Jargon Glossary

Metal Detecting Jargon Glossary
A to Z Metal Detecting glossary of useful slang jargon and uncommon words and common phrases generally used by detectorists within the hobby of metal detecting.


A)

Air Test
This is where various metal objects are waved under the coil, under artificial conditions.
It is used to give an idea of the machines response to various metal objects at varying distances.
The jury is still out on the tests accuracy compared to metal targets we find in the ground with the same machine.

Artefact
An item that was made by humans many years ago.

All-Metal
This is a mode that allows the metal detector to see all metal types.

Alloy
A metal composed of two or more metals.


B)

Bullhead
Silver coin of George III 1816-1818 were designed that made his portrait look like a bull

Bronze Disease
This is where the acids and salts combined with moisture attack the bronze coin/item whilst in the ground, once air is introduced after finding the coin/item the problem will worsen and can destroy the item if not treated. A green/blue powder will form on the coin/item.


C)

Cache
A hoard of coins or other valuables purposely buried or hidden.

Crown Estate Foreshore Permit
This was needed to detect on the beaches in the UK. It was free but is no longer required.
http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/marine/metal-detecting/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Clipping
This was the practice of clipping bits of silver from hammered coins to melt down and make new coins or sell as bullion.

Code of Practice (COP) for Responsible Metal Detecting in England and Wales (2017)
This provides guidance for metal detectorists who wish to contribute to our understanding of the history of England and Wales. It combines both the requirements of finders under the law, as well as more general voluntary guidance on accepted best practice. https://finds.org.uk/getinvolved/guides/codeofpractice

Coil cover
A non metalic cover placed over the coil to protect it from stones and abrasions.

Coke
Coke is burnt or super heated coal that finds its way onto the fields. It will give a conductive signal on some machines, other machines auto discriminate this out.

Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS)
This provides financial incentives for land managers to look after their environment through activities such as: conserving and restoring wildlife habitats, flood risk management, woodland creation and management, reducing widespread water pollution from agriculture, keeping the character of the countryside, preserving features important to the history of the rural landscape, encouraging educational access.

Cut halves/quarters
Hammered coins were often cut in halves or quarters to produce smaller denominations of that coin.


D)

Decimal
15th February 1971 was the day the United Kingdom changed from the pre-decimal coinage system to a decimal coinage system where 100 pennies = £1

Discrimination
This is where you can set parameters on your machine to reject certain metals from giving a signal on the machine, usually Iron, but beach detectorists will often try to discriminate ring pulls too.

Double struck
This is an error that happened whilst the hammered coins were being made. It usually happened when one of the dies moved and the coin was hit for a second time.


E)

(EMI) Electromagnetic interference
EMI is interference to your detectors electrics through outside sources, such as, power lines overhead, radio masts nearby, underground electrics, mobile phones etc. It can be reduced on detectors that have "noise cancel", where you can search through your detectors channels to find a quieter one.

Electrolysis
An electro-chemical process, where a direct electrical current is passed through two metal electrodes immersed in a liquid solution (the electrolyte). One of the electrodes is the artefact undergoing electrolysis, the other is an appropriately chosen 'donor' metal. Commonly used to remove patina from copper alloy and silver artefacts, but can also be used to restore rusted iron. The composition of the electrolyte and electrode vary depending on the artefact being treated.
Be warned that the wrong solution or passing the current through for too long will damage the coin.


F)

Ferrous
Any metal containing or made up of Iron is a ferrous metal. These metals will be attracted to a magnet.

Falsing / false signal
A desirable sounding signal given by the machine that usually turns out to be Iron. Can be caused by high ground mineralisation, large rusty deep Iron, pointed nails, and high sensitivity settings on the machine. Further investigation on the signal is required.

FID
The Federation of Independent Detectorists.
A membership organisation that gives the detectorist valuable insurance, and is also a voice for detectorists and our issues.

FLO Finds Liaison Officer
The core role of an FLO is to record archaeological finds to further our understanding of the archaeology of England and Wales. They record items for the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS)

FBS Full band spectrum
Simultaneously transmits, receives and analyses a full band of multiple frequencies.
28 in total, through 1.5 kHz and 100 kHz.


G)

Green waste
This is biodegradable waste that can be composed of garden or park waste, such as grass or flower cuttings and hedge trimmings, as well as domestic and commercial food waste. When its mentioned in metal detecting circles it’s usually because a field has been spread with green waste that has been contaminated by pieces of shredded metal.

Grot
This is a slang name for a known Roman coin that has little or no markings or writing on it.

Ground balance
This is a very under rated issue, especially with older machines that require "manual" ground balancing. Up to date machines mainly use "auto ground balance" where the machine constantly tracks the ground and detects changes in mineralisation and compensates the machine to keep in balance.
Manual ground balancing is an art form, and one that you should try and learn as it can make or break a good or bad days detecting.


H)

Halo effect
A conductive increase in target size caused by the oxidisation of a ferrous object, this causes the machine to sometimes see this as a good conductive target. It will disappear if the "halo" is disturbed, and returns to a ferrous signal.
Whether a coin or artifact can produce the halo effect is a huge debating issue for the detecting community. Some mineral and precious metal experts say it does happen for coins and artifacts, other people completely dismiss it as nonsense or insignificant.

Hammy
This is the slang term for a gold or silver and copper or hammered coins.These coins were struck from a single round disc of gold or silver or copper between 2 dies and striking the top die with a hammer to produce the images and writing on both sides.

