Tot lot tips and tricks/grids?

DetectorOCD

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Dallastown, Pa. (York)
I was wondering if anyone had any special tot lot tips/grid patterns? I am always one for climbing underneath the equipment for clad, but is there anything else to it or am I over-thinking it? I have noticed that hitting right along the edge of the border yields goodies.

I always run just above iron and try to get those tiny tiny signals with the compadre.

Anyway, feel free to chime in! Is KingTotLot still here?
 
Well, when I first encountered wood chips at a totlot, King TotsaLot gave me some FANTASTIC advice! I saved it and here it is, to sav His Majesty having to reprint it.

I don't know much about *where* the best areas (apart from around the play-on structures) would be, but I'm sure KT will add to that question.

Here's what he said about wood chips.

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Here is what KT does and has learned.

Wood chips rot and compact, and an older lot has layers based on this phenomenon. The wood chips on an old lot will be dark brown...if they are lighter colored then either the lot has had new chips added, or it is a newer totlot.

The stratification typically consists of some thin zone of loose dry dark colored chips...and then you hit the compacted zone. KT finds most of the coins at the top of this compacted layer and simply rakes the inch or so of loose chips back with his shoe. Almost all clad is readily visible against that dark background, except pennies, which quickly take on the same dark look as the wood chips...I think it is tannic acid from the wood coloring the copper.

Anyway, KT rakes with his foot on the spot of a signal, and reswings the MD over it...at least 50% of the time the item is in the loose wood chips then and not on the spot. But if on the spot, out comes the PinPointer and KT locates the item and digs it. If the mulch is damp, it will come out in layered pieces....find the piece the item is in with the pinpointer and break it down to extract the item. If you don't hit it initially with the pinpointer, then back across it with the MD coil and push in your digger and pop out a mass...it will be loose and fall apart...check hole, if no signal, you got it in the mass, if signal then you got a problem in the hole. Most totlots KT has worked on, have a bottom...covered with a fabric or mesh liner...if the signal is below the liner, forget it and move on...9 times out of 10, it is a pop can that was crushed and covered by the liner. KT dug a number of these early in his MD career and won't do it now. Too much trouble and poor results on goodies preclude it. Most detectors under good conditions will detect a popcan at 8 to 10 inches deep...most totlot liners are 8 to 10 inches deep!

How to fill a totyard mulch/chip hole? It makes a sorry looking mess digging, but can pretty easily be repaired. The first stuff to go back in the hole is the damp, soggy stuff that was the last you dug out...you will have a bit of excess simply because it was compacted before so you will have to mash it down as you fill it up...once all that stuff is in the hole, then stand up and use your foot to rake/scatter the loose wood chips you pushed to the side across the site...it will look reasonable...remember..the first rain will wash away any evidence of the disturbance. And what looks damp on the surface will dry in a few minutes due to it being exposed to the air...and it will take on the appearance of the dark dry wood chips.

On some school totyards, KT has dug over a hundred holes in an hour and a half and before leaving only the last few he dug are even noticable....The first time kids are back across the site, playing, jumping, dragging their feet, and falling down, the surface is completely compacted and changed and there will be so much disturbance that KT defies anyone finding evidence of an MDer ever being on it.

Just do not leave open holes where a kid could trip and fall, that is the main thing...KT has actually seen a couple of squirrels actively digging on one of his totlots, either burying acorns or digging them up! THEY make a bigger mess than KT leaves! And kids dig in the mulch too, for what reason, KT does not understand! Maybe cause they realize they lost something??!

On a new mulch totlot, you will have a different problem...the new mulch will give you splinters! KT has a hard time understanding how kids don't get a lot of splinters when these lots have additional mulch added to them. If you come across a newly mulched totlot, it is possible that the old mulch with its collection of coins and jewelry was stripped out and you will have to wait for the goodies to be repopulated by the kids! That could take monthes. Or the goodies are buried too deep for you to find with your detector.

Anywho, the problems with mulch is that it is not like soil which has a binder to hold it together...so just realize you will never "dig a plug" in mulch...it just fragments and comes all apart. Just keep the different colors separated so you can put them back into the hole in the right sequence.
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Thank you again, Your Majesty!

SageGrouse
 
I use all metal in the totlots. You will hind some of that fine gold that the little girls take from mommies jewelry box. They will lose a lot of nice things for you. I use my compadre all the time. Go slow and listen for the soft or faint signals. I also hunt the outside edges. Good luck... KEN :yes:
 
When you get close to the poles you are going to get a big beep. Go slow past the pole. If you get a second beep, than it is time to check that second beep. Just go slow. .... KEN
 
When you get close to the poles you are going to get a big beep. Go slow past the pole. If you get a second beep, than it is time to check that second beep. Just go slow. .... KEN

Just got my Bounty Hunter Sharpshooter II a couple weeks ago. My fiance is an elementary school teacher, and I've been just itching to hit the playground. The school's been totally fenced in since last summer to force people to check in at the office. So of course that means very limited access, and even possibly that I'm the only one going out there. I got my chance a couple nights ago and came up with a quarter, dime, and 2 pennies. I was hitting the slides and stuff, and my fiance told me to hit the monkey bars where the kids flip upside down. The problem is the poles are EVERYWHERE. I picked up a new pinpointer at Harbor Freight last night. The thing is way more sensitive than what came with my detector, but hopefully not so much that it's going off six inches away from the poles, and I can dig some more milk money. :lol:
 
I shouldn't tell you this.

If you have a sniper coil, it allows you to get under the equipment at a tot lot and closer to the poles. But wait, there's more. Those piles of chip under the slide, and the seats, pull it out. Or just run your pin pointer under there. I also find a lot of jewelry at tot lots. Most of the fake stuff is under the equipment. The good stuff is usually away from the equipment. Last, you aren't the only one hunting, try to find places others miss. Or adjust your hunt time to get ahead of the competition. I also only check a tot lot about once a week. It just doesnt produce much if I hunt anymore than that. We have over a 100 parks here so I never run out of places to hunt. I also use no discrimination. If you want those fine gold chains, you got to run hot as you can. I get a lot of new drops, nice clean finds in the tot lots. Hope this helps.
 
The thing about woodchips is great! I went hunting yesterday and found whole bunches of things including 2 ring (fake =[). Kids drop stuff while running and climbing. Be a kid, where would you run, jump, and climb?
 
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