Suppose you wanted one for a hobby
Suppose you thought you might use one for finding metal in lumber before milling
Suppose you were a roofer and wanted to do an extra good job of picking up the nails in the driveway.
I see you can buy the things anywhere from $20 up to three thousand bucks or so. Kinda like CAD programs in that….hmmmm
Where do you start?
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I got mine at wallyworld for scanning old lumber. Problem I had was the lumber was on my floor that had IT'S nails being read..but for a 50 buck deal, it works great. You can change the sensitivity and it can tell Silver from Iron ( IIRC, I've not used it recently) and it did find every old bottle cap and nail in the yard when I was looking for the mason jars full of money.
I'd start there..and use the headphones if it's windy outside.
wanna Hear something funny? There was this dog with headphones, see....and he was out digging up bottlecaps in his master's yard, see...and ___ What? ! You don't think this is funny?
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Malo's mom and two brothers ARE out digging, no head phones, but well on the way to China.
sounds like a tornado shelter in progress. They do have a license and permit, right?;)
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No, but if they find the mason jars full of money and keep it...man, I'll be mad!
Depends if it's Confederate money or real coin, eh?Those links from Bill were a good start for info - got a lot of digging to do myself there.
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Find a vendor and try them out yourself. Some of the new ones are very advanced. And expensive. I wouldn't buy one without trying it out. A lot of dealers have tradeins from people who want to move up.
Take some nail infested lumber with you.
Edited 4/12/2009 6:55 pm ET by Dam_inspector
Like tools and cars, money can buy almost anything. The White's detectors you see on TV are good places to start like the XLT or others. After using the XLT for about a year, a Mine Lab Explorer for seven more years, now I'm using a Minelab Explorer SE. I've have had have three articles published in "Lost Treasure" magazine....
To see good prices and different types:
http://www.kellycodetectors.com/indexmain.php?adwatcher=31&kw=kellycodetectors&gclid=CJSrpsW27JkCFQEhDQod820_Qw
To read about what's found, what kind of detector found it, ask questions, and get answers start here:
http://forum.treasurenet.com/
Bill
I was looking at a few on ebay and saw lots of old treasure hunter magazine so maybe I'll see your writing. I bid on one lot. Looks like you get to teach me something.What basically does a guy look for in features.I see some can supposedly separate bottle caps from more solid metals like coins or jewelry and iron like RR spikes from Copper pipes. Is that true? I would guess that the more powerful ones can read deeper int he ground as well...how deep CAN they read?Some beep when they spot something and other buzz all the time but stop when they are onto a find. Seems I would want the former, not the latter as that would seem a PIA.How 'bout what features to look for in carry comfort - shape, weight, straps, etc.One of my stepson's got one for his stepson last year and I know they have fun using it together but haven't talked yet to him about this.
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Piffin, I'm glad to be able to help, turn about is fair and might help you shorten a learning curve....
What basically does a guy look for in features.
The basic features are built into almost all that cost $300-$500 and up. You can't cancel out pulltabs without losing chances to find gold rings and nickels. The new clad dimes have the same kinds of sounds as pennies, so canceling out pennies means you'll lose lots of dimes.... The real discrimination comes down to digging it out of the ground, one at a time... ;>(
The Whites gives you a monotone beep and you have to look at the screen EVERY time...can slow you down if you want to do a large area. The Minelab varies the tone based on conductivity: Silver has a high pitch, Copper a bit lower tone, and gold, pulltabs, and nickels are lower, but then small gold rings and tin foil (gum wrappers) are in the same range with a low tone... So, to a point, it's true it can tell which is which. If you were looking in a plowed field for a quarter, they will tell you what is there.... But the real world is that there are usually a wide mix of metals in parks, playgrounds, yards, etc... So, it's the mix that can throw you... Once, I was detecting in a sunbathing area of a city pool out in West Texas. I got this warble sound, so I dug it anyway... I found a pulltab, a penny, and a 14kt gold ring within 2" of each other, so the coil size is almost as important as the detector... I like to listen and go, but it takes awhile to develop a sense for different tones and not rely on its screen to tell you, that's why I went with the Minelab design.
The digging tools can make your day easier. Hunting knives, screwdrives will work, and garden tools aren't strong enough and usually too wide to dig into dry clay ground. I've tried many, but this one can be sharpened and dig through driveway packed gravel....Lesche Original Digging Cutting Tool With Sheath
Over 4-1/2 years, I found a gold ring each year, a WWI dogtag, silver coins, and other good things. You'll dig a lot of junk, and you'll come home with $2 to $6 in new change. Over that time, I dug 82lbs of 1965 and up clad coins... Finally, I weighed them at a local feed store, then went to the bank for the lobby coin counter... $849.20 in silver...never got to the pennies... That hobby money helped pay part of a new 20" bandsaw... ;>)View Image
You'll have to build some endurance and be willing to bend, stoop, and dig. Most coins and jewelry is between 1"-4" deep, but I've dug a sterling silver sewing thimble at 8". A beer can can be seen by the detector as a large silver coin and be 12" deep... It's work, and times it's a downer, but I'll go detecting once a week or so, and I'm always ready to find the next trophy...View Image
Bill
Thanks for the interesting post.
The yellow wand-type surveyors metal detectors are sensitive, tough, and relatively cheap compared with the hobby type. It's adjustable enough to find a tack under 2" of asphalt, or a steel pin at a 4' depth. We used'em to find 60-D nails and RR spikes in living trees too.
I've got a $25 detector I got years ago for finding metal in rough lumber prior to planing or sawing.
wand type?Is that the handheld pinpoint locator?Does it have a brand name or can I use yellow spray paint to make any of them work that good?;)
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Hell I can't remember the name. Got a square box on the top about 8" long by 3" wide, and about a 32" long, 1" thick wand projecting from it.
Shonstadt, that's it. You can rent'em from survey equipment providers. They're tough. Had to beat the shid outta a Rott one day that decided he wanted a piece of my butt, and it worked fine after that. Little bent, but still sensitive...
The big yellow wand style used by surveyors, etc., is made by Schonstedt. Last one I bought was $3500. But, it included an inductive sending unit, that you can lay on the ground above part of an iron water line, or a plastic one with the metal ribbon, theat then makes it a lot more detectable with the wand.
I think the standard one is about $1100.
Yoikes!I guess if it includes the automatic Rottweiller fender offer it is worth every penny tho;)
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I guess you could poke a rotty with the tip. Maybe if he had enough metal in his collar, and the volume was turned all the way up, the shriek could scare him away.
Found a treasure map in a 200 year old wall, didja?
Joe H
Prob'ly just a bunch of Gillette blue blades below the medicine cabinet. :)BruceT
Yeah, All I gotta do is buy the right locator and hang it on the wall with my other unused toys and oodles of money will start jumping into m,y pockets!;)
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Had no idea they were that expensive.
That's why the boss asked me "why didn't you just use the machete on him?"
I usually rent one for $25 for three days...
I was given one to try out that supposedly could discriminate between the differant metals, but every little blip I heard I went digging, and like mentioned above I found every pull tab , bottle cap, etc. the machine even blipped when I scanned some rusty dirt when the nail was compleatly rusted away.
There is supposedly two major brands that market to differant parts of the country, has something to do with the minerals found naturally in the earth.
I would encourage anyone looking at a parcel of land to use one to recover property corners, it could find the barbed wire buried in the groundor the chain link sections buried in the brush.
I was talking to a kid on the roofing crew yesterday who got a good one for Christmass. He said he started on a cheaper on but spent a lot of time digging up rocks that had mineral content, but he can differentiate now.
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