Should you dig iron signals in modern areas?

Detectingman

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Just had a quick question. Out hunting today and ended up getting several high iron signals, 39 on my machine. Sometimes they would just to 40 (in foil range). This is a modern park. The question is, should one be digging these signals or will they most likely always be iron? I don't need anymore screws in the collection :laughing:
 
Most likely modern rusty junk but you never know until you dig.
Even modern parks were typically once farm land or may even have had buildings a century ago.
 
Most likely modern rusty junk but you never know until you dig.
Even modern parks were typically once farm land or may even have had buildings a century ago.

Fair enough! I was just wondering if anything like gold jeweler or such has ever popped up as an iron signal. If so, I might start having to dig these higher iron signals,:cool:
 
I use the AT Pro, not sure what machine you are using, unless I am relic hunting I do not dig anything in the 30's or below, and I don't generally dig anything in the 40's unless there is a good chance of a gold ring.
 
I’ve only heard of large iron coming up as 39-40 on the nox and I’ve had the same results. I’ll dig a 38 but not a 39-40 anymore



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I’ve only heard of large iron coming up as 39-40 on the nox and I’ve had the same results. I’ll dig a 38 but not a 39-40 anymore



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Deep old sprinkler heads hit at 40 for me. I only dig one, then no more in a straight line from it. :lol:
 
I usually don't.


Only dig on 'modern' iron were WWII was going on. For the rest, forged iron gives higher. Low iron is rubbish, and for the rare times it is something interesting it is gone already. Correction: It was something.
 
Just keep digging everything for a good long while, like 10k targets to get to know the dirt language....but also concentrate on every signal before you dig...Ask yourself, "whats its size, depth and profile signature its exhibiting"... Then, after a while, you get to know the language of the dirt and metal and can start to pass on KNOWN trash things....I will say though, most of the fabulous finds have sounded and signaled like complete !!!!..put a gold coin on top of a Morgan Dollar. or a nickel on top of a modern Q...sounds just like a bottlecap, with a tiny bit of audio difference only distinguishable by the practice.....
 
I use the AT Pro, not sure what machine you are using, unless I am relic hunting I do not dig anything in the 30's or below, and I don't generally dig anything in the 40's unless there is a good chance of a gold ring.

Currently using Tekneics Delta 4000. Right on! Yeah I try not to dig iron at least around here modern parks.

I’ve only heard of large iron coming up as 39-40 on the nox and I’ve had the same results. I’ll dig a 38 but not a 39-40 anymore



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Ah good to know. Thank you!
Deep old sprinkler heads hit at 40 for me. I only dig one, then no more in a straight line from it. :lol:


You know, I have done this same thing before lol. Especially at old schools.
I usually don't.


Only dig on 'modern' iron were WWII was going on. For the rest, forged iron gives higher. Low iron is rubbish, and for the rare times it is something interesting it is gone already. Correction: It was something.

Totally agree. Most iron signals I would not dig around here. The parks are too new.


Just keep digging everything for a good long while, like 10k targets to get to know the dirt language....but also concentrate on every signal before you dig...Ask yourself, "whats its size, depth and profile signature its exhibiting"... Then, after a while, you get to know the language of the dirt and metal and can start to pass on KNOWN trash things....I will say though, most of the fabulous finds have sounded and signaled like complete !!!!..put a gold coin on top of a Morgan Dollar. or a nickel on top of a modern Q...sounds just like a bottlecap, with a tiny bit of audio difference only distinguishable by the practice.....

