---DETECT CORRECTLY OR DONT DETECT--- Have permission - Fill your holes - Dispose of trash properly.

[villagenut]

I have retrieved many a coin with a screwdriver as was suggested by boogeyman, it always worked great for me and I never scratched one. In fact I remember it being a preferred method by many at one time long ago....maybe before a lot of yours time. Not my choice these days but back then it was the way............heh.........

 

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[ARC]

I have retrieved many a coin with a screwdriver as was suggested by boogeyman, it always worked great for me and I never scratched one. In fact I remember it being a preferred method by many at one time long ago....maybe before a lot of yours time. Not my choice these days but back then it was the way............heh.........

No offense...
I have grown up in / around the Treasure and metal detecting industry...
And I have also detected with and known veteran detectorists my entire life... and that over 40 years i have never once ever seen OR heard of anyone using a screwdriver for retrieval of an item of any sort.

And still after all these posts.. I still cannot fathom any usefulness in digging up / retrieving.
Sorry... but that boat wont float for me.

 

[ARC]

Errr... and this is not directed at anyone in particular or anything like that... but i have to add...
My feeling when thinking / imagining using a screwdriver to dig...
My first thoughts are...

"Reckless and nonsensical".

Forbid you ever dig a rare coin or anything else with one... a soft gold or silver... or ANY OTHER rare item.

IF you are "that good" at using a screwdriver to avoid scratching an item... "that good"... to place driver into soil within an inch of an item... to begin with... let alone NOT scratch it when trying to bring it to the soil surface...

Then damn... i TRULY would not know what to say...
I guess i would just have to kneel down and bow to such ability... FOR... i know i couldn't do it.
NOR would i even dream of attempting it.

Heh.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Errr... and this is not directed at anyone in particular or anything like that... but i have to add...
My feeling when thinking / imagining using a screwdriver to dig...
My first thoughts are...

"Reckless and nonsensical".

Forbid you ever dig a rare coin or anything else with one... a soft gold or silver... or ANY OTHER rare item.

IF you are "that good" at using a screwdriver to avoid scratching an item... "that good"... to place driver into soil within an inch of an item... to begin with... let alone NOT scratch it when trying to bring it to the soil surface...

Then damn... i TRULY would not know what to say...
I guess i would just have to kneel down and bow to such ability... FOR... i know i couldn't do it.
NOR would i even dream of attempting it.

Heh.

I have used long standard screwdriver to retrieve in some parks because the park said no digging. I used pinpointer, probe and then screwdriver, slice the sod, probe then when located retrieve with screwdriver. I had city workers watch me then walk away.

 

[ArfieBoy]

When I first started detecting (back in the early 1970's) using a long screwdriver was the recommended way to retrieve targets from the ground, especially in lawns and parks. It is a technique I have used for years, and still use it at times. I also cut plugs if the ground is not too dry. Since I learned when I first started detecting it is not a problem for me. In the early days of detecting for me I did scratch a few coins, mostly clad ones because I was using a simple BFO detector.

 

[ARC]

I have used long standard screwdriver to retrieve in some parks because the park said no digging. I used pinpointer, probe and then screwdriver, slice the sod, probe then when located retrieve with screwdriver. I had city workers watch me then walk away.

Well then... next time we meet... i shall bow... but no pictures ! ! !

:P

 

[ARC]

I have used a long Philips to "probe"... only.

 

[villagenut]

Hip hip horray to all of us old time screwdriver diggers....like I said, it was a known method by all of those in the know. If I ever had become careless and scratched a coin, I would have rethunk the method.............

 

[villagenut]

and that over 40 years i have never once ever seen OR heard of anyone using a screwdriver for retrieval

Just for the fun of it......i Googled the screwdriver coin retrieval method and found a plethora of comments from detectorists who speak of this old trusty method.....seems that everyone has heard about it...........

 

[creskol]

Just for the fun of it......i Googled the screwdriver coin retrieval method and found a plethora of comments from detectorists who speak of this old trusty method.....seems that everyone has heard about it...........

That's what I started with back in the 1960's.

 

[villagenut]

That's what I started with back in the 1960's.

....and I think we all perfected it by the 1970s.......... and is still being talked about and practiced ....... imagine that

 

[McKinney_5900]

I won't use a screwdriver. The most I will use would be a small digger, a Lesche primarily. Otherwise my Sampson shovel, used discreetly, has always gotten the job done fast and cleanly. Damaging a nice find is one thing I learned I never wanted to do because of paranoia.

 

[ARC]

Just for the fun of it......i Googled the screwdriver coin retrieval method and found a plethora of comments from detectorists who speak of this old trusty method.....seems that everyone has heard about it...........

