Start Digging

Marshmallow world in the winter

2010-01-12T13:32:00.001-08:00

Things are a little frozen here so I will "start digging" as soon as we thaw out! Happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-23T12:03:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. This year has been a tough one and lets hope 2010 is going to be a year of change, change for the better.

Montana

2009-08-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

Looks like I will "Start Digging" in Montana, my new home.

Back!

2008-09-01T12:43:00.000-07:00

Its been a crazy summer here so I haven't been able to do as much metal detecting I would have liked. With a graduation, major surgery and getting the kid off to college behind me, I finally got out for two short hunts to get back in the swing of things.

Nothing spectacular to report, but a 1942 war nickle was a nice surprise! It was in decent shape too.

click to enlarge

Start Digging!~

Leap day finds

2008-02-29T19:00:00.001-08:00

I returned to the park I hit yesterday as the day was warm and very spring-like weather. I hit the area around the basketball courts again and seemed to find zinc pennies every foot or so. I found six dimes too but mainly pennies. A couple of the corroded pennies were VDI ing at bottle cap numbers because of the dissolving action on the penny.

Heres a few pictures of the park:

This is the basketball court looking west.

Swings in woodchips and the baseball fields behind it.

I found most of the coins in a 2 foot band around the courts, seemed like I
dug a penny every foot or so...now if they were just quarters!

Start Digging !

End of Feburary Hunt

2008-02-28T16:30:00.001-08:00

Did a hunt at a new park that I had never been to before. It is a large 40 acre park with 22 acres developed and rest forest. I only spent a short hour there scouting out the areas and it looks like a very promising spot. There are basketball courts, ballfields and a concession stand along with the usual wood chip play areas. I ended up with 73 cents and a lost costume jewelry bauble. I also added the Sac dollar I found earlier this week at a different park. I also gave my new pin pointer a good test and it passed with flying colors. All in all a pretty good hunt on a sunny afternoon.

First Sac Dollar Coin

2008-02-25T15:08:00.000-08:00

I finally got out for a quick 45 minute hunt today at my local park. There was a spring like feel in the air and the park was pretty empty except for a three year old and his grandma on the tot swings. I had the MXT out not more then five minutes when a got a solid quarter hit VDI at 82. It wasn't a quarter that was laying on the wood chips, it was my first Sacagawea Dollar coin.

The Sacagawea dollar coin issued by the United States Mint depicts Sacagawea and her son, Jean Baptiste. The face on the coin was modeled on a modern Shoshone woman named Randy'L He-dow Teton; no contemporary image of Sacagawea exists.

Sunday winter hunt

2008-01-13T15:25:00.000-08:00

Today was sunny and beautiful near 50 degrees so I headed out to the middle school in the neighborhood. I spent about an hour there and found nothing to jump up and down about, some clad and the usual suspects..(my nail and pull tab buddies that follow me around when i hunt.) It was great to get outside on such a nice day. By the way, I have no idea what the "Quickie Manufacturing Corporation" makes...*

Tina

UPDATE: In 1950, Peter Vosbikian, Sr. invented the now-world famous Quickie Automatic Sponge Mop. The very first mop of its kind, it eliminated the mess and stress of hand wringing and bending – floor cleaning could be done Automatically. Its patented design and breakthrough mechanics were revolutionary and greatly appreciated by the marketplace. It was so successful that the Quickie Automatic Sponge Mop launched a whole new company: Quickie Manufacturing Corporation.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T16:54:00.000-08:00

I told myself that one of my New Years resolutions would be to get out and metal detect more often, weather permitting. I did get out for about 30 minutes today in between rain storms. I hit a middle school that my son used to go to. It looks like a promising site with about 3 baseball fields and a big track with a football field. I hunted near the first ball field and picked up a little clad. I thought I had a nice ring for a second with a solid VDI of 45 but it winded up being a screw top. Dang!

Anyhow the school does look like a promising site to hunt and I will be returning once we get some dry weather.

Start Digging in 08!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T10:41:00.000-08:00

Have a safe and warm Holiday and a Happy New Years!

International Hunt

2007-09-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

Today I did a short hunt today in a local park and came up with some interesting foreign coins. I found a Loon dollar from Canada, a 20 centavo coin from Mexico and two coins that look like they are from China. I found them all under the swing in the parks tot lot , some little kid must be quite the world traveler!
Updated: I found out the coin on the far left is a Japanese 10 Yen coin.

heres the flip side of the coins:

Beach Hunt

2007-08-28T16:10:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a sports car kinda day here, partly sunny and rolling clouds. There was time for a short hunt at the saltwater beach at the Edmonds waterfront where I found two red hot wheels cars, one buried in the sand and one just out for a drive near the water. No kids around so I couldn't find the owner.

