A Snowy Christmas Means No Metal Detecting

A Snowy Christmas Means No Metal Detecting

I haven't been out metal detecting for a while now because of the weather! It's been snowing on and off now for a few days. I am tempted to go out metal detecting, but am quite concerned about the hard ground. Not to mention feeling sorry for my dog, who always comes with me. I can't have him standing around in the cold snow for a few hours watching me dig and have a good time!

I guess I'll just wait until the snow stops and the weather clears up a bit. It looks like we might have a white Christmas! Happy Xmas to all. Talk soon.

Latest Metal Detector Find

I went back to my once new, but now usual metal detecting site today. I decided to metal detect where I found that old metal button. Had some good signals that turned out to be junk. Things like ring pulls, bits of foil etc. But after a while i had the coin signal! So I started digging, not very deep, about 4 inches, and out came a coin.

The coin was so dirty that i couldn't see what it was, but I knew it was a coin. I couldn't find out what type it was until I got home because i didn't have any water to clean the coin. All the way home i was hoping it would be a very rare, or very old coin..

Once i got home and cleaned the coin it turned out to be a big One Penny Dated 1948. I have to be honest, i was disappointed. I expected it to be very old because i found it near the spot where i found the old metal button. I suppose I should be happy with it, it's a coin, and it's old enough. I raised my hopes too high i think, driving home hoping it would be a really special find, but it wasn't to be. I will definitely be going back to the same spot in a few days.

One Penny Coin Find

Here is the spot where i found the One Penny Coin

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Old Metal Button Find

Ground Detector Blog: Old Metal Button Find

Was back at my new site, which has become the only place i have been metal detecting for a few weeks now. I decided to metal detect a part of this woods that i haven't checked yet. I found quite a few items, most were just pieces of Iron and different metals. I did find an old penknife that looked like something from the 1960's, but when i took it home i could not clean it, it had corroded too badly, so i chucked it away.

While i was still in the woods i came accross a signal that was erradic! It was about 4 inches deep, and after digging up the dirt i could not find the item, even though it was somewhere in the dug up dirt. I eventually found the item, and it was an old metal button. It looks like it's off an old item of clothing from the 1800's or early 1900's.

Old Metal Button Front

Old Metal Button Back

It says "Superior Quality" on the back

Here is the area where i found the button

Until the next time..

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Metal Detecting In The UK

Considering how much history we have here in the UK, because of it being so old, I would say it is a great country to be metal detecting in. Take for instance the USA, it's only a few hundred years old. The UK is thousands of years old, just think of how many items,from coins, to gold, silver and everything else in between can get lost in thousands of years..There must be so much out there.

Research is an important part of sucessful metal detecting, no matter what country your in. Knowing what used to be on a particular piece of land, or what the land was used for in the past is extremely valuble information, and also very time saving. If you know what your doing, you can unearth some very good, and most probably valuable finds.

Reading the history books in your local library on the area your thinking about metal detecting can tell you a lot. Not forgeting the internet, which is possibly the best and most easiest method of finding out about old buildings, old grounds etc.

Of course, sometimes it's nice to just take a punt and metal detect in an unknown spot because you never know what you might find. You could get lucky just about anywhere.

I told someone the other day that i was into metal detecting, and that someone mentioned a place called Fosse Way to me. I beleive Fosse Way is a huge road, one of the oldest roads in the UK. Fosse Way was originally a British road before it was classed as a Roman road. The Romans used this road as a main route in order to get to many different locations in the UK. Fosse Way dates back as far as AD43!.

This huge road goes through a lot of different parts of the UK, but the part closest to me, the part this guy was telling me to visit is situated in Brinklow, Rugby, UK. He said if he were into metal detecting that's the first place he would go. I might drive down there and take a look in a few days. It's about 40 miles from me.

One stretch of Fosse Way, im not sure which part, is said to be haunted by a marching Roman army. They have been seen a number of times by passing motorists. Everyone that has seen these ghosts have reported that the soldiers seemed to be walking on their knees. This is because the road as it is today is 3 feet higher then it was when the Romans marched along it all those years ago.

