Compass

Hey Seeker, That's  good hunt, especially, with a new detector. Are those smaller rings gold? Maybe 10K? Your experience driving all the way down to the beach because of misleading news exactly mirrors my experience yesterday!

5 minutes ago, Tony said:

Well I don’t own the AQ.....just going on Joe’s videos and targets used.

Oh, sorry- when you said you enjoyed yours I thought you meant the AQ but now I realize you were referring to your TDI (was up all night detecting)

3 minutes ago, Tony said:

That’s a nice pile of targets......On coin and ring sized targets, the TDIBH is about 2” behind the AQ at maximum depths attainable. I really enjoy mine but would prefer a smaller coil of about 10” or so for hunting in the water. On the beach itself then the 12” coil is fine. 
Tony

Thank you Tony, Good to see someone with both detectors who could verify this. 2" is significant since the Beachhunter is no slouch when it comes to depth.

6 minutes ago, schoolofhardNox said:

Nice hunt. It always gets the blood pumping when you start hitting targets like that. Only a matter of time before you hit something good. Unfortunately in today's world a lot of jewelry looks good but is junk. I'm finding that for the past two years the increase of junk vs real has tipped in favor of junk. If I get a new drop, it's rarely gold. Most of my gold comes from the 70's, 80's maybe even into the 90's. After that Stainless, Titanium,  and other metals took over. But there is no better feeling than to be out detecting.

Thank you, I agree. I love to turn on the detector and hear a target on the the first couple of swings in the wet sand. The average distance between targets was about 10ft which isn't bad but how I long for those conditions where you get a signal or two with every step. Yes, great to get back on the beach after mostly hunting lakes this year. I, especially, enjoy hunting on the beach, under a bright full moon, wearing shorts and a t-shirt with plenty of targets to dig. 

I was really looking forward to hitting the beaches hard this weekend with the holiday crowds, great tides and new swell coming in but a couple of days ago the news reported that my local beaches were going to be re-closed just for the 4th of July weekend. I thought I would sneak in a hunt before the closure went into effect so I took the TDI BeachHunter and headed down to one of my favorite locations to detect a couple hours after high tide.

There was a decent slope going down to the water and in the light of the nearly full moon I could see several patches of black sand- both pretty good indicators that there were going to be some targets. Even though the tide was still fairly high I was able to work in the wet sand and shallow surf and I started to find an encouraging number of clad coins with a surprising amount of quarters in the mix. This was shaping up to be an excellent hunt.

That's when the local police SUV came by and told me that the beach was closed and that I needed to start making my way off the beach. Now, I have hunted this beach dozens of times at all hours of the night and day and the local lifeguards have always let me be when they saw me. The only other time I was asked to leave was also by local law enforcement. I was disappointed since I had just found a productive patch of sand but I said "Yes Sir" and went back to my car to change batteries and put on some different clothes. I thought the officer was actually giving me a little wiggle room when he said, "start making your way off the beach'" instead of "leave the beach" so I went back to hunting and never saw another patrol over the next 6 hours.

But I did see many more people including 3 or 4 other hunters. I detected some other nearby spots before heading back at low tide to hunt the site I started at. To my surprise and indignation there was a claimjumper detecting on my claim! I decided to give him plenty of space and started to work the fringes of the "paydirt" where I was still digging targets. However, to my surprise, the other hunter left shortly after I arrived and I think I know why.

I couldn't make out what detector he was using but judging from the number of good targets that I continued to find, some even in his scooped out holes, he was either a beginner or had a detector that couldn't handle the modest amount of black sand- maybe both. This area was not that big- perhaps 20' wide by 100' long but I found enough targets to keep me busy for the next couple of hours. I found a couple of rings and a couple of bracelets and I was certain that one of those bracelets was silver.

I really like the TDI BeachHunter. It is the most recent addition to my "arsenal" and one that I have the fewest amount of hours on due to overall beach conditions this past year and the pandemic impact. It's been compared to the Fisher Impulse AQ Limited but from what I've seen I believe that the AQ is deeper. The BeachHunter is deep and is really sensitive to both small and gold targets but its pulse delay is 10us compared to 7.5us  on the AQ so I'd like to compare "all metal" performance of both detectors when I am able to land an AQ.

