Problems finding rings or jewelry

[Rickw]

Just wanna start by saying I bought an at gold last year and have been finding a ton of coins but no rings or jewelry. Pennies,dimes,quarters have a higher tone between 80-85. It seems rings have a lower tone in 50 50 range like my wedding ring. But I can't figure out what's junk and what's not on the lower tones. Like a nickels but I don't find alot of them ethier. Any tips would be a big help.
Thanks and happy hunting.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Just wanna start by saying I bought an at gold last year and have been finding a ton of coins but no rings or jewelry. Pennies,dimes,quarters have a higher tone between 80-85. It seems rings have a lower tone in 50 50 range like my wedding ring. But I can't figure out what's junk and what's not on the lower tones. Like a nickels but I don't find alot of them ethier. Any tips would be a big help.
Thanks and happy hunting.

Good question. And one that comes up a lot. Everyone seems to think the secret lies in tones, and "digging all low conductors". Or which machine is best at gold, and so forth. But all of that is a WAY DISTANT second. Because it's already a "given" that alloyed gold rings are low to mid conductors. So that if you start to disc. out foil and tabs, you will miss most gold jewelry. Therefore it's already a given that you gotta dig the low to mids. But that doesn't help the poor sap one iota, who goes to inner city junky parks, and digs junk till his arms fall off!

And to debate various machine's abilities at low conductors is also futile. Because, sure, some machines are "better at low conductors". But that simply means they're also great at foil and flitty little stuff that will drive you nuts (and you give up before ever finding your first gold ring).

So the secret is: LOCATION. Because if finding gold jewelry is one's goal, then what the h%ck is he doing hunting junky blighted parks TO BEGIN WITH ? You've got to go to the spots where gold is more likely to be found. Namely: Swimming beaches. If you're not near the ocean, then lake swim beaches are the same. And this doesn't even require having to go in the water (although if you can wade or go low tides, that helps). And sand is a LOT easier to dig in as well! While it's true that in-the-water is prime zone for jewelry losses (d/t cool waters shrink fingers), yet the sun-tan towel line is also good. Because a) people taking off their jewelry for "safe-keeping" before entering the water, and b) lathering up with slippery suntan lotion. c) thrusting motion with hands/fingers while making sand castles. d) frolicking motion of beach sports (frisbee, volleyball, etc...), and e) sand creates the immediate covering/hiding of lost rings. Unlike turf or dirt where ....if a ring is launched during a throw motion, the person can often walk over and simply see it, and pick it up. But sand immediately "envelopes" objects like that. Which is why you can find entire cell-phones, cameras, etc... on the beach. Items which could never be lost on turf/dirt.

If you have no swim beaches, then sand volley-ball courts, sand wrestle pits, PT courses, and sand or tan-bark boxes offer close seconds. And if you simply MUST hunt turf, you can go to turf that is specifically and distinctly only for sports (eg.: soccer, etc...), and ZERO picnicking/eating/drinking. Because the minute you introduce eating/drinking/bbq'ing/picnicking to a turf's usage (fields that double for both), is the minute you introduce junk. Ie.: foil that wraps food, tabs from cans, molten aluminum globules from BBQ fires, etc.... So distance yourself from where food activity occurs, and hone in on where frolicking physical activity occurs.

And if you're in snow belt territory, ski lifts, sled slopes, etc... are good. Because people taking their mittens/gloves on and off provide for the "pull" action on fingers/rings.

 

[hank1]

Well said Tom! Increase your odds by choosing the best sites. Then dig and dig..

 

[mudpuppy]

You should probably bookmark Toms reply, or at least read it every morning for a month or so...You got a great rig, now its a matter of thinking about your sites in the way he mentioned and hunting for gold..come up with a very fast target retrieval method and just grinding it out....one things for sure, if you hunt long enough thinking about gold and pop a LOT of targets, GOLD will show up for you...the more targets you pop in a likely area, the more it all begins to make sense...the trash will show you the way...

