Awhile back KT joined the Church of the Compadre....

KT, I would appreciate it if you would just discriminate out a paper clip and see if the Compadre will give any signal on the nuggets. Or a bobby pin is alright. Thanks.

Kt I assume the nuggets are 24kt most jewelry is not it maybe the other metals in the jewelry that the compadre is picking up and people simply say small gold which is not the same as small nuggets

sllingshot47 said:

KT, I would appreciate it if you would just discriminate out a paper clip and see if the Compadre will give any signal on the nuggets. Or a bobby pin is alright. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Slingshot, per your request.... I took the gold nuggets in a glass vial and a paperclip....The Compadre had to be set to the nickel or 5 cent setting to disc out the clip at 2 inches...at that same distance...on that setting... the mass of small nuggets still got a decent hit, even when Xing it. So the discriminate changed the distance for the mass of nuggets to 2 inches. A 1 inch closer distance relative to the all metal setting.

I did not try to check to see if the largest nugget at that setting would still give a signal.

TopPop said:

Kt I assume the nuggets are 24kt most jewelry is not it maybe the other metals in the jewelry that the compadre is picking up and people simply say small gold which is not the same as small nuggets

Click to expand...

Most natural gold is not 24 Kt but around 22...guessing. Probably a bit of silver mixed in as most natural nuggets contain a bit of silver.

When considering jewelry...the dominant alloy metals are silver and copper for various shades of yellow and reddish gold and for white gold either silver, manganese or palladium are alloys...I do not know if any of these metals would enhance or retard the response of any metal detector when alloyed with gold. And unfortunately KT does not have a small earring back to try this experiment on!

KingTotsalot said:

KT does feel the machine has been fairly represented by the other members of the C of the C, but still has not recovered a small piece of real gold to absolutely prove it will find small gold, like an earring backing, or a single gold link from a chain. That is the real world test.

Click to expand...

I think it will if you hunt like I do.

Sometimes I set the disc on iron and hunt like Slingshot and others, but most times I turn it down to all metal, as low as it will go, and thumb that disc on every signal.

On most detectors you lose depth as you turn up the discrimination and this one is no different.

You can bet if I was looking for small gold like in your test, I would set this thing on nothing else BUT all metal for the best depth and shot at finding anything I swung over.

KingTotsalot said:

Slingshot, per your request.... I took the gold nuggets in a glass vial and a paperclip....The Compadre had to be set to the nickel or 5 cent setting to disc out the clip at 2 inches...at that same distance...on that setting... the mass of small nuggets still got a decent hit, even when Xing it. So the discriminate changed the distance for the mass of nuggets to 2 inches. A 1 inch closer distance relative to the all metal setting.

I did not try to check to see if the largest nugget at that setting would still give a signal.

Click to expand...

Wow! I hope you meant at that setting WITH the gold nuggets because I get rid of a paper clip at the "i" in iron.

sllingshot47 said:

Wow! I hope you meant at that setting WITH the gold nuggets because I get rid of a paper clip at the "i" in iron.

Click to expand...

Yes, I meant at that setting...I was surprized I had to run the disc up that high to be rid of the paper clip, but also surprized the Compadre still hit on the gold nugget mass!

BTY, these are all air tests...as KT is not going to take a chance on losing his tiny gold nuggets in our soil here! If someone were to suggest burying them and trying it..KT would suggest THEY furnish me the gold nuggets!

Digger, when you run the Compadre on all metal just how trashy is the site you are hunting?? I understand the principle of your thumbing the disc to help you determine if the target is worth digging, and I think I know enough at this stage to be able to use it to dig coins....but I don't have enough experience or confidence in what I am hearing to not dig something. Just be too afraid I might miss a real goodie.

Reckon I will just have to dig a mountain of trash to learn the thumbing method and build confidence! A good goal for me in 2012! Just to learn the Compadre inside out.....Happy New Year!

KingTotsalot said:

Digger, when you run the Compadre on all metal just how trashy is the site you are hunting?? I understand the principle of your thumbing the disc to help you determine if the target is worth digging, and I think I know enough at this stage to be able to use it to dig coins....but I don't have enough experience or confidence in what I am hearing to not dig something. Just be too afraid I might miss a real goodie.

Reckon I will just have to dig a mountain of trash to learn the thumbing method and build confidence! A good goal for me in 2012! Just to learn the Compadre inside out.....Happy New Year!

Click to expand...