I drove all the way home wishing I had found gold but happy to have found a big silver bracelet. Unfortunately, when I took a closer look at it I saw what you can see on the the bottom right of the photo- the silver plating wearing through. Arghhhh! Well, at least, I found enough clad to pay for gas this time!

GL&HH!

10 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Now that makes me feel 'bad' all over again!  Can I ever skip a penny and not wonder?  haha  My wife says she will never skip one.

Sorry Mitchel, I don't want you to feel bad but I don't want you to miss out on any big gold rings either. I hate zinc pennies but I agree with your wife on this. 🙂

2 hours ago, mn90403 said:

A couple of night ago I did a beach session hoping to take advantage of a bit of surf and wind waves I had seen in the afternoon.  In that afternoon session I couldn't find any surf/wet targets but I did find one silver band in dry sand using Park 1.  I thought there would be some low tide waves so I went back out from 1-3 AM.  I walked about a mile before I found my first penny and then I got to my spot where the wave energy had been concentrated.  I picked up a few coins and junk and headed back to where I started.  I stopped to look at my settings and noticed that I had tracking off and I turned it on in Beach 1/23/50/6/0F2.  I went about 20 feet and I got a 20 target number.  That is a number I skip sometimes when I am 'saving' myself from making too many holes.

To my surprise there was a ring in my scoop and in my light it looked pretty good!

It looked like a ruby and diamonds but it was a 20!  What gives with that?

Here are the other items I found on the hunt.

This was the same beach I couldn't find much just a couple of days before and when I gridded it I had been skipping some of the 20 signals because those are all pennies, right?  Now I had just found this ring and it felt good but I didn't have my glasses.  How many rings did I skip by not digging all of my 20s?

When I got home I checked the ring.  Cheap and not gold.  Nice looking and I was disappointed but then I realized that the decision to skip many of the 20s (pennies) was a good choice so I could dig a quarter.  One quarter equals 25 penny holes.  The cheap ring made me feel 'good' if you get what I'm saying.

This afternoon I went to a different beach and it is also normally a producer but not now.  Near the end I finally got a 'round sound' at 10.  This makes me anticipate.  It was a ring but a black, stainless steel ring.  Not valuable either.  Wave intervals are over 15 so I don't expect much up and I'll have to spend more time wading and get lucky for the old stuff as few swimmers are around for new drops.

It is always a learning experience to get out.

Mitchel

Mitchel, 2 of my nicer rings this year were from the same hunt and both rang up "19-20" on the Nox. Yes, most targets in that range are zinc pennies but now I get excited when I see those TID numbers. BTW-both are 14K and about size 10.

On 7/1/2020 at 12:24 PM, cuniagau said:

Pier tear outs and storm take downs, and pallets in the burn pits just to name a couple of sources. 

Just saw this response about the burn pits and it makes a lot of sense as the source of much of the trash.

On 7/1/2020 at 12:18 PM, phrunt said:

I was wondering why nails would be on a beach in the first place.  While I'm not a regular beach hunter I've never found a nail on the beach.  Bottle caps and pull tabs are my typical enemies at the beach.  I guess countries with a lot more history than my own tend to gather up more junk over the years of habitation.  I'd be quite happy if I found nails off an old ship wreck though.

Even though I have found plenty of carpenter nails on the beach I think some people use the term to describe a lot of the other, rusty, nail-like pieces of metal that are more common than actual nails. 

As to where all the trash comes from- that is a good question. Maybe people used to dump their trash in the ocean or buried it in the sand and it eventually disintegrated in the surf? Perhaps nails are from boats, crates and pallets?

You might try what I do to get permission to hunt in some lake areas. I explain/ show pictures of the hazardous materials that I will remove as I hunt like nails, fishhooks, razor blades (don't find many of those but they don't know that), lead, batteries, broken glass, sharp aluminum shards, as well as not so hazardous trash like bottle caps, pull tabs and aluminum foil.

2 hours ago, Dances With Doves said:

It is like getting a hole in one in golf  ,you won't  get paid for it but you won't  forget it.At least you get free food at the gold coin club lodge.

True but I'd happily trade my only hole in one for another gold coin! 😄😉

On 5/29/2020 at 8:39 PM, Joe D. said:

Wow, phenomenal coin! Actual value pales in comparison! That's a keeper! The condition is stellar! Look's like it just dropped out of the mint bag!

And yeah, i would keep hunting there!! It may have friends! Like a 1911 D!!💰👍👍

PS. Hope the thumb is OK!

