F350Platinum

Thanks! I found all the stuff in that display box in February last year. It was nice to find the "rest of the story". I'm going to keep looking for the rest of the coin as well, but I fear it was cut into "change". At least I got the date and value marks, it has "VI" on the other side, indicating it's a sixpence. I could not believe I dug a coin that old. It's part of the logo of Jamestown. Sadly they're not worth much or especially rare, but in this context with the other items it's pretty much priceless. Ultimately it will end up where it should. At present it is my oldest found coin. As for the cannonball, usually they're found where they shouldn't be found 😅, and worse. Should it be inert I'll have it restored. I believe it all comes down to weight, if it's an 18 pounder it is solid. I believe canister shot would weigh less.

My pleasure, NC. 🙂 We only got a dusting today, and last week's snow is all gone, benefit of being surrounded by water I think. Does NC have a lot of snow or frozen ground? Next week it will be in the 50s here.

Here ya go, they are about 10 bucks at Home Depot, as long as you cross the straps behind your knee they are light cheap, and will not slip. I only wear one, there are many threads regarding this subject here, someone will probably point you to them or you can use search yourself. GL, HH 🍀

I dug a potentially explosive cannonball yesterday. 💀

Yep blasting 82, all around. I knew it was deep iron, but the signal was so strong I wanted to see what it was. 🙂 Is your ball solid? No fuse?

Thanks Capphd, It is for sure, but I much prefer digging stuff like the 400 year old belt buckle 😅 I knew what the cannonball was when I got down to it, I know that the British used solid shot when they invaded in 1812, 3000 troops landed here in 1814, and there was a major offensive up the Potomac where they burned Washington DC. Local militias often fired on the ships and attempted to repel the invaders albeit unsuccessfully. The British also had Congreve Rockets, another lovely bit of ordinance I'd rather not find 😬 Francis Scott Key wrote a familiar song about them 🤔 There is no record of anyone firing on this area but at some point it happened, the question is when. The Union Army had a fort directly across the river, it could also have been an unrecorded shot from there, or it was from one of the Union boats that patrolled the Potomac in the Civil War. There was no activity at all here during the Revolution. That was all further south in Yorktown. It's not impossible to get killed by mishandling ordinance, so I am going to consider any further action with this object carefully. 🙂

The weather has been miserable here 🙄, every 3 days it rains with high winds, and we got a cold snap in the low teens and twenties recently. I know y'all have it much worse in some places, but winter is my relic hunting time, so every day that is marginal is precious. All I had was a couple hours yesterday before the next nor'easter came in. A little under a year ago I dug a 1607 King James I hammered silver Sixpence in this field, and some buttons, bits of pewter, and a broken belt buckle from the same period. It was probably from an exploration after the discovery of this area in 1606 by Captain John Smith, who founded Jamestown in 1607. I'm using the stock Deus 2 setup with the 13" coil and the new RCDIGS mount. Wherever the ground was in shade it was frozen, very difficult to dig. Thankfully the areas in the sun were easy albeit a bit muddy, it only got up to 42. I headed over to the spot where I found all the stuff last year and searched around, got a 67 and dug this: I immediately recognized it as the missing piece of the 1600s buckle I dug a year ago! 🥳 I searched around the spot a bit more and found some pieces of lead, nothing important. Then I decided to cross the field and near the other side I got a really strong 82, solid all the way around. I dug and dug and dug, and almost two feet down I managed to pull this out: It's about 5" in diameter, and weighs at least 10 pounds, I think it is a cannonball. Furthermore I think it is an errant shot from the British during the War of 1812, this field is near the Potomac River. There was little to no Civil War action here. I can't find evidence of a fuse, thankfully. 😅 I got home, and reunited the buckle bit in the display box with the other items: If you zoom the picture you will see the date on the coin. It was really great to find the missing buckle piece! Not sure what I'm going to do with the cannonball yet, I got it out of the field so they won't hit it with a plow or farm equipment, and marked the spot I left it on my GPS app. I'm not thrilled with handling ordinance of any kind and am glad I didn't get blown up digging it. 😬 I've dug lots of live bullets but this one goes boom 💥 or not. It could be solid, but if it is Civil War era, it could be live. A warning to you all. Here's the trash, mostly lead and interesting sounding iron bits. Glad I was able to bring something back. 😀

You're looking at the back of the button seeing the stamped grain. Above it (think orientation) is what appears to be a peened pin coming through the back. I'm thinking that pin is attached to the rabbit. Soldering would burn the brass, the rabbit obviously isn't stamped. Just expanding on what JCR speculated. 🙄

Thanks Mr. Meister, That's a beauty. 🙂 Right now I'm cool with what I have, hopefully a link can be found and posted here 🤔 does the nice looking cuff with legs come with it?

Wow. Now those are sportsman's buttons! 👍 Quite a collection. Looks like the rabbit is a pinned and peened addition. Awesome! 🏆

That looks like a nice one, got a link?

