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Hints & Tips
We
don’t want to teach anyone “how to suck eggs”; but we
all started somewhere, and hopefully this short section will help a few
as they join this fascinating hobby of ours.
Thinking of taking up the hobby
Come
to a few club meets and rallies, watch what we are all doing and pick
our brains. We are all genuinely interested in this hobby, and once you
get us talking, you just try and shut us up ! You will learn a lot
more, much quicker from club members and you will get fantastic support
for your new hobby.
There
is little doubt that finding “TREASURE” is on
everyone’s mind, it’s what makes the hobby exciting and
interesting. Unfortunately you will rarely even cover the cost of your
batteries, never mind your time, but you will start to appreciate the
value of each item lost by our ancestors from the past. To improve your
find rate of the “good stuff” it is important to learn from
those that go before.
Buying a detector
It
takes months to get used to a top model expensive machine and you are
likely to find it too sensitive with too many programmes and controls
to get used to. You can buy a basic machine for £50 that works
well, but looks like a kids toy. For £300 you get a very good
machine, doesn’t really matter which make it is. Surprisingly for
£1000 you get a machine that is only a few percent better, but is
generally much more flexible with lots of options.
Even
the cheaper machines have discrimination, so you are not digging up
rusty nails and screws, but if you start setting them up to
discriminate against tin foil, you will miss lots of hammered coins
that are only slightly thicker. The best advice is to dig up every
repeatable signal until you learn what your machine is trying to tell
you.
Places to detect
With
the exception of a few beaches, all land belongs to someone and you
will legally need permission from the owner before you can detect.
Start with your own garden, it is good practise to see how much damage
you do to your own lawn before you start digging up someone
else’s. Then ask relatives, neighbours, friends and work
colleagues if you can try their gardens or land. When you are more
confident it is easier to knock on the farmers door.
I would always suggest you find the farmers name out, or even better
get an introduction. Take your best finds along, and ideally take the
return sheets from the Portable Antiquity Scheme (PAS) to show you are
presenting finds to the archaeologists. Even better if you have managed
to get finds published in the magazines !
Farmers are busy in the day so try and go when it is raining, lunch
time or early evening. NEVER stop a farmer when he is ploughing or
working his land.
Be polite, introduce yourself and tell him where you live (locally).
Just ask him if he would allow you to detect in his fields. He will
most likely say that someone already detects on his land, so ask if
they still come and when was the last time he saw them. Show your other
finds and explain that you hand everything in to the local
archaeologist, and get the best finds published in a popular magazine.
Farmers are generally interested in what comes off the land, so explain
that you will drop in with recent finds and anything found will be
shared 50:50.
Keep the farmer informed, even if they say no; send him a letter and
you will be amazed how many change their minds and allow you to detect
once they realise you are a legitimate hunter of history and not out
for a quick buck.
Environmental Responsibilities
Never mind how good you and your machine is, approximately 80% of what
you dig up will be junk. Old tin cans, ring pulls, silver foil, horse
shoes, etc..
Put this in your junk bag, you don’t want to be digging it up
again next year and if it is left on the surface it will injure stock
and anger the farmer. When he realises you are removing the junk he
will be even more impressed; even better if you are returning plough
parts and farming implements.
When you get home, sort out the junk carefully and you will be amazed
how often you find that scrap of lead is actually a pilgrims ampulla,
or that bronze strip is actually decorated.
Cleaning finds
If there is any chance that the item may be old, DO NOT CLEAN IT !
Very hard to do when you’ve spent hours out in all weathers
finding it, so use common sense and clean as little as possible.
If the metal is likely to not be damaged by cleaning, then put it in
distilled water and occasionally use a toothbrush to remove the dirt.
Cocktail sticks are also useful to dig out the soft dirt.
Next most damaging, use tap water and ‘fairy liquid’ style soap to help remove dirt.
Once the find has been seen by a Finds Liaison Officer (FLO) and has
been declared not reportable, or already been processed through the
PAS, then you can try harsher methods of cleaning if you deem it
necessary.
Keep in mind that old coins harshly cleaned, will most likely loose any
value they initially had. That patina (the coating) has taken years to
develop and we want to keep it. Buffing wheels, Ammonia, tumbling
methods and electrolysis will more than likely destroy your find so
only do it to things that do not matter, modern coins and junk.
Detecting in the rain
Maybe not your best option, but sometimes you have to do it and
surprisingly we often get better and deeper signals because the wet
ground is more conductive.
Meter covers are available for all modern machines, and plastic bags
will work at a pinch. Most machines have waterproof coils, and even the
headphones are amazingly water resistant, ideally wear a hood over your
head and headphones and a baseball cap will keep the rain out of your
eyes.
There are hundreds of other tips, so I suggest we continue this topic on the forum and let anyone add to it.
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