New Detectors....Less finds

After a long wait my new detector has arrived. Being one of limited means I gratefully  grabbed the offer of the bogo (buy one, get one at a reduced price) on my mate Garfy's order. He invested in a Garrett AT Pro and on the back of this I obtained a Cobra Beach Magnet at a reasonable price. The AT Pro is a nice looking machine and it has a lot of bells and whistles. I imagine it will take Garfy quite a while to learn to use it to it's full potential. The Cobra is a sturdy looking appliance with built in headphones and for this first short trip out I decided to dig every target at least until I can get used to what the signal is trying to tell me.


 It was 6.30pm before we started out and with the evening ready to close in we decided that a revisit to the NorWest cricket park would be a good idea. It was close by and in the short time I was there a few weeks ago I dug two targets under the trees where the spectators would sit and both spots uncovered old decimal coins. Not exciting finds but encouraging none the less.

On this visit, all brimming with enthusiasm, we spent 90 minutes digging many targets which produced a lot of rubbish some of it mildly interesting but on the whole disappointing.

West Auckland Peace Pipe

The best find I had was a pipe. Obviously a dope pipe which was a good five inches down. When it was cleaned up at home it showed that it was made, I think, from phosphor bronze and was quite weighty and indeed quite well made. The bowl had been brazed on and the tube was machined at one end. How old it is is any ones guess but it was a nice find. Where else would you detect a dope pipe other than West Auckland!!

Other finds included a microphone housing from an old dial phone, a spanner head, two large bolts and a iron peg that we think would be associated with the nearby railway track. Of course we had a few nails, pull tabs and bottle tops. But no coins at all. The first adventure I've had without a coin being found. And we were so confident when we arrived that we would rip it up. We now think that the place was landfilled with uncleaned fill due to the amount of rubbish we found. As I dug everything, Garthy tried to be a bit more fussy and he said he ignored a lot of his targets.  

The upshot is we have a lot to learn yet with the new detectors and this we will only do by getting out and doing some swinging.

The Pro Pin Pointer (PPP)

A pin pointer was another accessory that was in the package we bought though we did not really get to test it properly tonight as most of the items we found were big enough for easy visual recognition. But after our tests at home I know it will a great help and save a lot of time in future hunts.

So where will we go tomorrow evening. A nice beach I think. Easier digging is something to look forward to.
See you out there.