Homestead hunt, 02/11/2016

[Fish N Chips]

I headed back into the homestead site I have been hunting. I took some small flags to divide off areas to hunt, and really remove all the targets. I found this worked very well, confining me into a small area and really helping me to work every signal. It works as long as my back does! I must have dug 100+ signals.

The square nails are pretty heavy at this site and small bits of tin. I used my Tesoro Eldorado with the 5.75" coil. The dirt was pretty wet and I had to run the discrimination just below nickle to make the nails break up. I ran the sensitivity between 4 to 6 depending on the iron. Even at 4 I dug several bullets and head stamps at 5" or more.

I made some good relic finds. I dug some of the better iron signals and got some horse shoes, an interesting hammer, part of a wrench and my best iron find was a child's shoe anvil. It is the smallest shoe anvil I have seen. I dug a lot of bullets and shotgun shell head stamps. I found a couple all brass shotgun shells. A latch, some different buckles, a pewter piece that may have been part of a bell? The top of a Marine Band Harmonica, patent 1897. I find a lot of harmonica reeds, but this is the first top plate. I got a plate from a pocket watch, the silver plate and internals are melted to the inside of it, so it must have been through a fire. I also got a suspender clip.

My Dad got a nice brass button. It still has the button loop on the back, and a small maid and sheep on the front. He got a plow shear and some horse shoes. We also dug a number of sickle mower blade points, those always fool me.

We really worked the house site, but there is still so much left to do. All the fields, the barn site and some more rock walls. I tried around the rock lined spring but it was full of large rusty iron. I found a number of trash pits in the bushes around the house, trouble is they are covered in poison oak. I do not get it, but am hesitant to go digging and chopping through it as that much chopping may give me a reaction. I dug in one pit and found some crockery, a cast iron pot bail, stove pieces, cans, ect. All the bottles I have been finding are broken unfortunately.

The weather could not have been any better!

 

[wheatymike]

Sounds like a good hunt! Keep at it.

 

[John (Ma)]

Love it! Nothing like the mystery of an old homestead. Thanks for posting!

 

[Hombre]

You did well and found some neat relics, the child size shoe last is cool, I would think that a few indian head pennies would be in there.

 

[amberjack]

amazing what people lost back then, in 200 years from now all detectors will be plastic detectors

AJ

 

[hatpin]

Whoever lved there may have been a cobbler .

 

[Monte]

work that place to death! Clean it out, or move iron out-of-the-way, and get all the hidden keepers.

I headed back into the homestead site I have been hunting.

If it's easily accessible, I'd visit it frequently. My all-time favorite ghost town was 96 or 106 miles from the town I lived in, depending upon which route I took to get there, and it has been the most hunted, by me, location in my life. There were times after I moved to Oregon I would work in trips, between an 8 and 14 hour drive depending where I had been living, to hunt there for 1 to 7 days. It's not cleaned out yet. As long as there is an masking target, good keepers have gone undetected.

I took some small flags to divide off areas to hunt, and really remove all many of the targets. ...

Flagging off grids to hunt is great, but if iron remains, all the good stuff hasn't been removed.

The square nails are pretty heavy at this site and small bits of tin.

Tin is the ugly bugger to deal with.

I used my Tesoro Eldorado with the 5.75" coil.

Wonderful detector, and the best coil ever from Tesoro for hunting such conditions.

The dirt was pretty wet and I had to run the discrimination just below nickle to make the nails break up.

NAILS, the most annoying offender, and its 'ugly bugger' cousin, TIN, is a too frequent visitor. That's the combination of things that drive many people away from such places in 5 to 15 minutes it seems.

I ran the sensitivity between 4 to 6 depending on the iron.

Lower than I ever use, but we all just work the adjustments until we're comfortable. The Eldorado, like my other favorite Tesoro's, can still do well in such junk. A little touchier at rejecting some ferrous trash compared with the ED-120 Disc. models, but the right settings can get the job done.

Best of success on your next visit ... and don't forget the flags ... [size=small]and a rak[/size]e.

Monte

 

[Fish N Chips]

Thanks,

I have been running my Tesoro at 4 and my Teknetics at 40 at several of these sites with good results. The nails and iron are so thick the lower sensitivity settles the detector down substantially and lets me grab the good targets. I loose depth but it seems to be working initially, as my trips progress I slowly turn the sensitivity up to get deeper targets. For the heavy iron I usually start at sensitivity 6 and work up or down from there depending on what the conditions will allow. As we worked this site I kept going over and over the spots and pulling targets out. I am not sure if disturbing the dirt and removing the iron was the helping factor, or the different angles I was approaching; probably both. It is hard hunting but satisfying when you put out good targets.

I do love the Eldorado. One day I would like to try out a Banditio II, or maybe an Outlaw. Right now I just run my discrimination up a bit more till it knocks out the nails. I find this tends to change depending on site, moisture, and mineralization. Normally it is between nickle and the triangle symbol on my machine. My Teknetics T2 with the 5" coil is a great performer, but the Tesoro is just that much better for the iron. It is all about separation, and little about depth at these spots. I do like to change up my machines though as it seems a simple switch can uncover more. For the more open areas and where I want more depth, then the T2 excels. I try to use a machine based upon it strengths, but usually find I just grab what I am in the mood for, lol.

I tossed in some more survey flags into my bag. I also think I will start taking my 60 lb rare earth magnet. It would be great for clearing the nails, tin and bits of wire from my plug and holes. Occasionally I chase around small bits of tin and wire for way too long, the magnet would make short work of those. It was amazing as the dirt dried how many nails became visible. A rake and a garage floor magnet may be worth carrying in with me. At the very least I can use it to knock down the star thisle.

Luckily some of my favorite sites are an hour drive and short to no hike. I have some spots I want to hit this spring that will involve a longer hike (4-6 miles), and at least an over night stay. I hunt and backpack a lot so have all the lightweight backpacking equipment to do it no problem. This spot is turning into one of my favorites for access, scenery and the history. I poured through the newspapers 1800-1900's, and uncovered the family, their history, deaths, marriages, children, ect. I will include those in the shadow box. I love when I can put names and faces behind the items. I love the finds, but it is the personal connection with the past that I really love. Sometimes I feel I was born a few centuries too late.

 

[Cliff KS]

Does anyone know what that iron piece is, that is the top item in the 3rd photo? I found one of those before at an old homestead site.

 

[Fish N Chips]

It is the shaft off an old adjustable wrench. This one has been pounded on/with, so may have been repurposed into a tack hammer. I have some example pictures but am on my phone. I will pot one later.

 

[Fish N Chips]

 

[Cliff KS]

Thanks for the photo.

Isn't the bottom piece in the same photo I referred to, the same piece from a more recent version?

 

[Fish N Chips]

Yes, often called a pipe or monkey wrench, although likely used on all the square nuts on the wagons and around the homestead.

 

[hatpin]

I still say cobbler and a hammer like that may have been used . My great grandfather was a cobbler and I hunted his old homestead but have not come up with anything yet .

 

[Fish N Chips]

I see a few of the shoe anvils in the local shops, period shoes did not hold up well and were a constant repair/maintenance item. The history on this place is it was owned by a cattle rancher and his wife. They had 4 children and lived from the late 1800's to the early 1900's. I have all the names, births and deaths written down. It is amazing the variety of items found at these locations. It just shows that people did not throw anything away, but re-used and re-purposed items. I am excited to head back in, I plan to hunt the barn site and see what I can find there. It is even worse of a nail ridden spot than the house, the house burned down and the barn remained much longer. I plan to use the same technique, flags and small areas. I will use a rake and magnet to remove the unwanted iron.