Beginners guide to improving your metal detecting finds rate.

So your not finding a great deal of items on your permissions.

Here i am going to list a few sound pieces of advice which will hopefully improve your finds rate, no matter what machine you use.

i will start off with something so simple, but so important, your swing.

If you are going to swing your machine in a pendulum fashion, you will lose a high percentage of the ground you cover. The way you should think about your swing is this; Imagine your search head is a steam iron and you are ironing the grass/soil in front of you. If you have a pendulum motion you will only iron the fabric in the centre of your swing, the rest will remain creased. We don't want any creases, so let’s keep it level.

So you are now covering the ground in front of you correctly.

Once you are swinging in a fashion that covers all of the ground in front of you, then you need to now slow down.

I see all too many detectorists going hell for leather up the field swinging like a good thing but only covering about 10% of the ground they pass over. I recently attended a rally where on the second day of the dig (over 60 detectorists) a quarter noble was found within 15 meters of the car park. The area the lucky fellow found it had obviously not been searched properly as everyone had raced off over the top of it. Were back to the ironing again. Make sure as you move forward you cover every inch of ground within your swing range, don't leave any creases.

In my experience, one tends to find a high percentage of things within the first hour of detecting, because we tend to dig more of the "iffy" signals. I recently swept over a spot with my F75 and had an iffy ring pull signal. i had dug at least 15 ring pulls up already. For some reason i did indeed dig the signal, and at about 14 inches i happened upon an intact croatal bell. I reckon that after another hour of detecting i would not have bothered digging that signal. So I guess what I am saying is dig as much as you can, for every 15 disappointments, you may well get one surprise. At some point you will become one with your machine, and begin to know the iron signals. It is for sure though that the old adage of "you will only learn by mistakes" is very true.

And finally, get a probe!

No, don't rush off to the doctors; it's not one of those types of probe.

I will give a plug now to what i and many consider being the best probe on the market. The Garratt Pro Pointer is gods send if you can afford one. I don't know how many times i have missed a tiny object by a few millimetres when i have dug my hole. This can be frustrating as you start to doubt the ability of your machine. With the pro pointer in hand, you simply probe around the sides of the hole and, bingo your find is located. You can then recover the item without damaging it with a shovel strike. The probe also comes into its own when you happen upon a deep target. Occasional you will get a signal from a deep target. You dig your hole and wham, the target as gone. The void between your search coil and the target causes it to disappear! Simply probe the bottom of your hole, and hey presto the item shows up. I wonder how many deep treasure finds have been left in the ground after the signal disappeared?

Now let’s get out there and cover the ground properly. 

Good luck and god bless.

The Ogley dirt farmer.: Dirty waste!

The Ogley dirt farmer.: Dirty waste!: Being a metal detecting enthusiast, i must bring up something i have stuck in my craw at the moment. All over the country you will notice ...

The Ogley dirt farmer.: A day in the wilds of Ludlow.

The Ogley dirt farmer.: A day in the wilds of Ludlow.: On Sunday i had double booked myself in to covering the out of hours phone for work, and going on an organised metal detecting rally with th...

The Ogley dirt farmer.: The man that was Fluepot, a local legend.

The Ogley dirt farmer.: The man that was Fluepot, a local legend.:  Brownhills once had a few characters worthy of a small slice of infamy. Though their happenings probably were not note worthy on a daily b...

The Ogley dirt farmer.: A day out in North Wales with dogs and detectors.....

The Ogley dirt farmer.: A day out in North Wales with dogs and detectors.....: Saturday mornings for me usually consist of a 5am get up followed by a hour or two on the computer. This  would then be mixed with a dash of...

The Ogley dirt farmer.: Metal detecting, a beginners guide.

The Ogley dirt farmer.: Metal detecting, a beginners guide.: It has come to my attention that many people may want to dip their toe into the world of metal detecting. This blog aims to give you a begin...

The Ogley dirt farmer.: Where have all the pub disco's gone?

The Ogley dirt farmer.: Where have all the pub disco's gone?: Today i got to thinking back to the fun filled days of the 80's. Unquestionably the best decade for music ever. It occurred to me that at ...

Where have all the pub disco's gone?

