Saturday in the park (the good bad and the junky)
- Thread starter Paulmarr
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Paulmarr
Paul
Well it isn't Saturday but here is our haul from our Sunday morning session .... $17.81 in moderns ...
Once again SA_Bogan and the Xterra produced double the targets and a nice pendant (not silver)
So after about 6 weeks with our detectors and numerous hour to two hour sessions we bagged over $100 in moderns, and couple of pre decimals, (1 silver three pence) as well as keys, matchbox cars, a couple of pendants, and even a sterling silver earring.... Can't wait to see what the next six weeks will bring as we have some annual leave coming up and the weather is turning nice for detecting! Learning all the time - I have around 15 hours clocked up so far - I am going to use 100 hours as the point that I am no longer a newbie!
Once again SA_Bogan and the Xterra produced double the targets and a nice pendant (not silver)
So after about 6 weeks with our detectors and numerous hour to two hour sessions we bagged over $100 in moderns, and couple of pre decimals, (1 silver three pence) as well as keys, matchbox cars, a couple of pendants, and even a sterling silver earring.... Can't wait to see what the next six weeks will bring as we have some annual leave coming up and the weather is turning nice for detecting! Learning all the time - I have around 15 hours clocked up so far - I am going to use 100 hours as the point that I am no longer a newbie!
Teemore
One foot out the door
Well done Paulmarr, good to hear from the other half of the team, you blokes are doing really well, just need some super rich careless beachgoers to help make your days more profitable.
Cheers Tom
Cheers Tom
Paulmarr
Paul
Another session today... A bit of exercise after work - the coin popping duo armed with their new Minelab pro pointer went out for some practice at the local primary school. Didn't cover very much ground over the hour due to the number of targets both good and bad. Nothing too interesting ....
$6.85 in moderns, 5 brown buggers (to coin a phrase ... ) and a little junk. We used the pro pointer and a screw driver to pop them out of a very hard ground - works a treat.
Lesson 11 or 12? .......
$6.85 in moderns, 5 brown buggers (to coin a phrase ...
) and a little junk. We used the pro pointer and a screw driver to pop them out of a very hard ground - works a treat. Lesson 11 or 12? .......
Still Looking
Graham
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getting exercise and finding $6.85 is way better than paying gym membership I reckon...great job
Paulmarr
Paul
Thanks SL - having fun and getting off the couch is what it's about - and I learn a little bit more each time I go out. I am posting all my finds in the newbie phase to show others that it's not hard to do and it's a lot of fun. Anyone who likes fishing, hunting, even gambling would find this hobby much the same in the anticipation stakes....
Totally agree, Paulmarr. I'm still a newbie as well, sometimes I have feeling that I must be crazy to wake up so early (as I don't feel comfortable when there is too crowded around), but it's really fun.
I can just recommend the "park strategy" as posted in another thread (this site is really helpful, thanks for that) - the playgrounds in the local parks. I was out on Sunday, 6 playgrounds in 4 hours, returning with $58.40, today morning another session, 5 playgrounds in 3 hours, ended up with $48,30. That's not bad I guess. The problem is now that there are no local parks anymore, where I haven't been yet
I need to find some a bit further...
But my intention actually are the old coins, where I haven't been successful so far. But I'll keep trying as this hobby brings kind of relax and lot of fun, well I would say it is a passion
Good luck for everyone!
I can just recommend the "park strategy" as posted in another thread (this site is really helpful, thanks for that) - the playgrounds in the local parks. I was out on Sunday, 6 playgrounds in 4 hours, returning with $58.40, today morning another session, 5 playgrounds in 3 hours, ended up with $48,30. That's not bad I guess. The problem is now that there are no local parks anymore, where I haven't been yet
I need to find some a bit further...
But my intention actually are the old coins, where I haven't been successful so far. But I'll keep trying as this hobby brings kind of relax and lot of fun, well I would say it is a passion
Good luck for everyone!
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Are you living out in the country area to find that amount each outing? And are you digging the grounds as well or just play equipment?
If your just going around the equipment you wont find a lot if any of the older coins like silvers. Still coming home with those amounts are better than finding the older unspendable coins
If your just going around the equipment you wont find a lot if any of the older coins like silvers. Still coming home with those amounts are better than finding the older unspendable coins
I live in Sydney, the last two outings were actually the highest I've scored so far. It has surprised me as well.
I did try couple of times the grounds as well, but with no success - I don't want to make too many holes (although using the screwdriver method) so I don't dig everything, and I'm also still learning the hobby. I need to study a bit more of history of the locality I live. I'm pretty sure it will come, I'm patient.
To find an old coin brings some other feelings - uncovering a little piece of history, no matter how valuable the piece is. It has a value for me. E.g. someone, who is most likely not alive anymore, lost a coin, which I found - this makes me thinking about the life at that time and how the life is short and passing and unstoppable.
