I took my new Explorer II to a favorite hunt spot of mine for years now, a place my buddies and I have nicknamed "The Barber House."
It's pretty much a rite of passage when I get a new machine to take it there and see what this "hunted out" site will produce. I did it with the last 5 machines I've had,
including the Quattro, and all my new machines have found stuff the others missed.
The Explorer II didn't disappoint today. First let me say also that I "get it" now with the Iron Mask. This place is a rusty nail and
iron pit, so using my disc pattern wasn't cutting it...too much nulling. So I played with the IM a little and what I came up with that seemed to work best in this site was IM -12 and
using the "Detect" touchpad to switch back and forth between Smartfind and Digital. I had the sensitivity at manual and set to 24, which was about all I could take. It
actually wasn't too bad. A Little "chatty", but bearable. And being able to see and hear the iron, I can see now how that will let you get the good stuff out from around the
junk. I was initially a little unclear as to why running Iron Mask and then turning it down to the point where it almost wasn't masking anything at all was better than Iron
Mask "Off". As I said, I get it now.
My first target was a 1966 quarter at about 6". I got a nice signal off of it and the smartfind and digital were both in agreement...DIG.
I think it was a 00 - 28 or 29. The next thing I dug was a little weird sounding and the box and the numbers were all around. But in a good way. So I dug it up. Turned out to be a
green and crusty pocket watch, seemingly intact save for the face and the door. But what a mess. And yet, there was gold. Plating no doubt. It was a green verdigris mess. But as I
found out later, that was from the guts leeching out. It cleaned up REAL NICE. I found another pocket watch...maybe a ladies? Or a boy's? No matter, it was trashed...mostly rust.
This site that has given up SO much over the years, including at least a dozen or more Barber coins...that I know of...and buttons, CW and Colonial...even a British Revolutionary War button...gave me YET ANOTHER Barber dime. It was a good 8 inches down or more. I also found an Indian and a Mercury as well before the 4 hours was up.
The last thing I dug was the biggest button I've ever seen. I think it's Colonial. There are no back marks to it that I can make out. I initially
cleaned up the watch with some soap and water and it did wonders. It was at that point that I realized it was gold. I decided to stick it in my electrolysis setup and see what I could
do with it. The results were incredible. I have to say I am most pleased with the Explorer II so far. To find the things I found today at this site is amazing, considering the number
of times that I and several others have hunted it over the years (about 5 years...the house has been gone for at least 3 years now) and the stuff we have pulled out of there. Nobody
else will hunt there now, because it's "hunted out". You gotta love that!
Tomorrow to the beach I go, with the 12.5" coil. Happy hunting!
–Mike, Virginia Beach, VA
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