How to dig a hole

Blaze312

New Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2006
Messages
23
I was wondering the ways in which you dig your holes.

Right now I use a mid sized shovel and also a spade. I find that my holes get quite a bit larger then I would like them to. Also I sometimes have a hard time replacing the grass. I have been trying to remove the grass first and set it aside and then later filling the hole back up and replacing the chunk of grass. Sometimes this is easier said then done. Expecially when I remove the grass, dig my hole, and still haven't pulled out the metalic object in the ground.

Just looking for some tips on being less destructive as I do not want to step on any land owners/park rangers toes.
 
Your detector doesn't pinpoint well to begin with so it puts you at a bit of a disadvantage right from the start. You need to get a smaller trowel first off and possibly a hand held pinpointer. this will help you immensely. Digging bigger holes is not the answer as it may get you banned from detecting altogether. Good Luck. :grin:
 
If your carrying a shovel with a detector in parks and such, you may as well use a backhoe. Do as Tony said and practice in your own yard. No need to have a hole any bigger than a snow cone cup.
 
Digging and removing the turf worries me. I cut either two sides of a triangle and flap the turf back so its still attached or three sides of a square and do the same as a great number of roots go sideways. This keeps the turf growing and stops the birds. We are knee deep in crows and magpies in my area and a removed/replaced turf shrinks slightly then the birds come and pull it out to get at the insects underneath.
If a park or garden I carry a bottle of water and wet the turf as well to try and keep it going till it redevelopes its root system.
 
The thing which i find helps with the poinpinting is slowly lift the coil an you sweep, when you get to the point where you can no longer detect the item move the coil back down until you can hear it beep again when swinging in X patern; at this point the item should be directly under the centre of the coil.
When the ground is very moist and soft enough i actually use a yabbie pump of which i have sharpened the bottom, this way you just lay the cylindrical piece of dirt down sideways, run the detector over it to work out where in the dirt the metal is then over a piece of plastic get the metal out and tip the dirt back into the hole before puting the cilinder of dirt back into the hole.
Fits perfectly and you can't even notice that the hole was ever there.
This also works perfectly for wet sand.
 
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How many coins get scratched by the probe or the knife ? Just would not like to risk it myself.
 
My probe doesn't scratch coins ( rounded soft tip) but my digger will (knife). I mostly use a knife and the 3 cut side method. I also think a deeper plug will stay in place better and damages less roots. However, I think the popper method is more prudent on manicured lawns. Popping coins doesn't help much on deeper coins for me. Rob
 
Different methods also have to be employed when the ground is rock hard. Then you need a biger hole to avoid damaging the find.
 
My C4 didn't work. I think I planted it too deep. It dug a whole but also blew up all the pipes under the ground. Now there is too many metal shards to find anything good.

:grin:
 
Im going to try the screwdriver method when I get my MD, but my yard has a lot of small rocks in the ground that feel like coins. How do you get around that?
 
I have trouble pinpointing things. In my backyard, a hole will be like 2 feet wide and a foot deep just to find one penny. I haven't even gone into the public yet for fear of destroying everything lol.

Is this problem my detector? I seem to have chirps everywhere in a half foot radius on a single penny or rusty nail.
 
I think you need to make you a test garden and use different settings . Sounds like your not setting your machine properly
 
I fish coins out most of the time (4" or less). Many places I hunt are the type that would prohibit cutting a plug. When I do I cut a horseshoe type cut(4+").
 
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