Nokta Impact Kills the Clad

Another long day detecting with the Impact. Up at 5am and out the door by 6, early risers get the clad...LOL
Had three places to try, made it to all of them.

Today the Impact was going to be used in DI3 mode, Disc mode with 3 tones, factory presets,14khz.
The first place was huge, it would take a week to cover every inch, picked a spot near a baseball diamond that appears to have been there for some time.
My first signal was a good target, a Toonie ($2), great way to start the day. Scanned the hole again, whoopie another Toonie. For the next 3 hours, I was pulling out mostly Toonies, Loonies ($1), quarters, nickels and dimes, not so many pennies. All the while thinking this place is going to be great. Finished off the approx. 200'x 200' area then decided to see what the rest of the site was going to be like. My dreams were dashed, it sucked, for 2 hours wandered around. Went back to the area that was producing and grid detected cross wise to see what I missed. Not much, maybe about 10 coins, by the way found a thin silver ring.

To finish off the day, headed over to a couple spots I have done in the past. Wanted to see if the Impact could scrape up a few coins. Oh yeah, it did, made it worth checking again. First silver dime in a long time, found about $4 or so, and lost a Loonie. Was wearing my other pouch which didn't have a real wide opening, so the Loonie never slid into the pouch. It slid over the pouch and got away.

The Impact gives off a distinct audio tone when it finds quarters, nickels, Loonies and Toonies.

Overall, had an excellent day.



DeepTech Vista X with 3 search coils.
Works for me

The Impact does seem to hit the big nickle pretty hard, that is a good thing I suppose. Does the impact struggle with the nickle dimes sometimes after the coin is out of the hole? (Just wondering, it's a fairly typical behavior IMO.)

In addition to the nickle coins, you had 4 or 5 of steel quarters slip in there too, do you recall if they sound any different? If I am using a Tesoro I can pick up the some steel coins with a disc of 2 out of 10. At 3/10 steel coins are gone, not that I care much, just an observation. The Deus has yet to dig me a steel coin, which is OK as they are really in rough shape for the most part, they need the rust removed before they will fit in a coin-star, not really "spendable" even if tumbled etc.

One of your loonies is also steel.

I don't know if one considers finding steel quarters a good thing or a bad thing with regards to discrimination in general, it depends on your point of view, I suppose. It's something for a Canadian clad hunter to note going forward, once the nickle coins are depleted and steel becomes more prevalent, techniques may have to be adjusted if one wants to bring all the steel coins into the picture. Digging freshly dropped steel coins will be a niche to say the least.

Nice job on the silvers, overall it looks like you got a buffet of targets there.

Tesoros are one of the "best" beep and dig detectors for locating Canadian clad coins. The 180 EDI machines are the killers, set the disc just to accept a CA dime on edge to give a tic and you will get them all the clad denominations. 120 EDI machines not as good as they disc out the clad at min disc., depending upon date and coin composition. They definitely disc out most, if not all the steel coins in the ground on edge. For a target ID machine, the Tesoro Deleon does very well and the choice ID detector in Canada if you desire a Tesoro. Just a bit way over priced here to buy new.

I tumble all my steel clad and pennies with a few drops of dish soap and some aquarium gravel for about 1 hour. They actually look pretty good and spendable.

I don't have or haven't noticed any issue finding the dimes or nickels out of the hole. I use the coil edge to check out of the hole targets or in the plugs, easy to use grab the lower rod and swing the coils edge. Faster than grabbing the pinpointer much of the time.

Freshly dropped, buried steel clad not an issue, audio volume is like finding a bottle cap on the surface using any brand model detector.

Canadians are used to finding steel clad coins, they have been around for a long time. Most target ID machines see them as junk targets with bouncing ID's, could bounce from iron to silver ID numbers. Most Americans if they come hunting up here will find the clad a challenge. The Impact seems to keep bouncing of ID numbers to a min., within a few 2-3 numbers I have found depending upon composition and how they are lying in the ground. On edge coins would normally read in the low iron number range and not bounce, or as with some detectors bounce from an iron number to a higher conductive number. Some clad will do a flash bounce, read iron then for a split second read high, some of these will chirp a high tone after a low tone. I have moved from the US to Canada in 2009, its taken a few years and using many beep and dig and target ID detectors to master finding steel claddage. No longer a big issue, its finding a target ID machine that works well for "my" tastes. . When I go hunting, I want to find it all and leave nothing. There are some excellent working brands and models guys up here gravitate to...................the Impact just joined that group, best target ID machine for CA clad coins that works the way I want by listing to the target audio report then looking at the target ID numbers. Now I have been using the new 5x9 search coil from the very start to learn this detector. Still have the smaller and larger stock coils to play with.