I did try couple of times the grounds as well, but with no success - I don't want to make too many holes (although using the screwdriver method) so I don't dig everything, and I'm also still learning the hobby. I need to study a bit more of history of the locality I live. I'm pretty sure it will come, I'm patient.
To find an old coin brings some other feelings - uncovering a little piece of history, no matter how valuable the piece is. It has a value for me. E.g. someone, who is most likely not alive anymore, lost a coin, which I found - this makes me thinking about the life at that time and how the life is short and passing and unstoppable.
Paulmarr
Paul
Hi Pilsner
I call what you did as "cherry picking".... go to the play equipment where there are bark and chips covering the ground and find all the lost lunch money the kids have dropped ... they are usually not deep and you can dig with your shoe to uncover the coins.
You must have visited a few parks that are not close to detectorists ... as these get cleaned out regularly where we live. But if that is all you do it will become boring pretty quickly.... 7 hours to make $100 isn't bad but most Australians make at least double or triple that at work (and some much more). I see bottle collectors here in Adelaide who return bottles and cans for the 10 cent deposit make several hundred dollars in a day - and the cans are much easier to find! People put them in trash cans so it's easy to "cherry pick" them too!
My point is that if money is your object there are much better ways of making it (and don't require getting up at 6am) - also you would be extremely lucky to find diamond rings, gold jewelry, etc around play equipment (unless it's at a top notch private school where the kids are rich ) It also doesn't teach you much about detecting when all the coins are laying on the surface or an inch under the chips.
You need to detect where you have a chance of finding the predecimal coins, jewelry and artifacts that truly make the hobby interesting. There are some big and busy beaches in Sydney that would be worth your time, and as Sydney is a very old city you should be able to find areas that have all the goodies! Good luck!
I call what you did as "cherry picking".... go to the play equipment where there are bark and chips covering the ground and find all the lost lunch money the kids have dropped ... they are usually not deep and you can dig with your shoe to uncover the coins.
You must have visited a few parks that are not close to detectorists ... as these get cleaned out regularly where we live. But if that is all you do it will become boring pretty quickly.... 7 hours to make $100 isn't bad but most Australians make at least double or triple that at work (and some much more). I see bottle collectors here in Adelaide who return bottles and cans for the 10 cent deposit make several hundred dollars in a day - and the cans are much easier to find! People put them in trash cans so it's easy to "cherry pick" them too!
My point is that if money is your object there are much better ways of making it (and don't require getting up at 6am) - also you would be extremely lucky to find diamond rings, gold jewelry, etc around play equipment (unless it's at a top notch private school where the kids are rich
) It also doesn't teach you much about detecting when all the coins are laying on the surface or an inch under the chips.You need to detect where you have a chance of finding the predecimal coins, jewelry and artifacts that truly make the hobby interesting. There are some big and busy beaches in Sydney that would be worth your time, and as Sydney is a very old city you should be able to find areas that have all the goodies! Good luck!
Looks like there is a bit misunderstanding here.
You are right, it was an easy money, but (modern) coins are not my main object of this hobby. I really don't recalculate it for an hourly rate. I thought that I made it quite clear in my last post.
I don't go out with the detector to make money, for me it's a hobby. That means I have a job, which is good enough to ensure a decent life for a family of 4.
One day I'll try to go to some gold fields. Again, not for money, but just as excited hobby-detectorist. I do not expect to find much (if anything), however I won't regret it as I'll spend some time in beautiful nature and not on a sofa at home.
Regarding the beaches in Sydney - at least the main (busy) ones are cleaned very well, even during a day time + lot of detectorists are here but there is always chance to find something. And a walk on the beach is VERY relaxing, even if no luck - I always enjoy it. However, I'm not out very often, max once a week, usually less, last days were quite exceptional.
All the best.
You are right, it was an easy money, but (modern) coins are not my main object of this hobby. I really don't recalculate it for an hourly rate. I thought that I made it quite clear in my last post.
I don't go out with the detector to make money, for me it's a hobby. That means I have a job, which is good enough to ensure a decent life for a family of 4.
One day I'll try to go to some gold fields. Again, not for money, but just as excited hobby-detectorist. I do not expect to find much (if anything), however I won't regret it as I'll spend some time in beautiful nature and not on a sofa at home.
Regarding the beaches in Sydney - at least the main (busy) ones are cleaned very well, even during a day time + lot of detectorists are here
but there is always chance to find something. And a walk on the beach is VERY relaxing, even if no luck - I always enjoy it. However, I'm not out very often, max once a week, usually less, last days were quite exceptional.All the best.