Today i got to thinking back to the fun filled days of the 80's.
Unquestionably the best decade for music ever.
It occurred to me that at least once a week, one of the local watering holes used to put a disco on. The said disco was not for youngsters, it was for everyone.

For all those youngsters who read this, a pub disco was like a nightclub, except the bar stopped pulling at 11.30pm, drugs were hard to come by and you did not have to be wearing £500 worth of clothes to get in.

The disco would usually be a local part time DJ spinning his vinyl while crammed into a tight corner in the back room of the pub. The clientele were usually regulars mixed with a few who would abandon their own watering hole for the chance of a knees up, and some once a week visitors who were only to glad for the release. I don't think there is a better feeling in the world than getting your glad rags on, heading to the pub, opening the doors to hear Falco banging out.

I remember one such watering hole "The Wheatsheaf" located half way up Ogley road Brownhills. This pub was nothing special for 6 days of the week, however on a Friday night it turned into something magical. The house DJ was "Polly" who had a catch phrase of "super sounds of the 60's" or 70's for that matter. He would play anything from Diana Ross through to UB40 and all things in between. Grown men would be up there doing their thing, right next to 18 year old's who were wobbling around after 2 pints of Carling. Polly new the art of keeping the place bouncing with great tune after great tune. Occasionally the place would get a bit rowdy with people bouncing about like a box of frogs, sometimes you would hear Pollys decks get knocked as the needle zipped across the record making an awful screeching noise! Once he fired the next tune up a great cheer would go out as everyone got down to some more dancing. The rooms would be full of real smoke, no need for smoke machines in those days!
When it came to the end of the night everyone would begin to exit in an orderly manner (no need for rozzers and bouncers).

Some would head off home, some would head up to Ogley working mans club to get a last drink in, and others would head up to the high street for food (a curry in the Akash). Don't get me wrong, there was the odd occasion when some one kicked off, however it would usually be sorted out in no time at all.

Another pub that had a good disco for a while was the Railway Tavern. This pub was located on the Lichfield road halfway between the Memo and the island at the top of the high street. The room the disco was held in was slightly larger than the Wheatsheaf's disco room. This was a disco that attracted more of the youth than the older clientele. If i remember correctly this disco was on a Saturday and helped when you couldn't make the Wheatsheaf one on a Friday.

I guess my point is this; Why don't we see these type of discos any more? What has changed in society that going to a pub disco has become a rarity? In fact in my travel's around the Midlands, i rarely see pub discos advertised anywhere!
Are the super sounds of Diana Ross never to be heard reverberating around a pub again? Or will the pubs disco day once again be part of our social lives?

Not sure the worlds a better place now than it was then.

Metal detecting, a beginners guide.

It has come to my attention that many people may want to dip their toe into the world of metal detecting. This blog aims to give you a beginners guide getting yourself started.

So your thinking of going metal detecting?
I would say that your first step into the much maligned and misunderstood world of metal detecting would be to find some land that you can detect upon. This is often the hardest thing you may ever have to do in the hobby. Please remember, that field you walk your dogs on belongs to someone. In fact everywhere you think you could go with your detector will require some sort of permission from the owner, and that applies to beaches.
A favourite of detectorist is farm land,  if you know any farmers well enough you could have a good start point. Be polite when asking for permission, not everyone likes detectorists. Alternatively you could join a club, however this can be a little unnerving when you turn up to a dig with 30 or 40 seasoned searchers with their expensive machines etc. I will add that these clubs are in fact very friendly places where you will get a load of help and advice. They will have regular digs which you will be welcome to attend. I suppose it depends on the individual whether you join a club or not.
When attempting to gain access/permission to land, you will need to observe a few pointers. Try to look at your visit to the farm from the landowners point to view. You will be interrupting his/her working day, so be submissive and considerate, its all about timing. Don't turn up in your detecting gear, he/she will think you have decided that you will gain permission(look tidy). If you can engage him/her into a conversation on detecting you are half way there, answer all of his/her questions confidently. Insurance is a good selling point so have your membership card with you(see below). Carry an agreement document with you, but don't push it yet,(unless asked) documents scare everyone! Carry a business card with you, or even a letter with your name and phone number, it makes them feel secure. Finally I always carry a nice bottle of red with me, I make sure the farmer can see it when i first speak to them (I just think it makes them feel that there is something in it for them). So good luck and don't give up, the more you knock the more you learn.