Above: Edmonds beach sand with lots of driftwood and pulltabs, not many coins there. I think people hit this beach regularly.

Looking for goodies under the sand. I needed to be using the 9.5 stock coil ideally for beach hunting but I had left it at home.

You sunk my battleship

2007-08-10T19:33:00.001-07:00

The park seemed to fill up over the summer with more coins and interesting items, making my hunt a lot of fun. I found someones toy battleship under a tree and a spoon in the tot lot sand. The most exciting find was a silver or silver like ring right by the basketball court, it gave a loud strong signal as a quarter and VDIed at 84-85.

There was plenty of clad near the swings and slides too!
All in all a good day.

Park Pin

2007-08-09T21:24:00.001-07:00

Quick hunt under the old trees that I did a week ago, just didn't get around to posting the finds, pretty meager this time around. The pin was for a baseball club in Bothell, found back of the pin first and then the front in two different spots.

Beach Hunting

2007-08-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

In July I took the MXT on vacation with me to visit the family in Ohio. I really didn't get many chances to do a lot of detecting as I had a full schedule of family activities to attend.
I did have a chance to hit the beach by Fairport Harbor one day for about an hour.

Some clad coins and a 1944 war nickel was the find of the day. I don't know how the pink pig got there. The beach was very clean there, I was surprised I didn't find more pull tabs and foil. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was happy to be able to hunt in Ohio.

Money Creek

2007-07-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

The family went off on a little exploration jaunt on Friday the thirteenth, luckily no black cats or ladders impeded our progress to Money Creek high in the Cascade mountains.

We were out looking for a spot on the creek to relax and get away from the busy traffic nest of swarming latte-sipping ants that the Seattle area has become. Ahh, peace and beauty in the mountains awaited us. My husband and son decided they would out do the Strongest man in the world and pushed a huge boulder into the creek, the momentum kept it going forward till it reached the middle of the creek. Well done men!

Meanwhile I had the MXT in a small camping area, lots of rifle casings and pull tabs, I did find a small penny spill of 8 cents were a tent was pitched. I only hunted for 15 minutes or so as the mosquitoes were brutal!

Tonight my son and I are flying off to visit the family in Ohio and the MXT is coming along to find Ohio treasures!

Happy Fourth of July

2007-07-04T12:09:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday America~!

First Wheat Cent in June!

2007-06-30T13:20:00.001-07:00

I haven't had time to do much hunting lately, but today I finally got out for a hour at the local park. The Tot Lot was a disappointment, nothing much there but hair pins and foil. I then found a license plate holder in the turf area, it reads "Arlington Wa" ..Interesting...but nothing to make me cheer...

I put plan B into effect, which was checking out the old trees in the grassy area next to the tennis courts. I figured people had rested under these shady giants for many years. I was using my smaller coil for trashy areas and sure enough I started getting decent signals. I found what I called "the Penny Tree" an old grizzled popular with large roots that seemed to have a penny or two every few feet. I got a nice beep right next to a large gnarly root and started digging about 4 inches into the mulch, imagine my surprise when I found a 1941 wheat penny, my very first wheatie and oldest coin so far as a metal detecting beginner. Looks like I need to get out more often!

New Park Hunt June 12

2007-06-12T15:42:00.001-07:00

Today I did a 90 minute hunt at a new park I found with Google earth. I decided to do a quick sweep of the tot lot and under some old trees to see if anything made the MXT beep with happiness. I found quiet a few pennies and dimes in the tot lot and quarters and zincs under the tree. I did find a tiny key and a star in the wood chips while the bracelet was found next to a tree trunk laying right on the surface.

I did find my first Canadian nickels and a 1953 nickel, that was interesting. The park was pretty empty, I basically had it all to myself on a nice sunny day.

I noticed the batteries on the MXT were reading 9 (12 is a full charge, 8 is low) I have had the same batteries in use since December so they lasted pretty long, the next time I put new batteries in I am going to keep track of the time, Whites says you should be able to get 40 hours out of a battery pack, we'll see if thats true.

Start Digging!

Watch those Watches!

2007-05-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

Today I got out to do a short hunt at two different parks, spent about an hour at each park. The funny thing was I found a watch at each park. I found the charm bracelet watch in the tot lot area right near the slide laying right on top the wood chips. No beeping involved. Most of the clad I found today was on the top also so not too much digging today! Watch those watches kids!

May First Finds

2007-05-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I've posted. I finally got to get out today and hit the local park for an hour and a half. It was nice to be metal detecting again and I found some junk jewelry and some clad coins. The park was empty most of the time I was there and I found most of the coins around the basketball court. It was great to be outdoors hunting for treasure!

