Newbie Question

[Ga_Yankee]

Hey everyone.. I just got my MD a few weeks ago (Treasure Hunter Vision Pro XJ9) and i got a couple questions... I know yall say dig everything until you know your MD but i live in a very historical part of town and i been huntin around really old abandoned houses and there are 1000s of nails and other trash around the houses sooo i been using disc so it wont pick up the nails n tabs and other trash.. By doin this iv found alot of clad 1-3 inches but am i missing the deeper coins and jewlery?? Would the deeper coins n jewlery read as a nail or pulltab and im just missing them because of disc? Helpppp lol.. Thanks -Justin

Since you just got your detector and live in a very historical part of town, I would humbly suggest you DIG EVERYTHING.
That is a pain in the butt to do but you are most likely passing up some really good stuff.
Once and if you get all the trash cleaned out you might find the keeper of a lifetime.
This is just my thought on your query and I am sure you will get other varied opinions.

Listen to everyone and them combine all the suggestions and do what you think is best for your situation.
GOOD LUCK

[ECACE]

Justin,

As a general rule, while starting out, it is best to dig everything so you can learn your metal detectors language. Sure, the manual says one thing, but actual field use, you will find that certain junk signals turn out to be good targets and likewise, certain good signals will turn out to be junk. It's just part of the fun. Also, when detecting with a lot of discrimination, it is very common to pass over good targets.

The kind of sites you are talking about (old home sites with lots of nails), can be both very rewarding and VERY frustrating as well. The risk you run in using discrimination is passing many good targets. Also, a frustrating thing that happens to all of us is something called 'Masking'. This is where there may be a nice silver dime down at 4", but at 2" directly above it, or even to the side of it, there is another wonderful NAIL. In this case, the MD will most likely see the NAIL as it is closer to the coil, and as it rusts, it will create a nice 'hallow' of rust. The nail is now masking the dime. Now, some MD's are better at seeing around or through them. But the fact is even the best MD's will have a problem with it. Again, it's just part of the fun.

When I am in an area like you are talking about, if I am finding tons of nails, I might use the lowest discrimination. But knowing that I might not see everything I want to. I usually like to hear all the signals so I have a better picture of what's down there.

As for discriminating out the other junk (pulltabs, foil, etc), I wouldn't discriminate that out! At my mother-in-laws this fall, who has a very old house, I dug up a gold child's ring, bracelet, and a couple of nice old tolkens. All of them showed as 'junk' Those pull tab signals at old home sites can be some really nice things! Sure, you will dig more junk, but after you dig up your first couple nice finds, you will be glad you did.

Good luck and welcome to TQ!!!

Eric

[John's Detectors]

Hi Justin, very nice to meet you and welcome to TQ. I don't know anything about the XJ9 but if it is an analog machine and you are setting your discriminator too high yes it could miss some jewelry and nickels and also depth diminishes somewhat. If you have a digital machine and it has notching you should be able to select the targets not desired and knock them out without losing depth. Also I believe any machine at depth will have problems giving you a completely accurate ID. I don't know the size of the coil but if it is that trashy you should get a small say 5" coil and you will get rid of some of the masking that occurs on larger coils in trashed areas. Ok Justin I hope this helps and God Bless ya. Oh and by the way as the others have said it is best do dig most anything for now.

John Tomlinson,CET
John's Detectors
Blackwell,Tx.

[BackyardBandit]

We have been doing alot of weekend warrior trips and really spending alot of hours detecting. Our favorite house is like that real junky but its getting better. I see your not to far away maybe we can compare nails one day

[l38ranger]

Yes like others have said "just dig brother dig" because you just never know what you just missed...and it good be valuable and it could be trash, thats the fun of it all and the pain of junkkkkkk!!!!
good luck!!!!