Mark Ling Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Hey ya'll been metal detecting for about 5 years off and on, enjoyed it, wanted to see how many others out there metal detect, and are willing to show there finds, including the old hand forged items. I wouldn't say I have a favorite item, too hard to choose. I use an ace 250 and the new garret water proof pin pointer, love both of them. Or if any of ya'll have happened to come across anything old or neat (or both!) than feel free to chime in, always interested to see what others are finding, some of my best finds were with my eyes and not the detector. Sorry for the quality of pictures, lighting in my room isn't the best, and it's dark out so no natural light. I tried taking some pictures of the forge welds but they wouldn't show up, and same with the heads on some rose head nails. most of this stuff is pretty amateur finds, but it keeps me happy. Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Had a Garrett at pro for a year now and have enjoyed it. The pinpointer makes finding stuff way easier. I haven't got all my finds sorted out or displayed properly yet but a few things. In one area of the Monongahela river I keep finding old mine tags which are fun to find. I've given some to the property owner/ friend where I find them. Found the silver coins at my parents place which used to be a park/ picnic area. I've found other coins but those are the only silver. I also enjoy finding and researching shotgun shell head stamps. Old iron and steel is the best tho. Implements and tack. Very cool to find. Mines on the log were the better finds Saturday along the river along with 9 mine tags ( gave two away) and a barely realizable Indian head penny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Olson Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Whats a mine tag? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammerMonkey Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 I think it is a number/tag assigned to a miner and kept on a board near the mine entrance. When the miner goes into the mine he moves his tag to the side of the board for people that are down below. This gave a quick reference to how many and who were down below in an emergency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 That's about what I know of em. Somehow they found their way to all over my friends property and along the river. Our guess if from the mine floods as they often do. They have been closed a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olfart Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 At the rate I'm finding coins, in another 40 - 50 years maybe I can afford to upgrade to an AT Pro. Right now I'm running a Bounty Hunter Time Ranger that I've had for about 6 months. Just went out to the local fair grounds this morning and brought home $ 0.36 more than I left home with (except for the $15 worth of gas I put in the car). No old coins among them. Looks like the carnies must do a surface sweep just before they pull out, because all of these were 2" to 4" deep and heavily corroded. One interesting coin was a penny with a cross cut out of it. Never saw one of those before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted November 6, 2017 Author Share Posted November 6, 2017 Das, good silver haul! ooohhh, and that blob top, haven't been able to find one completely intact yet, seems people here liked them for target practice...Just find the tops. The mine tags look also very similar to cow tags, neat finds! I have found cow tags here and 'cause there aren't any mines around I've always figured that's what they were. What does that one say? I also enjoy paper shotgun shells and finding out when they are from, even though most detectorists just through them out. I use this site to help date them, you've probably seen it before. http://www.cartridge-corner.com/shotgun.htm neat penny with the cross Olfart. I started out with a bounty hunter and found a lot of stuff with it, nothing wrong with it. The discrimination is a little bit trickier, but it has it where you dig signals that on a different detector you would pass up, and so you find things that you typically wouldn't. I've found steel but plates off guns, forged iron, gun tools, and other stuff that on other detectors you would just pass up. Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Olfart, take that penny with you detecting, maybe it will be your lucky penny, then again the last person lost it... I keep a jar for all my modern change finds, and one for older stuff. I know what you mean about maybe in 40-50 years haha. Maybe if I go out enough I'll pay for this one. LBS the mine tags all have numbers but some ice found also have "old eagle mine" on them. Supposedly there are some with Elkhorn Mine on them but I havnt found one yet. I found the blob top bottle because of the stopper still in it. There are tons of bits of broken crocks along the river as well. thought I had a whole one for a minute Saturday but it ended up just being the bottom and a bit above it. I still save pieces I find when they have nice ink work on them. I like the old head stamps. I was going on to a site that was headstamp database last year when I was looking them up but the bookmark on my phone isn't leading to it. Perhaps even that's the new one? I'll have to look it up and see. Thanks for the link. Yes finding the silver was really fun. got my heart pumping. It's truly a fun hobby. Almost as fun as blacksmithing or creating sculptures from scrap, but they all can go hand in hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 Mark, you have some great finds there and I like the way you have them displayed. You didn't find the snake skin with a detector did you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted November 11, 2017 Author Share Posted November 11, 2017 I had read this, and meant to respond but forgot, thank you Aus for bringing this back to my attention. I looked up mine tags and they look the same as the ones you have found, I think you are right with the identification, especially with that one saying "old eagle mine". Funny story about a crock, (and for you Ausies, no I don't mean a crocodile!). I was bottle digging in an old dump, and I could see what I thought was part of a crock sticking out, so I continued digging, expecting it to be a small part. I kept digging and kept exposing more and more of it, until I could see almost the hole thing (it was laying on it's side) I kept trying to pull it out, but It wouldn't budge! so, I continued digging, but this time more on the ends, and came across a root about the diameter of my wrist. Apparently It had grown straight though it! so, it turned out that the crock wasn't whole, but that just the