GB_Amateur

This looks like a decent description of serpentine asbestos. It's certainly important from a safety standpoint to take hazards seriously. However, like any hazardous material, it's the amount of exposure, and to a lesser extent, how that exposure is spread over time. From the article: Heavy and frequent occupational exposures are more likely to cause disease than are nonoccupational exposures; however, a lifetime of exposure to low levels is also recognized as a potential hazard. It's good that you've become aware of the hazards of handling serpentine, and your activity around it going forward should be one of caution. However, if I were you, I wouldn't fret about a few hours spent collecting panable material in the conditions you describe. Easy for me to say, but I've been in related situations with regards to ionizing radiation. Knowledge is your first and most important line of defense. All others follow from there.

That's very close to our (USA) half dime (silver 5 cent piece) in both size and weight. Unfortunately for us detectorists, they quit minting those in 1873 so you have to be at a pretty old site ('old' by American standards, not Europe's) to even have a chance of finding one. 14 silver coins in one day's hunt -- you are doing a lot of things right, particularly your research. Can't wait for your next report!

Thanks, Jeff. I thought I was in good standing in my local "Detector Buyers Anonymous" chapter and now you're trying to push me off the wagon?? So the programmable V3i would become the Linux to every other company's MS/Windows or Apple-OS X? Hmmm, that is quite the vision....

Have you seen this old thread? Maybe more has been learned since then, but from what I've read, White's made an effort (and a successful one, apparently) to build the TDI series to be compatible with Minelab PI coils (which includes Coiltek and NuggetFinder 3rd party aftermarket coil manufacturers). At least that seemed to work for mono coils, not necessarily for DD coils. Other manufacturers' coils, such as Garrett's -- maybe not. Carl seemed to think at the time of the linked thread above that some modification would be necessary for optimal operation. It appears (and this is partly my experience but also others' experience from similar experimentation) that coils can turn out to 'work' on products for which they were not made. But also, 'work' doesn't mean operates optimally. I never finished my experiment of getting a Garrett Infinium LS 10"x14" coil to run on the TDI/SPP. I found a solution for my buoyancy problem -- adding weight to the White's TDI Superpulse 150 (mm = 6 inch) mono. That was a fun project but the results (subsequent performance) were just so-so. I do think the Garrett coils (Sea Hunter you show, and Infinium open coils -- same housing but different(?) windings) would be a much better ergonomic solution if the electromagnetic properties are compatible or could be made compatible for optimal performance.

Why is Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee) entering my mind? "(chuckle) That's not black sand." "That's black sand!"

Probably not. I was just thinking (possibly incorrectly) that it would go deeper for the targets I'm after. Hunting with the Eqx and 12"x15" coil makes the most sense if I need more depth than the 11" coil. The latter is my go-to coil by far and that's what will get the first chance. When I did my survey hunt, I was finding moderatly large (aluminum can sized) targets which I think were from the original (pre-backfill) topography. Those were 6-12 inches deep (from memory), which means if coins mimic that I'll have a chance. More investigation needed, but that will have to await cooler weather (including less direct sunlight). October-November has had great conditions around here lately, and even December. I'd rather wear multi-layers of clothing for a hunt than one layer sweat!

That report is greatly appreciated. When I've had time (i.e. out hunting but not in a hurry) I've experimented by running FE2=4-5 and when I get mixed ferrous + non-ferrous I go into the settings and run it up to 9 and down to 0, checking to see if things sound different. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. But so far, it's only crown caps that have shown a difference. I really would like to get some experience with buried (more so than test station) bent nails and square nails. That's where it would do me some good. It's interesting that on some detectors this iron bias fetaure is called "bottle cap reject". Detector companies are all too loose renaming things, just making it confusing for the detectorists. So until I get more experience/data, I'm not getting my hopes up. Call me a 'doubting Thomas' if you (plural) like. The more appropriate name for that is 'scientist'.

Was out there today for the first time since late June. There are a lot of places to hunt there and right now I'm combining two requirements: being in the shade, and far from other people (minimum of 30 feet even from walking paths; definitely not near picnickers, sun-bathers, etc. who stay in one place). I did re-investigate the area we discussed as having been stripped (leaving piles) and backfilled. My conclusion now is that it was not stripped but it was backfilled. I''ve not yet determined how much backfill. That particuar area is not in the shade so I'm going to wait until fall & winter to get serious hunting there. I may need to break out the TDI (hopefully I can get away with ground balance off). Might also be a good place to use the Equinox 12"x15" and run in Gold/Prospecting mode. A lot will depend upon how much trash I'm willing to dig. I gotta think there are deep coins under the backfill. Some of the other areas he told me about are in the heavy growth, and the old paths are frequented by hikers so can't "social distance" right now. Today I found 5 Jeffies (don't know the dates, so fingers crossed), one Wheatie, and ~50 cents of misc. clad, copper Memorials, and Zincolns. Probably can get back there early mornings the beginning of this week (but not tomorrow) before the heat & humidity return with a vengeance.

