Old Chuch so many nails and so little time

[Md Epidemic]

Been detecting an old chuch 1852 with a tot lot and grass area for 3 weekends now. this weekend at the tot lot i found $4.53 then
decided to do the grass and found .15 cents. Matching set of sterling ear rings, and a broach not sure of metal, 1925 wheat penny

100 trash targets 55 being nails or iron all in a small area at this rate it will take me the whole summer to properly detect it. All objects in the grass
were 2-4 inches deep using the snipper coil any other coil would drive me crazy.

Is it worth it to keep digging this spot?

Epi

 

[oldranger]

Im kina new Md but if i had the chance to
search an Old site Id keep at it....

Just my opinion Im sure the
more expericned will have tips etc

HH

Ron

RLTW

 

[MNCoinhunter]

Yeah..as long as there are signals..I would'nt be able to quit..ha-ha!!

 

[Uncle Willy]

Depends on what you turn up or until you tire of digging junk.

Bill

 

[Jim/ MacBeth SC]

Hey Epidemic,

I've recently come back to the hobby after a long layoff. I bought an Ace 250 to play with. I live
on 30 acres that was occupied prior to the civil war. At least two houses burned on the property
and nails, spikes, and cut nails are in great supply. However, there are good targets mixed in.
Based on some good advice received on this forum, I'm pretty sure I'll continue finding silver and ??
as I clean out the nails and iron. So far it's working for me. Takes patience but it's worth it. I'll
bet your site is too! Warm regards, Jim

 

[bugg]

It would save yer self alot of needless digging.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah the old Compass detectors were good for that.

Bill

 

[NM5K]

Most detectors will let you notch out iron. But... That will only work if the nails
actually read as iron. Once they start to rust, all bets are off. They can bang well
up into the coin ranges with some good rust on them. What I would probably do is
detect and dig a few nails to get an idea where they might be hitting on the scale.
Once you get an idea what they are doing, it can give you a mental option whether
to dig or not. Also rusty nails can bounce around a bit, being as they hit the high
and low scales. Real coins will rarely bounce around on the scale.
But I would probably dig up most of the nails anyway if it were me..
Some of the hits could be other iron relics, and once you dig a nail, you won't
have to deal with it again. Also, nails could mask deeper coins in some cases.
So at older sites I like to get rid of them if I have the time.

 

[Jim/ MacBeth SC]

In my situation, I'm finding that I can remove the nails from a small area and then search in multiple
directions and pick up silver. So far it's been silver rosie dimes and wheat pennies only other than
one gold ring. But really, I'm just getting started and I'll learn a bit as I go. The property was settled in
1853 so I don't dare not dig all of the targets. Also, there was a Confederate Artillery unit located
about 250 yards from our property line as well as an old train station bordering the property. I'm
finding a lot of cut nails in particular and they really sound off. LOL! Warm regards, Jim

 

[Md Epidemic]

My problem is the iron (nails) and copper & lead (trimming) & trash is very dense where the most activity would have been.I know if there is anything good
it is deeper and is beening masked.The ground may be a bit mineralized since my sniper coil wont hit anything deeper than 4" in the tot lot it was deeper
could not believe how deep on a few targets (that will be another post).,

The church was built in 1852 there has to be something old there unless someone detected it with an old compass, like Uncle Willy said, and cherry picked all
the silver. This weekend i will rope off a 6x6 area and try to clean it out with the snipper then try a bigger coi for the deeper stuff. The only problem is i can only detect 2 Hours each day
becuase on house/yard projects and it will be like that for a while. There is another mid 1800's church I can search now before they start using it again just not enough time.

Seeking my first silver coin.

Epi

 

[Uncle Willy]

Rust pockets could be a problem also especially ith all those nails..

Bill

 

[cwilk]

If you get tired of the place go somewhere else and return later. I'd work at cleaning up some of the junk and then swap to a bigger coil.

Chris

 

[RickIowa2009]

Old sites are hard to find! keep digging, maybe dig only good solid signals!