Best way to clear a old foundation site?

[austin_luker]

So not much to do with the Dues but more towards how we use our machines to find things lost.
A friend of mine and I found a 1700 site close to the largest river in the northeast (won't give name of area) but we found the place was a carpet of square nails. I mean 20 nails per shovel full of dirt. So almost impossible to detect in any proper way. So what did we do to pull super old relics from the ground?
We dug 6 inches down and detected only the excavated dirt, dug another 8 inches down and hit that excavated dirt. We kept this process until dark, we both pulled over 30 small porciline buttons (underwear buttons) 2 large cents, 1 Indian head, and mound of flat buttons and 1 medicine bottle complete. We think some sort of dwelling has been here since 1700's and built on top of each other.
Anyone have any other ideas on how to pull all the finds from the area. We don't want to sift as digging with all the roots and rocks is enough work already!

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[vferrari]

That's the way to do it. Nails are annoying but indicate a former dwelling. Cut square nails mean late 1700's to late 1800's. In the hot dirt in Virginia, the Deus has trouble with "surface finds" in the fields and there are nails all over CW winter encampments due to the huts. You don't need the nails to tell you where you are in that case because the research has been done. So all you can do is look for clues in the dirt (ash, pieces of broken glass, barrel bands). Probe for huts using a metal rod. Or just dig a test hole. Most folks use PI detectors under these conditions because they can punch through the mineralization and are deep seeking. But once you excavate the dirt from the holes/pits the the Deus does its job pulling the bullets, buttons, and brass out of that dirt and it is amazing how much stuff you can find in those excavated dirt piles. It is not a bad idea in a trash infested site or a site with high mineralization to just dig a 3x2 test trench and scan the excavated dirt for relics. Good job!

 

[Toothpick]

30+ years ago I knew a older guy that had permission to recover what ever he could find in a field that was once used as a dump site by a lake dredging company.

The dredging guys dumped many truckloads of material over the years.

What he did was shovel the dirt into 5 gallon buckets. When he filled 5 or 6 he would run it thru a homemade classifier (outside of his digging pit). I couldn't believe the treasures he found.

He would only dig on days he didn't feel like detecting. He had dug that pit close to 6 feet deep and 15 feet around by the time I saw it. And this was just a small portion of the field.

 

[1637]

i have a cart with 5 rare earth magnets that i use to pickup all the junk.or you can run it though a screen.

good luck brad

 

[cudamark]

To me, digging and sifting is the best method for that site. If it's a big enough site, I might consider using some power tools to excavate. Maybe a used Bobcat? Otherwise, it's muscle power! I built a classifier/sifter for dump sites. It has different size screens stacked up to filter out the rocks and big stuff. The bottom screen is small enough to keep most buttons from falling through, but, still allows the dirt to fall through easily. Clay is a different story! Ugh!

 

[1637]

ive set my screen so a dime wont fall though, brad

To me, digging and sifting is the best method for that site. If it's a big enough site, I might consider using some power tools to excavate. Maybe a used Bobcat? Otherwise, it's muscle power! I built a classifier/sifter for dump sites. It has different size screens stacked up to filter out the rocks and big stuff. The bottom screen is small enough to keep most buttons from falling through, but, still allows the dirt to fall through easily. Clay is a different story! Ugh!

 

[HuntinDog]

You say....
"We dug 6 inches down and detected only the excavated dirt, dug another 8 inches down and hit that excavated dirt. We kept this process until dark, we both pulled over 30 small porciline buttons (underwear buttons) 2 large cents, 1 Indian head, and mound of flat buttons and 1 medicine bottle complete."

You didn't say how much area you did the digging in, but if that was recovered in a small portion of the site.
I'm sorry to say, but the best way to find the most targets/relics is with a sifter.


A simple 1/2" hardware cloth box screen will do the job.
Use a 4 prong potato rake to break-up the soil and sift it.
It's a bunch of work, but with the results of your test hole, I would be sifting...

Good luck and show us the finds please.

 

[austin_luker]

Thanks for all the replys. We have had some wet weather the past week so the site is on hold till after work this week.
I like all the ideas and they are right on par with what we where thinking as far as sifting, I like the classifier idea. All in all a lot of human power will be needed to clean this place out. Lucky the home site is 25x30 at most.

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[cudamark]

1/2" might be a bit big for the final sifter. There are lots of cool buttons that are smaller than that, not to mention some small diameter coins like half dimes, 3 centers, gold dollars, etc.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

As others have stated, sifting and magnets!

