UPDATE:To dig or not to dig..that is the question

[pcolaboy]

Today I went down to a very old waterfront park and started "sweeping". After finding a bit of junk and a few pieces of clad, I got a very strong and consistent silver hit ($.50 - $1 mark on my Bounty Hunter Pioneer 202).

I turned down the sensitivity to nearly zilch and turned discriminate WAY up. I still got a solid hit showing approx. depth at 6 inches. Started digging away at the sand slowly and little by little. When I reached a depth of 7 inches and a hole about 4 times the width of the target area, I still read the same object type and depth at the same exact spot I did before digging. I checked all of the soil that was dug out in case there were multiple items but the soil was clean.

I continued to widen and deepen the hole down to 8 inches. Still no object but I've still got a solid pinpointed object down there somewhere. What gives? Is the detector reading something very large and this is throwing off the depth indication? Should I continue digging? I plan to go back and resume this 'excavation' tomorrow.

This park has been a popular swimming location for over a hundred years and was also home to various Spanish and British interests in the 1700's as well. The soil in this spot is sand for the first couple of inches and gets increasingly clay-like the deeper you go and is not easily eroded.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Pcolaboy

 

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[gmu4me]

Re: To dig or not to dig..that is the question

Dig away..lol! Ya never know what it might be....

 

[stefen]

Re: To dig or not to dig..that is the question

Could it be the shadow of an item rusted away 100%??

 

[Night Stalker]

Re: To dig or not to dig..that is the question

Just don't dig a 60' hole and hire illegals to haul out the dirt and you should be fine. There may be gold down their - I suggest excavation until you make the find.

 

[hollowpointred]

Re: To dig or not to dig..that is the question

it could have been a large very deep object, like a trash can lid or something.

 

[pcolaboy]

UPDATE:
I had an hour or so today during lunch and headed down to this location. I quickly dug out the 6" of pine straw and one inch of sand fill that I put in the hole when I left yesterday :-)

I kept slowly and methodically digging down until I finally struck something solid with my screwdriver at a depth of 2 feet. After several minutes of delicately scraping away this hardened sand/clay mixture a very flat, slightly shiney, noncorroded surface appeared. I kept scraping away looking for the edges of the item. I continued widening the hole to over 2.5' in diameter but still could not determine the overall size or shape of this flat object.

Realizing that I was running out of time and needed a true shovel, I decided to clean the surface to determine what material it was using a bit of water out of my water bottle. It's probably a bit too soon to say for sure, but I think I have found either the lid to a large cooking crock or some other very large container. My first thought was garbage can lid but the diameter of the object would seem to suggest otherwise..not to mention there was ZERO corrosion on the item. I determined that I needed better equipment other than a toy shovel and screwdriver so I will be returning tomorrow with adequate gear to bring this puppy up.

As to my guess on the age at this point...on the way down to the 2' level, I unearthed a couple of very old cork bottlenecks, a porcelain shard. When I started searching this area yesterday, I found a 1965 Penny less than 1/2" under the sand that was only 5 feet to the side of this large object.

I will post pictures of the item tomorrow when i get it out (assuming of course it's not a trash can lid :-) )

Pcolaboy

 

[Monty]

I doubt your BH could have picked up an object at 2'. That's stretching it for even a high dollar detector known for depth. My best guess would be that you either was reading a signal from an overhead power line or something similar, or your original target was scooped out in your plug. I think the large object just happened to be under the area where you started digging and of course you got a reading when the hole was deep enough. This has happened to me too. Monty

 

[digdug_rita]

I had a similar experience....did not have to dig that deep tho. Started uncovering a large....very large metal lid of sorts. After about an hour of careful digging in a circle the size of the lid I was able to open the lid...underneath was a #2 washtub.....full of unbroken bottles !!! with their lids !!!! and dated back to the turn of the century !!!! Someone was very neat, did not want broken glass in the burn pile so dug a hole, inserted the washtub and after it was full of bottles, they covered it with the lid and put dirt on top of it...was water proof. Then next to that was an enamel wash pot with bottles (lidded also) and a pail full of bottles. Needless to say the bottles filled up the bed of my pick-up. I am not a bottle collecter so I do not know what I have, just put them in my barn til I feel like trying to find out what they all are. Found them on an old homesite on my daughters ranch....under a huge oak tree. Sooooo, don't give up if there is a trash can lid.

 

[renegade_7]

Please do post, I am very curious.

 

[flip]

I had a similar experience....did not have to dig that deep tho. Started uncovering a large....very large metal lid of sorts. After about an hour of careful digging in a circle the size of the lid I was able to open the lid...underneath was a #2 washtub.....full of unbroken bottles !!! with their lids !!!! and dated back to the turn of the century !!!! Someone was very neat, did not want broken glass in the burn pile so dug a hole, inserted the washtub and after it was full of bottles, they covered it with the lid and put dirt on top of it...was water proof. Then next to that was an enamel wash pot with bottles (lidded also) and a pail full of bottles. Needless to say the bottles filled up the bed of my pick-up. I am not a bottle collecter so I do not know what I have, just put them in my barn til I feel like trying to find out what they all are. Found them on an old homesite on my daughters ranch....under a huge oak tree. Sooooo, don't give up if there is a trash can lid.

would love to see a pic of those bottles

 

[Salvager]

You've got me interested....

