Hello from Indiana

Greetings,

I am on several detecting forums, but after many recent searches with Google about the hobby this forum kept coming up so I thought it was time to register and say hello.

I'm from Bedford, Indiana and just got back into the hobby of metal detecting last year with my dad. I found a store locally and got a Bounty Hunter Tracker IV. I played around in the backyard a bit testing it and within a few days my dad bought a Garrett Ace 250.

I primary hunt parks around the area, or within a 45+ minute drive, and some schools. I like to keep a spreadsheet of my finds and last year I logged about 85 hours total detecting time and I found 282 coins for a total of $11.89 in clad, no silver. My best coin find was some wheat pennies dated from the 1920s.

I found countless pieces of canslaw and other trash and a whopping 285 pull tabs which I keep in a jar - nothing says MD hobby like the pull tabs. My best finds was 7 pieces of jewelry, 1 old silver ring (flattened), 1 pin that says Mom, some earrings (always just one each time), bracelet charm, and a man's dress watch.

I upgraded to a BH Discovery 3300 but didn't care much for it, id meter was always off (from what I read it seems all meters are off especially after 5" so why bother) and for the price I couldn't justify keeping it. I sold it on eBay for almost what I bought it for, and picked up a like-new Tesoro Cibola from Craigslist for $200.

I am a beep and dig kinda guy, and after some time with a detector I am pretty good at knowing what I am digging up before I do. So I found many of the Bounter Hunter line, Tesoro's, and older White's are a perfect fit for me. I just hope to have enough time and money to try many of them in the future.

The Cibola was a great detector but at the end of summer things got tough so I had to sell off my detectors. So I recently picked up another new Tracker IV locally, and a 4" coil and etc from Kellyco.

I really like to mod my detectors to learn more about them, make it more usable, and to just make it more custom if nothing else. I have big plans for my new detector so I'll post some pictures when I get the work done on it.

I also built a electrolysis contraption to clean my better finds (works great even on a old iron stove door), and a double drum tumbler to clean my clad with a old washing machine motor. I originally found a hobby rock polish tumbler, but due to the small single drum it made sense to built a double drum to clean my pennies in one drum and the rest in the other drum to save time and electricity.

Hope to see you all around on the forum 

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Welcome from NM..     Jump on in.

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		Quote:			Posted by homefire
	Welcome from NM..     Jump on in.

Thanks for the welcome

		Quote:			Posted by poptop
	Welcome from Kansas, Tcosbyjr! Please show some of those tumbled coins. I thought about doing that myself.

Thanks - indeed it is the only easy way to make them usable at banks, and most cashiers/stores. Even if you try to use them before tumbling in a soda/vending machine or something like Coinstar they have to be cleaned to a point so it's easier to clean with a tumbler.

Some tips are not to tumble anything valuable as it will decrease the value. Separate the coins based from color/material into different tumbler drums, or if you only have one thoroughly clean it before switching - such as pennies in a drum, and nickles/dimes/quarters in another.

A great mixture to use in the drums is to fill it about 25% of the way with the small cheap aquarium gravel (colors don't affect the coins), add the coins, and a few drops of dish soap. Fill the container about 75% full of warm water - you have to have air room/gap to allow the coins and material to move freely, so if it is more than that remove some. Screw the lid back on and ensure it is watertight.

Tumble the drum(s) for 1 to 2 hours depending on your tumbler, amount of coins, and condition. You just want to clean them to use them, no need to make them look freshly minted (this will save you electricity, wear and tear on your tumbler/drum, and the coins themselves). When done pour the drum into a fine strainer, rinse well to remove grime/dirt/soap, save the gravel for next time, and pat dry the coins.

Make sure not to mix a few pennies into the "silver" clad or "silver" into the penny drum as this will give you red nickles/dimes/quarters. 



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Your welcome, and thanks glad it helped. If you have any questions about it just ask me in a PM. 

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Welcome from Mississippi. Enjoyed the pics

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J Walker