Aluminum

[JJHACK]

This metal has been my nemesis for decades. 
 

How do you experienced guys decipher aluminum so you can walk by. It’s almost always a strong signal forcing a dig. 
 

I can call American coins, iron or steel silver & copper with frequent regularity. However aluminum is always a struggle for me. 
 

 

 

 

 

[Valens Legacy]

I will never walk away from a strong signal because if I would I just might miss a ring, coin, or some other good target. Sometimes the numbers and sounds are the same for both good and bad targets so dig everything and don't be sorry about it as it will pay off in the long run.

[HardPack]

Dug my share of reshaped aluminum nuggets, especially after a wildfire. 

[UKD2User]

Whoever makes a machine that can reliably discriminate alumin(i)um will make a lot of money!

I believe that aluminum is paramagnetic, although this is a very weak effect I think, which may form part of a technical solution.

With my D2 on the beach I once found an old-style beaver tail ringpull (sans tail) in the same hole as a 925 silver ring.  I could tell there were two separate targets there and they sounded different - even though of very similar size, shape and conductivity.

I find that the audio filter setting (Manticore has similar advanced audio filtering features to the D2) can help to make many pieces of aluminum trash sound trashier than most treasure, but you've really still got to dig the stuff.

[JJHACK]

I did but a great shovel 😂😂

[Skate]

I try to use context when hunting to decide if I'm going to dig a signal. When I hunt a large sports field I will dig all good signals in the field of play itself as that is usually the cleanest in terms of trash because most trash is going to be located on the sidelines or where spectators are. I do dig these areas too but I try to have a purpose with each hunt. On the sidelines I will turn the sensitivity down low so I'm only going down 2-3 inches in depth. Recovery's are quick this way and I can clean out an area rapidly of all targets. Then the next time I come through the area (after a weekend of games) everything is surface finds and this includes, rings, coins and trash. 

I'm usually at a trash to gold ratio of 100/1 on the sidelines/spectator areas and 40/1 out on the actual fields of play. There is no way to truly tell gold from aluminum but you can increase your odds by being smart about how and where you hunt. 

If somebody does ever invent a machine that can tell the difference our hobby will be destroyed because anyone with a detector and time will recover it all. I love it when people say they hate digging trash because that just means there is more of the good stuff left for me.