Wow, imagine having that job, detecting the hills of France as an engineer! Stuff like this makes me wonder why I aspired to the Pinnacle of Underachievement... 🤔 Nah. But it's better than sitting in a cubicle all day 😁

Thanks Steve, Don't get me wrong y'all, this mount is by far the best solution to issues Deus 2 users have with securing the RC. I think it's inexpensive insurance on either shaft, and intend to have both types myself. A little more discipline removing the remote to clean it each time I use it, also lubricating the screws, is in line with my mantra "Take care of your stuff, and it will take care of you". 😎 What's $50+ and a little extra work compared to losing a $750 remote? Sand, water and silt get into everything and introduce salts, ultimately locking up and/or corroding even the best engineered products, especially if you're a water hunter, or a relic hunter. Brass is great because It doesn't bind to harder metals, but in the case of securing the remote cover a composite might just be a better idea. 🤔 Ease of operation would be paramount. 🙂 Just had an epiphany regarding another problem I recently had, I'll be posting that soon. 😁 Funny how you wake up and have an idea how to fix something, it's why I always told my employers and employees, "There's nothing I can do at 8 o'clock tonight, that I couldn't do better at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning". 😏

Hey Doc, This has all been quite amusing. 🤣 Here in the East we call them "Sportsmen's Buttons", and get on with it 😀

I have an all wood vise and I've done that too. 🙂 Crescent wrenches are great for bending metal.

Poor guy has had sooo much rain... 🙄 It has rained every 3 days here for at least the last 30 days. 😵 Thankfully we've also had nor'easter wind in excess of 40mph between storms to dry things a bit, at least the surface 🤣 it lights the targets up below the surface. Great video. 👍

Earbuds are completely out for me, on-ear backphones or bone conduction are now my standard favorite. The D2 has a cable for connecting audio to something, why not a wireless low latency transceiver for matching bone conduction headphones? I don't like over-ear headphones at all, especially after seeing a black bear out hunting a few days ago. 😬

I was wondering if anyone would notice that 🤣 thanks GB. 😎 Developed a little trick over my experience with bent coins, I have a 4x4 pine wood block and a 2x4 block, both clean cut and shiny on the ends. I put the 4x4 block down on the garage floor end grain side up (strongest), put the coin on it, put the 2x4 on top of the coin end grain side down, and whack the 2x4 with a rubber mallet. 😬 Practiced this on bent clad many times, figured silver might be easier so I didn't hit it as hard. 🤔 Just one hit usually does it. Haven't broken one yet. The coin doesn't have anywhere to go but flat. Worthless as a taco, better displayed "fixed". It was ~4" deep, along what was a road according to old topos. 🙂

Thanks Hardpack, An excellent tutorial on recognizing ferrous, I've experimented with Bottle Caps and Silencer in the field and find them useful. None of the places I hunt are mineralized, so I have the luxury of using them even to extremes. IAR is very helpful in Relic. 👍

Hey Steve, The RCDIGS mount for the standard Deus 2 shaft has a tube on the side of the mount, but no facility for a waveguide exit from the shaft. You have to wrap the waveguide to the shaft on the outside of it, insert the cable in the outside tube, place it on the remote and hope it doesn't twist before putting the cap on and tightening the captive screws. 😬 That's just if you like it neat, as long as the waveguide is somewhere close to the remote it will work, so that's just me 😎 I'm glad Brad posted a photo of your mount, which appears to allow the cable through the shaft, up through the tube on the side of the mount, and then put the cap on. Here's my picture again of the Detecting Doodads mount I drilled a hole in, albeit bad it's perfect for keeping the entire waveguide enclosed until it comes out of the center of the mount. This makes for snag-free operation of the WS6 Master except for the coil, which you'd have to zip tie the cable to. It can also be used to get the cable to the RC, I think, but I haven't tried it. The only concern I have overall, and I will be eager to be in line to purchase your proprietary design regardless, is the hardware as I mentioned in a later post above. It's great that stainless and brass are going to be used, but I would consider more robust hardware, or even tough plastic screws to secure the top. As a former boater I'm no stranger to Galvanic Corrosion, resulting from the combination of unlike metals. What it means is the screws will have to be periodically cleaned and lubricated. Just a few cents worth of impressions. 🙂 Here's the video:

Excellent! Sorry you had to go through that, congrats on using the WS6 as a spare. 🙂 Good luck with your new RC! 🍀

Sorry, NC. Weather good enough down there to get out? I'm covering some new ground, so it's pretty likely I'll find something. 🙂

Thanks! I was thinking it might be a brass decoration for an old rifle, mainly because of the tab. 👍

Especially not if you're diving deep! Hope you can get one shipped to you. Noticed the count going down on eBay, he has a website too. https://rcdigs.square.site

Here's the SteveG mount which is proprietary to his rig. It's injection molded or something, but it's a lot stronger/better than a printed one. I've not had many pop off incidents but I have seen them. It's off the rig right now awaiting other things which I may post at some point. The only problem I ever had with this one is that it loosened up and was twisting a bit, easily remedied by tightening it in the middle shaft.