RING AND JEWELRY SOUNDS

[Buddysox]

Have been hitting a lot of small out of the way neighborhood parks in my area and have been doing very good in the coin collection. Have had the ex ll for about 8months now and trying to learn all I can. These parks are productive but very trashy, lots of pull tabs, there is the problem. I hunt in smart find as I am visual and like this best. Listen for the tones and then confirm on the graph, works well on coins but I have the feeling I am Missing a lot that hits in the trash range. Today I robbed my wife's jewelery case and noted that most rings and jewelery hit in the trash, pull tab and bottle cap range. I have not notched the tabs out as I noted this is where several gold rings would hit. Found out that a lot of jewelry is made of a combination of metal and quality and it does not hit consistently at any one spot. I also saw Andy's test where he compared precious metals hits and came to the same conclusion, It's hard to tell trash from a gold ring. I am having nightmares of rolling right over that nice ring thinking its a pull tab. I just know that someones going to answer " DIG EVERY THING" I would have my butt in the air for six months in this park if I did that! Have a SEF 10x12 coil ordered at this time and that may help some, of course it is on back order for almost a month from Kellyco, my usual luck.
Until minelab produces that unit that has x-ray vision and sees whats in the ground then digs it up for us, I guess I will have to appeal to the veteran members and ask them if they have any comments, Tips or Tricks that may help
Oh, yes, Recently one of the members posts referred to Metal Detecting as "DIRT FISHING". Best description I have heard yet!

 

[Eu_citzen]

I have some places like that to. My solution is also dig everything... But I only dig it all as long as I can stand to do so then I cherry pick. So I clean it out a little each time,
Not everything at once.

 

[mattockman]

If Pull tabs are a majority item, then maybe just go for the bigger gold items that hit in the screw top penny range, and the nickel to foil range. That would elimenate the mid size rings but at least you will or might get small gold and larger gold rings. By digging the nickel to foil range, they will either be beaver tails from pull tabs or nickels and any lower they will either be foil or very small whats its and be a quick shallow dig....expect them to be shallow...and use a pin pointer to locate them quickly with a quick flip of the dirt.....if they are deeper than 1-3 inches could just be a heavier gold ring....I used learn and edit to blacken screen out and open up the top coin area and lower nickel foil area to maybe get lucky with some gold. I dug no pull tabs and still found coins and nickels...but no gold yet, but there just wasn't any to be found under the coil.....sooner or later I will find the gold and dig very few or no pull tabs.....just something I do when at the fair grounds and at other places full of pull tabs....22 shells and small foil and small light bulb bases is all I dig, and on the high side, a few screw caps.....the small gold rings will usually have stones of some kind in them....gold will usually have a very solid lock on sound and will not vary much if any(mono tone).....but with rocks in them they can get scratchy sounding......dig and learn and I hope you find some!

 

[jackintexas]

I have found over 125 gold rings. Most in the last five or six years. I think the trick is to hunt where gold rings are most likely lost. Swimming areas, volleyball courts, tot lots,. Then you dig everything above iron.. I did not find too many gold rings until I started hunting with someone who has found over two hundred gold rings. That is the way he does it.....Jack

 

[Eu_citzen]

Yes Jack, a truly good point. I hunt beaches mainly in hope for some rings and modern silver.

 

[Buddysox]

Thanks all for the comments and tips. I think I am going to make a program and cut out the obvious junk and then try to be more selective about the signals I dig. I have noticed that rings usually produce a "cleaner hit" than trash. It seems to me that a crushed tin can or a tab produces kind of a high but variable tone. I think I will try and just get my ear used to the sounds rather than notch it out. Reading the other posts, I guess I am lucky in that I am able to tell a difference between a silver and copper sound. Maybe I can up the odds a bit this way. Just heard that Kellyco has shipped my 10x12 SEF coil YAYYYYYYYYYYY! Maybe that will help too.
To all a happy Holiday, I will post more of my finds and stories now as it is good Dirt Fishing weather here in the southwest. All who live in the frozen states right now have my sympathy

 

[jabbo]

Most of all the gold rings I find are ladies, usually with precious stones. They fall in the nickle and pulltab range, so I dig lots of tabs. The mens rings found are almost always wedding bands, they fall in the screwcap range and so do class rings too. Gold chains and bracelets fall in the foil range. I use a Tesoro Cortes and just a glance at the meter ID number tells me what the target is 99% of the time, except when it's that piece of jewelry. Chopped up soda can pieces are everywhere and can be any size and show as any number. On my meter, almost no jewelry falls in the Iron range so I leave the shallow Iron be. Any one of those tabs can be a nice gold ring, so you gotta dig them. Grab a bunch of your wifes gold rings and a variety of pull tabs and air test them for meter readings. I can tell you one thing for sure, digging tab after tab gets frustrating.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

You got some good answers so far. Namely pick spots where ring ratios are higher. Turf hunting (I assume that's what you meant when you said "parks") are not too good on ring ratios, per the trash you will dig. But swimming areas on the other hand, are a "natural" for ring/jewelry losses: People lathering up with slippery suntan lotion, going into cooler waters where their fingers shrink, swimming horizontal and frolicking around, throwing frisbees, etc...

As for your idea of notching in and out (by whatever means) certain recurring junk TID's, that is nothing new. "Ring programs" have been written up and circulated since the earliest days of TID (early 1980s). Basically they takes hundreds of rings of all different shapes and sizes. Then they take hundreds of different kinds of junk items commonly encountered. Then they do a computer program to "enhance" the # of rings found, while eliminating the most recurring junk. But ask anyone who's tried this in junky turf, and they'll tell you that there is STILL a LOT of junk that falls into the edited-in range. Like foil globs come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, bent beaver tails will still keep you busy all day, etc.... etc....

And if anyone tries to tell you they can tell the difference between junk and rings, based on their sounds alone (when their TIDs are the same), take them out to the nearest inner-city-urban-blighted park, and turn them loose. See how fast they drop that claim? The reason we all sometimes *think* that rings we find "sounded different", is just selective memory: Each time we stop to dig a target, we think "this one sounds different". But when it's junk, we forget our premonitions, and think "yeah, come to think of it, it DID sound a little junky". But finally, we dig a gold ring, we think "AHA! I KNEW it sounded different" All just selective memory.

 

[Buddysox]

Thanks for the reality check Tom. Your right, there are so many subtle variables due to conditions that it is impossible to consistently tell the difference. I would like to say that I "know" the difference in sounds but how can I do that if I havent dug everything that I thought was trash and confirmed my suspicions? Thinking back to getting jewelery around the house and waving it under the coil, just the other day I recall I was in a park and noted that it had just rained, targets in one area of the park that was just moist sounded different than low lying areas that were almost mud. Like many I am trying to start out not digging, not realizing that you have to dig everything first to learn what not to dig! I guess that the difference between a hand full of coins and a chance at a nice jewelery item is sharpening the digger and getting my butt in the air!

 

[Eu_citzen]

I think play grounds with sand is a good spot.. Since when they play with their kids a ring can easily fall off..
That's where I found my first ring that wasn't silver.

Also camping sites can be somewhat good, especially if they have "activity" areas like sports, games and such where jewellery is likely to fall off.
But trash is probable to be able to make you nuts.. So watch out.

Good Hunting!
Eu