Using a metal detector?

softdown
softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭

Did a few miles with a metal detector and have several notes to share:

1) They need to make fiberglass insoles with built in metal detectors. Ear phones - left covers left foot, right covers right foot.

2) Guys leave behind a lot of empty cans. You may find a lot of nails, bottle caps, pennies, and pull tabs. Fewer bolts, clamps, pennies, and various pieces of metal.

3) Using a detector really helps one look for venomous snakes.

4) Seems to eat up 9 volt batteries a little too fast for my tastes. Perhaps turning down the sensitivity would help? Reading the manual for tips on that now.

5) Real bumpy roads offer the most stuff. More heavily used bumpy roads will give plenty of readings but the metal always seems to be buried. A problem on a real rocky road.

6) Bring a good magnet, 6" shovel and 4" rake.

It is reasonable entertainment and will certainly help one find many lost items. You'll find plenty of stuff anywhere humans have frequented. The more people, the more stuff.

I think one actually could find some coins and rings on public beaches.

Half decent detectors are pretty cheap these days. I'd call it cheap entertainment and good physical and mental exercise.

Would be awesome working old battlefields.

First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries

Comments

  • Dave Angelini
    Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,728 ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    On my property there are 4 gold mines that stopped at the start of WW2. It is all around here but all I find are bullets and nails. The easy gold has been taken long ago. I look after each big rainstorm in the creeks but nada. It is good exercise!

    The best battlefield vids are here on youtube.

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjsux592i5FOZpUd_iW-89Q

    "we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
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  • Dave Angelini
    Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,728 ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    I forgot to add that the mines here were mostly closed by Military necessity to save fuel. All the pump stopped and everything filled with water. After the war the guy below bought alot of the land and his favorite spot, it is said, was near my house. He must have had a good set-up as there really is nothing here now.


    Company History


    Fisher Research Labs was founded in 1931 by Dr. Gerhard R. Fisher, the world renowned engineer and inventor who was the first to receive a patent for the metal detector. From its simple beginnings in Fisher’s garage, Fisher Research Labs is a made-in-America success story. The world’s oldest metal detector business, Fisher Labs uses the latest in technology to build the most trusted products in the industry.

    A start in aviation navigation

    Dr. Fisher, a German immigrant who studied electronics at the University of Dresden, was a Research Engineer in Los Angeles in the late 1920s when he obtained the first patent ever issued for aircraft radio direction finders. His revolutionary work in aviation attracted the attention of Dr. Albert Einstein. After seeing a demonstration of Fisher’s equipment, Dr. Einstein predicted the worldwide use of radio direction finders in the air, on land and at sea.

    Aircraft pilots who used Fisher’s early navigation tool found errors in their bearings when metal objects came between the transmitter and receiver, or whenever they passed over certain terrain. Dr. Fisher determined the errors were caused by the presence of highly conductive, mineralized substances. This discovery led to his invention of a portable electronic prospecting instrument, based on the same principle, used to detect the presence of buried metal objects and ore deposits.

    The Metallascope gives birth to an industry

    In 1931 Fisher founded Fisher Research Labs in his garage in Palo Alto, Calif. He and four employees produced the "Metallascope," a rugged, easy-to-use metal detector. By today’s standard of lightweight handheld detectors, it was an ungainly device with two large, flat wooden boxes containing simple copper coils, five vacuum tubes and a few assorted components. The Metallascope soon captivated the imagination of the country, and within a short time, the world.

    Around 1933, the U.S. Navy hired Dr. Fisher to install a radio direction finder aboard the dirigible, the USS Macon. It was aboard the Macon that Dr. Fisher discovered that large metal buildings and mineralized mountains blocked his navigation device’s direction finding capabilities.

    Demand for the metal detector spurs growth

    In 1936 Fisher Labs moved to a small building at 745 Emerson St. in Palo Alto to meet the growing demand for the Metallascope, which was nicknamed the M-Scope. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Fisher was granted a patent for his invention. The M-Scope became the accepted standard for all types of electronic metal detection. Geologists used it to locate ore, treasure hunters found treasure, utility companies pinpointed buried pipes, lumber mills detected metal inclusions in sawn logs and law enforcement uncovered abandoned and hidden weapons. In 1939, just prior to World War II, Fisher moved to an even larger building in Palo Alto at 1961 University Ave. During World War II and the Korean Conflict, Fisher Research Labs was called upon to contribute its technical competence to the war effort, but the M-Scope business was never neglected.

    Setting the pace in a changing industry

    With the increasing popularity of the M-Scope, and with Fisher’s patent rights expiring, numerous competitors began producing similar detecting equipment. Through its relentless efforts to incorporate the latest technology into its products and by applying the vast field experience of its users into the design of new metal detectors, Fisher Labs led the industry into a new era of detection technology, capability and products. Over the years, Fisher has designed and produced such sophisticated products as Geiger counters, radio communication systems, voltage detectors and cable fault locators.

    Dr. Fisher retires, his work carries on

    In 1961, Fisher Labs moved again to an even larger production facility in Belmont, Calif. By the time Dr. Fisher retired in 1967 his name and work had left an indelible mark on the electronics history. The company continued to grow, and in 1974, Fisher Research Labs moved to Los Banos, Calif., where it resided until 2006 when it was acquired by First Texas Holdings Corporation.

    First Texas moved the company to El Paso, Texas, where it carries on the Fisher legacy of redefining the state of the art in metal detection through technological breakthroughs. The result can be found today in Fisher’s wide array of products, which have the industry’s best ergonomics, most streamlined user interfaces and revolutionary ground balancing and target separation capability.