All this said, I'm in my biggest gold drought of my modest career chasing it, the year is half gone with no gold for me!.....had this been my first year afield, I may have given up and taken up stamp collecting!..Clad keeps me in the game...gold will follow, of that I have no doubt..keep hunting and read Tom's reply a few times, and adjust your hunting strategy accordingly...then dig and dig, like Hank said...no secret magic bullet...Gold is a cruel Mistress, but one that will make you a better overall hunter if you pay attention to what the ambient dirt is telling you...

Read as many posts as you can by others similarly inclined, no matter what rig they run..
Mud.

 

[TnShooter]

To find rings means you'll need to dig "trash".
The guys that find rings wil dig trash 10:1 compared to those that don't.
Needless to say I start out looking for rings, but about a hour in I start passing the trash or rings up.

 

[Mega]

@Tom_in_CA,a superb post,i will agree with you about the location,alas i live far away from the beach here in the UK,but i do go hunting near popular fresh water location that mums/dads take the kids swimming in the local river or more precise 'ford' as in river crossing,this not only means possible modern jewellery finds but also the passage of folks over possibly a 1000 years.

A very good thread to read,always learning in this detecting lark

 

[Dancer]

While I'm waiting for Gold I keep track of all nickels I find. Try bearing down on your nickel count. If you start finding pockets of nickels, most probably past hunters haven't really hunted out the Gold too. Gold is where you find it, but if you're increasing your nickel finds, you are on the right track. On this forum I doubt I rank much more than average (if that) on finding gold. But last year I found a little over 600 nickels. 5 gold rings. This year 198 nickels this year, 1 gold ring. Last year a buddy of mine found 2 gold rings, probably less than 40 nickels. So who knows? One thing for sure the Gold is out there, not on the couch.

 

[Southwind]

As has already been mentioned LOCATION is the number 1 key to increase the odds of finding gold but there are a few other things that can also help.

I'm not one lucky ones to live near a beach or even a swimming hole. Here in southwest Kansas the gold is found at schools, mostly tot lots, parks and yards. That means there is also a lot of junk as well. But that still doesn't mean you've got to dig all that junk to find some gold. While foil and gold do read in the same VDI range, they do not always read with the same VDI variance. Take one of you pieces of gold and wave it under the coil. What you'll find in, in most cases, the VDI numbers will stay very close. Say you get a VDI of 46 you won't see much variance but a few numbers. You might get a VDI of 45-47 but the MAJORITY of the time you will get a solid VDI. Foil will jump around a lot in most cases unless it is a round solid piece. Watching for a solid VDI number can increase your chances in those heavy trashy areas.

Using the old coil wiggle can help increase gold finds. When you get a possible gold signal wiggle the coil as you move it back toward you. Gold will remain good and solid with solid VDI to the very tip of you coil. Trash will start to break up when it gets to the edges of your coil. Works best of DD coils. Same if you lift your coil. When you get to the point where the target is about to disappear does it break up or fade out smoothly?

Personally I've noticed, at least on my AT Pro, gold chains will give off a high tone when you first swing over them. Go back and you'll get the grunt and low VDI numbers. I've dug some nice gold chains and bracelets that I could coax a high tone now and then out of.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

To find rings means you'll need to dig "trash".
The guys that find rings wil dig trash 10:1 compared to those that don't.

Well, yes and no. Yes that it's a given that you need to open up your lower numbers, to get alloyed gold. But no in that this advice tends to suggest that's the lone ticket to success, is to "dig trash till your arms fall off". I have seen places/times where I've dug 5 gold rings, without A SINGLE piece of aluminum. Of course that's a rare beach erosion occuurance, where all the light stuff has been washed away (not even any zinc pennies on the beach left!). So the only "junk" we'd be digging then, in the low to mid range, is smaller pieces of lead, pesky nickels, etc....