Hedge-fodder
This is a slang term for finds that are not historicaly significant, usualy modern junk items. The term hedge fodder should not be used literally and all rubbish should be disposed of in the correct way.

Hoard
A hoard is a collection of coins /artefacts sometimes purposely buried in the ground with the intention of recovering them at a later date, quite often the person who buried them never survived long enough to recover them.

Hot rock
A hot rock is a stone or rock that has a different or higher mineralisation content to its surrounding ground and the balance of your machine. This will confuse the machine and will often cause a signal. Hot rocks are generally non conductive and not to be confused with "coke" which are conductive.

I

Iffy Signal
a iffy signal is one that you cannot be sure is good or bad target, you are basically unsure if the target ID and the tones given off are worth digging.

J

K

L)

Legend
This is the name given to the coin inscription. This can be put together with the other terms such as, for example, "OBVERSE LEGEND" which means, "the coin inscription on the head side."
Lidar
Lidar (also called LIDAR, LiDAR, and LADAR) is a surveying method that measures distance to a target by illuminating the target with pulsed laser light and measuring the reflected pulses with a sensor. Differences in laser return times and wavelengths can then be used to make digital 3-D representations of the target.

Long cross
This is where the cross on a hammered coin goes all the way to the edge of the coin. This was an attempt to stop unscrupulous people from "clipping" silver from the coin to melt down to sell as bullion.


M)

Masking
A huge problem for detectorists, usually when a rusting or large item will "mask" a desirable target from the machine.

Milled coins
Is used to describe coin which are produced by some form of machine, rather than by manually hammering coin blanks between two dies. The edges have a "milled" surface to prevent clipping.
The earliest milled coins produced in England date from the early 1560s, but milled coinage did not entirely replace hammered coinage until 1662.

Mint
The place where coins are made.

Moneyer
Someone who is responsible for the striking or making of coins.

Moo tube
A slang term for an aluminium medicine tube (like a small tube of toothpaste) used for animal treatments.


N)

Notch
A form of discrimination that will reject any target that falls into the conductivity window preset at the factory. Dangerous thing to use in the UK because of the chance of notching out hammered coins with your pulltabs.

Non-ferrous
Metals not containing iron such as gold, silver, copper, aluminium, etc.

Nighthawk
This is an unscrupulous person who illegally uses a detector without permission on fields and monuments, usually selling their finds without declaring them. This is usually (but not always) done under the cover of darkness.

NCMD
National Council for Metal Detecting.
A membership organisation that gives the detectorist valuable insurance, and is also a voice for detectorists and our issues.

Nulling
This is when your machines threshold sound will fall silent when the coil passes over a metal you have discriminated out.


O)

Obverse
This means the front face of the coin (heads).


P

Partifact
A piece of something that has been broken away from the original whole artefact.

Pinpointing
The art of trying to align the centre of the target to the centre of the coil to allow for a neat and safe extraction of the target, using the machines pinpointing feature,or by sweeping the target in an X pattern.

PI
Pulse induction. This type of detector excels on the beach and wet sand. It has no discrimination at all. The PI fires a high-voltage pulse of signal into the ground, if no metal is present then the voltage pulse decays at a uniform rate. The time the pulse takes to reach zero is accurately measured by the machine. If the pulse hits metal a small current would flow in the metal, and the time for the voltage pulse to drop to zero would be increased. These minute time differences can alert the machine to metal at great depths.
One huge advantage to using a PI machine is they are completely impervious to the effects of mineralisation and highly mineralised black sand.


Q


R)

Recovery time
The time it takes the machine to recover from a previous target response to the next target.

Reverse
This means the back face of the coin (tails).


S)

Sensitivity
Often a misunderstood feature of a metal detector.
It should be used to compensate for heavy ground mineralisation, trashy fields, power lines and outside electrical interference.
To do this you lower the sensitivity of the machine until it becomes stable and stops chattering at every inch of ground it covers.
You can run your machine "hot", this means you have the sensitivity setting at max. You will get increased depth,and better signals from small, deep items but your ears will be bombarded with false signals and chattering. It takes experience to know what to listen for at this level. If your machine settings are incorrect, then increasing sensitivity is useless, like turning up the radio volume when the programme is not tuned in properly.


SSSIs Sites of special scientific interest
SSSIs are protected by law to conserve their wildlife or geology. Natural England can identify land you own or occupy as an SSSI - this is called being designated.
Use Natural England’s ‘MAGIC’ map to check if your land is on an SSSI.
http://www.magic.gov.uk/


Shotty
A spent, discarded shotgun cartridge, usually just the metallic end piece.


T)

Target separation
The ability of a metal detector to respond to individual targets within a closely spaced group.

Toasted
This is a slang term for an item, usually a coin, which is corroded and, as a result, is unidentifiable.

Trashy (S)
This is a slang word for an area littered with iron or undesirable targets.

Treasure Trove See also Treasure Act 1996
Treasure Trove was the old UK law governing items found by members of the public that were gold or silver, these belonged to The Crown. This law was changed to the Treasure Act in 1996.

Treasure Act 1996
This is far too complex to fit into a few sentences, please read here.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/24/contents" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Threshold
This is a constant "humming" sound you hear on machines when not operating in a silent search mode.
It should be set at a minimum level so you can hear very small and deep targets.
When you go over an object that you have discriminated out the threshold should "null" (silent) until it recovers and you move away from the object.

U


V)


VLF
Very low frequency also known as induction balance. Very popular metal detector design technology, using a transmitter coil and a receiver coil.

W)

World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, scientific or other form of significance.
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Last update 26-10-2020