Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Dug Jack. |
I was looking through railroad items for sale on eBay last night and noticed jacks like the one shown above listed as railroad jacks. I found the one shown above years ago and never knew it might be related to the railroad in any way, and it might not be, but now it seems like it could. No spikes or any other railroad items were found on that part of the property.
Yesterday I posted a mystery item that looked very much like a screw driver handle to me. Jorge Y. found that it is a 3M blue wire nut for 6-12 awg wire. That is definitely it. Thanks Jorge.
The wire nut was found near a bunch of wire and near some of those little wire connectors I've been finding, and also near the signal light lens.
I never saw such a big wire nut before.
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| Two Kinds of Wire Dug Up With Close A Closeup On One Bundle. Coke Bottle For Size Comparison. |
There were two types of wire found nearby. They are shown above. There is the rusted wire that is just like the wire used on the kegs along with another type of wire that is not rusted and of a bigger guage. I'm thinking the rusted wire is railroad related, while the other might not be.
I got the urge to detect early this morning despite the mosquitos, so got geared up and did a little metal detecting.
The first different find I made was this top to what appears to be a metal liquid container.
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| Rusted Neck To Metal Container With Chain. |
I don't know what kind of container that is. I would guess maybe oil. I'll have to do some research on that one. Maybe someone else can find it. It has a threaded top, and you can see the chain, which maybe went to the lid.
I previously showed an area where a lot of spikes and bolts and big iron things were dug up. There were also hoops from a number of kegs in that area. There are also some spots covered by piles of small rust. Here is what I got when I stuck my magnet into one of those this morning.
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| Many Small Bits of Rust Picked Up by Magnet. |
Hardware for multiple kegs were dug in one small the area. The hoops were heavily rusted with all the nails in place. The nails weren't bent or anything, so I'm guessing the wood deteriorated over time. It looks to me like when the kegs were either emptied or deteriortated, these piles of rust came from the bottom of the kegs. I've identified about six small piles of rust in that one area where a lot of hoops were found.
Today I dug a few more scattered spikes, some more wire keg hoops and a few other miscellaneous items, that included the washer, broken spring, and electrical connector shown below.
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| A Few Miscellaneous Dug Items. |
You might wonder why anyone would bother to spend their time on digging up such junk. Most people are not relic hunters. But I like metal detecting, and I'm curious and I like finding out what is there and what went on there in the past. It also provides a lot of lessons.
There is a lot of technique involved. I've talked about some of that in the past.
Maybe there was a time when you had some trouble seeing a target, so you grabbed a handful of sand or dirt and passed it over your metal detector coil to see if the item was in your hand. That is one technique that can be used. If the item is small and difficult to see, it is one way to go. If you have a solid coil cover, you can throw the sand on the coil cover and if you still do not see the item, you can move the sand around with our hand until you hear the item was moved.
I remember one time when I dug a gold bead at Turtle Trail and couldn't get the target in my scoop. I got a handful of sand that included the item. I knew I got it in my hand because when I passed my it over the coil, I got a signal. I threw the sand on my coil cover, and still didn't see the bead right away. It was small and about the same color as the shelly sand. I ran my finger through the sand on the coil cover. Finally when the bead was moved, and I got a signal and finally saw the bead.
If you don't have a flat coil cover on your coil, that won't work, but if you hold your hand over the coil and let the dirt in your hand slowly sift down to your other hand, you'll eventually see the item. Check small bits with our thumb. The advantage of doing this over the coil is if the item slips through youur fingers or or you don't see it and let it fall through, you'll hear it when it falls on or through your coil.
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The wind changed this morning. We're now getting some north wind.
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| Source: MagicSeaWeed.com. |
As you can see, a higher surf is expected soon.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net