How do you handle this ground?

[Oldbill]

I'm looking at trying to detect an area that has two or so inches of coarse crushed rock over heavy black landscaping cloth. I obviously would only dig an extremely good, strong signal. I guess a sharp but expendable blade of some sort would be the critical tool.

 

[hoser]

Ok that is a tough call. If the target is below the cloth, I for one usually cover and walk away. But that's just me.

 

[old-raven]

If there's one thing I've discovered about xeriscape it's that it's a total coin trap. Best coin shooting ever I had working xeriscape, I literally used a pinpointer and a screwdriver. The pinpointer only gets maybe 3-4" which is plenty deep for xeriscape, most of the coins are less than 3" deep and no need to cut the plastic. I mean if you wanna go deeper then do it but that plastic keeps things from sinking too much. Just sharing my experience with it

 

[diggin4clad]

I've come across a similar situation when doing tot lots. There's a layer of plastic or cloth under the wood chips. I don't cut through it.

 

[metaladdict]

I've come across a similar situation when doing tot lots. There's a layer of plastic or cloth under the wood chips. I don't cut through it.

Oh! Absolutely will cut through cloth for I am a TRUE pirate! Got to recover that coin!

 

[Xxray]

Cutting through could be tantamount to vandalism in some cases, obviously the stuff is there as a barrier, and if its ripped, its no longer a barrier. As far as the OP goes, I would simply pass on that and find somewhere else to detect.

 

[old-raven]

Oh! Absolutely will cut through cloth for I am a TRUE pirate! Got to recover that coin!

What I've heard, and there may be real truth to this, is that construction and landscape crews have a tendency to dump their trash under that plastic before they lay down the rock. Whatever is under there may not be worth the trouble to go tearing it up. I tell ya, xeriscape is a shallow coin trap and the longer it's been there the more stuff there will be. Pinpointer and a screwdriver man. If I was gonna go work in xeriscape again with my regular machine I'd put on the sniper, adjust the sensitivity way down and not go any deeper than that plastic. With me, I'm friends with the GM of a local fast food chain and he let me search. There is so much human activity around the place, homeless folks n such that I found a GRIP of coinage, jewelry (found silver!!) and all kinds of stuff. Found a casing from a shooting that had happened only 2 years before and more. In less than an hour I found $5 in change and counting. I haven't gone back to do it again but I'm betting that $5 in change that the rocks are fully restocked. So many coin spills, like all over. I personally wouldn't mess with the plastic, there's a buncha goodies right down in the rocks

 

[old-raven]

Oh! Absolutely will cut through cloth for I am a TRUE pirate! Got to recover that coin!

But of course if they plan to tear it out anyway then have at

 

[SpudheadBob]

If there's one thing I've discovered about xeriscape it's that it's a total coin trap. Best coin shooting ever I had working xeriscape, I literally used a pinpointer and a screwdriver. The pinpointer only gets maybe 3-4" which is plenty deep for xeriscape, most of the coins are less than 3" deep and no need to cut the plastic. I mean if you wanna go deeper then do it but that plastic keeps things from sinking too much. Just sharing my experience with it

That makes good sense to me. Seems like a good situation to take advantage of...

 

[John Madill]

I'm looking at trying to detect an area that has two or so inches of coarse crushed rock over heavy black landscaping cloth. I obviously would only dig an extremely good, strong signal. I guess a sharp but expendable blade of some sort would be the critical tool.

I just bought this at Harbor Freight, about $12. Plan on using it at a defunct Drive-in theater. First target was a 1940s penny. Ground is very hard packed.

Weed barriers are expensive and rendered useless when compromised. I respect them.

 

[Jamflicker]

Not worth the effort in my opinion.

 

[Jelly_936]

If that is the only place I had to detect then I’d take up stamp collecting.

 

[Oldbill]

Thanks for all the responses gang. Now the rest of the story. This is a large portion of my yard. I just bought a century-old bungalow in the copper mining town of Hurley, NM, and only after moving in did I learn that this town was a Superfund site thanks to copper and other contaminants released from the two giant smelter stacks that once stood just a few hundred yards away. To remediate the contamination, the mine owner -- might have been Phelps Dodge at that time -- tested every yard in town and if contamination exceeded EPA guidelines, they had the soil removed to a level where the contamination became "safe" and then brought in coarse fill, topped with landscape fabric topped with crushed gravel. I was disappointed to learn this as one attraction of the old house was the probability of silver having been dropped over the century. I'll run the Nokta over it just in case there is something above the fabric -- or that very strong signal. In the photo, the line to the left is the demarcation between the coarse fill option and the finer soil option if the resident wanted to re-establish a lawn or garden. I am curious if there is anything around the old swing set. Will report.
Wish I had been here to see them drop the stacks in 2007.