The ever-changing state of affairs

Another Compadre

My youngest child has asked that I take him metal detecting. The problem is, when one wants to go so does the other. To solve this problem, I have ordered an additional Tesoro Compadre.

One Metal Detector to rule them all!

In a fit of madness, I have decided to trade my three current detectors for an XP Deus. Lately, I have come to appreciate the joy that is swinging a light weight detector. Plus I still want the power of a flagship machine. The XP Deus fits the bill to a T.

Presenting…Defiant

Another thing that I look forward to besides the power of the XP and its under two pound weight, is the fact that I can collapse the unit and put it in a bag and carry it with me into the house or into the office. No more leaving my expensive detectors in the car so that some loser can steal them.

I LOVE my V3i! Especially now that I am beginning to understand it. I am going to miss the three frequencies and the analysis tools. I am going to miss the 22 KHz frequency for micro gold. Alas! I think the XP Deus will deliver equivalent power with the added conveniences of no wires and lighter weight.

I will miss my beloved AT Pro. The Pro is the detector I became a proficient hunter with. I found more stuff with it than with any other machine. We were like one me and the Pro. At three pounds, it was my lighter detector but again, the XP is less than two pounds! I may yet regret giving up the AT Pro but the XP may work better in some of the iron infested sites around town.

Last I say good bye to my newest machine; the CZ-3D. I got this machine to get the hard-to-detect coins that I know are there. I have found many coins now that didn’t read like coins at all. The CZ-3D was designed for just this kind of scenario. I didn’t count on the weight of the unit however, especially once I put the 10.5 inch coil on it. Man! I even tried hip-mounting the unit which helped but then I had to adjust my digging style. Nonetheless, this machine quickly earned a spot in my heart by finding nickels missed by everyone else.

So I am counting on the XP Deus to deliver all the things I am giving up and it yet may. I’ve heard the following about the the XP:

1) It works great in iron infested sites.
2) It goes deep
3) It can find nickels , which are notoriously hard to detect
4) You can swing it all day!

All of these things are important to me but the weight issue was what drove my decision. I hunt during the hottest months of the year and I hunt for gold so I dig more targets than other people. It was very important that the machine I use be light and easy to carry.

The ProPointer is NOT dead! 

Reports of the Garrett Propointer’s death have been greatly exaggerated! It turned out that the thing just needed a new battery. Special thanks to my hunting buddy Patton from the Friendly Metal Detecting Forum for lending me his spare propointer which led me to discover that my propointer was not ready for the trash can.

The Return of Big Bertha

Big Bertha, my White’s Spectra V3i, was on leave while I decided what to do about the terrible chattering that I experienced the last few times I used it.

Since I have two other excellent detectors, I was in no hurry to tend to the problem but last night I finally tackled it. First, I suspected that some dirt had gotten in between the coil cover and the coil. I took the cover off (a big challenge!) and indeed, there was quite a bit of detritus in there. I’ve decided to leave the coil off and hunt with the naked coil.

Second, while I was removing the coil cover, I noticed that the cable was lose at the control box! That was probably the real cause of the chattering. Oh well, the cable connection is tight now and the cover is off. I took Big Bertha for a spin at lunch time today and the process of re-acquainting myself with it has begun.

A have a few words about owning and using multiple detectors. When you are using several detectors, the mastering of them is going to take longer. I get a little confused with the VDI’s when I switch detectors. Plus, I have to remember the quirks of each one. So I may not be as effective a hunter as I would like to be. I am not worried however, I know eventually I’ll be able to switch detectors with no problem.

The one good thing about hunting with different machines is that I am learning all the things that are common to all of them. Indeed, many of the things I learn with one unit can be applied to the other ones. This includes all general issues about metal detecting. By using three different detectors from three different companies, I know what is universal to the hobby and what’s particular to each brand.

So in theory anyway, in the future, the learning curve for any new detectors will be a lot more gentle.

Thank you for looking!

The Very Definition of Masochism

I have gold fever. I can’t deny it. I want gold and lots of it. To that end, me and another hunter, Stevouke, have vowed to dig pull tabs until we both find another gold ring.

The problem is that the very goal seems infinite. There seems to be an endless number of pull tabs and this makes the job seem unmanageable. Maybe I am over thinking this but I thought one way to make the task less daunting was to set boundaries to it somehow.

Stevouke is doing this by keeping a count of the pull tabs he digs. Me, I decided I needed something more tangible and visual. Here is my idea:

If you ever wonder what pain looked like…

I am going to see if I can find a gold ring before I fill this gallon container with pull tabs and foil.

Thank you for looking!

1929 Whatsit

While hunting a 1925 park with the CZ-3D, I found this metal band. At first I thought it may be a bird’s id tag but once I made it round again, it seemed a bit too big for a bird’s leg.

It gave a high tone on the CZ and the needle landed on the Zinc facet. If I remember right, it was about five inches deep.

It has the following written on it: 63642 Kansas Accredited 1929.

We know whatever this was on was accredited in Kansas in 1929

’bout the size of a dime

Of course, anything with a date I think it’s pretty cool.

Thank you for looking!

Brothers In Arms

After a little over an hour of digging for gold using my CZ-3D, my body and my soul were weary.

At least there’ll be less to dig next time

So I snapped a picture of my loot and sent it to Stevouke (from the Friendly Metal Detecting Forum) who was hunting in the morning like I was. I got a similar picture back from him and a similar story.

