So this past Saturday I brought my son out to an elementary school for his first "official" metal detecting hunt. He's 4 and a half years old and is always asking to go metal detecting. Unfortunately my house was built in the 1860's and the yard is littered with iron. Having to try and teach him in that environment is next to impossible.
So I picked a school way out in the middle of no where that was old enought that it's tot lot should be filled, but far enough away that most likely it isn't hit by any detectorists. We got there around 10AM to a nice vacant lot! There was a newly built tot lot in the front of the building which we hit first. I put on my 6X8 SEF coil and gave him the basic instructions on how to sweep etc. I removed the headphones and basically had the default settings on. So no iron, just good signals. The detecting was rough going at first, we got one coin, and one trash earring then things petered out. He was losing focus, and was barely sweeping the coil near the ground.
He wanted to be "all done" with the detecting. I convinced him that we should at least give the tot lot behind the school a shot. Since it was a walk to get there, and I didn't think he was going to detect much, I put on the bigger 10X12" SEF so I could cover some ground. Well, I don't think I detected for more than 10 minutes the rest of the morning into the afternoon. The bigger coil actually helped him balance his sweeping motion better. Soon, just about every 2 minutes he was finding another target. (perfect for a 4 year olds attention span) He even pin pointed fairly well!! He'd place the detector down, I'd bust out the X-1 probe and pin point a little better for him, and he'd be flipping wood chips all over the place to get to that next target. My hearing is worse for it, as a shrill scream of excitement followed each new find. He was having the time of his life! By 12:30 he was tuckered out and we ate sandwhiches on a bench and reviewed our finds, at which point he declared himself the better detectorist between the two of us. (as I, according to him, had only found 1 coin and he found all the rest
Shortly after lunch we went home and he decided that he needed to promptly clean all his finds. 30 minutes later, and some cloths soaking, all the coins were clean! Including a British 1 pound coin from 1993. ($1.84 exchange rate!)
My Mom was over for dinner that night, so I ended up heading over to the neighbors for two 30 minute hunts. One to kill time waiting to pick up the pizza, another was after dinner while Grandma read to her Grandson. These 30 minute hunts are great for those iffy signals that requires high levels of concentration. I detected near the front walkway leading up to my neighbors front door. Previously I had only dug the good signals here as I didn't want a lot of plugs cut for him to notice. This day however, with my 10X12 SEF and manual sensitivity set at 25, I decided to listen to the tones only and trust what I heard. I dug 4 iffy signals, that were barely repeatable chirps, and were for the most part lower on the tone side, just not iron sounding. I was rewarded with the 1889 IH, the 1923 Merc, a Dog tax license, and a key. What has my juices flowing is the depth they were at. Normally my targets I will pin point with the coil, then see if I get a surface hit with the X-1. Then I dig a 4-5 inch deep plug, and scan the bottom of the plug with the X-1. If there is no signal, I scan the bottom of the hole, and I almost always get a signal that I can dig to. NONE of these were scannable by the X-1 after the inital plug. All required some extensive digging to get to. I would say they were at least 8" maybe 9" down. Each time I was amazed as the signal cleared up wtih my X-1 as I got closer to it. I can't wait to re-hit some of my old favorite spots now that I am getting a better understanding of those iffier signals. I know I have passed up on some good stuff!
Anyway, as I was taking pictures of my finds to post here, my son took notice and asked if he could take pictures of his finds as well. The pictures I posted of his, were taken by him. It always amazes me how young kids pick on on technology so fast. He asked if I could post them on the forum as well, so here they are. I told him I'd read the responses to him! Looks like Finds has a new addic!
Enjoy,
Jai
So I picked a school way out in the middle of no where that was old enought that it's tot lot should be filled, but far enough away that most likely it isn't hit by any detectorists. We got there around 10AM to a nice vacant lot! There was a newly built tot lot in the front of the building which we hit first. I put on my 6X8 SEF coil and gave him the basic instructions on how to sweep etc. I removed the headphones and basically had the default settings on. So no iron, just good signals. The detecting was rough going at first, we got one coin, and one trash earring then things petered out. He was losing focus, and was barely sweeping the coil near the ground.
He wanted to be "all done" with the detecting. I convinced him that we should at least give the tot lot behind the school a shot. Since it was a walk to get there, and I didn't think he was going to detect much, I put on the bigger 10X12" SEF so I could cover some ground. Well, I don't think I detected for more than 10 minutes the rest of the morning into the afternoon. The bigger coil actually helped him balance his sweeping motion better. Soon, just about every 2 minutes he was finding another target. (perfect for a 4 year olds attention span) He even pin pointed fairly well!! He'd place the detector down, I'd bust out the X-1 probe and pin point a little better for him, and he'd be flipping wood chips all over the place to get to that next target. My hearing is worse for it, as a shrill scream of excitement followed each new find. He was having the time of his life! By 12:30 he was tuckered out and we ate sandwhiches on a bench and reviewed our finds, at which point he declared himself the better detectorist between the two of us. (as I, according to him, had only found 1 coin and he found all the rest
Shortly after lunch we went home and he decided that he needed to promptly clean all his finds. 30 minutes later, and some cloths soaking, all the coins were clean! Including a British 1 pound coin from 1993. ($1.84 exchange rate!)
My Mom was over for dinner that night, so I ended up heading over to the neighbors for two 30 minute hunts. One to kill time waiting to pick up the pizza, another was after dinner while Grandma read to her Grandson. These 30 minute hunts are great for those iffy signals that requires high levels of concentration. I detected near the front walkway leading up to my neighbors front door. Previously I had only dug the good signals here as I didn't want a lot of plugs cut for him to notice. This day however, with my 10X12 SEF and manual sensitivity set at 25, I decided to listen to the tones only and trust what I heard. I dug 4 iffy signals, that were barely repeatable chirps, and were for the most part lower on the tone side, just not iron sounding. I was rewarded with the 1889 IH, the 1923 Merc, a Dog tax license, and a key. What has my juices flowing is the depth they were at. Normally my targets I will pin point with the coil, then see if I get a surface hit with the X-1. Then I dig a 4-5 inch deep plug, and scan the bottom of the plug with the X-1. If there is no signal, I scan the bottom of the hole, and I almost always get a signal that I can dig to. NONE of these were scannable by the X-1 after the inital plug. All required some extensive digging to get to. I would say they were at least 8" maybe 9" down. Each time I was amazed as the signal cleared up wtih my X-1 as I got closer to it. I can't wait to re-hit some of my old favorite spots now that I am getting a better understanding of those iffier signals. I know I have passed up on some good stuff!
Anyway, as I was taking pictures of my finds to post here, my son took notice and asked if he could take pictures of his finds as well. The pictures I posted of his, were taken by him. It always amazes me how young kids pick on on technology so fast. He asked if I could post them on the forum as well, so here they are. I told him I'd read the responses to him! Looks like Finds has a new addic!
Enjoy,
Jai