teqniques for dealing with beer cans and coke cans ?

[targets]

interested to hear how other users cope with these nuisance junk targets .
the materials as i understand it vary from pure aluminium cans to cans with a thin steel core with alu coating .
and these composite materials have varied over the years since they first came into use.

 

[MNCoinhunter]

I still get fooled by deep cans all the time. My only solution for shallow cans is to raise my coil higher off the ground until the signal disappears. If you are still getting a signal 18" or more off the ground, that is a good indicator of a can or something larger than a coin for sure. But on the other side of the coin (har-har), I just read about someone who came up on what they thought was a can of some sort and left it there. Only to have his buddy dig the same signal and find a Barber coin spill !

 

[scubadetector]

IF you want the interesting targets you have to dig ALL the signals. I just can't repeat it enough. Pass up a large target, you could pass up a cache. Pass up a zinc penny, it could be a 10 dollar gold piece. Its your choice. I myself will dig the strange and large targets. I have some awsome tokens, toys, a gun, a 10.00 gold coin, a 20.00 gold coin and plenty of other GREAT finds for not passing up targets.

BUT, its your choice, I have also dug up tons of trash and I keep it all to scrap it. I just turned in half a 5 gallon bucket of brass for 45.00. Better than putting it in the garbage. Probably a third of that bucket was shotgun shell bottoms.

And yes, if you pass something over and your buddy digs it, lol won't you feel sick.

 

[targets]

SO FAR THINK I HAVE TO AGREE ON TARGETS IN THE UK.or anywhere i guess ..
it could be something old and valuable if you tried the lifting the coil trick,but hey i am always willing to listen to others opinions on cans .they can be very deep in woodland areas too ...

 

[MarkCZ]

Pop cans down to around 3" or so will give the Coinstrike a 99 reading (intensity reading) and an ID reading of a copper penny!
99 on a penny means it a "Surface Find" less than a 1/2" I search the surface and if I can't find a shallow target either a penny or dime then it always a Pop Can!

Mark

 

[Neil]

interested to hear how other users cope with these nuisance junk targets .
the materials as i understand it vary from pure aluminium cans to cans with a thin steel core with alu coating .
and these composite materials have varied over the years since they first came into use.

try sizing the target with your all metal mode.

 

[Fabio]

Pop cans down to around 3" or so will give the Coinstrike a 99 reading (intensity reading) and an ID reading of a copper penny!
99 on a penny means it a "Surface Find" less than a 1/2" I search the surface and if I can't find a shallow target either a penny or dime then it always a Pop Can!

Mark

Yup, I noticed that too. I dug up 3 very deep cans, even though my Ace showed targets at 2 inches. Also, the older pull-tabs seem to go off the scale. Might be they were once more enriched with other metals.
Fabio

 

[BarberBill]

I get aggravated at the aluminum cans, too. What really bugs me though is digging one that has been flattened and deliberately buried in areas where it would have been much easier to either drop it in the trash or pack it out.
BB

 

[wasp]

If I have the time I try to dig up the cans just to make sure that huge signal isn't masking something good.

Like scubadetector indicated.....you don't know what it is until you dig it.

 

[TerraDigger]

Gotta agree with Barber Bill.....I am in southern Idaho...and also can't fathom the laziness of people in regards to trash disposal. And the 'powers to be' consider detectorists a threat to parks. LMAO.....we don't throw stuff on the ground that becomes razor sharp can slaw that can seriously injure a child/adult. We just clean it up!!

 

[slingshot]

I kept overlooking one of those overload signals when I had my CZ-5 and out of curiosity FINALLY (in a school tot lot) dug 8 quarters out of a hole.

 

[salmonriverhotrock]

In SE Idaho where I am from and here in Central Idaho where I work, there always seems to be the idiots who think aluminum cans and foil burn up in camp fires. On top of that, there are the idiots that build new fires within a few or more feet from an old fire pit and then try to burn their foil and cans in it. Then if your real lucky, high water overcomes these random fire pits and washes all the melted aluminum out of the fire pits and spreads it all over the place and even into the river bottom. This is why in some areas of Idaho, it is not practical to pick up every junk target to throw it away. There are hundreds and thousands of these melted beads and fragments of aluminum cans and foil all over hell and gone. Even Forest Service camp ground spots can be covered with this stuff when they used to clean out established fire pits and just toss and spread the ashes all around the area. Buried cans is nothing to dealing with this stuff.

Have I found coins and interesting finds in these places? Yes I have and it was because I dug most every sound.

Also, in one location along the river here, I dug up a buried trash bag of aluminum cans covered with soil. I also know of another guy who dug up a trash bag of aluminum cans on one of the river beaches covered with sand. Idaho is supposed to be "Too Green to Litter" but it can be quite a dump when you least expect it.

 

[BarberBill]

I'm with you Hotrock. I've dug bunches of melted aluminum from around camp sites.
BB

 

[Hank68]

I agree with Neil sizing it will tell you how big it is. HHH

 

[pasttom]

Only slightly off topic, the only real diamond ring I've found was a foil signal 8 feet from a trash can at the beach! I thought twice about bothering to dig it, but I am glad I did!
Tom

 

[The Signal Man]

[size=medium]Howdy! I find these prods helpful whilst out on "beach patrol". Allow me to expand on their construction and fabrication.

I used the platen bar(s) from a discarded printer (note: requires fine allen keys to liberate i.e. don't hurt yourself trying to tear them out - far superior to unscrew them).
Also; adequate eye-protection. You never know when a drill-bit might snap or some other errant object makes a beeline for your precious eye-ball(s). This would include liquid substances - glues most notably.

Crazy glue (even the vapours) are very detrimental to the optic nerve - be advised! Also, liquid bolt fasteners - the ones that prevent accidental shaking loose of nuts - is toxic in no small measure. Don't wipe your fingers clean - wash them clean.

OK, moving along; next we use our cordless drill and a bench-vice to impart a reasonably deep hole into a standard golf ball. Sand (roughen) the end of the surplus platen bar sufficient to encourage good adhesion. I employed rubber cement to affix the golf ball securely onto the prod-end. The acid test as to whether one has achieved adequate adhesion is in attempting to extract a deeply-impigned prod. That is to say; having pushed the prod it's full extent - can we extract it intact? Or does the golf ball lose its purchase and suddenly its "game off!" Not a bad idea to carry a spare.

Occasional applications of (silicon) grease the length of the prod assist in ease-of-extraction. This, especially so, in moderately hard-packed playing-field dirt and especially so when investigating 12+ inch deep. I like the look on the kidz faces when you can reliably generate a nice, deeply-located thunk - thunk!

As for employing these prods on the beach. Suffice to say that "Good" Samaritans often feel compelled to bury their squashed beer cans as deep (deeply) as humanly possible.

Detectors are sensitive to such deeply-buried conductive and reasonably planar surfaces - as presented by our bevy of flattened bevies.

Coil machines, to a tee, respond with nice, consistent high-tones toward deeply-buried beer cans (dbbc's).

These beer cans present an intriguing target for all the right electronic reasons unfortunately return-on-effort earnings ratio is low to lower still.

Best to positively ID and move on as fast as humanly possible.

Enter the prod! Nice clicking sounds or aluminium wall piercing-sounds are characteristic of dbbc's.

Trust this all as helpful and "reasonably reasonable."

Carry on! Was heard!

 

[bareftnfl]

While detecting a beach in Florida I found an unopened can of beer buried under the sand. Someone must have buried it to keep it out of the sun and then forgot it. Took it home and chilled it. It tasted fine. It's worth checking all those cans.