Short Hunt

2007-03-31T12:41:00.000-07:00

I had time for a short hunt at the local park. I found a handful of clad coins. Funny thing was, I found seven of the pennies in the same spot, all with in a few inches of each other. Remember to re check your hole as there can be more then one target in there! I do recommend a pin-pointer to help you local targets in the dirt. I will post info on pin-pointers in a separate post.

Start Digging!

Picnic Point Beach Finds

2007-03-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

I hit the county park Picnic Point, a saltwater beach, a few days ago. Not a whole lot there to my surprise. I did join the sinker club with my first fishing sinker found oddly enough far away from the shore in the grass. And the butter knife found near the water and not by the picnic tables! One interesting note is the saltwater changed the MXT readings of the corroded zinc pennies to "screw top bottle cap" instead of zinc cent. As usual the MXT preformed admirably on the beach with out a lot of chatter noise.

Play Ball!

2007-03-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

Baseball Season opens in a week so I guess it was fitting I found a ball today. It seems to belong to Jake, but Jake was no where in sight.

I went to a new local park, I dug the usual clad coins and found my second ring of the year.

The ring signaled as a dime on the MXT, so I suspect it has a little silver in it. Its pretty small so its either a toe ring or a child's ring. I was happy to see it though as I pulled the ring out of the hole.
It was about 60 degrees out so rings and baseballs aside, it was great to be out after a long rainy week!

School days

2007-03-18T16:57:00.000-07:00

With the temps pushing 60 degrees, I thought I had better swing the coil for a few hours today. I headed to a local elementary school, where I saw the usual moms and dads with the kids by the swings and people enjoying a day with their dogs. At the ball field I found an interesting token, it read as a quarter signal and as I dug it out, I could see the word "Freedom" across the front. I have no idea where this came from, but it made an interesting find. The rest was clad and a few copper pennies on a sunny warm day in the Northwest.

Bit of Clad

2007-03-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

I went to "Horizon View" park today, a new spot I found on a drive yesterday. It was a very nice park, but as I found out from the park workers the "tot lot" section was only four years old. I did find a bit of clad and a older 1964 penny. Pennies were copper until 1982, then they became copper clad zinc from 82 onwards. You can really tell a "zinc" from the older pennies as they seem to dissolve and corrode a lot faster in the ground.

First Half Dollar

2007-03-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

After a soaking weekend, it cleared enough for me to spend an hour at the park hunting for goodies.
Today I found my first 50 cent piece at about 6 inches deep at the end of the baseball field. I dug that up along with some clad in various spots. I did find 4 nickels laying right on the top of the wood chips near the swing, all within a few feet of each other. That made for easy hunting, no digging involved!

Hunt Today

2007-03-09T17:32:00.000-08:00

Today was a little less rainy and I hit a few parks with the MXT. I made my first trip to the Edmonds city park, spent an hour there and dug a lot of pull tabs! The little coil did a pretty good job with the trash, but as every metal detectorist knows pull tabs, rings, and nickels all ring the same. Most of the time the pull tabs were right on the surface so one could identify them right away. I also dug quite a few dimes, one dime was at 8 inches deep and sure enough there was the coin, as I dug to that level. The small coil has very good depth as that's the deepest coin I have dug so far. I also found a old lighter that was giving me a really strong signal.
Not too bad for an afternoon.

Edmonds park above.

Between Spring Showers

2007-03-07T12:47:00.000-08:00

I went back to the park today. It was a cloudy, rainy day here in WA. There was a little break in the showers so I figured I could try out the new 5" coil. Nobody around, brisk wind and dark clouds on the horizon.

The new belt and carrying pouch for the knife, coin probe, etc really was the ticket for easy searching. All I carried was the MXT and my little garden pad to kneel on in wet soil. The new coil seemed to work great, in the 15 minutes I searched the park, I found a quarter, nickel, two zinc cents and two copper cents dated 1964 and 1968. I had to run to the car as the wind picked up and the rain came back. At least I had a little time to hunt today as the whole week looks cool and showery, and yesterday was 69 and sunny and I couldn't get out!

Start Digging!

New Coil

2007-03-06T17:00:00.000-08:00

This is my MD set up with the new 5 inch EXcelerator coil on the MXT. Smaller coils are supposed to give you better separation between targets in high trash areas. It is so small and feels like nothing at the end of the fiberglass rod. Other goodies that came today, my Beach master sand scoop, a treasure pouch and belt and coin probe!

Now I just have to take it out for a test run!

Start Digging!