So you know where you can go, what next?
Well its safe to say you won't get very far without a metal detector.
It's time to dust off your piggy bank and empty it of it's contents (don't worry you will soon re-fill it with the coins you find).
Now this is a decision only you can make, however I will try to steer you through your Two options;

• Buy new.
• Buy used.

NEW.

 We will firstly tackle the new machine options, of which there are many.

A very popular product at the moment are the Garret range of ACE and EUROACE machines. These machines are in constant demand and usually command a good re-sale price should you want to get rid of it.

These machines are good basic machines at the lower price (ACE) and very capable machines at the higher price (EUROACE).

It would be wrong if i did not say other brands are available, because they are, and they all have good and bad points. I will however add that the very low end machines which you buy from electrical retailers and catalogue stores are not a good option in my opinion. 

USED.

This would be the option I would take (knowing what I know now).

There are many machines available on auction sites as well as sites such as the one associated with metaldetectingforms.co.uk find it here. The metaldetectingforum site is amongst the best you can find with readily available knowledge from forum members and the admin team, I heartily endorse its use.  

The machines you should be looking at in my opinion will be ones that are "out of fashion" but still very capable of producing the goods. One such machine which I have some experience of is the Whites Spectrum XLT. You can pick these machines up for about £200-£250 if you are quick, and in the right place at the right time This machine is one which you can play with the settings and change numerous programs on it. It's maybe a bit adventurous for some one who wants to switch on and go. 

There are very good machines from all of the major manufacturers which are switch on and go and available second hand in the £150 to £300 range. I could not possibly give you the names of all of these machines, but what i will say is watch the test videos on You-tube and get as much advice from the forums as possible. Look for Norfolk wolf videos on you-tube, the guy was a legend and has some comprehensive footage. If you pick up a good second hand machine, you won't want to change it in a hurry. if you pick up a low end new machine and get addicted to the hobby, I guarantee you will soon want to upgrade.

One final point is where you are going to detect. If you are planning on ONLY going on beaches, you are best to buy a specialist beech machine, again many are available. Do your research.

So you purchased a machine, what now?

Well you will now be well advised to get some insurance. This can be done by becoming a member of the NCMD or FID both well respected and reliable national bodies which represent detectorists. I strongly recommend you join one of these bodies before you set foot on a field/beach. The cost of membership is not prohibitive, so go for it. You will require membership if you are joining a club or attending a rally.

Now finally before you dirty your trowel, get out the detecting code of conduct and read it from front to back and through again. Here is the NCMD code of conduct.  

Don't load up the car just yet!

You will now require a few accessories which are essential. First and foremost is the shovel/trowel. Without this you might as well be baking a cake in a refrigerator. If your chosen shovel is not up to the job and breaks while detecting, your day will be ruined, so choose carefully! I endorse the Draper mini round nose shovel, cheep and reliable. Others may want a full length shovel, or a small hand trowel. Don't be fooled into thinking that trowel you have knocking about in the greenhouse will do the trick. It will most likely bend or snap in no time. Secondly you will require appropriate clothing and footwear, though not essential it is highly recommended. after all, you could detect naked if you wanted, but where would you put your finds.........!

Finally you will need something to put those most precious of finds into (you will find them one day honest). I have plenty of pockets in the trousers I wear. I do however carry those small seal-able plastic pouches for those finds that get the heart racing .

Now off you go, and be careful!

I always let the farmer know when I am going onto his land, you may establish other arrangements.

No matter what you dig up, please remove it from the land (unless it looks like ordnance). If it looks dangerous call the police, the farmer would prefer it removed than it blow his tractor to hell. Large iron objects (and you will find them) should be placed out of harms way in the hedgerow. Smaller junk can be removed/recycled by yourself. Let the landowner know what you have found if its interesting, it often opens more land up to you. Finally adhere to the code of conduct on the aforementioned link (NCMD). This includes recording finds with the Portable Antiquities scheme. And understanding and complying with the treasure act of 1996 here. Remember that when you are out with your metal detector you are an ambassador for our hobby. Do nothing that might give it a bad name.

