metal detector

[sgtmaconga]

Looking for input on metal detectors. which do you recomend for tree's. anyone had a bad one?

[Part_Timer]

I have a garrett ace and it works fine for me.  I can find nails that are 8-10" deep with it.

[woodmills1]

Whites is a good company but the real metal detector for wood is bt Rens.

[Sawyerfortyish]

I got a Rens. There a little pricy but it didn't take long to pay for itself. But don't be fooled if you got 30"dia logs you can still hit metal even after rolling them around and checking I don't care what kind of detector you get. Some are better than others but all have limitations. I wish mine had a setting for glass and cement :

[leweee]

Some are better than others but all have limitations. I wish mine had a setting for glass and cement :

I feel your pain.......have a Fisher1270,set to all metal mode, 8"coil.....6-8"depth.

One customer commented while sawing barn beams" If hardware(tramp metal) was gold you would be rich by now" :

[Radar67]

Speaking of gold...does anyone use their detectors to search for anything other than tramp metal?

Stew

[Kcwoodbutcher]

I've got a Garret Ace and it hasn't let me down yet. Prior to having it I was going through blades like crazy. It's works good and won't hurt the pocketbook too bad. I mess with it hunting along the way to the mill, but all I've found is old horseshoes and pull tabs.

[Cedarman]

Back in the early 70's I did a lot of "coin shooting".  Found them by the thousands.  Now every once in a while I will seach a site and find a few old coins.   Old coins are still out there.  The park ranger at Chickasaw picked up an 1876 quarter six inches in front of my shoe last October.  We were standing along the side ditch of a modern highway.  The whole area had been a town back in the late 1800's.  No detecting allowed on this site though.

To use a detector to its maximum there should be no other noise around.  Also use earphones to detect those faint tone changes from deep metal.  Experience will let you find metal several inches deeper than an amateur.  Have a test log that you know you have some metal in and check your detector and your skills periodically.  Also always check for the second nail after you pull the first.

[Furby]

I belive you already have the best metal detector sgt........ just not the cheapest. ;)

[DR Buck]

Speaking of gold...does anyone use their detectors to search for anything other than tramp metal?   

Stew

I've got a Whites Spectrum XLT.    I love it.   It was bought a few years before I new I even needed a sawmill.   ;D   

Our farm is located along the Norfolk and Southern Railroad.   This rail bed was formerly the "Orange & Alexandria" and was a main 'contested' transportation corridor during the cival war.  By contested, I mean both sides wanted and had control of it during different times of the war.  Along with the transport on the rails, the roads that originally ran along side of it had tens-of-thousands of foot soldiers  walking on them.

We are located less than a mile north of the Rappahannock River crossing.  This was a strategic point. Just out of canon range from the south.  There were numerous large encampments located on what is now our farm.  Most of them were Union camps, with an ocassional occupation by Confederate troops guarding the RR bridge.   

Lots of stuff was lost by the soldiers who pass through here.   Early on one could find all kinds of hardware and bullets by the bucket full.   Now on any give day I find mainly .58 cal union bullets and .69 cal round balls used by both aides.   Ocassionally I find a button or buckle of some sort.  Mostly I find old railroad spikes.   The soldiers used them for tent pegs.    The best find so far is a Union signal canon.  It's about 14" long with about a 1" bore.  Found it buried just under the surface under an old shed I tore down.   Thought it was more RR spikes and almost didn't dig it up.

[rvrdivr]

There are lots of detectors out there and most will work for what your doing. My favorite is the Minelab Excalibur for treasure hunting but I use a Walmart bought bounty hunter for the logs. Though once, I hit a nail inside a 30" log that the detector never picked up. The machine will only detect the outer 8 inches or so and the nail was near the center.

Though I have never found gold, I have some things just as valuble. Here is a button I found near St. Augustine FL. It's from the British 29th infantry. They were stationed in St. Augustine in 1767 then left for Boston. In 1768 they participated in the Boston massacre.

[karl]

I have a bounty hunter bought on ebay (actually two of them- bid on two by accidental stupidity and won both)

Haven't found any treasures, but have saved a pile of cussing.

Practice does make it easier to "nail down" location of tramp metal