Advice to all the newbies...let's talk about zinc and gold!

[bazeball7]

Good post, Digger. Every time I am tempted to skip a "zinc" tone, I get a gnawing thought in my head that I could be skipping something very good!

[Manwithnoname]

Thanks, why I am here. Haven't even been out yet and already learning.

I will definatly be a "dig it all" MD'er.

[sllingshot47]

Originally Posted by carcur

How many pennies do I have to dig before I hit gold?

alot
curtis

Well, I've seen several posts of rings appraised at over $10,000. I can wait a little longer. These heavy rings fall in this category. Also, if you set your disc. at pulltabs, it's probably the ONLY chance you'll have at gold.

[hillbillydigger]

Originally Posted by sllingshot47

Well, I've seen several posts of rings appraised at over $10,000. I can wait a little longer. These heavy rings fall in this category. Also, if you set your disc. at pulltabs, it's probably the ONLY chance you'll have at gold.

I thought Zinc was Gold? Now you are saying pulltabs is Gold?

Now I'm worrying what I passed up yesterday as I thought my machine was being weird when it said 97 a couple times because no heading was coming up, but I read last night somewhere that something that high can be silver jewelry or Kennedys. I have fairly good idea where the 97 was so I think I could find it again if I can only perfect my digging technique as it said it was down 11 inches. Which probably means 7-9 inches because my machine reads depth weird it seems like as it was calling 1/2 inch hits as being 4 inches under. I wonder if the type of soil has something to do with that?

[PhotoRob06]

Zinc:
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=92167
Zinc:
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=84297
Zinc:
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=72110
Zinc: (not the 2-cent)
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=72929

[hillbillydigger]

Originally Posted by PhotoRob06

Zinc:
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=92167
Zinc:
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=84297
Zinc:
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=72110
Zinc: (not the 2-cent)
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=72929

Wow very NICE finds there PhotoRob! I especially like the Indian head penny under the shrub. Thanks for sharing about these 'Zinc' finds. I will stop ignoring zinc now that I am more accustom to my detector.

[sllingshot47]

Originally Posted by hillbillydigger

I thought Zinc was Gold? Now you are saying pulltabs is Gold?

Now I'm worrying what I passed up yesterday as I thought my machine was being weird when it said 97 a couple times because no heading was coming up, but I read last night somewhere that something that high can be silver jewelry or Kennedys. I have fairly good idea where the 97 was so I think I could find it again if I can only perfect my digging technique as it said it was down 11 inches. Which probably means 7-9 inches because my machine reads depth weird it seems like as it was calling 1/2 inch hits as being 4 inches under. I wonder if the type of soil has something to do with that?

About 40% of rings fall in pulltab territory.

[DIGGER27]

Originally Posted by hillbillydigger

I thought Zinc was Gold? Now you are saying pulltabs is Gold?

Now I'm worrying what I passed up yesterday as I thought my machine was being weird when it said 97 a couple times because no heading was coming up, but I read last night somewhere that something that high can be silver jewelry or Kennedys. I have fairly good idea where the 97 was so I think I could find it again if I can only perfect my digging technique as it said it was down 11 inches. Which probably means 7-9 inches because my machine reads depth weird it seems like as it was calling 1/2 inch hits as being 4 inches under. I wonder if the type of soil has something to do with that?

Those 97 signals could be false readings from very large pieces of iron in the vicinity.
Even if you notch out iron, large pieces can still bleed through your discrimination settings and show up as a high 90's signal or even 00...and that piece of iron could actually be up to a foot away from where you get that false signal, especially in moist soil.
Even though most false signals won't repeat in the exact same place, huge iron could, or be close enough to make you think it is a target directly under your coil.
Trust me, I dug some pretty huge craters when using my F2 at the beginning stages to learn this lesson.

Another bit of useful information here...
Just because you use discrimination to knock out iron, foil, tabs or whatever, that doesn't mean your detector is not picking them up...all you are doing is just setting your detector so it would not TELL you it is sensing those unwanted signals.
Your detector is still being affected and will react to all metals in the vicinity of the coil, masking and all kinds of other effects are still going to be in full force.
This is a big reason I try to use the least discrimination as possible when hunting and dig most all solid signals...then recheck the vicinity after recovering a target, (especially a big one), to see what else might have been hiding or "masked", which is the term we use around here.


Also, those large targets like iron and cans could show up as way more shallow on your depth indicator than they actually are in the ground.
Raise your coil 3-4-5 inches above these type of large, loud, high number signals.
If you still get a solid loud reading, it is probably something huge, and more often than not some sort of trash which I usually just pass by.
If you get a shallow depth number of lets say 1-2 inches, and you have already dug 4-5 inches down and have not found it, it is deep and it is big and again, usually trash.
If you are looking for large caches or treasure chests I would still dig these type of signals, single coins or rings...never.