Good luck and god bless.

A day out in North Wales with dogs and detectors..

Saturday mornings for me usually consist of a 5am get up followed by a hour or two on the computer. This  would then be mixed with a dash of live sky sport if available. At about 7 am i start to cook up a bit of breakfast as my middle son Simon comes around with his dog Roxy. We have a breakfast at about 8am then we often head out with our metal detectors.

This week the weather hasn't been great, so i thought it might be best if we take the detectors out and the dogs as well. If it was raining heavy we could walk the dogs, if it cleared up a bit we could have the dogs with us while we detected. Now the question was where should we go? I had an anchoring to go to the seaside.  I thought that North Wales was about the quickest and the closest. So the Green Meanie (nick name for my Renault Kangoo) was packed with detectors and dogs and off we went. We had 114 miles ahead of us, with what could only be described as threatening sky's all around. We took the M54 then across to Whitchurch, Chester and then Rhyl.

Arriving at 10am we were greeted by a council run car park bereaved of cars. There was only one wretched pay meter which demanded a pound an hour payment, i considered not paying as i could not see a warden being bothered to turn up, the car park was empty. My honesty got the better of me and I paid my pound. The thought went through my mind that the reason there was no one at the seaside was not the shocking weather but because it cost you money to do anything when you are there. A note that local authorities should consider with their pay parking, is when no one comes to your venues, drop the parking fees and they might come.

We had an hour walking up and down the promenade at Prestatyn. This is a nice shore line with a concrete pathway which also acts as a wave breaker. Maintenance on the pathway was somewhat absent. Piles of drifting sand were dotted all over the place. There were no bins anywhere to be seen and the whole thing looked unloved. The beech itself is a pebble beech for about 80%  of what is above the high tide line, with dunes above that. A hour there was plenty for us as the tide was fully in and we could not really let the dogs have a rip.

We moved about 4 miles down the coast to Kinmel Bay which is just East of Towyn. This stretch had a free car park and guess what.....people were there! We let the dogs off for a run on this beech as the tide was rapidly retreating. The wind was coming in off the sea at a rate of knots and would have lifted a well fitting hat clean off your head. There were a bevy of elderly kite surfers limbering up, how they could get into that water, god only knows. The dogs were loving it, Simon was taking photos with his new Nikon1 camera, and i was itching to get the detector out. I finally got the F75se out with about a hour to spare. I wondered if the beech might have been searched on a regular basis? Anyway i detected the dunes with the F75 in JE mode and sensitivity at about 70. This worked well and i found a few coins as well as a few ring pulls and the usual crap that comes from beeches. I moved down to the wet sand and got so much chatter in the headphones i had to rethink the settings. I did the ground balance "grab" then turned the sensitivity down to 45. this worked and i managed to bag a few more coins. Alas the time had come to depart the north coast of Wales and head to gods own country Brownhills.

We took the motorway home and drove through some horrendous rain storms which had thankfully missed us in Wales. The dogs were exhausted and quickly went to sleep in the back of the Green meanie. The trip cost me about £40 in fuel and parking, and i found £1.82 on the beech........why do we do it?

The man that was Fluepot, a local legend.

 Brownhills once had a few characters worthy of a small slice of infamy.
Though their happenings probably were not note worthy on a daily basis, they were on an accumulation basis.
One such character went by the name of Fluepot, real name Peter Cooper. Now i am not an expert on the goings on of Fluey, but have worked with him and heard many a tale which i believe are true.....well to some extent anyway.

One such tale came about just after the end of the Falklands war. There was a glut of work on the island for civil engineers, which Fluey purported to be. This was a highly paid job in a land far away from home. Now legend has it that Fluey was amongst the first batch of civil engineers to land on the island. They were billeted in army type barracks, and had full access to military facilities i.e the Naafi and bar etc. Now Fluepot enjoyed a drink to say the least. In fact i would say he spent at least half of his waking hours intoxicated. If he had money in his pocket he would be found in a public house somewhere in the Brownhills area. Not long into Fluepot's stay on the Falklands he had become very familiar with the local ale. Fluey did not know the meaning of "had enough" and almost always drank himself into a coma (cash allowing). On one such occasion, he managed to soil his bed with both number 1 and 2! This had followed a couple of bed wetting episodes which had been noted. Any way this angered the contractors so much that they forcibly removed Fluey from the island and sent him on his way back to England.

