F350Platinum

9 minutes ago, Tiftaaft said:

IHP's and I'm never sure how low to mentally disc when I'm hunting... but basically I let the depth make the decision for me.  I have a nice collection of rusty iron as a result. 🙂

Well, GB is your best bet, and somea the other members that do a lot of testing.

IHPs are weird, I get a symphony at first when I find one, but the 20-22 usually indicates my success. Heard it a lot today. A couple were 18-19.

I dug a few spikes today until I started using 4khz to check. It seemed to work on other trash too, but because of the Trime I went after any and all pull tabs. 😵

20 hours ago, Scarfoot said:

That Gardner is telling of the sites possibilities, Those Rebs didn't drop alot of bullets, I'd be beating it up looking for buttons!

I am, believe me. Only found three that are early 1860s. There wasn't much war here except for 1812, but many of the residents have veterans in their families.

20 minutes ago, Tiftaaft said:

Great Hunt F350P!! What range were those IHP's?  (TID and depth)? 

Glad you asked. I keep a record in Tect-O-Trak, photo, description, and ID. Sadly no depth. Might start doing that. 🤔

Unfortunately it's not that simple, though.

IDs on the Equinox for Indian heads run from 16-23, the majority are 20-22. I've found that they go all over the place at first, but most of my measurements are taken out of ground when recording the find. Mangled salt-eaten Indians are 15.

Depth varies, I've been finding most of them 4-8", but a couple were really deep, like 12".

Wheat Pennies run from 20-24, and are usually a strong solid tone. Haven't found any in the river, I assume they don't survive the brackish water with farm runoff.

35 minutes ago, CVISChris said:

F350 you need to slow it down!  I can’t keep up.  I see coin books and a curio cabinet in your future.   Awesome hunt.  

Thanks Chris. I'll be taking a couple of days off to get my RV in shape for the season. I'm trying to beat the farmers - I've been out every day it was warm enough since last August. Really kicked in when I retired in October, and got my first permission.

I'm doing the display case thing for now. Photo below is 7 months of work in this area minus the stuff that won't fit. Finds run from the mid 1600s to late 1900.

I expect the farmers to be out here this week, it's going to rain all next week. May hit the farmhouse one more time before it rains. But after that it's off to the beach! 😀

Uh, yes, I plan to bring the Equinox with me. 😈

Warm enough to hunt in a T-shirt today. Farmhouse Grid search day 2. Dug a couple of buckles and what I thought were cufflinks, but yeah that's just a rivet. 😵 Little gear or saw blade, some sort of brass bead but it's not hollow. Really fancy spoon handle says Sterling on the bent piece. The large rectangle may be silver, it sure sounds like it and it's heavy. Two more of those aluminum buttons flanking a really heavy colonial brass button that appears to have been silverplated, it has a backmark but it's obliterated.

I think I found the clothesline, kept turning up Indian Head after Indian head, and then one wheat penny. Dates: 1864, 18?5 (who would drill a coin through the date), 1887, 1890, 1901, 1907. The wheat is 1910.

I really like the green color Indian heads have when they come out of the ground.

Spoon reverse in the second photo. Fancy!

44 minutes ago, dogodog said:

Super nice Trime!!! At this point I might trade my gold coin for one. These damn things are really hard to come by. I have to live through your Trime find, still hoping I might be part of the club one day. Great day out, looking forward to more.

I'll take it! 😀 Seriously though, even tho it's a "type 2" it's only worth about $40 Max. 

Now, an 1867... That would be a different story!

Awesome find Joe. My wife loves it! 😀

Looks like you got a chunk 'o' change too. Anything old?

I think the reason many Equinox users don't find Trimes is the VDI they give. This occurred to me today while I was working the site, the Trime was a 16/17, much like a half Real, which is 17/18. Guess what other object falls into 16-18?

Pop tops. 😵 I imagine anyone with any detector would blow the ID off after digging so many. For some reason I dug about 10 of them today. 🤔 😀

My 600 gives a ferrous tone, usually -7, when I lift it or put it down fast. If sensitivity is too high (over 20) and I haven't ground balanced it will also "read" ground contours in the farm. I run it hot so it doesn't bother me anymore.

19 hours ago, kac said:

Your full tones probably help a lot by blending the smaller targets that may normally bridge a couple of tones and sound like trash.

