Steve Herschbach-Please read post-Need an answer

[Dimesworth]

Steve - Your name looked familiar, so I clicked on it and low and behold I found out that you're part owner of ADM. I purchased an Infinium from your company about three years ago. Any way, I'm going to ask a favor. Could you or one of your engineers tell me why the Infinium will not pick up a meteorite? I read on [meteorite-list] metal detectors, that one could not pick up a meteorite unless the detector had manual ground balance. I have a White's GMT and a Tesoro Vaquero, both with manual G.B. and they both pick up this rock that an friend tells me is a certified meteorite. The White's after two swings on auto balance tracks the rock out, but on manual it keeps singing. P.S. Now I remember seeing your picture in metal detecting books. Sorry for the error. When one gets to be 69 years old , one sometimes forgets names and has trouble counting their chickens. Dimesworth

 

[John-Edmonton]

Mine will pick it up. Not as easy as my Scorpion will. And...the Infinium can be ground balanced. Different meteorites probably have different conductivities, so one model might work better on a specific meteorite then another. I don't think there is a BEST meteorite hunting metal detector, as everything is relative to the conductivity of the object being scanned.

 

[Dimesworth]

John - I'm not looking for the best detector for meteorites. I'm trying to find out just why a machine like the Infinium has trouble picking up something that is metalic . I picked up what I feel is a meteorite out at the rodeo grounds in Buffalo Mn. It is about the size of the end of my thumb and I don't feel like dishing out $200.00 to have something so small certified. I placed pictures on the Tesoro site if you care to look. I could pick up this rock with a small horse shoe magnet. That means that it's magnetic-right? But the Infinium would not pick it up. This baffles me. If I had to sell my detectors tomorrow, the Infinium would be the last that I would part with. I am not - am not arguing brands. I am a very curious person and I am baffled by this. I also know that the Infinium can be ground balanced. As a matter of fact it has to be to work correctly, but it is not a machine that has manual ground balance. The person that I refered to in my last post, does nothing but hunt meteorites. He states that to hunt meteorites successfully, one has to have a detector that has manual ground balance. I have machines that will pick up the rock I found at the rodeo grounds. I can not justify buying a Scorpion when I have machines that will hit on these rocks. Thirty years ago, I had a metal detector. I will not name the brand. This detector quit working and I was raising a family and on a tight budget. I could not afford to have it fixed or buy a new one. I am not completely new to this, but I am certainly not an expert. I have read your posts for quite sometime before I started my own posts. I always considered you to be a pretty fair expert. Now I'm starting to wonder. President Harry Truman stated, " My take on experts is, they'll never admit that their wrong, because then they wouldn't be experts anymore." Dimesworth

 

[GoldChaser]

Hi there. I'm far from being an expert, but my assessment is this.... The Infinium, being a pulse (PI) detector, by its very nature is designed to see through hot rocks and ground mineralization. I apologize for being unfamiliar with the terminology used in this context, but according to standard definitions the rock you described above is not magnetic. If it were a magnetic rock, it would be the one picking up a piece of steel or iron. Here's a link to a picture of a magnetic rock:
http://www.zentropolis.com/logs_2003_12_03.htm (you may have to cut and paste this in your browser)
Rather, the rock has concentrated iron within it which makes it able to be picked up by a magnet. Most of the hot rocks that I have found are larger and do not have enough concentrated iron within them to be able to be picked up or attracted by a magnet. I found some small ones last weekend that were as you described above - they had enough concentrated iron in them to allow them to stick to the rare earth magnet I have stuck to my pick. In the case of a PI detector like the Infinium, it is more of a PI issue than a ground balancing issue. The other detectors mentioned in this thread appear to be VLF detectors. And for those detectors, the ones that auto ground balance will balance out ground mineralization which would reduce their ability to recognize rocks with iron content. They will completely ignore rocks with low iron content but may still be able pick up rocks with high iron content. Most auto-ground-balancing detectors (like my MXT) have a limit as to the extent of the mineralization that they cancel - this is designed to ensure they don't completely balance out and ignore real targets. So, based on the amount of iron in the rock, an auto GB detector may or may not be able to pick it up. It sounds like the meteorite that you tested above had a level of iron content such that the GMT completely balanced it out, and the Infinium saw right through it, exactly as it is designed to do.

 

[boilerdude]

You might catch up with Steve on the Alaska Gold Forum. Good luck, Dave

 

[Dimesworth]

GoldChaser- You are entirely correct in your summation. I guess I used a bad choice of words in the comment above. I mulled this over after writing the post and decided I should have said metal content instead of magnetic. What you say makes sense. That is, the part about the Infinium seeing right trough the mineralization or rather metal content. I have most of the coils for the Infinium and the eight inch will sound off on a tiny metal nut that I have. That's why I was figuring that the rock I found at the Rodeo grounds must have more metal in it than the small nut if it will if it will jump one quarter inch to this small horse-shoe magnet. And you are also correct on my other detectors being VLF. Like I stated, the GMT on auto ground balance tracked the rock out in about two swings, but on manual it stayed with it. My other VLF sounded off sharply also but it doesn't have auto GB just manual.

I agree with with John Edmonton that a Garrett Scorpion would probably be a fine machine on meteorites because it has a ten turn pot and mine only has a three and a half turn pot. But I am sure that they will both work well hunting meteorites. I probably should apologize to John - I did get a little nasty. Sorry, John. And thanks Chaser for your well though out response. Dimesworth. P.S. thank you also boilerdud for the tip on Steve's where abouts.

 

[steve herschbach]

Hi Dimesworth,

Sorry to get in on this so late. Looks like Goldchaser got it covered already though.

Many meteorites are basically just hot rocks, and so a PI will not pick up certain types. But the ones a PI will pick up they will really pick up. So it is pretty much the same old story - no one detector does everything.

Steve Herschbach