Anyway, this is a very old part of the UK, ideal for metal detecting, who knows what you might find there. There are thousands of old sites in the UK perfect for metal detecting. And dont forget, places don't always have to be old, beaches, fairgrounds, parks, almost anywhere that people go to, all these places are superb for metal detecting.. To find good stuff, someone has to of lost it in the first place!


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Metal Detecting Junk

Metal Detecting Junk

I managed to get out metal detecting today at the new site i have been going to, with only an hour to hunt until it got dark. I made the most of this hour, digging a huge amount of holes. I had so many good signals that i just had to dig them all. Sadly, everything i found was junk. Things like shotgun cartridges, ring pulls, foil, a tyre gauge, even a full water tap!, their all there in abundance. Saying that, this new site is so big that even though today i found junk, i could go on another day and just walk in another direction that i have not yet metal detected. Who knows what might be there waiting for me.

As i was digging one signal, i unearthed what looks like an old glass scent bottle of some kind, i might be wrong, but whatever it is, it's old. Unfortunately it was also broken, but i took it anyway. The glass has a dull grey / green colour to it.

Until the next time..Which won't be long, knowing me.

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More Rain | No Metal Detecting

More Rain | No Metal Detecting

It's been raining hard here for a few days now, which is not good for me and my metal detecting..It's never nice when you are stopped in your tracks from doing something you want to do, and have no control over making the weather nice. So i guess it's just a waiting game..

But there could be some good weather on the way - Metal Detecting weather! I want to go back to the new site i have been metal detecting as i have only been able to spend short amounts of time there so far. I'm always itching to go metal detecting, maybe im addicted to it! I suppose it's a good addiction to have.

I wonder how many millionaires have been made by finding the ultimate metal detector find..Well i know there is at least one: The unemployed guy that found all that Anglo-Saxon Gold in the UK. He found it with a 10 year old metal detector! lol..And apparently most of the gold was only a few inches under the ground. So theres one metal detector millionaire, but surely there has to be a few more?


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Latest Metal Detecting Finds

Latest Metal Detecting Finds

Since the last time i went to my new metal detecting site i have been itching to get back over there. The last finds i found there have got me eager to go back and metal detect some more. Today I tried to get everything done that i had to do in my day as quickly as possible.

I wanted as much time as I could over this new metal detecting site. Well, i managed to get there only slightly earlier then I did yesterday, so this time i had about an hour and a half, still not as long as i would of liked, but hey, I can dig some serious holes in an hour and a half!

I arrived at the site, this time i didn't want to look around, I just got the metal detector set up and off swinging the coil i went. I had LOADS of signals, almost too many, I couldn't swing the coil without getting a decent signal. So what do you do - Not dig them? Forget that, my curiosity always gets the better of me. It's like I just have to see what it is, and i just will not stop until i find it, I can't be reasoned with!. Anyway, most of the signals ended up being bits of electrical circuits, cans, ring pulls, lumps of iron etc. But then i had a slight bit of luck. I found the blade of a knife, just a kitchen knife, not far under the ground. At least it was something.

Then, after I dug a few more signals that turned out to be junk, I got a very strong signal from the Ace 250. This was the signal you mostly get when you have found a coin! So i cleared the area of leaves, bits of wood,  and undergrowth with my spade. I scanned the area again, now on the clear ground, the signal was strong. The Garrett Ace 250 said it was 4 inches deep, so i dug a nice square piece out of the ground with the spade, tossed it to one side and scanned it, nothing. I scanned the hole again and whatever it was that was giving off the signal was still there somewhere. So I dug more and more, scanning all the unearthed dirt as i went. After a while one of the dug up mounds of dirt had the item inside, but I couldn't see it at all.

