DED's backyard

[Ded Driver]

took 2 dogs (mine & my sons) & the trusty XT705 for a run on the beach not too far from home after work.
Had a couple of km of sand all to myself (except for the big black mutt jumping all over the detector).
didn't find SFA except for the usual rubbish others left behind ... generally cans, glass & charcoal
we are very lucky here with the amount of beaches we can drive & play on
Perth's beaches have more goodies, but not a lot of worthwhile finds to be had down my way :/

 

[Ded Driver]

last week I had a bit of a swing with the XT705 not far from an old school site. wont bore you with the usual rubbish but I did pick up 4 coins.
they were only about 3 inches down & are blackened, possibly from a grass fire/burnoff once upon a time
clockwise from top left
1944 Penny
1941 Penny
1921 Half Penny
1955 Sixpence
only had a light clean with a toothbrush & soapy water

 

[silver]

Nice to see a little silver there as well mate !
Well found !
ower: :Y:
....... :trophy: .......

 

[Ded Driver]

cheers Silver.

 

[roy cobb]

Nice finds there DD

 

[Ded Driver]

thanks Roy.

 

[Ded Driver]

this arvo (Sunday) I took a punt that the rain would break a bit & I could take the newly purchased MXT Pro out for my maiden run with it.
I bought this as something that had a bit more punch & discrimination than my trusty XT705, & just to compare.
Ive been working up to a coin/relic hunt at an old abandoned Motorcross track that was closed in the early 80's, not far from the farm where I grew up. As kids we used to ride our horses in the back way thru the bush after an event & often used to find coins, keys, on one occasion a bracelet, unopened cans of softdrink, & on a couple of occasions even a can or stubby of beer up against a tree ] layful:
This site was always going to be a challenge :awful:
Its been close to 50 odd years since those days, & the area is now heavily overgrown, & completely reshaped with 4wd vehicles & MX bikes carving new tracks & trails thru there. What I was mainly aiming to find was the location of a stewards box that was on timber stilts & had a timber bar area below it nested on top of the ridge. This was the prime location back then.
The MXT discrimination works well, but I dug everything down to about 3-4" then used the collection of iron/steel, wire, (brass .22 shells), ring pulls, & melted aluminium nuggets as test subjects to play with the MXT settings.
Had a good afternoon in all, even tho I didn't find anything of real interest, but this site is going to take a few hunts to narrow down good locations. In the end my broken but mending shoulder (still weak) & rain put an end to my hunt. That & my left hand didn't like digging :argh:

after driving around in the shrubbery for a bit I found the old slab remains of the kiosk

the area in front was just too littered with aluminium & iron rubbish & did my head in.
The area behind was a bit cleaner, between the undergrowth

I eventually found what I think is the site of the track wardens stand & bar area

.. this is where I chucked it in for the day, but not before a quick run around where I did find the remains of an old axe head .. in those days people were allowed to have a small camp fire up there early in the morning

not worth posting pics of some of the junk I pulled

 

[Ded Driver]

A key point of understanding I came to is, I need a smaller CC coil for it. The 12" is a bit big in this environment

 

[Dave79]

Don't worry, I've been digging 99.9% junk lately too. Looks like a nice spot for a bushwalk in any case. That's what I call my unsuccessful prospecting trips!

 

[Ded Driver]

yep you are right in that Dave. I enjoy wandering around the bush, & in this case reminiscing, as we used to ride our horses all thru this bushland as kids

 

[Dave79]

When I got a 6" coil for my equinox all my hammered spots came back to life. Now I only use the big coil to track down the general location of historical sites. It's amazing how much more a small coil will pick up. I grew up in Albany, living in Tassie now, nice to see some jarrah forest again.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Cool well done DD, Yeah that big coil can be a bugga in scrub but say that, I was using that Coil and setup is a spot just like that when I hit 3 bits of Gold in One sweep of the Coil and a Coin spill or maybe someone had buried them there because they were down about 10 to 12 inches deep, and I found a heap of silver coins and jewellery etc, In a spot where druggies and party goers congregate lighting fires etc,

Yeah it's a big coil but once you get use to it It really comes alive, In sites like that turn up the Gain to where it starts to get noisy and then back it off so the threshold is smooth, In other places you would want to run it Hotter right on the edge,

Being a concentric it will ID Iron and Steel a lot better than a DD so that's just a thing to bare in mind, But you will dig some monster holes with that Coil because if a targets big than you are going to sleep well that night, LOL. ickshovel: erfect:

Good luck mate, Get in to It layful: layful: layful:

J.

 

[Ded Driver]

one of the main reasons im targeting this site, is during the 70's there were still a lot of pre-decimal coins in circulation round here, & after a MX event we would always find coins & other odd stuff that people must have pulled out of their pockets in the bar area.
In the decades since it closed there has been a steady infiltration of aluminium cans & pull tabs, & iron/steel junk littered everywhere, so its going to be a real challenge & good learning curve.
A very interesting thing on this site, is a mining company has a 'Prospecting Licence - pending' till the year 2999 (taken out in 2010) ... no error there, its 2999
I think its a bit unethical that our Mines Dept would issue a near 1000 year pending lease!
btw, this is not gold ground

 

[Ded Driver]

between work & rain I haven't been out for a couple of weeks.
today was a nice sunny morning so my son & I took the dogs & the MXT for a run on a beach out of town, so my son could have a go at learning to use it too.
Not a swimmers beach so didn't find a Brass Rhazoo, but people camp & fish all along here so it was littered with aluminium cans, caps & ringpulls.
so much aluminium crap we gave up.
My sons dog did decide to get in on the action tho, & helped with the dig. Bit too much enthusiasm at times tho. He has big feet ower:
we have a better beach targeted for another day.
meet Bruce, Bull Mastif /Bull Arab cross, & the strength of a horse!

 

[Goldpick]

Should have planted a treat half a metre down to see if he could find it - and muse at his digging prowess. Got to love the doggies.

 

[Ded Driver]

you know times are desperate when a detectorist becomes a sea-shell hunter
reckon we could have pulled a few :money: in aluminium out of that beach today.
Instead we finished up rummaging thru the lots of shells washed up over the past couple of weeks.
plus a piece of coral, couple of black rocks & bit of quartz ... there use to be a bit of agate around here 30-40 yrs ago, but don't see it much anymore.

 

[Ded Driver]

had to take the new Nokta Digger out for a scratch
stoked .... christened it with a sixpence using the MXT Pro

not bad for an hour pissfarting around, couple of bottle caps & a bit of steel wire as well but not photographed ... no goldies but :/

 

[Ded Driver]

looks like the MXT & the Nokta Digger are going to be good pals
(that's not water on the screen, just waves in the plastic ... no surfing here :lol: )

 

[silver]

6d'$ worth of luck was on your side Ded.
well found ower: :Y:

 

[Ded Driver]

yeah Silver, was a cool find.
This is an old plot with a playground & dog exercise area are one end. I figured it had to be hiding goodies, & I only covered a small patch today