It's interesting to see the phycology behind metal-detectorists ways of thinking and applied methodology to achieve their dreams and desires.
Some dream of finding riches beyond their wildest dreams.
Others, more realistically, desire to find things such as a Medieval hammered coin or Roman brooch for instance.
The first prerequisite is to actually search where there are actually these objects in the ground.
I know that sounds obvious, but it's amazing how many detectorists will search areas without even researching if there's been any history there at all.
I also accept that some may be very, very lucky indeed, and find something that satisfies the two above dreams/desires.
The research thing has been covered in an earlier post.
So, lets look at the search technique side of things.
All detectorists know that you have to walk over an object (within detector parameters) to find it.
What is humorous is that many detectorists would love a detector that could go an inch or two deeper, yet neglect that that their coils miss several inches, if not several feet to either side of the coil.
This is caused by a detection method called 'snail-trailing' or a random walk in the countryside.
Using the 'snail-trail' method results in the detectorist missing several square feet of the search field/area. This could amount to at least 50% of the field!
You can imagine just how many possible Medieval hammered coins could be hidden in those missed areas.
This is where you get the scenario when a detectorist has searched a field for 20-years and never found much and all of a sudden, they find that hammered/Roman coin.
There is a simple formula that will let you know how long it will take to search a field/area so that you know how long it will take to cover that field/area FULLY.
Here goes..... it will take you a MINIMUM of four-and-a-half hours to search ONE acre fully, minimum, and that's without digging a signal!
So, that's 0.22 (about a fifth) of an acre each hour or 900 square metres.
This is the easy bit..... a 10-acre field WILL take a minimum of FOURTY-FIVE hours to search FULLY without stops.
It's amazing how many detectorists will say that they've "battered" a 10-acre field in quarter of a day.............
Some dream of finding riches beyond their wildest dreams.
Others, more realistically, desire to find things such as a Medieval hammered coin or Roman brooch for instance.
The first prerequisite is to actually search where there are actually these objects in the ground.
I know that sounds obvious, but it's amazing how many detectorists will search areas without even researching if there's been any history there at all.
I also accept that some may be very, very lucky indeed, and find something that satisfies the two above dreams/desires.
The research thing has been covered in an earlier post.
So, lets look at the search technique side of things.
All detectorists know that you have to walk over an object (within detector parameters) to find it.
What is humorous is that many detectorists would love a detector that could go an inch or two deeper, yet neglect that that their coils miss several inches, if not several feet to either side of the coil.
This is caused by a detection method called 'snail-trailing' or a random walk in the countryside.
Using the 'snail-trail' method results in the detectorist missing several square feet of the search field/area. This could amount to at least 50% of the field!
You can imagine just how many possible Medieval hammered coins could be hidden in those missed areas.
This is where you get the scenario when a detectorist has searched a field for 20-years and never found much and all of a sudden, they find that hammered/Roman coin.
There is a simple formula that will let you know how long it will take to search a field/area so that you know how long it will take to cover that field/area FULLY.
Here goes..... it will take you a MINIMUM of four-and-a-half hours to search ONE acre fully, minimum, and that's without digging a signal!
So, that's 0.22 (about a fifth) of an acre each hour or 900 square metres.
This is the easy bit..... a 10-acre field WILL take a minimum of FOURTY-FIVE hours to search FULLY without stops.
It's amazing how many detectorists will say that they've "battered" a 10-acre field in quarter of a day.............
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