Dean

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Cal Cobra, corroded zinc pennies can lock on, or "bounce around" depending on the amount of corrosion, angle they sit in the ground, targets they are next to, depth, etc.... Just too many variables to say that they "lock on" or "don't lock on". Same for gold jewelry: Some (especially chains, bracelets, or dangly earings) can "bounce around". But solid objects like rings lying flat, might "lock on" better. But then again, if they are deep, or have a heavy crown to one side, they may not lock on.

I too have often thought when I'm digging non-stop corroded zinc. on the beach, that after the umpteenth one, I begin to guess which are zinc, and which won't be. The trouble is, that gold jewelry isn't as fast and furious in numbers, so there's a lot less of them to compare to (durnit). But I will say, that I've had corroded zinc read all the way down to nickel! And if they're shallow, they can lock on quite nicely.

If anyone tells you that gold jewerly "locks on" or "sounds smoother" or whatever than compared to zinc or aluminum, do this: quickly take them out to the nearest inner-city blighted urban ghetto park, and turn them loose. See how much gold they dig, while effortlessly leaving corroded zinc and aluminum behind. I think you will see that they quickly abandon their claims.

 

[jim tn]

I can't answer for BB, but the 2 gold rings I found up in the zinc penny range with my F 75 were better sounding and id was much less bouncy. HH jim tn

 

[BarberBill]

Pretty stable - in fact I wouldn't have dug if I hadn't read a post on the White's official forum to dig zinc pennies because of what we're saying here. I got the zinc signal, decided to dig to see, and up came a small black hill's gold ring. By far most of the time the zinc penny id is exactly that and when I was digging everything, I got so many in lousy condition that I began passing on them. I do heartily recommend that any time anyone gets a signal or id that seems off or different, dig to see. Every so often it will turn out to be worth the trouble.
HH
BB

 

[tab-nabit]

I find the best way is to dig em and see. Can be a pain but sometimes it pays off. It's amazing in some places on how many sq. tabs got disconnected from the can. The older pull ring type I can see. I'll keep digging all I come across.