The first and foremost advice is location. Even if you're not at the ocean beach, there's still always some swimming environment anywhere in the USA. Rivers, creeks, lakes, etc.... that have suntan/towel/sand zones. And actually, even swimming pools with adjacent grass layout zones! While yes, they'd unfortunately be susceptible to foil (from food wrappers, etc...), yet more inclined for jewelry loss, as people take off their jewelry for "safe-keeping" (and hide in their shoe, or rolled up in their towel, etc...) before going in to swim.

Another odd-ball place that's good: Is mud-bath and/or mud-wrestle pit locations. While this is an odd rare niche, yet ..... there are places that have this. Either for hippy health reasons, or triathalon mud-sling wrestle events, etc... There's a certain place near me in CA, that .... once a year turns a field into a giant olympic pool sized mud bath, where athletes all meet to "mud wrestle". And each year, .... yup, you guessed it: There's always jewelry lost in the free-for-all! That slippery slop, and people yanking on each other, is the perfect recipe for jewelry loss. So when the sun dries it, and the tractor pushes all the slop around back to the empty field setting, it's possible to find jewelry there.

 

[slingshot]

I have found that once you start cleaning the trash out, the next visits are pleasant. If it's a location that's oft replenished, it's worth the while and each visit gets faster.

 

[amberjack]

if you have found one ring in a park chances are there is another one

I agree location is key and also time and perseverance is an important tool for park hunting gold, the good thing that a park has over a beach is (every man and his dog heads for the beach), in the park 99% of detectors are not looking for gold, so I don't have to worry about anyone snipping my tabs

so reward for effort in the park, beach too !!

more I dig the luckier I get

AJ

 

[Tom_in_CA]

While I'm waiting for Gold I keep track of all nickels I find. Try bearing down on your nickel count. If you start finding pockets of nickels, most probably past hunters haven't really hunted out the Gold too. Gold is where you find it, but if you're increasing your nickel finds, you are on the right track. On this forum I doubt I rank much more than average (if that) on finding gold. But last year I found a little over 600 nickels. 5 gold rings. This year 198 nickels this year, 1 gold ring. Last year a buddy of mine found 2 gold rings, probably less than 40 nickels. So who knows? One thing for sure the Gold is out there, not on the couch.

Dancer, on this point, here's an interesting tid-bit: Way back when TID was first invented (early 1980s), several people set about to test hundreds and hundreds of random gold rings (I guess they knew friends that owned jewelry stores? haha). And then, likewise, test hundreds and hundreds of randomly occuring foil wads, tabs-of-various types encountered, etc... With the idea being to make "ring enhancement programs". Ie.: the Las Vegas odds of which #'s to reject, and which #'s to accept type of thing.

And believe it or not, the nickel range (19 to 21-ish on the Whites scale, for example), contained only a small percentage of gold rings. Something like 10 or 15% of random gold rings tested, fell into that exact range. A lot (women's) rings fell into the foil wad range (below nickel), and a lot of men's rings fell into the tab range. So by accepting nickels (notch disc'ing) and perhaps still knocking out foil and tabs, will ...... yes .... get you an occasional gold. But you will miss an aweful lot of gold rings.

I long for the day that a disc. system comes out that goes by actual composition, rather than conductivity. The problem though, is almost every metal is alloyed with infinate percentages of variations. Aaarrrgghhhh.

 

[slingshot]

Absolutely! I can just about guarantee if it's foil-it's 10k: if it's tab-14k" if it's screwcap-men's class ring. Nice to know but sad to realize the next step-retrieve.

 

[Elton]

That is the only sure way to find the rings.. Tabs, foil, can slaw, nickels etc range will garner rings...
Also be aware rings are not in every location by the 100's or even the tens as some would have you believe.

Beach finds will by far up your ring count..

 

[Southwind]

No beaches here in southwest Kansas. And I don't dig all that much trash.

This for the most part is my junk rings. I keep the Gold/Silver/Platinum in a strong box.

 

[berryman]

Some interesting detectors you've tried and passed on. Why have you settled on the E-Trac, the MXT and the ADS 4?

 

[Southwind]

Actually I had not updated my signature LOL.

I use the E-Trac for our city park where the old stuff is really deep and the trash is plenty. I cherry pick the deep old stuff.