Mitchel, actually when I said what a tumbler can do, I was thinking if Art was right (well, I thought he was implying manmade, but I might be wrong there), someone previously had tumbled it for much longer than your overnight (or whatever it was) run. When it comes to geology I'm about as green 😄 as they come. But it sure looks like a natural find to me. I actually found a tiny piece myself in glacial till here in Southern Indiana -- in a gold bearing creek. It's well known that glaciers scoured Canada and the Great Lakes states (e.g. Michigan you mentioned) and left their morraines (and minerals) in the Midwest, so no mystery with mine.

Mining cabins, camps, and associated ghost towns can be extremely trying due to all the iron trash. I once found a can (possibly coffee can) with a patent date from the late 1870's, so keep an eye open for embossed/stamped lettering, etc. Looking forward to video #3.

Well, maybe it is man-made. A rock tumbler with abrasives added can wear things down a lot faster than mother nature.

Interesting finds, and I bet there's more where those came from. That key is larger than the typical door key. I wonder if it's for a garage or gate. There are some pretty knowledgeable people here who may be able to better identify it, both its age and purpose. Can't you get out eary in the morning? That's my plan for the next few days as we're supposed to get some relief (early mornings in the 60's F, making it to 80 F by around 10 AM). If I can get 3 hours for a day's hunt I'll be happy. Starting midweek the H&H return. I'm sure it's a lot hotter and more humid where you are.

Questions are easier than answers, so I'll start there: specific gravity? What's the melting point of copper, bronze, brass? Are beach campfires hot enough to melt them? There are many copper minerals and also (quite a bit less common) native copper. Gold nuggets naturally occur in an infinite variety of alloys. Is the same true for copper? Green is telltale for copper compound (copper sulfide? One of those compounds). Malachite is a copper mineral which shows that very color. I'm tossing in my vote/guess that it's a naturally occurring copper nugget, but an alloy, not pure copper, and you found it inland. (Oh, and if I'm right, an S.G. test it should give a result around 9.) I think Occam's Razor favors a natural solution. It appears to me to have been worn down over a long period of time. I suppose that could happen on a beach, but how long would it take? I don't think you can compare this to aluminum, which is quite soft in pure form (e.g. store bought aluminum foil) and also easily(?) melted in a hot fire. P.S. is that dime silver, and was it a surprise find from your tumbler?

I like that lock. It appears that the loop attached to the lock shank is for attaching a chain (or chord) so that when the lock is temporarily free from its intended position it just hangs awaiting re-securing. Also, the fact that it isn't frozen up probably means it's made some kind of low chemiclly reactive alloy. Most if not all the locks I've found detecting are so badly seized as to be unusable. Did you find the matching key?

Thanks for your responses. I've found some 36.8% concentration on Ebay. Seems the higher concentrations sold are meant for spreading on the ground and structures to drive away insects, and some to put on livestock. Is this the same stuff that can simply be diluted for use on clothing? (I do recall someone mentioning natural vs. sythetic versions, implying some kind of difference.) Here's what appears to be a decent assessment of hazard risk. Would either one of you mind posting the brand/product name you have used?

Ah, OK. I was thinking farther north. I've been to Palestine a few times, but fortunately never in mid-summer. Sounds like you're even farther east. I've barely spent any time in Louisiana (few hours, mostly to cross off another state as having visited) but from what I've read and heard, there isn't a less comfortable state in the USA when it comes to summer weather. We have humid heat (right now, in fact) but nothing like down there. Reminds me to toughen up and do some swinging (tomorrow morning, hopefully). Somebody always has it worse. Hope you get some OK weather soon ('good' is too much to ask for a while) that allows you tolerable detecting time.

Good thing your son isn't in school yet (is he?). Otherwise I can hear his response to the class assignment about what you want to be when you grow up: "I want to grow up to be just like my dad! He's already started teaching me." (teacher:) "Oh, and what is your father's profession?" (proud reply:) "Dumpster Diver!" On a more serious note, it sounds like you have just one pouch where you put both the good finds and trash. Or am I misinterpreting?

