How to Score Great Metal Detecting Finds
As you start any new hobby or sport, you tend to rely on luck for the first few months. Skill is a thing that only comes with time and experience. The same happens with metal detecting. You don't know much about it, you just hope that the detector starts beeping. However, as with anything you want to be successful in, you need to have patience, persistence and knowledge. Luck will only get you so far.
Metal detecting as a hobby is growing rapidly, with lots of people going out looking for lost treasures in local areas. The best way of getting there first and eliminating the competition is to go out in winter months, cold / rainy / windy weather. People who aren't as serious about metal detecting don't have the persistence to go up against the battle with the harsh weather at the beach. But the weather actually helps you in your search, with the wind and storms blowing the sand around and soaking it, making the sand more conductive and moving it around so that you have a much better chance of uncovering great finds.
If you are after old iron relics from the colonial days, you will have to do a lot of research before you go hunting. The woods can be a good place to go look for relics, things to look out for: Old foundations or stone walls, deep impressions in the ground (something that might have been for a cellar hole or something similar). Also check the paths in the woods, footpaths are usually very old and have been walked for ages. A good place to look would also be an overgrown path or old wagon roads (they usually have stone imbedded in them so that the wagons wouldn't sink into the mud after it rained.
Another good place worth having a sweep through would be along riverbanks, fishing spots or marinas. Waterways were mainly how people got around in the olden days. Back in the day people use to just take off their clothes and jump into swimming holes. Rivers were essential in those days for drinking water, bathing and washing clothes. You never know what you might find along rivers and even in shallow waters. Another good place to check out is old train stations and bridges. You might be lucky enough to find old tokens.
A great place to look would be in fields. There are a lot of old farms that have been around for centuries, of course you will need permission to go metal detecting on them, but they can contain lots of old and valuable treasures. Especially after a hard rainfall, as with the beach, it makes the ground more conductive and shifts the ground around a bit. If you do your research you might find fields that were used for encampments during wars. But please make sure you have the right permissions and that you are not breaking any laws by metal detecting on known battlefields.
As I said in the beginning, you need the tricks of the trade and some experience to find the really good treasure. But with the right knowledge, about where you are detecting, enough patience no to give up and the persistence to get it done, you never know what you might find!
Metal detecting as a hobby is growing rapidly, with lots of people going out looking for lost treasures in local areas. The best way of getting there first and eliminating the competition is to go out in winter months, cold / rainy / windy weather. People who aren't as serious about metal detecting don't have the persistence to go up against the battle with the harsh weather at the beach. But the weather actually helps you in your search, with the wind and storms blowing the sand around and soaking it, making the sand more conductive and moving it around so that you have a much better chance of uncovering great finds.
If you are after old iron relics from the colonial days, you will have to do a lot of research before you go hunting. The woods can be a good place to go look for relics, things to look out for: Old foundations or stone walls, deep impressions in the ground (something that might have been for a cellar hole or something similar). Also check the paths in the woods, footpaths are usually very old and have been walked for ages. A good place to look would also be an overgrown path or old wagon roads (they usually have stone imbedded in them so that the wagons wouldn't sink into the mud after it rained.
Another good place worth having a sweep through would be along riverbanks, fishing spots or marinas. Waterways were mainly how people got around in the olden days. Back in the day people use to just take off their clothes and jump into swimming holes. Rivers were essential in those days for drinking water, bathing and washing clothes. You never know what you might find along rivers and even in shallow waters. Another good place to check out is old train stations and bridges. You might be lucky enough to find old tokens.
A great place to look would be in fields. There are a lot of old farms that have been around for centuries, of course you will need permission to go metal detecting on them, but they can contain lots of old and valuable treasures. Especially after a hard rainfall, as with the beach, it makes the ground more conductive and shifts the ground around a bit. If you do your research you might find fields that were used for encampments during wars. But please make sure you have the right permissions and that you are not breaking any laws by metal detecting on known battlefields.
As I said in the beginning, you need the tricks of the trade and some experience to find the really good treasure. But with the right knowledge, about where you are detecting, enough patience no to give up and the persistence to get it done, you never know what you might find!
