In probably my last blog of the year I have to say 2018 was a fantastic year for metal detecting, I rarely had a chance to blog because I was so busy metal detecting.
I was lucky enough to spend a large chunk of 2018 in some pretty amazing locations searching for lost treasures and you will see what I recovered over the next few months if you are a fan of History channel treasure hunting shows.
Im heading into 2019 on fumes but it was an incredible year and a heck of a ride, I wouldn't change a thing.
Every year you spend metal detecting you learn something new that can be put to good use down the road, unless you do the same things at the same places all the time.
This year I learned not to jump to conclusions by ignoring sites within a site because experience told me I should.
Eight or nine times out of ten I can read a site within minutes of walking onto and searching the site, so it is tempting to rely on previous experiences and just hit sexy looking search areas.
After this years experiences I will make a point of not letting my ego get in the way and start hitting the other ten to twenty percent of ugly sites within a site that experience tells me to ignore.
Another new years resolution I know I can keep because of the success I've had this year is to dig more iron on trashy sites.
Some of my best finds this year have come from iron infested areas I only got lucky at because I took out more iron than I normally would have.
In 2018 I was reminded of the value of using smaller size search coils in areas known to be productive, it is so tempting to believe there must be something deeper but more often that is not the case.
The value of using a small size search coil on a productive site is being able to winkle out another good shallow target, by either searching the area from a different direction or simply using less discrimination.
Harder to detect targets are not always deeper targets, they can be shallow targets.
It was not at all smooth sailing this year but I intend to learn from the miscalculations I made in 2018, hey even I get distracted ooh look its a monkey!
Another lesson learned this year is the value of using reliable metal detecting equipment, when the going got tough my metal detector and pin-pointer took a beating.
I took metal detecting equipment into locations that are really tough sites to search, lesson learned travel with reliable equipment you are familiar with.
My advise for the new year is to learn from the soon to be old year, use and adapt what worked for you and avoid the things that did not work out so well for you.
Look forward to a good treasure hunting year, a year you will surely learn something from.
Experiment, experience, have fun and a happy lucky new year!
Anyone using a metal detector can find gold wedding bands, silver chains or coins at a tourist beaches but not everyone can find diamond rings, especially solitaire diamond rings.
Id even go as far as to say it takes skill to find diamond rings with a metal detector, even at the most crowded tourist beaches around the world.
Solitaire diamond rings or rings with diamonds complimenting large rocks are often not that big of a target to detect using a metal detector.
Expensive platinum or gold rings are usually constructed in the style of a thin band with prongs holding the center piece diamond in place, because of this design diamond rings tend to "Parachute" when lost in sand.
The shape of large diamonds often result in the band of the ring settling vertically under the diamond or diamonds, a thing I first noticed when beach hunting at night using a head lamp.
I often saw the flash of the diamond before detecting diamond rings and pulled several really nice diamond rings trapped vertically in the wet sand and my parachuting diamond ring theory was born.
My slow methodical beach hunting style always gives me a chance of detecting big ticket diamond rings instead of walking over them, this $10.000.00 platinum Tiffany ring with a 1.5 carat diamond is proof of that.
Diamond rings are just like coins on edge, they are difficult targets to detect without using a slow and low search coil sweeping technique.
If you have been beach hunting for any length of time and you struggle to detect diamond rings and gold chains, you don't need a different metal detector you need a change of search technique.
In my opinion you have to go small in order to find big, covering smaller areas using a smaller search coil will change your fortunes when it comes to finding diamond rings.
You can't rely on luck when trying to winkle out small targets in the sand, you have to rely on the way you cover the ground and the way you sweep your search coil over the ground.
Metal detecting at the beach is popular now and every beach hunter wants to cover prime jewelry hunting areas before the competition at tourist beaches, leaving difficult to detect but expensive targets behind for savvy methodical jewelry hunters looking for platinum and gold parachutes.
Get yourself to the beach and see what others are missing!
The first time I thought about buying a metal detector was many moons ago after picking up coins while searching tidal river banks in England, but I changed my mind because I figured Im finding coins why bother right?
I kind of looked at metal detectors and metal detecting in general as cheating and figured it took more skill to eye ball coins instead of using a machine to detect them.
Coins were easy to spot as I searched for old bottles and clay pipes along river banks, using my "Twin optical scanners" first to read the river banks looking for the right layer holding goodies and secondly to spot the things I was searching for.
Fast forward to today and I still rely on my eyes first search strategy to put me position to use a metal detector, my metal detector is just the tool I use to winkle out coins, jewelry or artifacts from an area I believe may be productive.
My long handled beach scoop and pin-pointer are target recovery tools I use now I can detect metal objects not visible on the surface.
I still look at my metal detector, scoop and pin-pointer as tools of the trade and like any trade it is the craftsmanship and work ethic that makes the difference between doing a good job or a poor job.
The point of todays blog is to look at your metal detecting equipment as tools that help you to recover what you expect or hope your site reading skills have put you in position to detect.
If you buy a certain metal detector because you believe the reason you are not finding coins, jewelry or artifacts is you are using the wrong metal detector, you need to work on your site reading skills.
Don't get me wrong, the type of metal detector you use can make a big difference in any kind of metal detecting, but only when you know why it can make a significant difference.
Site reading skills come with experience and they are the ultimate learning on the job experience for anyone swinging a metal detector.
Im lucky I found a 1790 gold coin digging for bottles in England, or Id possibly still be walking around with a rake and a plastic bag instead of a metal detector, scoop and finds pouch.
Research your local area, learn what conditions have to be present to find stuff and use the tools of the trade to detect what you are hoping to recover, preferably in that order!
Its not how many hours you spend pounding the beach, its where you spend your time that makes a difference.
In my opinion, site reading and observational skills are the building blocks of this great hobby.
If you need help reading the beach I have a book on my website called "How to read the beach & water" that will show you what to look for.
