Metal Detecting discussions and finds

That's part of the learning curve!

 

I kept losing targets when scraping for them with my pick. One second it was there, a few scrapes and the other second it was gone. Neither my detector nor pinpointer would find it. Then… After a lot of scraping and pinpointing the pile -“oh yeah, my pick has a magnet and there it is!”

 

Yep. I have heard that can happen...

Are you gonna be up for one of the Manzanar events? Would be a good time to meet up.

 

Hah! It’s a thing us greenhorns have to learn about through trial and error for sure!

Yeah we’ll be there, that would be a good time to meet up. My family and I are going to be in town over Labor Day weekend, my mother-in-law is coming too, she’s pretty cool. Her family lived in Berkeley and they lost everything after they were sent to a camp. Her sister was born in captivity there, pretty sad.

I’ll also be driving through town next month on my way to Rye Patch the weekend of the 8th-10th. Maybe we can meet up on my way back. Going to be getting some of those chevrons and other supposed nuggies they have up there! Actually it’s for a class, but will get some time to do my own detecting there too.

 

Wow. Yeah, it was a dark time in our Nation's history. I worked with a guy that was in Manzanar as a child.

Let me know when you are passing through and we'll grab a burger or whatever.

I understand that them chevrons are difficult to come by.... Good luck!!

 

Tools like this will sometimes help. I started "coin collecting" a while back and bought one of these to help with identifying features of the coins.

$127 Celestron - 5 MP Digital Microscope Pro - Handheld USB Microscope Compatible with Windows PC and Mac - 20x-200x Magnification - Perfect for Stamp Collecting, Coin Collecting

https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-Ha...t=&hvlocphy=9031542&hvtargid=pla-406164245673

 

That reminded me that my phone has a decent macro mode.

 

Ha! I have one of those also and it works pretty darn good. It's low quality Chinese, but it does the job.

 

Zinc cents corrode quickly if in the ground for any period of time.
Some guys collect them, corroded or not, run them through a rock tumbler, and roll them and turn them into the bank.

 

I'm keeping this one since it is my first coin find (and it was the second thing I dug up)

 

Keepsake!

 

dilbert, I don't know if you know this or not, but if you find an "old coin" like a Silver, Weedie (oooops, I meant Wheatie , "Wheat Penny"), etc NEVER EVER "clean them" and/or "shine them" by throwing them in a tumbler!!! I mean, soap water just to clean whatever mud/dirt maybe, but NOTHING beyond that point. Don't use a toothbrush either.

Plus, just in case you don't know, again if you ever get into coin collecting, you can either use your phone camera, or get a fairly inexpensive handheld digital microscope so that you can do fine detail analysis like if you collect "Memorials" (pennies) you want to look at the finer details of say, when they went from "copper" to a "zinc/copper", which was 1982. You will find that during this transition that the date stamps will be slightly different and having a digital handheld helps with things like that.

Nice finds and I wish I kept my first find, which was also a penny, but I don't remember the year?


Anyways, don't shine up your finds if you get into coin collecting, for example.

 

I had one of those as my firsts too, but I gave it awayI used it to repair a hole in a drywasher box as a patch. I glued it on with JB Weld and told my buddy it was a lucky penny. Dang, he’s puffed out over an ounce by now since I sold that drywasher to him last summer, should ask him to give back my corroded old lucky penny and get his own!

 

Thanks for the tips! I knew that soap/water was ok, but didn't realize that even a toothbrush was bad (makes since thought because scrubbing the dirt around could do some damage).

I still have a bag of solid copper pennies in the truck for those coin stamping machines since they look better than the zinc ones when squished (my kids loved those when they were younger).

We're camping at a state park at an old fort next month and they allow detecting along the beach and also in part of the campground. I'm super excited. We were at another fort a few weeks ago where they filmed the movie An Officer and a Gentleman (Fort Worden). Lots of history there, but no metal detecting allowed.

 

Any recommendations for a storage/travel bag? I'm mostly looking for something to keep everything together and safe for loading in the travel trailer or in the truck.

I'm a sucker for a good bag. I bought a bag for my Weber Q that was made in Australia and took forever to get here, but it's perfect and was worth the wait and cost.

 

Harbor Freight has some nice tool bags with divider pockets for pretty cheap.

 

My buddy uses a bag designed for a compound bow. Says he picked it up at Sportsman’s Warehouse.

 

Good info, thanks. I have some soft rifle cases that could work, but I don't want the added attention that those might draw. I need something that says "Dirty Laundry" or "Sewer Hose Storage". I may even have a duffel bag that would work...

 

Soiled Diapers....

 

Are you looking for a detector bag? I am thinking of asking my wife if she can sew me one out of an old blanket for my newest one, at least it won’t look like an expensive thing - especially like the bags that have detector logos printed on the outside.