Question About Soil

[mh9162013]

I went into my backyard and dug until I got to the orange clay/soil. With my Garrett Carrot on medium sensitivity, there was no falsing. But when on high sensitivity, a clump of orange clay the size of a baseball would set off the Garrett Carrot. This same clump would not set off my Fisher F2, however.

Is it safe to save that my orange clay has high mineralization? Or would this just be medium mineralization?

Thanks!

[Tiftaaft]

I'm not sure if this is related to your question above, but at an old site I'm currently hunting, I have been getting deep faint signals in the zinc to copper penny range.. On more than one occasion, I have thought to myself "IHP"... but alas.... Texas Brick from the old schoolhouse that previously resided near this site.  The depth of the bricks have been between 6-8" inches, and will absolutely set off my carrot... but I run on sensitivity 3 most of the time... I will test in a lower sensitivity to see if my brick reacts the same as your clay.  Just wondering if the clay used in the brick is similar to what you found in your backyard.  These bricks may be "high mineralization" too.

[Chase Goldman]

Since the pinpointer will react to any change in ground phase above it's initial refrence point (established when you turn on the pinpointer),  about the only conclusion you can draw from your observation is that the clay probably has a higher degree of ground reactivity than your topsoil.  However, whether that reactivity is due to ferrimagnetic mineralization (most likely) or another mineral, the type of ferrimagnetic mineralization (magnetite, the most common, or maghemite), and the absolute level of mineralization (none, low, medium, high) is anyone's guess.  The only way to know for sure is to use a standalone mineralization meter or a detector with a built-in mineralization meter that indirectly measures magnetite levels in soil  such as the higher end Fishers and Teknetics detectors, Deus, and some of the Noktas like the Simplex.  HTH.

[mh9162013]

Chase: the ultimate reason for my question is to help narrow down what my next metal detector will be.

If my soil is as bad as I fear, I may end up getting the Fisher F-Pulse and a Vanquish or Equinox. If my soil isn't as bad, then machines such as the Fisher F70, F75, AT Pro, etc. are still in contention.

Of course, if I end up finding an absolute steal on any of the machines in consideration (like an AT Max for $250 shipped), I'll probably go that route, but there's no guarantee I'll come across one of those deals.

Thanks for your insight.

[Chase Goldman]

Well, if your soil is bad/hot, the Vanquish would be the last detector I would get.  It has fixed ground balance and is terrible in hot soil.  Simplex is a good budget alternative to Vanquish in hot soil as it has adjustable GB.  Also, since you already own a carrot, I would save the 100 bucks spent for the F pulse and put it towards your new detector.  I use a carrot just fine in the hottest soil around in Culpeper Virginia.  I always use max sensitivity, balance against the ground, and use instant one button press senstivity reduction to zero in on the target.  HTH

[mh9162013]

44 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Well, if your soil is bad/hot, the Vanquish would be the last detector I would get.  It has fixed ground balance and is terrible in hot soil.  Simplex is a good budget alternative to Vanquish in hot soil as it has adjustable GB.  Also, since you already own a carrot, I would save the 100 bucks spent for the F pulse and put it towards your new detector.  I use a carrot just fine in the hottest soil around in Culpeper Virginia.  I always use max sensitivity, balance against the ground, and use instant one button press senstivity reduction to zero in on the target.  HTH

Thanks!

[kac]

If there is magnetite you can also tell if you toss a clump of it on top of a target and see if the target goes off center from the coil. Usually orange clay has just natural iron. Here in the north east near swamps and some of the low lands we have bog iron that builds up which just kills the depth of any vlf machine. In those areas I use any of my machines with all metal mode and if I hear a rise in the threshold I'll give the ground a scrape and pass the coil over it and see if I get any number or if they rise.

You should be able to tune out the clay with the carrot, just do a re-tune when your over the clay like Chase mentioned. The pi pointers are nice in those cases as they ignore the mineralization but at a cost to sensitivity to tiny objects like ear rings.

[mh9162013]

34 minutes ago, kac said:

You should be able to tune out the clay with the carrot, just do a re-tune when your over the clay like Chase mentioned.

The problem with the Carrot isn't just the issue with my soil, but also it's poor ratcheting (closing range). Based on my research, the Fisher F-pulse has at least the same level of ratcheting as the Garrett Carrot, or perhaps slightly better. Yet it's far more sensitive. I have been losing so much time adjusting my Carrot's sensitivity b/w max and medium in about 75% of the holes I dig. It's costing me valuable time. This falsing was just the last straw, I think.

And no, turning it on when touching the clay isn't a viable option either as it'll require me to spend time turning my Carrot off in the middle of a dig, just to stop the chatter. I need a device that's truly a turn on and go, not a turn on and see if it works, then turn off, then turn on.

The XP Mi-4 was in the "lead" but given this realization about my soil, maybe the F-Pulse is what I need to get. But Chase brings up a point I've been considering: The Carrot is "good enough" and the $100 or so that I would be spending on an F-Pulse or Mi-4 might be better spent in getting a better detector. For instance, I may be able to just keep the Carrot and get an Equinox 600 instead of a Fisher F75.

 

 

[kac]

Sounds like you may have trouble poinpointing with the detector to narrow the search area. You have a concentric coil or dd?

Concentrics can have a wider area they detect in so even though the target is generally in the middle of the coil but not always the case. The detection area is larger with a concentric. With a dd coil you can criss-cross over the target or use the tip or heal of the coil and in most cases narrow down to the target to within a couple of inches.

I like concentrics when hunting areas that tend to have flat iron like steel bottle caps as flat iron generally stays in the iron range but dd's are better in higher trash areas and tend to handle mineralization better. At least thats what seems to work well for me.

As for pinpointers I like the pulse pointers better because they don't sound off on mineralization and hot rocks. We have a lot of coal here and nothing is more annoying than hitting a patch of coal and coke with the random spikes and try to sniff out a target in that mess. Bog iron, magnetite and general iron infestation and even can slaw is cake when compared to coal.

[mh9162013]

Just now, kac said:

Sounds like you may have trouble poinpointing with the detector to narrow the search area. You have a concentric coil or dd?

I used either the 8" concentric or 4" concentric. I have no problem pinpointing using the cross-cross method with either coil.

The problem is that sometimes I need to dig a plug that's thick or deep enough such that I can't rely on my Garrett Carrot on medium sensitivity to fully scan the plug without having to break or cut it up...or increase the sensitivity to maximum.