Metal Detector owners

robsouth wrote:
My brother gave me his White MD a few years back as he said he was tired of digging up pop tops. Well, on my first day out, I found 5 pop tops and some sort of metal thingy about 1/2" wide and 2" long. I have no idea what it is, or was. Put my MD in the garage and I guess it is still there somewhere.

So do you think you can learn a machine in one outing? Sorry, but it's like any other skill...takes practice and thought. Metal detectors detect metal, but they they don't have the capability to discern with 100% accuracy what kind of metal they're sniffing out. For example, pop tops and gold rings often ring up the same; high silver and rusted iron can ring up the same. Depending on the machine, there are ways for *you* to figure out the difference. But still, you gotta dig the junk in order to find the treasure. If detecting was a quick and easy way to find valuable objects amd become rich off your finds, everyone would be doing it :)

I live in a pre-Civil War house. There is a ton of trashy metal around the yard...lots of square nails, farm implement parts, even parts to an old coal or wood stove. I've filled several five gallon buckets with that stuff. But without digging the trash, I never would have found the good stuff - coins from the 1840's and 50's, old buttons ( one of them a general service cuff button, Civil War Union uniform). One find out in my horse pasture I was pretty sure my machine was lying again...but Something about her voice told me she was telling the truth. So I dug, and unearthed a Morgan silver dollar. In a horse pasture! That pasture also gave up horseshoes, tractor parts, and countless pieces of wire. That dollar made every other useless dig worth it.

So anyway, maybe try again with some patience. Pay attention, and each time you dig you'll learn something more about your machine. Try hunting in target rich areas to increase your chances. There are loads of tips and trick on the website I posted above.

Good luck and happy hunting, everyone!