Learning your Equinox 800

davedude · Dec 5, 2019

Msantola said:
I believe you have a buffalo nickel. I can see the top of the head on your coin. Also with a war nickel being silver, it wouldn’t be toasted.

I am am very sorry my photography is that bad but I am trying. I downloaded a magnifier phone app but was unable to get it to resolve the date. You would think being a war nickel it would be in better shape for sure, I am thinking this one got toasted somehow before being dropped. I'll post a better photo or one of the backside when I get a chance.

Ok here is a pic of the back side.

davedude · Dec 5, 2019

REDOC said:
Yepper just got mine and went out after work yesterday so almost dark and I will say hell of a back light. But ran it in park 1 and 2 for about 30 min. and dug the most deepest and smallest can slaw I have every seen. FB field pounded with my atpro and eTrac. Let the learning curve start but should be short with what I've seen with a few tweaks here and there.
Big dif between dealing with a can and slaw the size of a ring or even a earring.

LOL yes the backlight is awesome! I did exactly the same thing yesterday evening---dug can slaw! But I finally figured out what I was doing wrong with my ground balancing and feel really stupid about it but wow the difference is amazing now that it is ground balanced properly. What a machine. Like you I went to a school and park I have pounded with the ATPRO and I was surprised at the results. Just didn't have much time to mess with it , cannot wait to go back out.
The compressed VDI scale will take some getting used to, 19 thru 25 is kinda busy with alot of different stuff.

REDOC · Dec 5, 2019

Yep

davedude said:
LOL yes the backlight is awesome! I did exactly the same thing yesterday evening---dug can slaw! But I finally figured out what I was doing wrong with my ground balancing and feel really stupid about it but wow the difference is amazing now that it is ground balanced properly. What a machine. Like you I went to a school and park I have pounded with the ATPRO and I was surprised at the results. Just didn't have much time to mess with it , cannot wait to go back out.
The compressed VDI scale will take some getting used to, 19 thru 25 is kinda busy with alot of different stuff.

Hear yea, stayed in auto but didn't noise cancel to start. Did a little tweaking with some settings from Dirtfishing and went out tonight. Man, had one of my favorite hats on was just gonna mess around. Sweat mark city. Did a small pounded ~ 50-50 area etrac's/Atpro's with lots of trash at the end of the field. I pulled 8 nickels out of it and only 3 pull tabs/2 small slaw. 8 Nickels?? Unheard of. I have maybe pulled 2 out of there. 5 DEEP dimes, 4 Quarters and ~ 7 stinking Lincolns. In what 50 minutes? Man I know where I will be for a full day this weekend. Hitting the whole FB field. Sweet mochine.

davedude · Dec 6, 2019

REDOC said:
Hear yea, stayed in auto but didn't noise cancel to start. Did a little tweaking with some settings from Dirtfishing and went out tonight. Man, had one of my favorite hats on was just gonna mess around. Sweat mark city. Did a small pounded ~ 50-50 area etrac's/Atpro's with lots of trash at the end of the field. I pulled 8 nickels out of it and only 3 pull tabs/2 small slaw. 8 Nickels?? Unheard of. I have maybe pulled 2 out of there. 5 DEEP dimes, 4 Quarters and ~ 7 stinking Lincolns. In what 50 minutes? Man I know where I will be for a full day this weekend. Hitting the whole FB field. Sweet mochine.

Did someone say nickels?

I dug eleven nickels last night in the park by my house where I know for sure some spots I had gone over with the ATPRO and missed them. I was teasing nickels out of the tot lot right next to steel posts. Of course it's possible I missed all those nickels because of my really poor gridding discipline but dang sure seems strange to be finding so many all of a sudden.

The can slaw and trash I dug last two evenings. The NOX loves it some aluminum.

ToySoldier · Dec 6, 2019

davedude said:
I am am very sorry my photography is that bad but I am trying. I downloaded a magnifier phone app but was unable to get it to resolve the date. You would think being a war nickel it would be in better shape for sure, I am thinking this one got toasted somehow before being dropped. I'll post a better photo or one of the backside when I get a chance.

Ok here is a pic of the back side.

View attachment 454705

The black gunk on the back of the coin is pretty typical of war nickels. War nickels also have a large mint mark over Monticello. It could be worn off.

davedude · Dec 6, 2019

ToySoldier said:
The black gunk on the back of the coin is pretty typical of war nickels. Most war nickels also have a large mint mark over Monticello.

I checked the date again this morning with my zeiss loupe. 1943! I'll have a look to see if I can find that mint mark, thanks ToySoldier.

ghound · Dec 9, 2019

The ID scale is smaller in terms of numbers but it's pretty stable on coin ID, so if you were wanting to avoid say nickles you would notch 12 and it would take care of most of them, but on another detector with say a more jumpy ID 99 ID scale you might need to notch out 5 or more ID numbers, so it kind balances out.
By the fact it's running higher freqs it will hit on small items, but after a while you will be able to disc out much of the trash by ear using multi tones, and the F2 setting can also help avoid digging small melted alu blobs etc

davedude said:
The compressed VDI scale will take some getting used to, 19 thru 25 is kinda busy with alot of different stuff.

REDOC · Dec 9, 2019

55

davedude said:
Did someone say nickels? I dug eleven nickels last night in the park by my house where I know for sure some spots I had gone over with the ATPRO and missed them. I was teasing nickels out of the tot lot right next to steel posts. Of course it's possible I missed all those nickels because of my really poor gridding discipline but dang sure seems strange to be finding so many all of a sudden.

View attachment 454753

The can slaw and trash I dug last two evenings. The NOX loves it some aluminum.

