Question(s) about gold

[austin_silver_hunter]

Does the carat affect the how the signal registers or discriminates?

For example, how does an 18K ring hit, compared to 14K... or white gold/platinum? Is there any difference?

Keep in mind I'm using a BH 101, so there's not much finesse in separating anything... I just want to make sure I set the disc. for the best possible range of gold targets...

 

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[ClonedSIM]

Just dig everything with a moderately solid signal. I used an BH 101 for a year before upgrading and it treated it me very well. Do you have some good sites to hunt?

 

[austin_silver_hunter]

Actually I do... this weekend I'm going to be searching for a ring for someone in a gigantic park where there was just held a big music festival... what I know about the ring is that it's 18K (plus 32 diamonds!!!)

The ring I have attached a pic of was found at this same location, and it is 18K/PT... from what I can remember it was a nice, solid hit... prolly not worth saying again, but this place is just crawling with pulltabs - so I am going to have my work cut out...

I have not been able to set my BH to make any kind of discernible difference between tabs and gold, however I do know that some nickle/gold-range targets give me a kindof dual-tone BUH-LEEP, where the BUH is low and the LEEP is high... most nickles I've dug have had a mostly low tone... and I've found that can-slaw or other kinds of non-circular objects will usually give me an erratic, what I like to call "chopped up" signal with lows and highs and audible discrimination (pops and clicks)...

 

[ClonedSIM]

I should have been clearer before, sorry. The BH 101 gives a pretty dependable broken tone on "most" trash. If you're getting a signal that is mostly solid, maybe just a bit of a broken tone at the end of the sweep, I'd go ahead and dig. Do you "pop" signals that are close to the surface?

I only ask because if your looking for a gold ring in a park full of tabs, you're going to wear out fast if you dig holes for each signal. I should know, I did it for the longest time. What I ended up doing is buying an awl with a handle about 3 inches long and a shank about 6 inches long. If I'm hunting anywhere now, I'll get a quick depth check and I usually just probe with the awl and pop out any shallow targets. Saves the back and the knees!

Just go slow and dig anything that sounds worthwhile. Even after I upgraded to my White's I still do the same thing, go slow and spend a lot of time in the dirt, but it usually pays off.

 

[Seamuss]

At todays gold prices, I could care less what carat it is. Just dig it. Can you dig it?

 

[hyperion]

Just saw this since it's back to the top. The original poster asked if 18k gold registers/discriminates more than 14k ... the answer is ... Yes! The alloys in 14k and 10k actually increase the signal returned. Some smaller 18k will be rejected if your discrimination is set too high. This gold coin would probably ring-up at any discrimintation level/depth and it's near 24k

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Although gold jewelry is talked about, on md'ing forums, as being a "low conductor" (like, as in nickels, aluminum foil, etc...) pure gold (24 k) is actually a very high conductor. Ie.: a thin teensy 24k ring can read up in the penny area of TID (some Asian cultures actually make pure gold jewelry). But to make gold harder (and thus more sturdy for wear-able jewelry), alloys are added, to make them 10k, 14, 18k, etc.... It's the alloys that lower the conductivity.

But to be looking for a specific gold ring, in a sea of pulltabs, I don't think it's going to do you much good to be worrying about minute variations on the TID scale (based on the karot). The reason is, size comes into play. For example, if you took two exact same size gold bands, and one was 14k, and the other was 18k, Yes, they might have a slightly different TID. But that assumes you knew the exact size. So unless you have sampled your friend's ring ahead of time (or have an exactly same sized sister ring to pass by your loop in an air test), you still won't know what you're looking for. So even if you knew the ring you are looking for is 18k (or 10k, or 14k, etc...) it can STILL read all over the spectrum, based on the size of the ring. A teensy thin ladies solitaire 14K (or 10k, or 18k) can read down in foil-ish range. But a big honking man's 14k (or 10k, or 18k) college class ring can read up in the square tab range.

About the only way you're going to find a gold ring in a sea of pulltabs, without having first sampled its TID, is to dig all your low and mid conductors. You can lower your junk ratio by assuming that the ring is close to the surface, and thus ignore anything buried below the grass level (assuming it was just recently lost).