Questions from a beginner

[sgillette]

Greetings to all. I have really enjoyed reading all the posts on this forum. Learning something every second. I have a few questions as a beginner, hope y'all don't mind.

When I say beginner, I mean really, really very beginning stages. In fact, I just ordered my first detector, it will be here tomorrow and I am so very excited. Over the last few days, I have been using an old Garrett Groundhog that we inherited from my father in law. It has turned up some fun finds.

I recently had the opportunity to move to the family farm which has been owned by our family for over 100 years. My GGrandfather purchased it in 1907, but leased it several years prior to that. I have done the research to find where the oldest house once set. I think I have even pinpointed the old outhouse spot. My goal is to dig everything. Trash or not. To me, the thrill is finding the things that my great grandparents touched and used in everyday life.
My first question, is there any way to clean old iron items. Things like harness buckles, parts of an old wood stove, Model T Leaf Springs? Or is it best to knock the dirt off and leave as it. My ultimate task is to create a display case with the items to tell my grandparents and great grandparents stories.
My next question is for the type of searching I am doing, I really don't need to worry about setting sensitivity settings, since I want to dig everything, correct?
If y'all are up for it, I will probably have lots more questions after the UPS man delivers my new detector tomorrow. Thanks again

 

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[cstraiton]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new detector. I'm sure you will have many hours of fun exploring the old family farm you are living on. Have you done any searching into who owned the land before your grandfather was there? There might be some older history there that pre-dates your family that would be cool to find as well. I'm no expert by any means, but I might be able to point you in the right direction. To the best of my knowledge, I would say that electrolysis would be your best bet for safely cleaning iron. There is tons of information on cleaning and preservation here on this site. Here is the link to the cleaning and preserving forum on this site. http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/board,70.0.html. As far as your sensitivity settings, I would say that you should try turning up the sensitivity on your new detector until it starts to chatter and become unstable, then just back it down a bit. It really depends on the type of mineralization of the soil where you are at and how much other interference such as power lines and buried utilities are in the area you are searching on how high you'll be able to run it. Good luck in exploring the family farm. I look forward to seeing some of the stuff you are going to find there. Keep us posted.

 

[sgillette]

Thanks for the welcome and the info. I will be studying the thread you gave me.
Yes, I have researched the previous land owners. I have the title abstract which goes into much detail. The land was obtained by the Pace family in 1858 from the state of Texas. He later sold 400 acres to my Great Grand Father. (who's will was included in the abstract. Too cool). When my grandfather passed away he left the 400 acres divided into 80 acres sections to each of his five children. Only ours is still in the family.
I got my Garrett Ace 250 late Thursday evening and we were scheduled to go out of town for the weekend. leaving Friday morning. Did get a chance to try it out some while gone. It is awesome, but I am really going to have to practice with the pinpointing. I think my favorite find for the weekend was the crossbar center section to an OLD car or tractor steering wheel.
Can't wait to get started out here on the farm. Thanks again.

 

[cstraiton]

Lots of people have trouble pinpointing with the Ace 250, so don't feel bad. Here's a video that might explain how to pinpoint a little better for you.

 

[sgillette]

Thanks for the video. It was very helpful. I practiced a couple of hours yesterday afternoon. Dug up half my back yard. Will go out and practice some more today.

 

[cstraiton]

Here's a couple of more videos that show how to dig a plug correctly. This is a very important technique that you need to master before detecting on anyone elses property or in parks and other public property. The key is to dig a target and have no evidence of you ever being there.