I have heard of it... nowdays... just never seen it done... and you sure don't have anyone down here doing it.
Silly wabbit.

And we all know we all down south's got a different way.... ehhh heh

 

[ARC]

Ok so... i ALSO just did some google searching heh... and went to vids.
Annnd...
So...... heh.... lol.... Not only were the vids of people using a screwdriver done by IMO novice newbies...
without a clue... and VERY poor quality in all areas not just in video quality... but in techniques as well.

I can safely say... i was right... digging with a screwdriver is retarded... heh
Got to be one of the silliest things i have seen in the detecting world.

No offense to anyone.... but heh... that IS my opinion and wont waver from it now after seeing that.

The only way that technique would be / should be tried would be in the instance of like TreasureHunter said... where you cannot dig.
OR... items are no more than an inch down.
Other than that... BAH ! ! !

 

[creskol]

I won't use a screwdriver. The most I will use would be a small digger, a Lesche primarily. Otherwise my Sampson shovel, used discreetly, has always gotten the job done fast and cleanly. Damaging a nice find is one thing I learned I never wanted to do because of paranoia.

Ok so... i ALSO just did some google searching heh... and went to vids.
Annnd...
So...... heh.... lol.... Not only were the vids of people using a screwdriver done by IMO novice newbies...
without a clue... and VERY poor quality in all areas not just in video quality... but in techniques as well.

I can safely say... i was right... digging with a screwdriver is retarded... heh
Got to be one of the silliest things i have seen in the detecting world.

No offense to anyone.... but heh... that IS my opinion and wont waver from it now after seeing that.

The only way that technique would be / should be tried would be in the instance of like TreasureHunter said... where you cannot dig.
OR... items are no more than an inch down.
Other than that... BAH ! ! !

I have seen many relics scared and severely damaged with diggers and shovels over the years. Lots of them have even been posted on TNET.

 

[Old Dude]

I apologize for not reading all the posts here, but I had to throw in my half cent worth. My last outing for door knocking just left me disgusted and p’ed off at the lack of morals so many “ detectorists “ apparently are showing. I drove many miles that day, stopping at all old homes/farms and probably 90% of the 100% “ NO’s “ I got did thank me for asking. They said most just trespass. I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s in rural Kentucky and being the average boy, I got out looking for fishing spots, arrowheads, fossils and just anything outdoors to spend my time. The ONE thing my parents stressed to me was RESPECT other’s property. Who is to blame? Are we as the parents now not teaching or have we just raised a generation of spoiled children?

 

[oldmxrat]

I recently discovered these motorcycle tire spoons. Bought a couple online for real cheap. They work great and make it much easier to "pull" the target from under the grass. With that and the probe my recovery time is 15-20 seconds for coins up to 3" deep.

I do hunt parks where digging is not allowed (Sparks, NV). But for most targets, it's just faster than digging and may save some hunting sites from closure.

Just because you see some goons make a video that don't know how to do it doesn't mean it doesn't work.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I recently discovered these motorcycle tire spoons. Bought a couple online for real cheap. They work great and make it much easier to "pull" the target from under the grass. With that and the probe my recovery time is 15-20 seconds for coins up to 3" deep.

I do hunt parks where digging is not allowed (Sparks, NV). But for most targets, it's just faster than digging and may save some hunting sites from closure.

Just because you see some goons make a video that don't know how to do it doesn't mean it doesn't work.

Spot on!

 

[villagenut]

The reason they are still making such videos is because they have HEARD about the old technique or have SEEN others use it. Doesn't mean they are good at it, and yes I would only do this method under certain circumstances and types of hunting. Remember, we did not have pinpointers back in the day either.

 

[ARC]

3/4 of my detecting years were with no pin-pointer... and JFYI... I have and will always use a scoop.
I have tried just about every digging tool made on earth... in fact i cannot think of many i haven't.... from antique to modern sprinkler shovels and everything in between... i have invented half a dozen myself and helped in the development of a line of stainless scoops that are bar none to anything out there.

With all this jibber jabber I can say that even when doing / working with ordinance removal ... the smallest item ever incorporated into tools of the trade... by me or anyone else was a large knife.

Look i commend you all who have retrieved things with a screwdriver.
Personally i would never even try it.
If they said "no digging allowed"... i would not even metal detect it... so I have no need.
Nor would i even risk damage to anything i was attempting to retrieve with one.

Just me.

And rest assured ... I can tell you... I am in the treasure state... metal detecting capitol of the World....
And no one round here ever heard of such folly.