View attachment 454754

Yea and don't get me wrong my At found nickels and it was a SOLID 55 so you knew it. But this nox is unbelievable. I have saw 45 min total went 2 times in this trash infested area and now have what 13 nickels, 5/25 ~ 5 dimes and maybe 10 stinking Lincoln's. Didn't have time to even open a adult beverage while going. Down/Dig/Up and out at dark. And deep. But no SILVER yet. need that full day.

GKL · Dec 9, 2019

davedude said:
I am am very sorry my photography is that bad but I am trying. I downloaded a magnifier phone app but was unable to get it to resolve the date. You would think being a war nickel it would be in better shape for sure, I am thinking this one got toasted somehow before being dropped. I'll post a better photo or one of the backside when I get a chance.

Ok here is a pic of the back side.

View attachment 454705

I have a USB microscope that works good for close up photos, here is a link from a post on a past thread that includes a pic and a link -
(just checked and the current price of $39.95 seems about the same as what I paid some years ago)

https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?p=2858932#post2858932

(I remember reading in the past of at least a couple other forum members using the same USB microscope if I remember correctly)

davedude · Dec 12, 2019

GKL said:
I have a USB microscope that works good for close up photos, here is a link from a post on a past thread that includes a pic and a link -
(just checked and the current price of $39.95 seems about the same as what I paid some years ago)

https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?p=2858932#post2858932

(I remember reading in the past of at least a couple other forum members using the same USB microscope if I remember correctly)

I may have to have that microscope! Thanks for posting that GKL.

REDOC · Dec 12, 2019

Nickels

ghound said:
The ID scale is smaller in terms of numbers but it's pretty stable on coin ID, so if you were wanting to avoid say nickles you would notch 12 and it would take care of most of them, but on another detector with say a more jumpy ID 99 ID scale you might need to notch out 5 or more ID numbers, so it kind balances out.
By the fact it's running higher freqs it will hit on small items, but after a while you will be able to disc out much of the trash by ear using multi tones, and the F2 setting can also help avoid digging small melted alu blobs etc

I think the point of the nickels comments are these are coming out of areas that have been pounded by other machines. No notch out needed here, I'll take em.

L0S3R · Dec 12, 2019

All silver war nickels have the mint mark large over the top of Monticello P, D and S. The first and last year of war nickels also had regular nickels part of the year which would have no mark or the normal mark. By looking at that nickel I think (could be wrong) it’s a normal nickel. Let us know though

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

gunsil · Dec 13, 2019

LOS3R is correct here, all the silver alloy (they are not silver, only 40% silver) nickels have the large mint mark over Monticello. Calling these coins silver is only a term used since the internet and by folks who are desperate to find a silver coin. Back in the day we just called them war nickels since they have less than half the silver percentage in their alloy as true American silver coins.

ToySoldier · Dec 13, 2019

L0S3R said:
All silver war nickels have the mint mark large over the top of Monticello P, D and S. The first and last year of war nickels also had regular nickels part of the year which would have no mark or the normal mark. By looking at that nickel I think (could be wrong) it’s a normal nickel. Let us know though

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think it's a war nickel. The date and mint mark appear to worn off. I've never had an older nickel come out of the ground the least bit shiny nor with that black tar type gunk. Only war nickels.

ToySoldier · Dec 13, 2019

gunsil said:
LOS3R is correct here, all the silver alloy (they are not silver, only 40% silver) nickels have the large mint mark over Monticello. Calling these coins silver is only a term used since the internet and by folks who are desperate to find a silver coin. Back in the day we just called them war nickels since they have less than half the silver percentage in their alloy as true American silver coins.

I'm hardly "desperate" to find a silver coin, having dug a handful of silver Washington quarters prior to finding my first war nickel, and I consider war nickels to be silver coin finds. A bunch of my silver coins this year are war nickels.

Sure, it's a lower percentage of silver, but 35% of 5 grams is not exactly a trace amount as far as coins go.

A war nickel, based on current prices, has about 96 cents of silver (.056 ounces) and a silver dime has about $1.22 in silver (.072 ounces).

By your definition, a 40% silver 65-70 Kennedy isn't a "true American silver coin". Yet, at $5.36 (.316 ounces) worth of silver, that's four times as much as a dime.

https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/coin-melt-values.aspx

davedude · Dec 13, 2019

I found another war nickel toasted like mine.

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-remove-corrosion-on-old-coins-small-metal-o/

I have a magnifier app on my phone but it will only resolve the 9 in the date so far. I'm working on it. I have a Zeiss D40 loupe that will resolve the date but just barely. The "9" and the "4" are the easiest, really can't see the "1" and the "3" is almost gone. The loupe will also resolve a "S" above the monticello, barely.

As far as desperation goes I think that is my middle name!

gunsil · Dec 21, 2019

ToySoldier said:
I'm hardly "desperate" to find a silver coin, having dug a handful of silver Washington quarters prior to finding my first war nickel, and I consider war nickels to be silver coin finds. A bunch of my silver coins this year are war nickels.

Sure, it's a lower percentage of silver, but 35% of 5 grams is not exactly a trace amount as far as coins go.

A war nickel, based on current prices, has about 96 cents of silver (.056 ounces) and a silver dime has about $1.22 in silver (.072 ounces).

By your definition, a 40% silver 65-70 Kennedy isn't a "true American silver coin". Yet, at $5.36 (.316 ounces) worth of silver, that's four times as much as a dime.

https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/coin-melt-values.aspx

You sir, are quite correct, I don't consider those Kennedys true American silver either. Heck, they don't even match up to cheaper European "coin silver" which is often only 800 fine. Like I said, before the net no metal detector users I ever met called those war nickels silver. You wanna? Fine by me. I never said I didn't like finding them, only that I and most of my old hunting buddies don't call them silver coins. They're just gussied up nickels.

Learning your Equinox 800

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