bottom had been busted out. oh well, it got me excited haha. Thank you Aus! no, I didn't! that was from the edge of our pond, just a water snake, about 4ft long ('bout 1.2 meters, or 1219 mm). That's not the only skins in my room. Got a rattler on my wall, not one that it shedded, or at least not willingly, if you know what I mean...And also a copperhead. I almost got bit by a rattler once (well, actually twice now thinking about it). My brother and I were metal detecting at an old barn from the 40's, and there was a an open door on the side of the barn that we were going to go through instead of going around because of some downed trees, but we saw that there were some wasp nests, and so to not risk getting stung, we decided to go the longer rout, and thank goodness we did. When we rounded the corner of the barn (the front of the barn was open, no wall), I heard the unmistakable sound of a rattler, a sound that will make you (or at least me!) stop in my tracks. It was a large rattler up against the wall that had the door that we would have gone through if there weren't the wasps, and would have stepped right over it, though I'm sure it would let us know that it was there, if you know what I mean. another time I was in a bottle dump in about a 4ft hole, my neck/head about ground level. there was a piece of tin on the edge of the whole, I had been digging there for a few hours, and was bout to head out. I knew I was in an area with rattle snakes, and so I decided to move the piece of tin so that next time there wouldn't be a chance of there being a snake, and since I had been in that hole for a while I figured there wasn't anything under it. Very stupidly I used my hand, lifted the piece of tin up to move it away, and practically dropped it back down when I saw the rattle snake coiled up underneath it. I called my dad and we took care of it. I was very shocked that I didn't get bit, I wouldn't be mad at the snake if I did get bit, because I would have deserved every bit (ha, pun) of it, lifting it up with my hand the way I did. littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 Very few bad snakes in my neck of the woods. Certainly never saw a rattler though I hear there are some. Worst case is a copperhead here but still mostly rare at that. Im just getting into metal detecting but I have loved relic finding all my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-1ToolSteel Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 This is a really cool thread. Keep it coming, guys. No metal detector, but I found this in our creek the other day. Looked up the markings on it, and it turned out to be over 100 years old. Top piece appears to be wrought iron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Nice find C1! Eyeball finds are always cool. I have made some too. Just look down. That's what I did till I bought a detector and I found a lot. The detector helps find the more hidden stuff but there are always treasures to be found just looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted November 16, 2017 Author Share Posted November 16, 2017 Very nice find Chris! I only seem to find parts of the old padlocks like yours. I don't have problems finding ones from the 1940s to present. Man, now I wonder what else could be in that creek! That's also in good shape for being found in water, typically when you first find iron in water you can't even tell what it is until you literally bust off the rust. Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 I think some of it has to do with the ph of the water and conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted November 16, 2017 Author Share Posted November 16, 2017 Think so too, at least here though any iron you pull out of creeks are in a 1/2" thick cocoon of rust. Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 I like finding rr spikes like that because they look really cool after you break of the coccon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 especially the real wrought iron ones... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 I thought they looked cool before, but after electrolysis and a quick wire wheel they are awesome. Not just spikes but old bolts too. I have a lot more to get into the tank yet but wow I love the look. These will for sure end up in sculptures like candle holders and stuff as center pieces or focal points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave51B Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 yer gonna need a bigger tank.............ds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 For Sure! And more Kayak metal detecting trips down rivers! I have a feeling I'll be hunting down old battery chargers on the cheap this summer at fleamarkets.also larger totes and or a cow waterer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted November 30, 2017 Author Share Posted November 30, 2017 wow, I like those alot! when electolisysing I had always just left them a black, I like the silver! looks like I'll have to haul some of the wrought iron out of my scrap pile and into the tank! I bet ya people would buy those as is. Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 I had a large nail from a landscape timber that was heavily rusted and pitted---not wrought.. Forged a simple S hook from it---rust/scale piling up though I tried to avoid hitting it much to preserve the surface and then wire brushed it and my wife liked it so much I hit it with clear coat and it will be a christmas present for her this year. One of the joys of using scrap is hidden finds like that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 That is spectacular stuff, Das. I have always liked the texture of wrought but I'm just no good at forging it. Not unless you're going for the toothbrush effect. But those pieces work well as stand alone sculptures and they just speak age and history. I have a lot of that sort of metal and I've only ever used molasses and a wire brush to get to the deep texture. Gonna have to investigate this electrolysis caper! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 6 hours ago, ausfire said: Gonna have to investigate this electrolysis caper! Aus, it's super easy. One of those "why didn't I start doing this Years ago" kind of things. When I saw the texture on these I thought of that piece you used to make a coat stand. You just can't recreate what Mother Nature does over time. Really unique pieces. Thomas the S hook is a good idea. Could just use a wood mallet for bending to preserve the texture. They are awesome as is LBS. they don't take much wire wheeling to shine up. I'm wondering what a touch on the polishing wheel would do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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