You have the right idea... that much iron renders a detector useless and hard work and manual labor is the only way to get at it. I love working areas like you described. My tools of choice are a 405lb magnet that I bolted to the end of a 4 foot 1.5" oak dowel rod. https://www.amazon.com/CMS-Magnetics-Powerful-Neodymium-Diameter/dp/B01JPZ42OA As I remove dirt out of the section I'm excavating, I'll use my 9" coil and Deus Fast, in my other hand I'll have my magnet stick. I run the magnet over the removed dirt and it sucks loads of nails out, which will unmask non-ferrous in the pile. Once my section is excavated down to the hard pan and there is no more iron left in the bottom, then I sift the dirt back in. The magnet gets maybe 90% of the iron easily, however as I sift it back in, I still use my Deus and magnet to check the sifted dirt. As others stated, smaller items can fall though the sifter. Even though the dirt has been detected a half dozen times or more when I sift it back in, I will still find cuff buttons, and small non-ferrous that were masked still in the dirt pile and make their way through the screen and back into the pit.

So its a process of removing dirt from a section and stopping to use the magnet and detector multiple times. Once its all removed, its the same process of sifting it back in and stopping to use the magnet and detector for stuff that falls through the screen.

Based on what you found already, it sounds like a prime spot for putting in the work.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

I will add... when I got into sifting a couple years ago, I asked a few experienced guys what size screen to use. They all said 1/2" and that anything smaller would drive me nuts and not be worth the time or energy to shake the thing. I thought I would loose lots of small items that fall through the 1/2" screen, so I made two sifters... a 1/2" screen and a 1/4" screen. I took both of them on the first trip, and after that the 1/4" was left at home, then changed to a second 1/2" screen sifter. haha Now with 100's of hours in the field sifting, shoveling and shaking a sifter, 1/2" is the only way to go. Watch as the dirt falls through and you can get the cuff size porcelain and shell buttons and other items. The strong magnet removes most of the iron, so any small non-ferrous items that fall through, can be found with my detector. I find most non-ferrous before I ever begin sifting because I constantly stop to remove iron and detect the dirt as I remove it.

That said, I probably miss a porcelain cuff button every now and then, or a brass tack, or cuff button. But 1/4" screen will more than double the time and energy to work the dirt back into the hole... it probably triples the energy to shake the thing. If I had a machine to shake the screen, then it might be a different story!

 

[austin_luker]

Great ideas and first hand knowledge just what I am looking for thank you.

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[cudamark]

Your swinging a 405 lb magnet on a stick?

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Your swinging a 405 lb magnet on a stick?

hahaha. So another friend on here asked me what magnet I use since he was getting into sifting. I used to pick the nails out by hand and chase them with my pinpointer, and the magnet saved me countless hours. So I send him a link to the 405lb magnet I use and a couple weeks later, he tells me he got a 500lb one. https://www.amazon.com/Brute-Magnetics-Neodymium-Countersunk-Diameter/dp/B01LYU81DB I didn't even know a Neodymium magnet that size existed. So I feel totally outdone and really want the stronger magnet, but its tough to drop $50 when my current one works just fine. haha

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Here is a field sample of what the magnet will look like after a few seconds of being run through the loose dirt. There's rose head nails, square nails, tin bits and all sorts of stuff stuck to it. This picture is of my older 250lb magnet. My 405lb one is just about a half inch wider and is more efficient in loading itself up with iron. Its definitely the best time saver I discovered when excavating a section with a TON of iron... sifting will help me get all the non-metallic items

 

[1637]

i have just about the same 250lb on 2in pvc. brad

Here is a field sample of what the magnet will look like after a few seconds of being run through the loose dirt. There's rose head nails, square nails, tin bits and all sorts of stuff stuck to it. This picture is of my older 250lb magnet. My 405lb one is just about a half inch wider and is more efficient in loading itself up with iron. Its definitely the best time saver I discovered when excavating a section with a TON of iron... sifting will help me get all the non-metallic items

View attachment 1463506

 

[1637]

any more finds from this site??
brad

 

[austin_luker]

Hey! Thanks for asking, I will post images tomorrow for you guys when I get back to the house. Seems like the site is from late 1700's as we have found a shoe buckle, however most of the finds have been porcelain buttons and 2 large cents one dating 1803, a bunch of Indian heads all dated around 1800, 2 clay pipe pieces, odds and ends.

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[austin_luker]

Sorry I haven't got to images yet folks. Life gets in the way sometimes, will post as soon as possible

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