Yeah, sometimes one must dig "iffy" signals, especially in nickle or quarter. Though it's hard to do I often pass on solid 60 signals, because they are 99% of the time aluminum pop can tabs. But you never know. The last ring I found had three diamonds and rings anywhere from 55-72 alternating so sometimes iffy signals can pay off, even those solid 60s might be gold!:cool3:
 
Since your using a different detector I wanna let you know, on the nox 39-40 are the 2 highest signals


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I tested every piece of gold in the house and the vdi's are from nearly 0 to the 60's but the signals are typically clean and relatively steady with exception of a heavy James Avery cross which was really jumpy. This was with both a Whites V3i and a Nokta Impact. Iron and gold can happen in the same Vdi range but it is the sound that gives it away most of the time.
I tend to leave the scratchy iron signals alone due to their size. Small and scratchy or small and jumpy signals I will dig. I am rarely rewarded for the scratchy ones.
Yesterday I got totally fooled on a bottlecap and that has not happened in a long time. It was very old, smashed completely flat, a perfect disk shape and only slightly rusted due to the fact it had spent most of its life under a street. I knew I had a silver quarter and then Bazinga! :laughing:
 
I usually always dig those deep iffy iron signals. Hasn't really paid off yet, but deep iron does mimic deep silver sometimes. It also may uncover a good target, and it cleans up my site.
 
I use an Fisher F19 and have a Teknetics Minuteman for a loaner for my kids. All of my gold items including small 10K rings, chains and pendants and even tungsten/10k rings come in higher than 40 which is where I set my discrimination in trashy parks. Any target that sounds pretty good in the 40 to 70 range could be gold OR it could be aluminum trash........

There is always the possibility that a gold target's ID could be influenced by multiple targets in the area or hole that pull gold down to a lower ID. Soil conditions and mineralization levels can also pull down ID numbers. Gold earring posts and tiny gold jewelry items may also come in below 40 or just be undetectable by your Delta 4000. My Minuteman will not detect earring posts or small gold nuggets in the .1 gram or less size even when they are touching the coil.

Jeff
 
Yes, you should dig deep iron targets. The deeper something goes, it will trend towards sounding like iron. A faint dime signal at 12 inches may sound more like iron at say, 13 inches. Sure, most of the time, what you dig will be iron. But, those times that you pull something that isn't iron, it is likely good, old stuff.
 
I’m new to the hobby and I’ve heard the “dig everything” motto many times. I stick to that because you never know what it can be. That one time I decide not to dig something, I know I’ll be kicking myself for it lol. Hey, it could even be an iron relic, you never know 😉
 
Fair enough! I was just wondering if anything like gold jeweler or such has ever popped up as an iron signal. If so, I might start having to dig these higher iron signals,:cool:





I am not a relic hunter so I don't dig a lot of iron but sometimes I do because of this thing I dug way back in January 2012.
A tiny silver bracelet.
I was using my Compadre, at the O in iron on the knob it was in...at the N it was gone so yea, silver can easily come in at iron.
Tiny gold can too.

Tinychainiron.jpg


Another silver chain with the Compadre...it was gone just a hair last the N in iron.

Silverchain.jpg

Plus I love to also dig old pocket knives and they also come in at iron and I hate to miss these.
All of these came from one small site that everyone else missed because they didn't dig iron.
Maybe I am a relic hunter after all.

photostudio_1573786964010.jpg
 
it was gone so yea, silver can easily come in at iron.

Please be clear and complete. Interesting 'iron' gives high tones between the iron tones.
Forged iron gives higher tones in between then simple iron. An iron axe or canon ball goes in the non-ferro's.
Corroded silver (with iron deposit) mostly gives high tones in between to.
Agreed?

I agree that a very old and smaler object (roman, celtic) long in the ground can get an iron deposit on them and give iron tones only.
But that wasn't the question. The question was "in modern areas" and there iron is 1/ rubbish or 2/ gives better tones in between. So then on pure iron signals i do not dig (on ancient sites i do dig on iron!).

And there can be iron cloaking. Clearing an heavily contaminated interesting area from rubbish can be very usefull. But my (modern area) detector, and most good detectors beat iron cloaking most of the times. So i do dig on iron in modern areas, but only when higher tones in between. Never on clear and only iron signals.
 
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