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Do you still remember the one thing that made you pick up a Metal Detector and bring you to this forum of ...............

General Ray

New member
friends, I do :clapping:

While growing up my dad had probably the first Green Machine ever built, I would have taken a picture of it but I didn't want to unload one of only two closets that I have :biggrin:

Anyway, Dad had big dreams of finding buried treasure and had Magazines shipped to the house way back when and I used to read them and before I knew it I had those same dreams. Well Dad never really found anything old and would be proud of me if he saw my finds today but back then it was only something that really interested me, I never acted on that interest until early in 2001.

And here's why, living in Wisconsin in the dead of winter on Christmas eve at Marlean and Jim Sarbacker's house I slipped on ice after stepping out the front door, snap my right ankle clean free from my foot and right leg, ouch! :sad:

I couldn't move or walk, I just crawled and the Sarbacker family lifted me up onto the couch where I laid for almost 15 hours in pain. Finally in the morning while everybody said it's just a bad twist Jim got up and looked and said that ankle is broken, get the car.

Here's what my ankle looked like after they screwed it back together two months later after a check up at the doctors office, see, I save everything :biggrin:

http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr349/Ray1954-photo/img209.jpg

http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr349/Ray1954-photo/img210.jpg

I couldn't do nothing for almost three months but sit but my dear friend Jim Sarbacker would stop by almost everyday to make sure I was ok and didn't need anything, well one time Jim says, Ray what do ya need, I said Milk and maybe something to read would be cool. Jim says what do ya like to read about, I said old coins and history, sure enough Jim bought back a gallon of Skim Milk and a W&E Magazine where I read Vernons story of running with the bulls :lol: , after reading Vernons story I was hooked and e-mail him then talked to him on the phone, the rest is history as you can see, thanks Vernon :clapping:

A shot of Jim and Marlene Sarbacker who bought me the W&E Magazine, thanks Jim, I'll never forget you, bubba, I believe you have met Marlene :clapping:

http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr349/Ray1954-photo/img171.jpg
 
But my old man thought it was nonsense, so it wasn't until 1995 that an older gentleman I worked with got me interested in metal detecting, and living in a 150 year old house with countless acres of well traveled woods gave me a good start. The best fun was early on with my first machine, a whites (non-metered) 4900, I had afternoons at home where I located a dozen or so wheats and three or four indians, until the only thing left is out of reach, now I rely soly on demolition/redevelopement sites.............
 
Yes with a magnet,I knew there was something better then this out there so I started looking.I went to the 5&10 store and bought this green looking thing.The clerk told me I could get rich with this thing.I went to the bank and made a lone for $ 12.58 and got it.Today this thing is well known as the GREEN THING.Oh,I just finish paying that bank.

How did I get here on the forum ? This is true.I went on the White forum,I don't remember when, But I wanted to get under some of these guys skin,You know kinder aggravate them.Well these guys where great guys and could take a joke.All the time I was doing this I never said anything bad about a White product.White sent me a e-mail and thank me for no bashing White product,I still have the email.I'll look for it and I'll see if I can post it.Then the forum went all over the place and ended up here.And that's the truth.

Y'all have fun now
 
...Pam and I always have a knack of buying a present after Christmas is over. I got a wild hair and thought that metal detecting would be something I'd like to do. So about a week after Christmas I found myself looking on the internet and reading a couple of magazines about detecting. I started looking at the White's web site and drooling over the XLT. I contacted my local dealer (Dudes first name is Freo. Not sure if he is still around town anymore.) and a week later I had a brand spanking new XLT!

The first few times I went detecting, I would detect and Pam would dig. Then we'd switch. That did not last too long as Pam decided she wanted a detector too. SCORE!!! We got her a QXT and detected with them until the MXT came out. I bought one and liked it, let Pam use it, she liked it too, then traded the XLT and QXT to a dealer for her MXT. The rest is history.

As for the fourm, I was looking for anything White's related and came across the White's forum. Found a place that was fun but, as I remember it, not many posts were on that forum. I just migrated with all of ya' as we moved across the ether.
 
.... plus some other neat artifacts. I bought a cheapie no name machine and went detecting with him here locally in SW Florida. I didn't find squat but learned I should have bought a good machine. A year later I bought an XLT ..... went to the UK with my wife and youngest daughter. We did some sight seeing with my Rotary buddy and his wife and got to detect every other day for just under two weeks. I've been hooked since.

Due to my collection of finds on display here in my hardware store, I started selling White's detectors and it's grown to where we are White's top or top 3 volume dealers every year here in the SE region of FL, GA, MS, and AL.

Like most of the other old time regulars on this forum, I left the White's forum to come to this forum where the subject matter isn't so serious and we can kid around with each other and occasionally post about detecting.
 
a machine that finds money :thumbup: So, for my 12th birthday I got a Jetco Huntmaster that wouldn't hardly find a trash can lid but it still lit the fire. Back in 97, I had a bunch of loads of topsoil brought to my house and my son happened to see the ole Jetco and wanted me to show him how it worked. Got it out and to my amazement it still worked and some how we found a old tax token with it in one of the piles of dirt. Later, I went in and got on the computer and started researching metal detectors and came across the old White's forum. I lurked a few days and finally decided on an XLT from all the comments made by the posters. After it came in I started digging some silver and have been hooked ever since. BTW, for those that didn't have the pleasure to be on our first forum, you wouldn't believe how tough people were on others. Sometimes you had to wear a flame retardant suit to post because things got so heated. I'm glad those days are gone and our forum has developed into more of a family with some detecting post. (we've all gotten old).
 
I remember that. Say one thing not about detecting or White's and you were flogged publicly. I'm with Ed, I'd rather have it like this than the way it is on other White's forums. Jeeze ya' can't even make a comparison to another brand of detector without it getting banished into oblivion in a hot second. I like the eclectic group of peoples here! Even Elson!
 
but maybe 6-7 years ago I splurged (at my wife's urging) and bought an XLT. Seems a lot of us here started with an XLT. I still have it, no complaints so I will keep it. I know there are a lot of newer models but no urge to upgrade.

I did try the magnet detecting and it worked. Tied a 150# pull magnet on a cord and threw it in the lake also went to an ocean pier and did some trolling. Lots of hooks, tools and junk. I was hoping for some bigger stuff.

I have kept up with you guys through all the moves. Don't post much any more but do a lot of reading.
 
n/t
 
You and Shelby used to post about how much clad ya'll had dug. I remember telling Vicki "I don't know who this guy is that keeps bragging about all the clad he digs", but ya kind of grew on us and despite an effort by most of us to kick you off the forum, we let ya stay :devil:
 
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