Big Boys Hobbies

Aluminum cans

S

Steven P

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2009
Messages
383
Location
Kentucky
Well after getting only fourteen cents in two hours this morning at a tot lot I thought this evening I would go to a school. Well after three hours I lost count of how many aluminum cans I dug. It wouldn't have been so bad, but that was almost all I was finding. I would dig the occasional other junk here and there, but every strong signal that sounded good ended up a can. What I don't get is that the signals all seemed like it could easily have been somthing good so I didn't dare not dig them, but each time another can.

Is there some kind of trick in telling when it is a can, or is it something everyone has gone through and it only comes with experience? I have to admit it was a little frustrating this evening. Today I put in five hours of swinging and digging and I had my worst day yet.
 
Are you digging up pieces of cans, or the whole cans?

What kind of detector are you using?
 
That's what pop cans do to you. They give you a 2" quarter signal, and you end up digging a 6" can.
 
On most detectors you can tell a can by raising the coil while you sweep. You should be able to pick up a can much further away than a coin. If you sweep on the ground and it shows a shallow coin and you raise the coil 4 or 5in and the signal hasn't changed accordingly it's probably not a coin. A can should also give a larger pinpoint signal than a coin.
 
Maybe a few tips that will help:

Swing slowly and evenly. Keep your coil level to the ground during the entire swing. Your detector will better be able to pick up smaller, fainter signals.

Use your pin-point function of your detector (if equipped) to "outline" the object. A can will pinpoint a large halo. A coin will give a strong pinpoint signal in a much smaller halo.

Dig everything. Also, sometimes if you get a signal that bounces, or you can get it one direction but not another, try it from another angle. I've also been told you can stomp the ground to break up any interference, then swing again.

By the way, I dug several soda cans that rang up as silver dollars on my Ace 250. I don't dig signals in that range too often now because when I pinpoint, I can usually trace an oblong shape of a crushed can now.
 
I probe with a long bladed screwdriver. when I touch the target I give the probe a little extra push. If it is a piece of can-slaw the screw driver goes right through.
Yep, it will scratch a coin but the zincons I dig up aren't devalued too much.
 
Hey Steve,

Hi hear the frustration man. It "Can" be a pain. I use an Ace 250, Stand and PhilB address the issue well. I will add that an Alum. Can will be a strong strong signal and tends to be a wide signal as Stand said. I will hit the ground with my foot and sweep the top layer off with my foot too, it sometimes gives me a different sound then. After a while of MDing, you learn what your machine sounds do.

Hang in there...

:lol: a funny thought: Do you remember the movie with Steve Martin called "THE JERK"..? There was a crazy guy on the hill while Steve worked at the gas station, that was shooting at Steve, while he is running away Screams saying "HE HATES THOSE CANS" :lol: (I feel the same way)

Michael
 
MyrtleBeach said:
Hey Steve,

Hi hear the frustration man. It "Can" be a pain. I use an Ace 250, Stand and PhilB address the issue well. I will add that an Alum. Can will be a strong strong signal and tends to be a wide signal as Stand said. I will hit the ground with my foot and sweep the top layer off with my foot too, it sometimes gives me a different sound then. After a while of MDing, you learn what your machine sounds do.

Hang in there...

:lol: a funny thought: Do you remember the movie with Steve Martin called "THE JERK"..? There was a crazy guy on the hill while Steve worked at the gas station, that was shooting at Steve, while he is running away Screams saying "HE HATES THOSE CANS" :lol: (I feel the same way)

Michael
Click to expand...


Thanks for the encouragement. Yeah that was a funny movie. Whenever I see it now I am sure I will think of your post. :lol:
 
Holy Crap, I was just talking about that scene this morning
with my boss. The kook with the gun scanning white pages, muttering
"Now I'll show you you *random* sons of bitches."
That was a funny film.
 
I am new to this but after the second weekend out I also learned that when using an Ace, and it shows a qtr at 2" and you dig 3-4" and no qtr stop digging its a darn can. And I also learned real quick to size up the pinpointed target. Cuz if the pinpointed target is in a area larger than 5-6" I move on.

Jeff
 
Jeff-AL said:
I am new to this but after the second weekend out I also learned that when using an Ace, and it shows a qtr at 2" and you dig 3-4" and no qtr stop digging its a darn can. And I also learned real quick to size up the pinpointed target. Cuz if the pinpointed target is in a area larger than 5-6" I move on.

Jeff
Click to expand...

Good point Jeff..... I still feel tempted to keep digging...


Thanks for humoring me with the Scene from The Jerk movie.... I think about that when I score a CAN.

Michael
 
After a guy I work with told me he once dug up a prince albert tobacco can full of barber dimes & quarters I dig them..If nothing else its good to get them out of the ground so you don't pick them up again later..
 
I know this is not much of a help but one time I was getting several coke cans and then another same loud signal. It turned out to be an Ike dollar coin. Steve in so az
 
Thanks again for all the advice. The last two posts make me now think maybe I should just dig them all up and not try and skip over them. I guess it will be easier once I start finding more coins. Without finding them I don't really have enough understanding what sounds and signals I am really listening for.
 
Digging buried cans comes with the territory. It's not a great felling when you are digging up a sure quarter and out pops a crushed can. We all go through it. Sometimes, like Steve put it, those signals produce the goods..

Bruce
 
I hunt at a park with a small lake that has been there since 1880s and I dug so many cans around the lake that I finally gave up around the water.
 
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