Using 50 tones on the Equinox works especially well for buttons that have an iron shank. If i get a loud non ferrous tone with a small iron tone I've usually found a button. When I don't use all metal the iron disappears. I guess it's a trade off. 50 tones also identifies aluminum cans well, you get a wide range of tones that makes it kinda obvious.

9 hours ago, CVISChris said:

The camp I’m at pre dates maps here. Mapping didn’t start till the 1880’s as far as I can tell.  I really enjoy your finds.  Keep it going.  

Thanks! The earliest map of this area online is a USGS topo 1917. It marks the position of houses at the time. Most were gone by the 60s but there are some older aerials. Got about 4 places to scout after this one. I use:

oldmapsonline.org

historicaerials.com

And the USGS viewer. Google Earth Pro is good too, but it only works on a laptop. They added a historical map feature. I'm trying to learn to use USGS LIDAR maps but it isn't easy. They show ground disturbance.

I "guesstimate" the plot I'm going to grid in Tect-O-Trak on my phone and set up flags. It tracks my coverage. Of course there's nothing like good old "land reading", I look for level rises.

1 minute ago, kac said:

Trimes are fun, so thin and so easy to miss. Shows that you take your time and pay attention to the small stuff where most people will hear a chirp and keep on swinging.

I stop on every chirp, especially ones that go up in tone. I'm using Field 2, 50 tones, all metal, sensitivity usually 22 unless I hear ground contours. F2=0. Just recently got the hang of ground balance 😀 the only time I use noise cancel is when someone else is around. Still not comfortable with turning off the horseshoe.

3 minutes ago, kac said:

Trime has nice detail, sharper than the ones i found. Congrats!

Thanks. Learned to keep a small spray bottle of water with me for silver. Saves on scratches. This farm is rough on everything!

3 minutes ago, CVISChris said:

The Trime is a bucket lister for sure.  You are killing it.   Great finds 

It came up as a weak 16-17 on the Equinox at first. 17 out of the ground. Only silver I've ever found here is Spanish, I thought I found another Real. I'd like to find some quarters! Chase got the only large silver so far. 😀 Shame the place that would have yielded the most got hunted out. Going to hit the river when they plant the fields, and I have a few places I can look that I haven't been to yet, a couple of early houses. Using maps and grid searching is the way to go if you have time.

6 minutes ago, Tiftaaft said:

Whoa! That Trime is Killer!  Nice find F350P!!!

Is there a Trime club? 😀 Thanks. It was the first thing I dug this morning. I've found 4 wheats here, but it's good to find some silver!

Went back to the farmhouse site I scouted yesterday and set up a grid search. Dug a very odd button, no backmark. Appears to have had some sort of second piece but it's stamped on the back so the images show on the front. Crossed muskets or swords, a horn with an arrow coming out of it on the bottom, a sword that morphs into what looks like a snake, and I can distinctly make out the letter "B", but little else. Looks like there was another letter but it's obliterated. 

Found what I guess is a newer two-hole Scovill button, circle of dots on the front but nothing else. Small two hole button may be aluminum but it was a 23. Small shoe buckle, snap, D buckle, pewter piece (does anyone ever find a complete candlestick?), Harmonica reed.

Then the good stuff, 1857 Trime (solid 17), 1917 mercury dime, and 1907 Indian head - 3 7s again...Just got to the well, there is a lot more ground to cover! Dug a lot of trash today, you know you're on a home site when you fill your bag with stuff that sounds good but isn't.

Beautiful day today. Didn't get out until 10, but by then it was already warm, about 47. It was 25 when I first got up.

Headed out to the old farmhouse site to run a couple of passes I felt I could have done better, surprised a large Coyote hunting at the woods edge. Coyotes migrated to this area in the last 5 years or so, this one has wiped out all of the foxes and many of the rabbits around my house. I get photos of him now and again on my deer cameras. Today he was stalking a groundhog that I saw go in the woods where he was a day before.

All I found at the old site was a cutlery handle like one I found not too far from it previously. This one says "Sterling 925" on it, well maybe the plating was 😀

Last night I set up a new plot for another farmhouse in Tect-O-Trak using some historic aerials I found. Went there and saw brick and heard lots of iron so I knew I found the house. The well was filled in but not a great job. I have fallen in a well before, not something I would wish on anyone.

