Metal Detecting Hobby

[The70RT]

Just wondering if anyone here does any metal detecting. I had a cheapo and it took a dump a long time ago. I just ordered a Garrett Ace 250. It will discriminate the junk unlike my cheapo. Anyone with any cool stories or advise. Looking into Kansas laws there really isn't many or any really.

[rav440]

a few years ago i was going to get into metal detecting i bought a Garrett Ace 250 also it worked really well . i only ever got out 2 or 3 times and found .35 cents never had time to go out detecting so i sold it . id like to get back into detecting someday

[b5blue]

I have a good friend that has actually found "Spanish Doubloons" here in Fl. (and some cannon balls).

[jeryst]

I did it for a few years. Bought a really good Whites detector 20 years ago when discrimination circuitry was coming into use. It tells you what it located and how deep its buried.
Works some of the time, other times it gets fooled. Still a lot of fun, though. I'm not sure how far they've come in the last 20 years, but I'll bet they are much
more accurate now.

I found a lot of old silver money, old tools, pieces of wagons, railroad stuff, etc. There are quite a few places around here that used to be old mining towns and logging towns.
It's always fun to find out about one, and go check it out. All that's left are foundations in the woods, so its kinda cool. Even found a place along a small river where
there were some dinosaur tracks. Appearantly some paleontologists removed the good ones, but there are still a few deformed ones in the rocks.

Most property is getting posted though, so its getting harder and harder to find places to go.

I always wanted to take it to the beach, but just never got around to it.

Havent done it in quite a few years. Detector is just sitting there begging to be used.

[hemi-hampton]

jeryst, What state do you live in? I go metal detecting all the time. Mostly for old buried beer cans. I use a Fisher Gold Bug, Best for finding cans. Here's a Pic. LEON.

[tan top]

 been thinking about getting one for afew years !!   

[The70RT]

I just went back to work today.....fun fun. Anyway when I was off for foot surgery I was bored and not able to do much and was on the the net a lot. I got kind of interesting with all the stuff people find. I remember lots of places when I went fishing that had old foundations and such. I also work in a building that was built on an old church ground. The church was built in 1860 on 4 square blocks which 3 were a park and the church still sits on 1. The three blocks were sold and the buildings I work at were built in 1930-31. When I started working there 16 years ago I found all kinds of cans and bottles underneath the building. I doubt if anyone has ever took a detector under there. The dirt part under the building is like 2 blocks long by 50 feet. A guy that retired there worked from 76 till a couple years ago and said he never seen anyone under there with a detector. Stay tuned..........

[hemi-hampton]

the 70RT, If you can find me some good cans under that building I'll pay $100+ each if tough ones. LEON.

[The70RT]

the 70RT, If you can find me some good cans under that building I'll pay $100+ each if tough ones. LEON.

Sounds good Leon 

[hemi-hampton]

Here's me in my Hemi t-shirt digging up rusty beer cans in Alabama Bar Dump. LEON.

[rav440]

Here's me in my Hemi t-shirt digging up rusty beer cans in Alabama Bar Dump. LEON.

i cant see old rusty beer cans being worth anything . or are they ?

[PocketThunder]

I went on spring break to Daytona Beach one year in college and there were people walking around with metal detectors.  We would throw out a penny when this guy wasnt looking and then he would find it.  He would get excited and we would throw out another one.  After the third penny he caught us and we were busted.  He laughed and we laughed, he kept the pennies..   

[jeryst]

hemi-hampton, I live in western PA.

[Chad L. Magee]

I've done my fair amount of metal detecting (usually with cheapo detectors as a kid).  The funny thing is that I have had better luck finding stuff without a detector than with (I have very good eyes for certain things).  My best detector find was a aluminum trade token for a long closed store in my hometown (depression era or before).  There is none of them in the local museum and all of the local token collectors have not heard of another one like it.  I found it in a backyard about three inches down right next to an aluminum tag off of a pack of playing cards and an old key (which belonged to the old house I was detecting near).  I did luck out last weekend at an auction as I bought "choice" of boxes on a table for $10.  Among the boxes was an old Garrett detector (complete minus the aluminum rod holding the coil to the box, which I am fabricating).  I estimate it as being 25 years old, but still usable for what I need it for (local parks, old farms, etc).