    "we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
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    E-mail offgridsolar@sti.net

  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭

    You must be really remote then. Gold mines are almost always in areas that are hard to access it seems. I've studied gold mining at length. Looking after a rain storm is a great strategy. As is combing the beaches after a storm.

    We do much better at extracting gold from old filings/ore now. Have you looked into that?

    Would be sweet to find an old cannon.

    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries
  • littleharbor2
    littleharbor2 Solar Expert Posts: 2,036 ✭✭✭✭✭

    My hippie sister lived in Northern Ca. back in the 70/80's and had a few claims up there. They would wear wetsuits and snorkel gear and creep along creek beds looking for cracks in the bedrock which they would pick out the gravel, etc. in there looking for gold nuggets. Never got rich but did find enough gold to keep them searching

    2.1 Kw Suntech 175 mono, Classic 200, Trace SW 4024 ( 15 years old  but brand new out of sealed factory box Jan. 2015), Bogart Tri-metric,  460 Ah. 24 volt LiFePo4 battery bank. Plenty of Baja Sea of Cortez sunshine.

  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭

    I would think that a machine that sucks up river gravel and "sorts it" would work in the right area. Knew a guy that used one. Claimed he never found anything at all.

    I found a bunch of tiny specks in Prospector Park in the middle of Golden. So tiny that a gold bug said they were about worthless. One likely needs a to pan an area that has not been panned and that is hard to find.

    Gold is much heavier than lead so it will tend to settle to bedrock or collect behind a rock blocking the stream.

    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries
  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭

    I read a bunch of gold mining books awhile ago. Sometimes a vein plays out then starts again in another 10' or so. That is how Horace Tabor became one of the wealthiest miners for awhile. He bought a played out mine and persevered a few more feet then hit the mother lode. Denvers Tabor Center is named after him. Something to consider anyway. Thinking I can drill holes through rock. Not professionally but maybe enough.

    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries
  • Graham Parkinson
    Graham Parkinson Registered Users Posts: 160 ✭✭✭

    Was in the gold exploration business for years as a mining geophysicist - Have used the professional equivalent of the Fisher metal detectors in scales ranging from hand held to giant suspended from helicopters:

    Offgrid in cloudy PNW

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  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭

    Can they differentiate between gold and other minerals though? Seems like finding gold that way would be a super long shot. Gold is very hard to find no matter what.

    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries
  • southfork
    southfork Registered Users Posts: 54 ✭✭
    Here's a piece of quartz with a little gold my son found with a metal detector on our place last week .
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  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭
    Quartz and gold often go hand in hand. No idea why. Especially rose quartz?
    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries
  • Graham Parkinson
    Graham Parkinson Registered Users Posts: 160 ✭✭✭

    Sorry, previous post on metal detectors got trimmed off due to forum software ....

    Quartz and Gold: Both are deposited from supersaturated hot groundwater wherever temperature and pressure drop suddenly, like where water flows into a vein opening within rock.  For instance geothermal plants find gold plated onto their choke plates at the bottom of steam drillholes.

    Gold is often found with iron rich minerals like pyrite that can stain quartz brown-reddish colours.  The same processes that emplace gold often degrade magnetite so that gold can be found in magnetic lows, often alongside magnetic highs related to intrusion that provided the heat sources for the hot groundwater circulation.

    You'd be pretty lucky to find a nugget big enough to trigger typical metal detectors but quartz veins are resistive enough compared to many host rocks so you can find them by mapping ground conductivity with what look like oversized metal detectors (ie EM-31 etc.)

    Offgrid in cloudy PNW

    MacGyver'ed museum collection of panels, castoff batteries and generators - ready for state of art system install .... parade of surviving and dead generators: H650, Ryobi 900, Briggs and Scrap Iron 2000, H2200, H3000, Kubota 3500, Kubota 4500, Onan 7500

  • Dave Angelini
    Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,728 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    The Indians here in the Sierra use to pile nuggets under oak trees for good luck. Long gone now but I still take a look ;)
    "we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
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  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭
    The Indians here in the Sierra use to pile nuggets under oak trees for good luck. Long gone now but I still take a look ;)
    Seems like the vast majority would be too small to find? Not to mention the difficulty of extraction. Sounds like Mission Impossible. 
    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries
  • Dave Angelini
    Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,728 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    There is a hill out my window called Potato. The Indian word escapes me. They use to find gold nuggets there the size of ?
    The next hill over is called telegraph. The miners would signal to a hill outside the SF bay area to order provisions. They paid with gold of course.

    They say 70% of it is still here but as you said Mission Impossible and way too deep.
    "we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
       htps://offgridsolar1.com/
    E-mail offgridsolar@sti.net

  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭
    Just so you know, nuggets are worth more than coinage. Desired for jewelry of course. 

    Sounds like you have oak trees. That is pretty cool. I'm not aware of many oak trees in Colorado. 
    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries
  • Dave Angelini
    Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,728 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    Yes most of the lower Sierra on this side is sunset climate zone 7 or the Blue Oak woodland. Fantastic firewood for very low creosote burning.
     Some of the gold from the Sultana mine here is called crystalline specimen gold the most valuable for really, really expensive jewelry.
    They have one here in Mariposa at the mining museum that is 201 troy ounces.
    I have relatives in Colorado and I think I saw oaks near Pueblo but it has been many years.
    "we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
       htps://offgridsolar1.com/
    E-mail offgridsolar@sti.net