Shown in the photo: The cutlery handle, a large adjusting wheel of some sort (at first I thought I found another KG Copper😵), another very heavy piece of cutlery with an odd tab.

Belt buckle might be animal tack, it's heavy but still managed to get twisted. Four Wheat Pennies from 1913 to 1944. Two buttons, one seems to be aluminum, the other is the front of a two piece. I can't make out the design so below is a close up if anyone recognizes it. Toy wheel, and my most stunning find of the day, a .58 caliber Gardner ball, dropped not fired. I'm surprised to have found one in such great condition and even more surprised to find one at all. 🤔

Tomorrow I'm going back to grid search.

Great finds! A 2 Real on the left coast. Awesome.

I've been finding a lot of those Reeds on a steamboat landing. Had no idea what they were. 👍

1 hour ago, kac said:

Is it cheaper to get a shellfish license and just sneak the detector along? 🙂

Fishing licenses are about $15, and depending on whether your water is brackish or not. There are places in the rivers where you have to have a fresh water license for one side of a bridge, and saltwater for the other, so $30. 🤪🙄

Not sure there is a shellfish license here, probably the watermen know. It's a big no-no to mess around in their pots or beds.

To complicate things further, if you find oyster shell middens you may be trampling on an "antiquities" area. 😵

11 minutes ago, kac said:

I have a pack canoe, 35 lbs, my sea hunter weighs 14% of that hahah. Nice little boat and plan to use it to access areas between priv properties along the puddles here. Just need the motivation...

Gonna get my feet wet with waders first. Here you have to have a permit to search anything lower than low tide, or 10' out from a permission. They will issue them, costs $25. Of course If I was sitting in a kayak or Jon boat with my scoop... 🤔 

I'm out here right now, just saw a Coyote bigger'n a German Shepherd. They're kinda new to this area.

16 minutes ago, Tiftaaft said:

Had to give up fishing except for special occasions... it was cutting into my detecting time.  haha.   But when I lived in the Pacific NW, I wouldn't miss razor clam season on the Oregon Coast... Limit out... then go detecting.  Big pot of razor clam chowder for dinner 🙂

I had a 30' motor yacht, caught huge Striped Bass, Spanish Mackerel, Atlantic Bass, Spot, Flounder and the occasional ray. Used to Kayak fish on the other river. Got a tributary right out back. My first boat was a 25 foot ProLine my wife and I restored from the ground up. Love clam chowder, but only know the East Coast kind.

The Potomac is kinda unforgiving, and the Chesapeake Bay is downright nasty. Boats are expensive and tedious to maintain. I might get a small boat in the future for river hunting. I see what you mean about cutting into metal detecting! 😀

2 hours ago, Tiftaaft said:

All my childhood neighbors would find lead weights in their yards if they detected..... casting practice.. haha.  

Certainly done somea that. Used to fish the Potomac a lot, now I just surf cast at the beach.

Just now, kac said:

Common fishing weight. There any ponds or lakes nearby?

Yeah the river is about 1/2 - 1 mile from this spot. Just weird to find it in the middle of a farm.

Outstanding finds! It's always a vicarious kick to see what you turn up in your site. I bet it's a blast to do this with family, wish some of mine would get the "bug".

Wow. 

Finished up the farmhouse site today, made a few more passes and found nothing. I went to a new site that I previously plotted using old maps where a building was up to the 60s, and first known in 1917 on a USGS map. Hacked around a bit and found the objects in the photo. I'm not sure if I should grid this spot, I didn't hear a lot of iron. Great way to kill an afternoon. At least this field was out of the annoying March wind.

The disc is lead, could be a bale seal, or possibly a weight or game piece. 1 1/4 inches in diameter. It was weird to find a sinker in a farm field about a mile from the river, but there it was.

Some kind of point, it is brass or bronze. It is fashioned to be aerodynamic at any rate, but could be a finial. Large heavy buckle, most likely work animal tack.

I think the wheat penny is a 1909, but not an S or VDB, it is so corroded it doesn't matter. 😀

Best find of the day, the brass plate. It's 2 1/2" by 2, has a naked woman on each side, and a man and an animal in the center embraced by the arms of the face on top. Better detail in the bottom photo. Image search returned nothing, but I may have this very object in one of my artifact books. Don't know whether it was a buckle, mounted on furniture (it has a flange on the back but no holes or guides), or some sort of breastplate.

Not much time left before spring planting.