Paulmarr
Paul
Hi Pilsner
No worries - I wasn't thinking you were doing this to support the family - but my comments were more driven by your statement "6 playgrounds in 4 hours" ... yesterday (2) of us spent an hour at a school and between us we didn't cover 5% of the total area we were detecting - mainly because there were too many targets in a concentrated area which kept us busy... perhaps the grounds in Sydney are different but we dug about 30 targets in that hour (one every two minutes) - some were harder to pop with a screw driver than others. I assumed that because you hit 6 different grounds (driving to each one) that perhaps you were focusing on the play equipment and not the rest of the grounds... which I have discovered harbours more coin targets than the play equipment area holds.
I would be interested to hear more about your sessions and even see a pic of what you found! It is good to see what others are digging - even the junk targets which can maybe explain why you are not finding targets in the ground. Over the last few weeks - based on the junk I found - I was able to discriminate some of the obvious junk targets meaning I am finding more coins and less junk! I am sure it is a learning process that gets easier each time you go out.
I know one thing though ... I am an avid fisherman - and if I went fishing and didn't catch anything I consider it a huge failure ... again there was a big learning curve ... and years later I cannot remember the last time I went fishing and didn't catch anything. I hope you will be able to say the same thing (and me too!) about metal detecting once you are up to speed!
Good luck!
No worries - I wasn't thinking you were doing this to support the family - but my comments were more driven by your statement "6 playgrounds in 4 hours" ... yesterday (2) of us spent an hour at a school and between us we didn't cover 5% of the total area we were detecting - mainly because there were too many targets in a concentrated area which kept us busy... perhaps the grounds in Sydney are different but we dug about 30 targets in that hour (one every two minutes) - some were harder to pop with a screw driver than others. I assumed that because you hit 6 different grounds (driving to each one) that perhaps you were focusing on the play equipment and not the rest of the grounds... which I have discovered harbours more coin targets than the play equipment area holds.
I would be interested to hear more about your sessions and even see a pic of what you found! It is good to see what others are digging - even the junk targets which can maybe explain why you are not finding targets in the ground. Over the last few weeks - based on the junk I found - I was able to discriminate some of the obvious junk targets meaning I am finding more coins and less junk! I am sure it is a learning process that gets easier each time you go out.
I know one thing though ... I am an avid fisherman - and if I went fishing and didn't catch anything I consider it a huge failure ... again there was a big learning curve ... and years later I cannot remember the last time I went fishing and didn't catch anything. I hope you will be able to say the same thing (and me too!) about metal detecting once you are up to speed!
Good luck!
Hi Paulmarr,
thanks for the post.
I know how difficult is to hit a ground in a park. Lots of targets, trash, hard to dig it out... Maybe it was a bit of my frustration from my (few) visits in the local parks, so I needed to increase my self-confidence :/ that I can find something "useful", that's why I went 3 or 4 times to hit just playgrounds (play equipment) in the parks - usually not so many targets/trash, easy to dig out. And lot of learning of how to get closer to set up the machine properly.
I'll definitely give it a go to the "standard" grounds in the parks again. As soon as I will find something worth to be shared, I'll post it here. This is a great place where I got many good advices (even without asking, just reading the posts of other much more experienced fellows).
Pitty that you are so far, I would love to go fishing with you - to learn some "magic" how to... I'm a newbie in this area as well. Good luck to all your hobbies.
thanks for the post.
I know how difficult is to hit a ground in a park. Lots of targets, trash, hard to dig it out... Maybe it was a bit of my frustration from my (few) visits in the local parks, so I needed to increase my self-confidence :/ that I can find something "useful", that's why I went 3 or 4 times to hit just playgrounds (play equipment) in the parks - usually not so many targets/trash, easy to dig out. And lot of learning of how to get closer to set up the machine properly.
I'll definitely give it a go to the "standard" grounds in the parks again. As soon as I will find something worth to be shared, I'll post it here. This is a great place where I got many good advices (even without asking, just reading the posts of other much more experienced fellows).
Pitty that you are so far, I would love to go fishing with you - to learn some "magic" how to...
I'm a newbie in this area as well. Good luck to all your hobbies.
Goldpick
Chris Johnson
I'm a bit hesitant about doing parks at the moment, mainly due to how dry and rock hard the ground it getting, definitely a probing job if anything. If I do go, it's mainly for surface or near surface targets or recent drops, so the sensitivity gets wound back a bit to miss out on some of the deeper targets, better than leaving a mess.
Paulmarr
Paul
Paulmarr
Paul
Needed some exercise after dinner so we went back to the school and covered another 5% but ended up with many more bottle tops than coins...
A couple of coppers and a couple of $2 sun bakers
Lesson #13 - can't share a pro pointer without slowing each other down - so I know what Santa is bringing me!
A couple of coppers and a couple of $2 sun bakers
Lesson #13 - can't share a pro pointer without slowing each other down - so I know what Santa is bringing me!
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