The legend being that, Fluepot, aka Peter Cooper was the first person to be forcibly removed from the Falklands islands after the Argentinian army were removed.

Fluey was a regular in the old Anchor pub when it stood at the side of the bridge. He would pick his wages up on a Friday and from that point on it was a full on onslaught against his liver. My uncle Martin said that one day as Fluey stood at the bar he managed to let all of his bodily fluids go while trying to Fart (gross i know)! Anyway that led to him being bared for a while.

Photo thanks to Brownhills Bob.

One of my last memories of Fluepot was my wife and me sitting in our car at the bottom of the high street outside the old swinging fish chippy. I could see Fluey heading towards us, it looked like he had been to Mario's as he had a large fish and chip wrapper in his hand. He was on the three steps forward and one back routine when he unfurled a large piece of cod. I said to my wife "look, i bet he drops that". True to form, he picked up the fish (by the tail), the fish began to bend away from his mouth, the more he lent forward the more it bent until it snapped and hit the floor!! I knew he would do this, he bent over picked it up and flicked the gravel from it and, yep...he carried on eating it.
Anyone who has phots of the old Anchor or Fluepot, if you send them to me i will scan them and get them back to you.

Fluey, to you i doff my cap R.I.P.

A day in the wilds of Ludlow.

On Sunday i had double booked myself in to covering the out of hours phone for work, and going on an organised metal detecting rally with the club i hold membership with.

On Saturday evening my good wife had decided that we order a Chinese curry in for a treat. My son Darren loves a curry, and my wife is partial to a a bit of Chinese as well! Anyway, i had a mixed meet curry (i usually have noodles). My son also had a mixed meet curry, with spare ribs and sweat and sour pork balls. The wife being a veggie had a plain curry and rice.

About 2 hours after i had eaten mine, i started feeling a bit queezy! i asked the others if they felt sick, which they did not. it wasn't long before i was on my knees in front of the porcelain thrown! i soon hit the sack feeling pretty sorry for myself. My son told me the next day that he had felt sick on the night as well.

Well i woke up on Sunday feeling like i had been in a car crash. I was determined to go on the rally so began filling the vehicle with my goodies. i had my call out phone with me and my work folder with all of my contacts details in it. About half way through my journey i had a call out for Nottingham which i passed to the engineer (we cover heating breakdowns). That's going to be it for the day i thought as i arrived at the venue at 8.30am. It was a picturesque valley occupied by almost exclusive pasture land. I looked at my phone and noticed a very poor signal, this was worrying. a quick walk around the first field showed that the higher part of the field gave a boost to the signal on my phone. then, my phone goes off again. Another call for Nottingham, which i passed to the engineer. At this point i decided to set my phone calls to go to the engineer in Nottingham should i have no signal. We later had another call for Boston, which took the engineer over two hours to reach. However the volume of calls had put me on edge and upset my rhythm on the fields.

The searching began well, with me finding a Victorian half penny within the first 10 minutes. i then went on to find another two Vicky's within about 20 meters of the first one. However i was concentrating my search to an area where i knew i had a good phone signal, rather than where i thought the better part of the field was. I eventually moved to the next field which had no phone signal, i quickly moved onto the highest of the fields which had a signal but did not look as attractive. By looking attractive i mean that the field which had no signal, had a old barn in it as well as ruins of an old house. i found very little over the next couple of hours. one of the lower fields produced a Georgian penny but that was about it.