I think the worst part about showing USA trash items is that the rest of the world gets to see our poor taste in alcoholic beverages. Bud Light, Michelob Ultra, all those tasteless non-beers (Seagrams, Platinum,...) Coronas are the funniest of all -- it's not like there was any flavor in the original variety. Now they have 'light' and 'extra'. As if you could get any lighter, and extra what? Oh, and I see Corona Premier. ??? "Find your beach!" Well, at least you've done that. Hopefully a little more on-topic: I saw yesterday that a tropical storm ('Fay') has developed along the east cost, starting (at that time) around Hatteras, North Carolina working it's way up to Long Island and then straight north through the heart of New England into Quebec (that was the projected path yesterday, anyway). Is that going to help you Middle Atlantic and New England detectorists?

This conversation reminds me of that old TV skit: Phone rings and is answered "Hello." (other end:) "Is Mary there?" (Response) "Yes, she is." -- then the phone is hung up! My assumption was that by 'junk', TH5 was asking about the non-coin items of your first photo, not your pulltabs and crown caps. 😄 Some of that has me wondering, too. The round, hand sized object -- is that a horn off of a bicycle? Also, what is that rivetted(?) item in upper left of second photo, a coin purse?

Are you going to get a gusset/stiffener welded onto the weak spot? Seem to recall you did that last time. That was quite an epic journey. The stories that shovel could tell...

Welcome, DF! (Did you forget to attach the 'W'? ) Don't sell yourself short. Everyone's experience level is welcome here, and given your time in the hobby and arsenal, I suspect you have plenty to contribute. I feel for you regarding summer weather. In some parts of the country (e.g. Arizona) that is compensated for by mild winters, but having been to northern Texas (your area as well as Amarillo and Lubbock neighborhoods) many times in multiple seasons I know it can be pretty uncomfortable then, too. Enjoy your new ML Eqx 800. It took 1 1/2 years for me to get comfortable with mine (admittedly I'm a slow learner), also coming over from some Fisher models, and I still have a lot to learn, so don't get discouraged if initially your experiences don't match some of the wow-factor posts you read here.

That link has some interesting data, although it has left me with a lot of questions. It certainly illustrates the different raw phase change scales of the DFX's 5 kHz and 15 kHz single frequencies. Differences among various targets (particularly silver alloy vs. clad USA coins) has left me scratching my head, though. I can see (in theory, at least) how better digital TID resolution could help distinguish between coins since the uniformity and quality control at the mint is very high. But there are no size/shape/weight standards for jewelry. And that pretty much carries over to pulltabs (shown in those data in the link, in fact) and even (weight-wise) to all kinds of bottle caps. Naturally occurring gold? Aluminum foil? Can slaw? Duh. Is that effectively why you (Steve) say "...I always tend to come back to digging all non-ferrous in some chosen range..."?

Wow, Steve! I didn't intend to take so much of your time. But it helps me a lot (and surely some others) to read the details. I chose the above quote for both parts (separately): 1) That is a very low recovery speed. I'm glad you mentioned slow, deliberate sweeping and interrogation. Have you found that with recovery speed 2 you squeeze out noticeably more useful information? I typically use 5 but have gone down to (only) 4. 2) As I'm sure you know (maybe not everyone, though) F2=0 is as low as one can go -- lower than FE=0 which I've read here is roughly(?) F2=4. And you also mention the iron 'pollution' of the site, particularly square nails. Have you experimented much with the Iron Bias settings on the Eqx? If so, care to reveal some of your conclusions? I'm trying to do some experimentation myself. I haven't found it an easy project so far. (I will report my results, but as of now it's way too preliminary and as I learn more my conclusions may change.) Thanks for the extra effort.

Do your observations apply to all TDI models or just the small box (SL)?

Good advice and detail. Sometimes we fall into that trap of forgetting that not everyone knows the lingo. Most coins and rings are round,...HOWEVER, there are exceptions.... I cut and pasted these particular comments because I think one extra bit of clarification is called for. Even when the target is circular/disk, if its orientation in the ground is not horizontal (parallel to the surface) then the 90 degree angle of attack approach (what I like to call the investigation technique being discussed 😄) can give quite different visual TID's from the different directions. I'll finish with a rephrase of Monte's (experienced detectorist who posts here) trailer wisdom: your eyes are your best discriminator.