If not, i will give you one of mine!! 👍(for the coin)!🤣

 

On 5/30/2020 at 1:25 AM, dogodog said:

I didn't think I would find coin like that in my entire life and at that site. Sadly the old place is slated for demo and will be replace with the typical modern  crap houses. I was surprised at the price of the coin also, seems to be worth only gold weight. But man it sure is a pretty little coin. Maybe today I'll find its big brother Ha Ha Ha.

Don't be concerned with those prices- that is a priceless find. You could buy one but it would never be worth the one you found. Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

..

Congrats on your first Wheatie! No doubt it is the first of many. The yards of old homes can be very productive since they don't get hunted like public places do. I remember finding some nice things in my yard when I first started detecting.

You've been doing great- congrats on another fine hunt!

Beautiful find Joe- congrats! Must have been down there a while to be in such great condition.

1 hour ago, Rick N. MI said:

Both silver. Was using the Equinox 800 with 6" coil. Using Park 2, 2 tone, recovery 4, iron bias 0, and sensitivity 24. I like Gold mode too. 

Not worth much, 2 earrings worth $0.50. Like finding 2 quarters lol. The stone is cz.  They are real jewelry though.

 

Nice job recovering those small jewelry items- congrats. I'm also a fan of "gold mode" for the small targets.

That one will really stand out in a collection- congrats!!!

33 minutes ago, ALEXANDRE TARTAR said:

No because this type of sand is magnetic, we can say ferrous, so the ALL METAL mode detects the variation in thickness of this sand and it sounds everywhere.

Thank you Alexandre/Steve, I am more familiar with the Dual Field than with my BeachHunter which I usually hunt with the ground balance "off" and the delay and gain cut back in black sand. Sounds like I should  be using the manual ground balance in the black sand similar to using tones/mute on the AQ?

14 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

All Metal is TOO POWERFUL for heavy magnetite concentrations, overloading the machine. So you have to lower sensitivity to a minimum and pulse delay to a maximum. Even that may not work, so you have to "downshift" to less powerful modes. The far end is Volcanic Mode.

That leave Tones and Mute as intermediate choices, with Alexandre indicating Mute may be the better choice between the two.

It is counter-intuitive to many people, but the way to deal with intense ground is not to jack the power up, but to tone it down. The problem is not lack of power, but machine overload. Smaller coils are also an aid because the detector is "seeing" too much ground. Another old analogy is that running in magnetite is like driving your car in a snowstorm. High beams leave you blind. Low beams lets you see what is right under your nose.

Thanks Steve, I like that "high beam" analogy.

12 minutes ago, ALEXANDRE TARTAR said:

If the MUTE mode is sufficient to cut this type of sand, it is preferable to use it, because it will increase the depth of detection.

If it is not sufficient as steve says, you must switch to VOLCANIC SAND MODE, if you have arrived in this mode it means that no other detector will work. In this case, a 20 grs gold signet ring put on the sand will make no sound with a VLF or BBS.

I'm desperately trying to find the videos!

Since there seems to be less trash in the dense black sand wouldn't All Metal mode be preferable for the additional depth? Sorry if this has already been addressed.

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

Having no expectations and just hunting one swing at a time will have its own rewards.  It becomes part of the background for the better days.

Mitchel

Thanks Mitchel, That approach has worked for me but also the one where I convince myself that there is gold to be found and I'm not leaving until I find it. 

2 hours ago, Skullgolddiver said:

You remind me of a gorgeous documentary of that years I found on OBN channel...I'm sure You'll love to watch it... I don't have the right title now, but if You check is easy to find it!

 

I will check it out- thank you.

17 minutes ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

Honestly I though so also but I will share more on this later..Turns out it is a easy as the Excalibur in PP... I need to finds some shallow clear water to show.  Three different styles are require, Swinging...Pumping of the coil ..then the edge of the coil...I will try and do a good video on that...

Thank you but no rush- stay out there and enjoy the detector- learning a lot from your hunt videos!

2 hours ago, kac said:

The UPS keys might explain the late deliveries!

That's very funny! 

Thanks Joe and congrats on a superb hunt! Your water looks murky there like one of my favorite spots so it usually takes me a while to retrieve targets. I would think with the AQ's large coil and depth capabilities that target retrieval is going to be even more challenging?