I have made a few friends on the few rally's i have attended. frequent stops for a chat are sometimes the highlight of the day. I spoke with the guy who got the club the permission on these fields, his forum name was "Ayit" sadly i don't remember his real name but will make an effort in future to recall it. He had found similar to what i had found.  Another member had found a large roman crud, basically a bronze disc with no discernible markings. He later found a cut quarter hammered silver coin i believe from near to the old house. I later found out that quite a few hammered silvers were found near to the house, with one of the members finding as many as five. Another of the lucky fellas found a silver roman brooch which i have a great desire to find some day. i also heard that he may have found a Celtic coin. Again i only know his Forum user name which i believe is Woody (well done woody)

I had to leave at about 3pm as i had an hour and half drive home, and was still on call. The wife was going to the cinema on the evening and i did not want to arrive as she went out.

All in all it was a very enjoyable day. There may be another rally on the opposite side of the valley, which looks even more appealing. its south facing and has some interesting field markings. Lets hope i am not on call that week as i would be really p***** off if i could not have a whole day at it. Thanks to JJ (organiser) the marshals and  all who attended.

woz.

Dirty waste!

Being a metal detecting enthusiast, i must bring up something i have stuck in my craw at the moment.

All over the country you will notice farmers fields which have large quantities of what appears to be soil tipped across them. This in fact is not soil, but green waste. It is widely used as a fertilizer on arable land as well as pasture land. Its a known fact that this waste is contaminated with whatever we gardeners/council tax payers see fit to throw into our Brown wheelie bins.

While out wondering the fields with my detector i have found all sorts of crap lying on top of the ground. There are huge amounts of plastics which take forever to degrade. tin foil, toys, money and scrap metal are abound. This stuff is being mixed with our food crops and eventually consumed by us on a daily basis.

The companies who "recycle" the green waste are supposed to remove all of the said anomalies before distributing it to farmland. They are instructed to remove the contaminates, or send the material to landfill. the land fill option would be ultra expensive, so i guess the contaminates get overlooked. The farmers i would think are being financially awarded for taking this waste off the operators hands. So there goes any chance of the farmers moaning too much about the quality of material they receive. When the detectorist fraternity moan about it, people see it has them being selfish, as the metal waste can render the land useless to detect on. This is true to some extent, however it is undeniable that our land is being contaminated.

There is a petition going around to make government aware of this here. It would be nice to think that some one in government is already aware of this and the legacy that we are leaving for our children.

Brownhills developments.

It has been slowly sinking in to my thick head that i enjoy reading blogs, and had aught to try blogging myself.

I have been using Facebook for a couple of years or more now, and had the great pleasure of meeting some old long lost school friends while doing so. One of my friends, introduced me to an amazing blogger by the name of Brownhills Bob. I have followed Bobs blog's with enthusiasm over the last 12 months, and have consequently been introduced to other interesting bloggers in our area, well Walsall area anyway. Bob's blog centers on the happenings in and around Brownhills, he also covers other interesting villages etc as he rides around the countryside on his bicycle. So thank you Bob for setting the blog seed in my heavily composted brain.

I live in the shadow of the new buildings which are going up at a rate of knots at the bottom of the high street. These buildings now occupy the ground which once had the wretched 3 story maisonettes stood on it. For those who have not been to Brownhills for a while, two of the four high rise have now gone. Those that have been demolished are Wayne house and Bailey house (where i once lived). Humphries house and Severn house are in the latter stages of a refurbishment which has left Humphries house in a shade of pastel Blue and cream. Not sure it looks right yet, but it could only be an improvement on its old facade. Severn House (kids always knew it as block Severn) however has not been fully revealed by Wates and WHG. All of Brownhills maisonettes have now been raised to the ground. The buildings which i live in the shadow of are about 5/6 of the way through the building stage. They are modern looking thinks with curved and sloping roof's. the facade comprises of wood and render, again in pastel shades. The building which replaced the Maisonettes next to the Anchor pub, is the one which is 5/6 the way through developments. The building going up opposite the old Anchor garage is in the embryonic stage, however it will be much like the other building once completed.

Lets hope that WHG see fit to move a suitable type of tenant into these new buildings. It would not take long for the buildings to fall into a state of disrepair should they be filled with "dole dossers" and the like.

Below are two images. Top one is Humphries house in the latter stages of renovation, looking from the canal side.
Second image is of the old gully at the bottom of Hodgkins close leading through to Anchor bridge. This gully will be lost once the new buildings are complete.