As for one of my best non-detector finds:  When I was growing up in the late 1970s, we had an old acreage outside of a little Nebraska town.  It had a little wooded area off to the west that was on our property that I like to visit.  While digging around, I found out that it was the site of the original town dump.  I found old bottles, cans, etc. which my folks often tried to stop having me bring inside the house.  What was special about the site was that it also had an old junkyard section with about thirty to fifty (I don't remember exactly now) old pre-depression era car bodies.  In one of them I found two old standing liberty quarters and a mercury dime, which I added to my coin collection.  I started collecting license plates during that time, as there were stacks of them in one of the coupes (some did not have the years listed on them, but they were like new).  Unfortunately, my family moved away and I lost the plates during the move, probably given away by my father (I lost a few peddle cars that way too during the same move).  The area that I used to hunt was bought up by a church group who then built their new church right on top of where the old cars were.  That saddened me when I found out about that, part of my childhood died that day......

[hemi-hampton]

Here's me in my Hemi t-shirt digging up rusty beer cans in Alabama Bar Dump. LEON.

i cant see old rusty beer cans being worth anything . or are they ?

Can be, rare ones in good shape sometimes worth thousands.

[hemi-hampton]

hemi-hampton, I live in western PA.

Lots of rare cans from Pennsylvania, Some can be seen in my Picture above. LEON.

[BigRed66]

Here's me in my Hemi t-shirt digging up rusty beer cans in Alabama Bar Dump. LEON.

i cant see old rusty beer cans being worth anything . or are they ?

Can be, rare ones in good shape sometimes worth thousands.

Wow. Those are some beautiful cans. When I was a kid back in the early-to-late-70's, I collected beer cans and used to love going out of state, because you were generally assured of finding new cans for your collection. I had/have family in Oak Hill, WV, and they had an old dump behind their house, down over a cliff. (The kind you'd never dream of letting a kid go near today) I found several really nice cone-tops and flat-tops among thousands of cans. Back in '94, someone broke into my house and stole my whole collection. Found out it was a local crackhead who sold everything for 5800 bucks and I never got my cans back, but got a check for 5 figures from the insurance company. Think I'd've rather had my cans, looking back. Anyhow, and I don't ever say this unless I really mean it: NICE CANS.

[jeryst]

I never knew that old beer cans were made in that shape. They look like brake fluid cans - lol

Probably passed a lot by, and never realized it.

BTW - nice cans.

[hemi-hampton]

Here's me in my Hemi t-shirt digging up rusty beer cans in Alabama Bar Dump. LEON.

i cant see old rusty beer cans being worth anything . or are they ?

Can be, rare ones in good shape sometimes worth thousands.

Wow. Those are some beautiful cans. When I was a kid back in the early-to-late-70's, I collected beer cans and used to love going out of state, because you were generally assured of finding new cans for your collection. I had/have family in Oak Hill, WV, and they had an old dump behind their house, down over a cliff. (The kind you'd never dream of letting a kid go near today) I found several really nice cone-tops and flat-tops among thousands of cans. Back in '94, someone broke into my house and stole my whole collection. Found out it was a local crackhead who sold everything for 5800 bucks and I never got my cans back, but got a check for 5 figures from the insurance company. Think I'd've rather had my cans, looking back. Anyhow, and I don't ever say this unless I really mean it: NICE CANS.

WONDER IF THAT DUMP STILL THERE NOW?

[hemi-hampton]

Some more of my cans

[PocketThunder]

Some more of my cans

Holy Crap!!!!!!  Are the all alphabetical in order?

[jeryst]

Now THAT is cool!

When you gonna start collecting beer BOTTLES?

[TUFCAT]

I collect beer cans also. Usually around 10-12 (per night) as of late.  They're collected from all over the house, brought to the garage, and taken back to the store for the deposit.

The mornings are the roughest for this "hobby"..... sometimes it can cause severe headaches.

[moparstuart]

I collect beer cans also. Usually around 10-12 (per night) as of late.  They're collected from all over the house, brought to the garage, and taken back to the store for the deposit.

The mornings are the roughest for this "hobby"..... sometimes it can cause severe headaches.

[hemi-hampton]

Now THAT is cool!

When you gonna start collecting beer BOTTLES?

Allready do, I only collect Michigan bottles. The older the better. From 1880's to 1960's. LEON.