Somehow knowing there’s someone out there who understands what I am doing and why makes me feel a lot better.

Thank you for looking!

A small CZ-3D study

I went to my trashy, hunted out park to run a little study on the CZ-3D. The site is not, strictly speaking, the kind of site for which the CZ-3D is optimized for. The park did open around 1880 but it has been in continued use since then so although there are still many old coins left, those coins are covered by a carpet of trash.

Nonetheless, I remained undaunted and carried on.

The settings on the CZ-3D were as follows: Discrimination set at zero. Ground Balance at 3.5. Volume at 4.5. Sensitivity at ~4.2. Enhanced mode. Eight inch stock coil.

I detected for two hours and dug only repeatable high tones regardless of the depth of the target. Below are the results

3 nickels
1 quarter
1 dime
3 memorial cents
5 beaver tails
1 round pull tab with beaver tail attached
2 square pull tabs
2 bottle caps
3 wine screw caps
6 pieces of can slaw
1 bent rusty nail
1 piece of aluminum wire
1 unidentified piece of brass

30 pieces dug
8 good targets
22 trash targets

approx 27% of the targets were good. The oldest coin was a 1959 nickel.

Not bad for a spot of the park that I and others have hit heavily in recent months.

Thank you for looking!

The Mystery of Plated Gold

I found yet another ring today. I hunted with my good friend Patton from the Friendly forum and at one point we were joined by another friend and hunter from the Friendly, Stevouke.

I was hunting with the CZ-3D and toward the end of the hunt, I got a nickel signal. It was a repeatable high tone that sounded deep. The pinpoint verified that the target was six inches deep. I was expecting an old nickel but instead, I found a ring at the bottom of the hole.

The ring looked to be made from gold so I immediately looked for markings. The first thing I noticed was a 1/500. I didn’t need to look anymore. I knew this was a gold plated ring. The complete marking reads: 1/500 10K R.G.P. –>M-H.
Seems like a lot of information for a plated ring.

1/500 gold. Does that mean his great-great-great-great grandpa was 100% gold?

The mystery to me is; if gold is so stable, why do gold plated rings turn to muck under the ground?

This ring retains the gold plating on the inside of the ring but it’s all gone from the outside.

At any rate, I like that the CZ-3D gives a high tone on 90% of nickels and on about 40% of the square pull tabs, and since gold often comes in at those readings, I think more rings are on my future.

Silver coin number 13 –with the CZ-3D

I went out this evening to hunt my honey hole with the CZ-3D. I decided to put the eight inch coil back on the CZ and hit the site with a more relaxed attitude.

Well, my strategy paid off with a repeat of this morning’s hunt (plus a few nickels). First I hit a dateless Buffalo nickel. The CZ correctly identified the coin as a nickel with a nice repeatable signal. The coin was barely three inches deep. Next I hit three Jefferson nickels –1941,1949 and 1979, all correctly identified with a high tone using the Enhanced mode. Finally, the CZ gave me a nice, repeatable signal on the High Coin slot. When I dug the four inch hole, a beautiful 1944 Mercury silver dime stared at me from the ground. This is my first silver coin found using the CZ-3D.

Freshly dug Buff at my honey hole

Fresh out of the hole

Somewhat cleaner

My First Military Button

I have been hunting for almost a year now and although I’ve found many interesting things, a military button was not one of them. Until now.

This button showed as a coin on the CZ-3D. The CZ accurately read the depth of the button; seven inches deep. The button is heavy, made of brass, with a diameter of 27mm (9/8ths of an inch),

The park where I found this button during my lunch-time hunt, McAdams park,  has yielded other military– items in the past.

There is a tinge of doubt in my mind as to the nature of the button only because I see no maker’s mark on the back of the button. I will research this button to make sure. At first sight, it appears to be a Marine’s coat button from WWII.

***UPDATE***
The button is from an Army coat from WWII. The official diameter is 28mm or 1 inch and 1/8th of an inch.

No maker’s mark visible. Civilian copy?

Thank you for looking!

Back to the V3i

I have been very busy these past few days but still I have managed to detect for a few minutes here and there. I have found nothing worth of a post. Besides coming down with a cold (at least I hope it’s just a cold), the only other meaningful metal detecting news is that I’ve put the CZ-3D away for a while.

I like the CZ-3D a lot. I never dug up so many nickels in my life! But I am afraid the legendary depth claims don’t hold in my soil. I contend that the effective depth of the CZ-3D, with the 10.5 coil, IN Wichita, on a US Dime, is about eight inches. I use the dime as a gauge because more silver dimes were dropped than any other silver coin. And although eight inches is a respectable depth on a U.S. dime, I can achieve the same with the AT Pro and get the iron discrimination feature. Plus, the AT Pro is way lighter. Incidentally, I can detect a U.S. dime at ten inches with the V3i, using the ten inch coil.

Still, the CZ-3D has a unique talent that no other machine out there has and that is, it can detect those weird coins that register as trash in other detectors so I am keeping it in my arsenal.

My personal philosophy is that Depth is one of the major pillars of the hobby and one of the Holy Grails of metal detecting along with iron unmasking. There is lots of stuff at around 15 inches of depth, including gold coins and old gold jewelry.

Thank you for looking!