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What Do You Use To Probe & Pop Coins And Jewelry?


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As a relatively newcomer to the Probe & Pop world, I'm getting better at it but I still manage to scratch at least one coin every hunt using my basic brass probe. I recently found a different probe made by Fossicker that has replaceable hard plastic tips (it comes with 5 tips) and took it out for a try this week. It's a little thicker than my regular brass probe so it's a little harder to push into the ground now which is getting dryer and harder from the colder weather. The plastic tip hasn't scratched anything but it makes it harder to feel the metal click when I touch the target, so it's another learning curve I guess. I use my pinpointer to find the exact target location and the probe to find the depth to pop and was curious what kind of probe others are using.

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I am new at this hobby and believe that with experience it will become easier in time.

I have not yet used a probe, and have only used a sod cutter that my grandfather had with his detector.

I find that if the item is close to the top of the soil it almost makes no damage to the ground. I have only scratched a few items with it and I am getting a lot better at pinpointing the spot in which to dig.

Good luck and be patient with your new probe.

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When I'm going after shallow coins and jewelry I'm not worried about putting a scratch on a clad coin so I use a probe that looks a lot like the one above. The difference is that I make mine using using a wooden knob with a shaft made from a drill blank. Drill blanks are very hard and tough and they will take quite a beating without bending and the point stays sharp for a long time. The shaft is .200" x 6". Once I probe a coin, I can slide my fingers down towards the point and pry the coin out of the dirt or grass and don't need any other digger to make a retrieval.  Deeper, older coins get treated with more respect. The wooden knob also gets treated with Plastic dip. 

PS. I've used different Brass probes in the past with poor results. 

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What if you made a lead tip that could be replaceable?

I use my digger and just make a flap or plug depending on ground condition and if it is too dry I just don't dig in those areas.

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CPT_Ghost Light does a lot of detecting in an area that has shovel and hand digger restrictions. Screwdrivers and probes only are allowed which is another reason for this topic. 
 

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That looks more practical for my needs, Jeff, so I could probe & pop with one tool. It must take a light touch to keep from scratching a ring though. Maybe when I get more experienced I'll try something like that. 😉

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56 minutes ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

That looks more practical for my needs, Jeff, so I could probe & pop with one tool. It must take a light touch to keep from scratching a ring though. Maybe when I get more experienced I'll try something like that. 😉

It works really well even on 10"+ possible silver coin targets which I sometimes go after using the Equinox. I try to pinpoint the shallower targets for location and depth really well with my detector and my Teknetics Tek Point handheld pinpointer. If the target seems like it is a shallow coin sized object according to my detector, my Tek Point will hit it easily and give me a proximity type tone. I just try to dig around under the shallow target. If it is deeper and my Tek Point won't hit it I do the same but just dig a bit wider and I try not to dig directly on the target. I have scratched a few zinc and copper memorial pennies but I haven't scratched any nice jewelry yet, thankfully.

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CPT,

   I just picked up one of these from HD the other day to make a new probe! I will just dull the points a little, than dip in Plast-Dip! It's stainless steel, so it won't rust my truck bed up! And i think I'm  going to put a piece of solid aluminum rod through the large handle hole, for some more leverage! My soil is very loose; don't know how good it would be in hard ground! Good Luck👍👍

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5 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

It works really well even on 10"+ possible silver coin targets which I sometimes go after using the Equinox. I try to pinpoint the shallower targets for location and depth really well with my detector and my Teknetics Tek Point handheld pinpointer. If the target seems like it is a shallow coin sized object according to my detector, my Tek Point will hit it easily and give me a proximity type tone. I just try to dig around under the shallow target. If it is deeper and my Tek Point won't hit it I do the same but just dig a bit wider and I try not to dig directly on the target. I have scratched a few zinc and copper memorial pennies but I haven't scratched any nice jewelry yet, thankfully.

Thank you Jeff, this is the information I was looking for. I lowered the sensitivity on my Nox because I figured there was no way to go for anything deeper than 4 inches or so with my screwdriver. It's nice to know that deeper targets are still possible to recover using this method. From your previous finds posts, I knew you had it down to an art form. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

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10 minutes ago, Joe D. said:

CPT,

   I just picked up one of these from HD the other day to make a new probe! I will just dull the points a little, than dip in Plast-Dip! It's stainless steel, so it won't rust my truck bed up! And i think I'm  going to put a piece of solid aluminum rod through the large handle hole, for some more leverage! My soil is very loose; don't know how good it would be in hard ground! Good Luck👍👍

20201101_192320.jpg

20201101_192349.jpg

Thanks Joe, I actually picked up a similar weeder this weekend and rounded the points off. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but I hadn't thought of your Plasti-Dip idea. I'll have to give that a go too to see if it holds up. Thanks for the tip!

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