For ages I was sifting through all the dug up dirt, but i just couldn't find whatever it was. So in the end I had to use the pinpoint option on the Garrett Ace 250, in the end i found what it was..It was a coin. It was so hard to find because it was totally black with dirt. I was very happy to find a coin, it made the day worthwhile. It turned out to be a Half Penny Dated 1931. I put the coin in my bag and carried on hunting around, but had no more luck, just a ring pull. By this stage it was dark and i had to use my torch to pack away. All in all a good day. This site really is huge and i can't wait to go there again. I really think there is something valuable there. Stay tuned..

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Metal Detecting - Bent Spade

Metal Detecting - Bent Spade

I needed a good spade that could fit into a large bag, so i though a good quality fold away spade would do the trick. I had a look around on eBay and came accross a spade that seemed to be just what i needed. I went ahead and bought it. When it came i made time to go out and do some metal detecting, i really wanted to use this spade, it folded up to about 9 inches, and when fully extended out it was about 26 inches.

It seemed like a good quality spade to begin with, but after about 1 hour it was totally useless. I came accross some roots while digging, and i thought this high quality spade, with it's serated edge would slice through roots like butter! How wrong i was..The spade just gave way, bent all the way over on itself! I bent it back to it's original shape but it was too late..The joints that attach the spade head to the shaft have now come loose, so now it's unusable. I made contact with the seller on eBay, told him how long the spade lasted and he gave me my money back, and rightly so. I wouldn't mind if i had had the spade for a week or two, then it broke, that would be fair enough, but after an hour!

One word of warning: Do not buy a fold away spade. All of the ones i have seen on eBay have the same joints that attach the spade head to the shaft, there not strong enough to last, in some cases not even an hour. Get yourself a proper spade. I managed to get another spade from eBay, which is very good, the spade head and shaft are all in one, so there's no joints that can pop or weaken under pressure. It's been excellent to dig with.

Here is my bent spade! Bear in mind that it's meant to be straight.

Mini Coin Spill Discovery

Mini Coin Spill Discovery

For a while now I have been trying to think of some more places i could go and do some metal detecting. I have had this one place in mind for a week or two. It's another wooded area on the side of many farmers fields. Today i thought "Lets go and take a look", so i went over there. The weather has been wet here, so crossing the soggy fields to get to this wooded area was a bit of a pain. I finally got to the woods, carrying half the field with me on my shoes! Once i got into the woods i was impressed by the size of it, this would take a long time to search fully..Probably months. Yet again, I only had about an hour before it got dark, but decided to take a look around before even getting my metal detector out of the bag, as this was my first time there and i wanted to find my bearings.

Once i had a look around i got the detector out and started having a hunt around deep in the woods. Straight away i was getting signals..The first few were junk, so i decided to move from that area and go back on myself, more towards the entrance that i took into the woods. As soon as i swung the coil - beep beep - Good signals..After digging only about an inch i found a few items in the one spot, two were total junk, a small chunk of lead and a piece of metal. The other item i found looks like an old brooch or badge?. It was bent in on itself, but you could still see it was something old, you could also clearly see the pin attachment on the back was broken, but i took it anyway. It's not gold or silver, it feels like very thin "tin" like metal. I have bent it back in to shape: You can click on any of my images to enlarge the picture.

After digging the last few signals and finding this brooch, or whatever it is..It was almost dark, so i decided to get myself back to the entrance i used to get into the woods. Once i got there i thought i would have once last metal detect before i broke the Ace 250 down and put it away. One swing of coil and i got erradic beeping! One small area had a few mixed sounding signals. I brushed away the bits of leaves and wood, then ran the coil over the area again. The Ace 250 said the signals were only 2 inches or less, so all i done was just scrape the surface with my mini spade, and straight away seen a coin staring at me! My heart started to race, i thought "it must be some old coin", but it wasn't to be. It was just a 2p Coin dated 2003!. I scanned the area again and found another two 1p coins..Someone had had a cheapo coin spill!. Just my luck! I was still happy though.

This new woods i was in today is massive, and to find what i did today after only having an hour was very impressive. I have not even looked, or metal detected half a percent of this huge area, i literally only had a few swings of the coil. I think this new place has some serious potential for some good finds. Here is my 4p!

Until the next time..

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