I don't hunt like some do, leave the disc knob at one place and dig everything that beeps.
I used a Vaquero long enough for that thumbing technique to have become second nature.

Just because you pick up all signals doesn't mean you have to dig them all.
Just think of your thumb as the same thing and does the same function as the screen on your BH.
It will tell you what you are scanning if you know how to use it.

You get a signal, look at the screen on your BH and it tells you what it senses.
Zinc, tab, quarter, whatever.

I get a signal on my Vaq or Compadre, and I turn that knob up to past the point where you can hear the beep.
I then turn the disc down till the beep comes in.
It is more accurate this way then turning the knob up to where the signal fades out.

Now by listening to "how" the signal comes in you get many clues.
Coin size objects and most good targets don't spit or crackle as you turn that knob down looking for that good solid tone.
They are just..."there"...silent...silent...silent...solid tone.
When you get that solid tone shaking the coil to see if it breaks and hitting the target from different angles to see if you lose it gives you more clues.
Of course the best clue is looking at where the disc knob is pointing when you get that solid tone.
If the disc knob is maxed, you are gonna have a copper penny, dime, quarter or other big clad coin...or aluminum.
That disc knob at about 3 o'clock is usually a zincoln.
That large gold class ring I just found beeped like crazy at my low disc setting, turned the knob all the way up and it went away, turned it down till I got that instant solid beep, looked at the knob and it was at exactly 3 o'clock...pointing directly at the zn /1¢ mark...thought I was gonna dig another zincoln.

Just past that nickel mark not a nickel, the sound comes in right at that mark, probably a nickel.
(This is actually not going to be true in all situations. Different sites with different soil and different moisture levels make the come in higher or lower than that nickel mark, sometimes.)

If that tone comes in at foil, probably going to be foil, but could be something else like a smaller gold object or a chain in silver or gold.

All of these things I do might sound like they take a long time to figure out the target doing all of this...it really doesn't.

It all becomes second nature with practice, and quick and efficient in time.

I sometimes set that knob at iron, but it bothers me that I know in the back of my mind even at this short turn from all metal I am still losing some depth...no matter how slight that difference is.
So I go to AM and let my thumb tell me what I need to know about every signal, and my way I am going to go a little bit deeper than you because of that slightly lower setting and that gives me a slight edge on depth over other hunters.

In real trashy sites this method could drive you crazy, but in not so bad sites you just peg that knob at all metal, acquire signals, do that thumbing thing with the knob, try to figure out what you are swinging over and choose to dig or not with the information you gather.
I am good enough and fast enough to do this in real trashy sites, too.
I do this with both the Compadre and my Vaquero and believe it or not my F2, also.

The screen on that one is fun to look at from time to time, but I always get a good tone first before I ever look at that screen.
There is a lot of differences in the F2 tones if you know what to listen for, and I have learned to listen because I hunt with that Vaquero.

Sure I say I am a dig it all kind of guy, but this is not exactly true.
I have learned lots of tricks to give me enough confidence not to dig absolutely everything.

You will too, just gotta put the time in.

Digger thanks so much for all the great info....have a great 2012 and may your Treasure Box overflow!

When I hunt with mine, I'm just past the "r" in "iron". I dig everything and find it's faster to pop than thumb. I try to go by the size of the sound. Just different strokes. Just don't have the patience and can't stand iron nails or paperclips. I did find a setting just before the "iron" where I can blip on some nails and found a socket from a ratchet set.

Thanks slingshot! KT has hunted a couple more times with the Compadre now and is more partial to the set it on the middle of iron and dig all solid signals than learning the thumbing at this stage. He has noticed however while digging some of the poorer broken signals that the targets all appear to be deeper junk....after about 10 of them in a row...He just started ignoring them now...makes for a much more pleasant hunt and higher "goodies" return! will still get a blasted zipper pull tho cause it comes through strong due to the amount of metal!

This is a very good thread guys. It answered a lot of questions that I had regarding the operation of the Tesoros. Thank you.

I've had a Tracker4 too before my Compadre and for me there is no comparison possible, I pick the compadre

Bounty Hunter?

TopPop said:

Kt I assume the nuggets are 24kt most jewelry is not it maybe the other metals in the jewelry that the compadre is picking up and people simply say small gold which is not the same as small nuggets

Click to expand...

Nuggets are usually in the 22k to 23k range. To calculate what percentage of gold that is, simply take the karat number and divide by 24. So 22/24 = .9166 or 91.66% gold, and 23/24 = .9583 or 95.83% gold.