I use the MXT All Pro for relics and sometimes parks and schools as a more all-around machine.

I use the AT Pro mainly as my gold machine for tot lots, parks and schools playgrounds.

I had my Deus that pretty much took the place of all but my E-Trac hunting, but I sold it to help with a down payment on a new car. I will eventually get another.

The ADS 4 is strictly for display and nostalgic purposes. To show people how it used to be done with the old TR units.

 

[jackintexas]

I have been metal detecting 39 years. I am 82 years old.I don't mean for it to sound like I am boasting but I have found 116 gold rings Just to make a point. . Mostly most in the last several years. I was water hunting in area lakes long before most people were. We made our own equipment. We floated our detector heads in a float and made our own digging tools. Most people were looking for old and later silver coins. We found quite a number of gold rings. Then later I had an insulin pump attached to me which stopped my water hunting. Then I still was wanting to look for gold rings.After digging many, many pull tabs with little success, I decided to make a study for finding gold rings on the land. What I discovered was most gold rings lost were women's. Who wears the most rings. Women. I discovered I am going to say 90% of white gold rings are in the foil area of the detector. I say 90% because I have never seen one large enough to read in the tabs, but there may be some. I again say 90% of platinum rings read in the foil. Also most 10K and small 14K also read in the foil.Most the the women rings are small and light otherwise they would be too heavy to wear. The larger 14K and larger 10K read i n the pulltab range. There are times when I hunt only in the nickel-foil range. I did not intend to write a book, but I did want to put my 2 cents worth in.....Jack.

 

[slingshot]

I have been metal detecting 39 years. I am 82 years old.I don't mean for it to sound like I am boasting but I have found 116 gold rings Just to make a point. . Mostly most in the last several years. I was water hunting in area lakes long before most people were. We made our own equipment. We floated our detector heads in a float and made our own digging tools. Most people were looking for old and later silver coins. We found quite a number of gold rings. Then later I had an insulin pump attached to me which stopped my water hunting. Then I still was wanting to look for gold rings.After digging many, many pull tabs with little success, I decided to make a study for finding gold rings on the land. What I discovered was most gold rings lost were women's. Who wears the most rings. Women. I discovered I am going to say 90% of white gold rings are in the foil area of the detector. I say 90% because I have never seen one large enough to read in the tabs, but there may be some. I again say 90% of platinum rings read in the foil. Also most 10K and small 14K also read in the foil.Most the the women rings are small and light otherwise they would be too heavy to wear. The larger 14K and larger 10K read i n the pulltab range. There are times when I hunt only in the nickel-foil range. I did not intend to write a book, but I did want to put my 2 cents worth in.....Jack.

Jack, that's exactly why I added the foil segment on the Coins mode on my Ace. I made it and placed in as my Custom mode so that whenever I got into heavy trash I still had a chance to find a ring.

 

[Southwind]

I agree to find the majority of gold you need to dig in the foil range but you can indeed increase your odds with just a few changes.

What's the difference between a detector with 199 target ID segments and a detector with 20 target ID segments? Being able to more precisely ID gold over foil. In tot lots I rely on the AT Pro's great gold sensitivity, but in those parks and school yards it is about target ID variance. If you've only got 20 target ID segments a whole lot of foil is going to read like gold would. You would not see the VDI variance you'd see with a detector that has 199 segments. I used a White's DFX for 10 years not because of depth, but because it's ability to more clearly show the variance in targets. Especially gold and foil.

Take a piece of gum wrapper foil and you'd probably get a 39-40 from any angle on a detector with only 12-20 target ID segments. Same as you might get from a gold pendent, small open earring or chain. That same piece of foil on a detector with 199 segments will vary greatly, unless the foil is round, from 35-44. On a detector with 199 segments that gold will not vary unless deep. Of course this isn't 100% but it does increase the odds in your favor and isn't that the name of the game?

I now use the MXT All Pro because it not only has plenty of segments, I believe 198, but it is a bit deeper than the DFX in my soil.