As you get more practice listen to the volume of the tones.
There is a difference, big pieces of metal will sound louder than small ones, shallower targets will sound louder than deeper ones...even on the F2, and especially if you use headphones which I always recommend.
You need experience to hear and tell the difference, however.

Plus gold can be iron, foil, tabs, nickel or zinc, depending on the size of the target, and this is very rare but even dimes and quarters if you were lucky enough to roll over a something 22 or 24 karat, or a huge gold coin.


Look at this picture and memorize this scale.
Forget the numbers, they are for a White's unit, not your F2.
This is where metals could come in on all detectors.

[hillbillydigger]

Thanks for all the info Digger27! Lots of good info. You're right I did turn off the iron as it was sounding everywhere I went with every swing so I thought maybe there is naturally occurring iron in the soil. Of course I can't help but think I should be digging it up considering the Civil War activity of this area as it might be ammunition. Then a friend told me to be looking for meteorites as the local museum buys them for a pretty penny though I was never aware this was a big meteorite area. This spot with the high numbers 97-98 was next to the river... that general area has had Cherokee villages, not sure how close the Civil War got to here but have found there were 4 units or infantries (sorry not sure about the lingo) from this town and there used to be a bustling coal mining, cotton mills and even freshwater pearl trade. Also big railroad presence plus farming region. So possibilities seem endless on type of artifacts. I'm going to check the libraries in the larger cities as this town has no reference materials in tiny local library oh other than the librarian said we have encyclopedias and dictionary. lmao!

[joecatch]

Digger, I went out today and took your advice and dug up zinc VDIs with my AT Pro. Most were pennies but two targets I dug were solid 80. The photo below shows what they were. Needless to say, I was very surpised and happy!

JC

[sllingshot47]

Originally Posted by joecatch

Digger, I went out today and took your advice and dug up zinc VDIs with my AT Pro. Most were pennies but two targets I dug were solid 80. The photo below shows what they were. Needless to say, I was very surpised and happy!

JC

Just wait'll you hit that class ring, which is EXACTLY where they fall.

[ChuvakFromUSA]

very informative, thanks! i always try to dig the zinc, sometimes i get bored of it though

[DIGGER27]

Originally Posted by joecatch

Digger, I went out today and took your advice and dug up zinc VDIs with my AT Pro. Most were pennies but two targets I dug were solid 80. The photo below shows what they were. Needless to say, I was very surpised and happy!

JC

Thrilled you took my advice and it worked.
Wish my wife would listen to me once in a while.

All kinds of very cool things in this world show up under those zinc signals, and now a nice, big, gold class ring is a real possibility in your future.

Congratz!

[DIGGER27]

Originally Posted by ChuvakFromUSA

very informative, thanks! i always try to dig the zinc, sometimes i get bored of it though

Bored, mad, frustrated...sure...me too.

But like I said before, the very instant you expect to dig up one more blasted zincoln and a large piece of gold comes up out of the ground instead, magically, it all seems to become worth it.

[DIGGER27]

ANNND just to illustrate my point...

"Then I got a sweet penny/zinc-penny signal at about 4 inches deep. When I dug down, the first thing I saw was a brick. When I pulled the brick out and dug around a bit, I saw GOLD!!!!!"


http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=92816

[PAMD Tim]

Question, is there trash that has a vdi in the 90's? Not according to the White's chart other than a hot rock.

Also, can you tell me what a hot rock is

[hillbillydigger]

Originally Posted by TRETIM

Question, is there trash that has a vdi in the 90's? Not according to the White's chart other than a hot rock.

Also, can you tell me what a hot rock is

Chain link fences near the detecting area, fence pieces in the ground (yes I have dug several at 2 different parks) and metal posts in the tot lots all come up at 97 or 98 on my detector.

[BottlecapBill]

MUST dig the penny/zinc signals. Tons of good stuff there plus the pennies do add up. I've never found anything good in the foil range though. On my ace in trashy areas I have to notch out anything under nickel. Or I literally can't hunt period. If it's a non trashy area I dig it all.

[hillbillydigger]

Originally Posted by BottlecapBill

MUST dig the penny/zinc signals. Tons of good stuff there plus the pennies do add up. I've never found anything good in the foil range though. On my ace in trashy areas I have to notch out anything under nickel. Or I literally can't hunt period. If it's a non trashy area I dig it all.

While I understand your reasoning there, it would also stand to reason that there is more likely lost jewelry in an area where lots of people frequent and when lots of people frequent a place its gonna have lots of trash.

[DIGGER27]

Originally Posted by TRETIM

Question, is there trash that has a vdi in the 90's? Not according to the White's chart other than a hot rock.

Also, can you tell me what a hot rock is

Info on hot rocks...
http://meteorite-identification.com/...cks/index.html

Go here and ask that question about the VDI numbers if you don't get an answer here.
http://www.findmall.com/list.php?31

Or post your question on this same How to use your detector sub forum.
More White's users will probably see it that way.