Metal Detecting

Hello,
I've really enjoyed reading various topics, 'cos it's all new to me... Just to be different my first outing with my machine was my gravel drive... Just had the house roof refurbished & there were nails everywhere I suspected.... with a 4wd car 1 ruined tyre = 4 new tyres so I opted to metal detect to avoid a serious cash-flow problem.

In a nutshell, using my Garret machine was a revelation.... custom mode, all iron + some ali. notched IN & everything else notched out = some 80 or so nails discovered (some dating back to the Ark i guess!) Very intersting to me how well the machine discriminated, & I had to set the sensitivity down as low as possible to NOT discover anything not on the surface!

Now I know this isn't what you guys probably want to read about... I haven't discovered anything interesting or valuable BUT it has made me even more keen to join my local club & do the whole thing properly!

So, Hi from me, a real newbie!!

Hi Newb what's your location ?

Isle of Wight - quite a way from you!

Merkin wrote:Hello,
I've really enjoyed reading various topics, 'cos it's all new to me... Just to be different my first outing with my machine was my gravel drive... Just had the house roof refurbished & there were nails everywhere I suspected.... with a 4wd car 1 ruined tyre = 4 new tyres so I opted to metal detect to avoid a serious cash-flow problem.

In a nutshell, using my Garret machine was a revelation.... custom mode, all iron + some ali. notched IN & everything else notched out = some 80 or so nails discovered (some dating back to the Ark i guess!) Very intersting to me how well the machine discriminated, & I had to set the sensitivity down as low as possible to NOT discover anything not on the surface!

Now I know this isn't what you guys probably want to read about... I haven't discovered anything interesting or valuable BUT it has made me even more keen to join my local club & do the whole thing properly!

So, Hi from me, a real newbie!!

Hi and welcome. I am new to and find everyone friendly.
But low sensitivity settings will only find surface or shallow items?.

Yep, that was my plan.... I only wanted to pick up nails on the surface of the gravel drive.
(Interestingly I worked out that half of the nails were actually aluminium.. I never knew roofers used anything other than ordinary iron nails.)

Apart from avoiding tyre punctures it was very interesting to hear the different tones generated in pro mode with the various metals; nails, galvanised nails, metal foil, ring pulls, ali. nails... all the tones varied so it was a good learning curve for me.

Increasing the sensitivity threw up all kinds of responses...most in the ferrous metal range. I wasn't going to try & dig 'em up (it's my driveway & it will all be builders rubbish I guess) but I was getting some gold/silver range pings too ... I have no idea what this means (other than being reasonably sure it ain't gold/silver!) - I guess the gravel etc might have various elements in it that can throw up a signal?
Anyway it has certainly proved to me the sensitivity of the machine as well as saving me some ruined tyres!

hi and welcome to forum good luck