 

[TheDetectorist]

I doubt your BH could have picked up an object at 2'. That's stretching it for even a high dollar detector known for depth. My best guess would be that you either was reading a signal from an overhead power line or something similar, or your original target was scooped out in your plug. I think the large object just happened to be under the area where you started digging and of course you got a reading when the hole was deep enough. This has happened to me too. Monty

I don't know about BH'ers, you are wrong in your generalization. I remember one target in particular. Backyard of a turn-of-the-century house in Guthrie. I got a great signal and just kept digging. It turned out to be an aluminum pie-plate at over 2 feet. A target the size that he found could be found deeper for sure.

TD

 

[digdug_rita]

Hey yall.....gonna be up at the ranch for Christmas, will do my best to take a few photos for ya...thinking most of the bottles are like household stuff. Did find an Avon bottle dated 1938 on the bottom...some poison marked bottles, beverage type, liquor bottles.....etc, Cannot remember what all was there tho. Was the greatest thrill tho to dig them up. I was digging alone, but when I started uncovering all those bottles I was hollering up the hill to my daughter... "Come help me !!!! I have hit the Mother Lode!!!!" We are convinced now that we will find some even better stuff on the old homesite, if they were so careful to bury their old bottles that way. The ranch was once owned..back in the 1800's by the Ball Family....Ball mason jar people. Anyway, will try to get some good pics to show. See ya, Rita

 

[pcolaboy]

Sorry I haven't updated this in a couple of days. I went back to the park on Sunday with the intent on completely unearthing this thing. Unfortunately, there was a very large picnic going on immediately adjacent to this find. It would have been my luck that it would have been Department of Public Works picnic or something.

Monty...there is every reason to NOT doubt this BH's ability to detect a large object such as this. First of all, there is absolutely nothing that would emit EMI within 500 yards of this spot. Secondly, I found the top portion of a 55 gallon drum at the beach a few weeks ago and it was 4 feet down. In each case, I always proceed slowly and I sift all of my dig. There is a very low probability of soil mineralization in my area since the soil is primarily quartz and feldspar sand.

I am going to try and hit the park during the week and finally put to rest my curiousity of this item.

Pcolaboy

 

[TreasureTales]

The curiosity is killing me. PLEASE finish the dig and let us all know what it is...even if it is a trash can lid. At this point in time, ANYTHING will be better than not knowing what you found. Thank you.

 

[Maxs]

Keep us posted PLEEEEESE

 

[Monty]

OK. Monty

 

[dahut]

"Hope springs eternal" and after all, that is what this hobby is all about, aint it?

It might be a lid or big piece of trash or something like that. Truth is, it is probably just that - the odds favor it. BUT, it might be something else. Get over there Sunday morning, or on a weekday when there are no crowds and get to it.

 

[Night Stalker]

Sometimes you're the bug......sometimes you're the windshield.

 

[diggummup]

Hey yall.....gonna be up at the ranch for Christmas, will do my best to take a few photos for ya...thinking most of the bottles are like household stuff. Did find an Avon bottle dated 1938 on the bottom...some poison marked bottles, beverage type, liquor bottles.....etc, Cannot remember what all was there tho. Was the greatest thrill tho to dig them up. I was digging alone, but when I started uncovering all those bottles I was hollering up the hill to my daughter... "Come help me !!!! I have hit the Mother Lode!!!!" We are convinced now that we will find some even better stuff on the old homesite, if they were so careful to bury their old bottles that way. The ranch was once owned..back in the 1800's by the Ball Family....Ball mason jar people. Anyway, will try to get some good pics to show. See ya, Rita

Looking forward to those pics.Poison bottles are a pretty hot collectible right now.

Sorry I haven't updated this in a couple of days. I went back to the park on Sunday with the intent on completely unearthing this thing. Unfortunately, there was a very large picnic going on immediately adjacent to this find. It would have been my luck that it would have been Department of Public Works picnic or something.

Monty...there is every reason to NOT doubt this BH's ability to detect a large object such as this. First of all, there is absolutely nothing that would emit EMI within 500 yards of this spot. Secondly, I found the top portion of a 55 gallon drum at the beach a few weeks ago and it was 4 feet down. In each case, I always proceed slowly and I sift all of my dig. There is a very low probability of soil mineralization in my area since the soil is primarily quartz and feldspar sand.

I am going to try and hit the park during the week and finally put to rest my curiousity of this item.

Pcolaboy

Yup,the larger the object the deeper a detector will pick it up.Looking forward to finding out what it is,whatever it pans out to be.