Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Peaceful Woods In West Virginia. |
You've heard people describe beaches or other sites as worked out. To some detectorists that description means that you can go there a few, maybe several times, and not find anything good. I have a different idea about that. There is usually something there, but it might not be easy to find.
The woods shown above is a pretty place. You never see anybody there, and people told me that there was nothing there to be found. Yet one of the first times I detected that woods I found a gold 1930s High School class ring. Just off the top of my head, I can think of two other rings I found in that woods, not to mention silver coins, a large cent, some nice old bottles and other old items.
On the beach, you can work an area everyday and remove everything you hear, both good and bad, and still go back the next day and find something new. Beaches changes everyday and people keep on losing things. Some sites are hunted, but are they worked out?
Inland sites are a little different than beaches - but there are a lot of similarities too. Some inland sites are on private property, have no visitors to speak of, and have not been detected before. That is the type of site you can work in a long-term controlled fashion. That is the type of site I am working now and finding tons of railroad related items. There is no, or at least very little, current activity, and according to all accounts, there hasn't been much activity for at least the last fifty years, shortly after a house was built on part of the site. Part of the site, which is now the front and back yard had previously been detected heavily, but the part I am working now apparently has not detected before - at least not well. Recently much of the trees and other vegetation was removed, which made it possible for me to detect.
When you say a site is worked out, there is usually more to be found, but not by using the same old strategies and techniques. When a site appears worked out, that is a good time to change something. Finds will diminish to almost nothing if you keep on doing the same thing. Use a different detector, change your detector settings, Get closer around fences, bushes, rocks and other vegetation. And remove all the big surface stuff.
Just because your detector detects one or two feet or whatever, doesn't mean that their are no good targets beyond that. Then you might want to do something to get you deeper. Move earth, for example.
You should also be aware of the area of sensitivity under your coil. It might not be as uniform as you think. Take that to account for overlapping sweeps.
A metal detecting strategy is determined by both the situation and the goals of the detectorist. If you don't adjust your strategy to both of those, you won't be as effective as you could be.
In the past I've talked about the value of using multiple detectors with different operating characteristics to really clean out a site. And I previously described what I call an intensive step search strategy. See The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: Search results for step search strategy
An ISS strategy can most effectively be used on a stable site that you can work over a fairly long period of time. A common goal for such a site might be to learn the history of the site by collecting all the evidence practical and finding all significant items.
Evidence can come in many forms, and it can come from surprising places. Items that might be nothing more than junk can actually tell you a lot.
Yesterday I pointed out a flat piece of rusty metal that I picked up by using the Equinox to penetrate an area where a lot of tiny rusty iron pieces littered the surface making it difficult for some detectors to penetrate. I used the Garrett Ace and dug many items in that small area. Included were many spikes, bolts, nuts, barrel hoops and more. Then I used the Equinox detector on the same area and could distinguish items that I missed before because of all the iron clutter and rust bits on the surface. I had not yet removed all of the piles of small bits of rust that I think came from the bottoms of the kegs. The Equinox saw through the rust piles that the Ace had problems with.
That particular rusty piece of metal ended up telling me nothing, but I want to retrieve pieces like that. It could have had some markings or provided some clues. Junk can provide valuable information even if it isn't valuable otherwise. If you want to gain information about a site, don't pass up the junk.
One of the things I just recently found on the site is a railroad spike with a different marking on the head. I previously found marked spikes, but this one showed a different mark. The spikes I found before showed an A. This one has something else. See below.
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| Spike Head With Markings. |
You can see some clear markings on this spike head even though some of it is missing. I have not yet identified the manufacturer of the A spikes yet, and of I have not identified this one yet, but the marks might provide important clues about when they were made. More research is needed.
During the early stages of an intensive step search, you are very interested in getting information about the site, and the most important clues can be found in the most surprising places.
One thing I've learned from my brief research on railroad spikes is that I've learned that marks on modern spikes can tell something about the metal the spike is made of. HC for example, stands for High Carbon.
I found the picture below on the internet. It shows a variety of different spike head markings.
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| Railroad Heads With Various Markings. |
You might find this web site interesting.
Railroad Spikes: History & Photos Age of Antique Nails Antique Nails (inspectapedia.com)
I also just learned that one vendor of railroad spikes ships them in 200 pound kegs. So far I've found two or three hundred railroad spikes in varying degrees of corrosion and also a good number of hoops and loops from kegs or barrels. The nails are still intact and unbent, though very rusted, in the hoops, so it looks to me like the wooden kegs deteriorated.
In the future I'll describe more fully the early stages of an intensive step search. It is not a helter-skelter blind-hog strategy.
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Here is a tip if you use a Minelab Equinox.
The magnetic battery charger connection will corrode, making it difficult to charge the battery. Make sure to keep the connection clean and free of corrosion. If you get salt water on it, make sure to clean it very well. Even if you don't submerge it, make sure to keep it clean.
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The surf is decreasing and will be small the next few days, but the tides are increasing. We're getting higher tides and and some negative low tides.
The low tides will open up some detecting area for you.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net