Focus on Shallow Sensing

[DizzyDigger]

This may sound peculiar, but I am interested in "treasure" hunting for almost anything metallic but only at or near the surface. My property is an old farmstead and some former owner(s) felt it prudent to leave "treasure" anywhere and everywhere. Things keep popping up especially in the horse paddock area; beer bottle caps, hand tools, old tractor spark plus, et centra and so on. Last week, one of the horses showed up with a nail in his hoof and the infection that goes with such things (fortunately, the infection did not reach the joints, he'll be ok). So, my goal is to find as many of these treasures as I can before one of them steps on something and aren't ok.

So, I am not looking to spend a whole lot of money just to find junk my pasture before the horses do. What I would like to ask all y'all is for hints on how to use a device, shall we say, on the low end of the feature and perhaps quality spectrum. I've read that some units have a feature to limit the depth sensing but the ones I've found are more than I'd like to spend ($200+; to be honest, I am looking at the Bounty Hunter Tracker Pro at Costco for $100 and avoiding pretty much everything I find on Amazon). At any rate, any assistance anyone here would care to provide would be greatly appreciated by a soon to be "treasure" hunter.

 

[KOB]

Harbor freight , home depot , etc should have a rolling construction magnet around $40. Great for picking up nails on jobsites.

 

[stetam]

Drag a magnet.

Steve

 

[rreahard]

Welcome to the forum. A magnet would be good to pick up anything ON the surface, but wont pull anything out of the ground. Any cheap detector with adjustable sensitivity should do the trick.

 

[hoser]

Yep either drag a yard magnet or like you say purchase an inexpensive detector and run it on all metal. Just about any of the cheap machines will do what you want. Quite a few years ago one of the guys I worked with came to me asking if I would come over and clean his horse stalls and corral of tramp metal. I was there half the day and came away with 1/3rd of a five gallon plastic pail full of nails, screws and misc. shards and pieces of metal. I had my sens set a little higher so deeper targets were found so over time they wouldn't come to the surface.

 

[too_pointer]

What machine, hoser, did you use ?
too_

 

[hoser]

What machine, hoser, did you use ?​

Garrett ADS-7

 

[TampaBayBrad]

Wow. Never ever thought I'd run into someone who wants to dig nails!

If you get that cheap detector and start clearing your area of nails for the horse's sake, watch out. You may get bit by the metal detecting "bug" that we all have been bitten by. If so, an upgraded machine will be forth coming.

 

[itsaring!]

Harbor freight , home depot , etc should have a rolling construction magnet around $40. Great for picking up nails on jobsites.

YUP! I used to get flat tires at the shop I worked at. The helpers cleaning out the vans would sweep out screws all over the parking lot. Got a Harbor freight magnet on wheels and could have got rich selling all the screws everywhere. I was on call once and got three flats in a day at the shop when I was leaving.

 

[cellrdwellr]

Magnet is a good idea, and a cheap starter detector should help get the non ferrous metals. I would imagine you will find some unexpected treasures as well. Good luck out there!

 

[DizzyDigger]

Thanks, folks, for your feedback! Yeah, I had used a magnet tool around the barn after the roof was replaced last year (likely where this nail came from) but the land is rough especially when the mud dries after a good rain; horse hooves really make a mess in mud. Hence, the need to dig. I've thought about taking up the hobby over the years, but never really had the time for it. When we bought this place, I really considered getting a detector then but other folks owning similar properties said I could expect to just dig up tons of junk (and they're right - I've found half a dozen junk pile tombs without even looking...so far). Hence, my desire to look for shallow discoveries. From what I'm reading, it's the sens setting that affects depth sensing which makes, well, sense; I guess.

I think I'll get the BH Tracker Pro for $100 ($40 less then Walmart.com; imagine that). Some folks who's articles I've read think these are on the low end of quality but it at least sounds better than the made-up Chinese brands on Amazon and I would think it ought to find some metal who cares what kind. I'll follow up when I give it a go (it'll be after the snow that's now falling on the rain we've had all day melts when it hits 50+ on Monday - Scientists said you can't have all four seasons in the same place in the same week; Minnesota said "Here, hold my beer."). Thank again folks!

 

[DizzyDigger]

Well, by the time I was ready to buy it, Costco was no longer offering it. So, after much reading and surfing and comparing brands and just overthinking everything, I decided on the Fisher F22. Honestly, I expected it to come in a bigger box but I guess things have "slimmed down" lately. At first, I was concerned about having spent just under $230 for what looks like a toy. But it works like a charm. In 20 minutes after turning the thing on, I found two old roofing nails right near the horse waterer, potentially saving me thousands in vet bills! Over the next hour, I pulled more rusty screws, nails, and barbed wire scraps from the diirt right around the barn. The functions of this unit allows me to focus on iron stuff (like nails, of course) and the pin point feature allows me to target the stuff at or close to the surface; just what I wanted.

It's kind of ironic that the manual repeatedly used nails as examples of item of no value or things that you "don't want to find." If they only knew!

 

[TampaBayBrad]

Well, by the time I was ready to buy it, Costco was no longer offering it. So, after much reading and surfing and comparing brands and just overthinking everything, I decided on the Fisher F22.

It's kind of ironic that the manual repeatedly used nails as examples of item of no value or things that you "don't want to find." If they only knew!

Like I said earlier....never met a guy who wants to dig nails!

I read about the F22 on Amazon. Most reviews are favorable, looks like a great detector for the money and for what you want to do.

Take it out to a few parks or ball fields. It will find more than nails! Ha!

 

[markinmichigan]

Like I said earlier....never met a guy who wants to dig nails!

I'm a contractor who makes a point to metal detect yards and driveways for nails after a job is completed. It's like a permission and good work ethic in one motion.

Mark in Michigan

 

[raptortrapper]

Tesoro Compadre. It's what I learned on, and I see them going for cheap on eBay from time to time. New ones are around $175 I think. I still have mine, and still use it.

 

[SageGrouse]

Back in the day, my first real job was working for a company called SportCoach. They were an RV manufacturer. At the end of each day, the yard was LITTERED with screws, washers, fittings... and so I suggested to the boss that maybe they should drag a magnet around and collect all the jetsam. Turned out to vbe a huge money saver! They rewarded me by firing my butt!
Sage(No good deed goes unpunished)Grouse