March Park Finds

2007-03-04T18:44:00.000-08:00

Today was so nice and warm (52) that I headed back to Brier Park in hopes of finding some silver. I ended up working the baseball field and found some quarters and change. As I came within 10 feet of the wood chips near the slides, I received a strong reading with a high VDI number. Digging about three inches down I found my first silver ring! It looked to be a pinky ring or child's ring with a tiny emerald gem set the silver 925 band. I think this is a little silver birthstone ring and someone lost it in the grass.

The ring is small but it is silver, my first and has a tiny emerald to boot! Woo hoo!

City Park Finds

2007-02-24T17:16:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I went to a local city park to practice with the MXT. The weather was a little chilly so there were few people around and I had the park to myself.

(click on picture for a larger view)

It turned out to be a pretty good day for me. I found some clad coins, two "This is my Lucky Day" tokens from a local fun park, a flattened penny and a little easter bunny charm. I did my search in the ball field and around the play area (tot lot) by the slides and swings. Not a huge amount but a lot of fun anyway.

Start Digging!

Start Digging in Your Own Backyard!

2007-02-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

(click the picture above for a large image)

As soon as I opened up my metal detector on Christmas , I had to try it out and the most obvious place for a test run was my own backyard. I have searched our yard about 3 times now, not more then an hour total and came up with a hand full of change. I had no idea there was that much clad (clad coins, as opposed to silver or copper coins) in the ground. The land we live on used to be horse pasture before our subdivision was put in, so the change had to come from us since we moved in. Unless some of the horses were playing poker and dropped some change!
I think the metal square thing is from an old lawn chair.

Start Digging!

Treasure Hunter's Creed

2007-02-24T11:25:00.000-08:00

CODE OF ETHICS

I WILL respect private property and WILL NOT trespass without the land owners permission.

I WILL NOT destroy property, buildings or what is left of ghost towns and deserted structures

I WILL NOT litter, always pack out what I take in and remove all trash dug in my search.

I WILL leave all gates and other accesses to land as found.

I WILL appreciate and protect our heritage of natural resources, wildlife, and private property.

I WILL use thoughtfulness, consideration and courtesy at all times.

I WILL abide by all laws, ordinances or regulations that may govern my search, or the area I will be in.

I WILL fill all holes, regardless how remote the location, and never dig in a way that will damage, be damaging to, or kill any vegetation.

I WILL report the discovery of items of significant historical value to a local historian or museum in accordance with the latest legislation.

I WILL Be an ambassador for the metal detecting hobby.

How A Metal Detector Works

2007-02-22T12:32:00.000-08:00

How Metal Detectors Work
by: Phil Morris

The first metal detector was created in 1881 by Alexander Graham Bell
to detect the bullet lodged in the body of President James Garfield when
he was assassinated. The first portable version was patented in 1931 by
Fischer. Since then, this instrument has become very common. Here are
some insights on the workings of metal detectors.

What is a metal detector? An electronic instrument that can find any
instance of metal from the ground, a human body or a parcel is called
metal detector. It has the ability to pass through the sand, soil, wood
and any other non-metallic items. It can track anything metallic.

How the metal detector is constructed? An elementary metal detector has
an electronic box along with a battery on one side, with a handle to
let the operator place his arm. It has a coil made of insulated wire
wrapped around the telescoping shaft and ends in a round plastic disk. The
disk is displaced from the shaft making an angle that helps it to
maintain parallel position to the floor. The operator holds the electronic
box and switches on the power to start sweeping the coil slowly on the
ground till there is an electronic signal. This signal shows the
presence of a metallic item underneath the area already swept by the coil.

How does a metal detector work? Metal detectors use the principal of
electromagnetism and the effect it exerts on metals. The metal coil
called the transmitter works on the battery power and generates a magnetic
field that works on the surroundings. When this field enters the ground,
any metallic item becomes magnetic. This generates the electronic
signal, which is detected by the receiver in the coil. Receiver in turn
dispatches a signal to the electronic box. The speaker makes this sound
louder, generating a beep for the operator. The electronic box consists of
microprocessors to measure the time lag between charging the area and
receiving the signal. This time lag is called the phase shift and lets
you know which metals are present. Using this principle, you can
configure the high-end metal detectors to look out for specific metals.

For more Information on how Metal Detectors work, follow this link:

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/metal-detector.htm

Welcome to "Start Digging"

2007-02-21T14:59:00.000-08:00

Welcome everyone to "Start Digging" a blog about my personal stories of the addicting hobby of Metal Detecting. Right now I live in the Northwest and just got started in MDing (Slang for Metal Detecting) this Christmas when I received a Whites Electronics MXT metal detector. Needless to say its February and I am hooked! I will be posting info about the MXT as I learn to use it and photos of my treasures (Sure there will Treasure!) , and various finds.

Please check back as this blog gets going!