Metal Detecting

Does anyone else search river beaches? What sort of objects have you found, and are there any techniques for finding good places for river deposits?

Not realy a proper answer to your question but i think this site will interest you...
Dont forget to look on page 2 of this site aswell
Unbelievable

http://www.thamesandfield.co.uk/

Hello I do the river Thames But eyes only
let me know which river you are attempting to do
I understand the basics and should be able to help you on your task...
Regards Mark

Blackadder43 wrote:Not realy a proper answer to your question but i think this site will interest you...
Dont forget to look on page 2 of this site aswell
Unbelievable

http://www.thamesandfield.co.uk/

That site is awesome, unbelievable amount of artifacts.

smalleygardens wrote:Hello I do the river Thames But eyes only
let me know which river you are attempting to do
I understand the basics and should be able to help you on your task...
Regards Mark

Hi Mark
I have done a couple of rivers lately, the Lugg and the Wye mostly. Like you, I've only collected by eye, so surface objects only. I've found a good bend in the Wye where there is a small shingle/rocky beach, and found over 100 pieces of pottery, glass, metal etc. a couple of days ago. Where do you think I am most likely to find these sort of beaches, particularly along the Wye? I'm no geographer, so any information would be good!
Will post some pictures of the stuff I've found soon, including quite a disturbing amount of large teeth.

Hello Dont know anything about your rivers But
you are looking for main docks, wharfs ..... places where
there were alot of people, cogregating... down river form Bridges, under bridges
ferry points ..... places where people had to cross ( near churches ) down river from old pubs ....That is for starters
Where you have a lot of junk (mainly near where the docks are situated) ie metals (scrap)
bones , broken pottery , glass ....etc thats where you need to concentrate .. I Take a pointing trowel and a three pronged weeding fork (the old type, the one that you reach to grub up weeds they are great tools one for flicking stones out of the way the other for lifting bigger rocks to see what is underneath )
look for nail clusters thats where small coins get trapped... along the Thames in the nail clusters (you find nail clusters where they were building ships) I find coins ,tokens, buttons esp ,naval ones from all centurys hope that helps please let us all know what you find ....Photos
are great ....I need to get my act together and show some of the finds I have found ....
if you need any more info let me know .... Remember its all about pacients and training your eye
but in time you will find it very rewarding.... Cheers Mark...

smalleygardens wrote:Hello Dont know anything about your rivers But
you are looking for main docks, wharfs ..... places where
there were alot of people, cogregating... down river form Bridges, under bridges
ferry points ..... places where people had to cross ( near churches ) down river from old pubs ....That is for starters
Where you have a lot of junk (mainly near where the docks are situated) ie metals (scrap)
bones , broken pottery , glass ....etc thats where you need to concentrate .. I Take a pointing trowel and a three pronged weeding fork (the old type, the one that you reach to grub up weeds they are great tools one for flicking stones out of the way the other for lifting bigger rocks to see what is underneath )
look for nail clusters thats where small coins get trapped... along the Thames in the nail clusters (you find nail clusters where they were building ships) I find coins ,tokens, buttons esp ,naval ones from all centurys hope that helps please let us all know what you find ....Photos
are great ....I need to get my act together and show some of the finds I have found ....
if you need any more info let me know .... Remember its all about pacients and training your eye
but in time you will find it very rewarding.... Cheers Mark...

Many thanks, Mark, invaluable information there. I am going to try a beach just downstream from a heavily used bridge tomorrow. Have tried some new areas of a different river beach today and come up with a multitude of objects - none of any real value, but some interesting things, including mobile phones (!), bones, beads and a pair of gloves. Will post pictures in due course.

Well you have made a start ... as I have said before the eye will get keener the more times you go
and remember that the tide will change things around so going to a regular spot can be a good thing ...after a few times at that spot go somewhere else and then the next time go back to your spot you will be surprised how its changed ...i do a regular spot at Greewich and gave it a miss for awhile coz I wasn't finding much, went back last Saturday and found a george the 111 penny in reasonable condition (a bit worn but you can see the main details) a very nice 18th century button (Westminster fire officer with the portcullis gate) allthough its bent at the top I believe thats a rare find ..... a Royal engineers cap badge vg condition a royal navy button ( anchor with crown) secound world war .....a key with the part that opens the lock missing ( might be recordable ) a bone button (again mayby recordable ) and a few other intresting things .... So the key to all this, is, like Detecting , you have good days and bad one I would say that Saturday was an ok one ...I an due a good Day ...so watch this space .........

DuncanF wrote: Will post some pictures of the stuff I've found soon, including quite a disturbing amount of large teeth.

I'm just wondering what amount of teeth qualifies as 'not' disturbing?

Excellent link to the Thames website Blackadder. Do they use some kind of uber-detector for that? They're more than knee-deep in some of those holes!