I give the Impact a thumbs up for any Canadians looking to purchase a new multi-purpose detector for those that coin hunt for modern clad coins as well as the old copper and silver coins.
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COMPOSITION OF CANADIAN COINS http://www.bcscta.ca/resources/hebden/chem/Coin%20Compositions.pdf

Starting 2012 $1 coin composition has changed and gives a totally different ID--Iron on most machines: The new coins will use the same multi-ply steel technology used in the penny, nickel, dime and quarter and is bronze plated

DeepTech Vista X with 3 search coils.
Works for me

Sven1 - Some great info in your post. I appreciate you taking the time to post it. The Impact does pretty darn good on the US coins too!

Steel still seems "new" to me, but yes I guess they have been out for almost 20 years if you go back to the first zinc and steel penny trials.

The three Minelabs I swung over the years would rarely hit a steel coin, as to be expected. Behavior on nickle coins is similar to what you describe though. I could ID the odd steel coin by it's shallow depth, clean null, quick all-metal response with the Excal for example. It works, but only really practical for a few fresh drops out in the water where the steel coin hasn't dropped down into the sand with the rest of the iron.

I suppose one saving grace with the 2012 and later toonies is the center core is apparently still aluminum bronze which should be able to evoke some sort of non-ferrous response going forward.

As I say for the most part I'm not concerned with actually finding steel coins, as sometimes they really are in appalling condition. (Think 1/4" rust blobs on the center of the coin) I have however gained an interest in the nickle coins due to the adamant preaching from a fellow detectorist about the "minimum $4 a day he used to find before he got his Minelab". I hadn't really given it much thought, once I started finding silver and gold on a regular basis I never really missed the clad, I was distracted, perhaps ignorant. I originally didn't spend thousands of dollars to find a few bucks, but I have grown to like the coffee money on a regular basis if I can get it, as long as it doesn't interfere with the "real" hunting. Lots of machines can hit big shallow nickle yet miss basically all the silver and deep copper, makes for a boring hunt after a while.

$20 days like the one you just had are nice especially when combined with a bit of silver.

"Freshly dropped, buried steel clad not an issue, audio volume is like finding a bottle cap on the surface using any brand model detector. "
Do you mean a steel beer cap and not an aluminum screw cap?
I have been actively trying to avoid beer caps with the Deus as it has a propensity to hit them, maybe I will let a few beer caps through at an appropriate site to see how many of those signals are steel coins. Perhaps that is why I haven't dug a single steel coin with it yet.

I don't live in a city with a lot of gold, not a population with big spenders. Gold jewelry prospecting isn't like some big cities. So we settle for any scraps of gold and silver amongst the clad.
A bad day gold prospecting, can be saved with a pile of clad. Silver coinage is a scarce commodity here as well. This small city has been well hunted since the early 70's and continues to be hunted
by 39 current club members. But, overall we still find the goods, just a lot more work. Any new detector can have the advantage when it comes to hitting the old spots again. The Impact might be one advantage.
Clad hunting amongst the trash is my favorite way of learning how to operate a detector fast track, to get a full understanding how it works and its capabilities.

Oh, its summertime here, perfect for schoolyards, parks and sports fields (most off limits in our city) and the beach 45 minutes away. I stay out of the woods, don't mind the bugs and critters, its the Poison Ivy and
possible Stinging Nettle that gets you when you least expect it. So have to wait till fall time for those relic coin hunts and the crops are off the farm fields.

Clad hunting may not be the most rewarding and looked down upon by many, its still fun and a satisfying to find. Kind of like going fishing and nothing is biting, so your happy with anything you reel in that hits your bait.


I have a retired friend that lives near Toronto, one of Canada's big cities, he uses an old Bounty Hunter Big Bud, he is 99% clad hunter, sets his disc high. Routinely got $20 a day, once he had a good day and dug up around $40.
Mostly in $1 and $2 coins. That Big Bud meter pegs the same spot with a particular tone on those coins. And he uses the 10" coil. He is amazing with that detector.

DeepTech Vista X with 3 search coils.
Works for me

FWIW I live in a small town of 30,000 without much modern history, (Hour north of Toronto), you have to get creative, hit the secondary parks and beaches, not the obvious ones.

Not to sound cliche, however research is everything. On a good year I can get around 20-25 pieces of gold and maybe 40-60 silver coins. Each year I can snag 2 or 3 good colonial relics too. Trade silver, cannon balls, colonial copper kettle parts etc. A friend of mine found a jade axe head in a hole with a coin...it's upwards of 10,000 years old, likely woodland Indians.

Rewind a few years back and my opinion of the town was very bleek, no history, barely any silver I thought, only dreamed of fish-scales.

I just started on a park a few days ago that may of had part the old native/colonial trail that passed through it. The town is all built up around it, hardly anyone used it in recent times because it was a park at the north end of town with no lake and few homes around. I found a couple of 4-gauge shotgun shells that date from before 1880, so I may have found a bit of a sweet spot. The park is mostly modern with screened topsoil, but my "keen eye" lol noticed a few trees that had 3 foot wide trunks, sitting up on natural, rolling mounds, whereas anything else around is under 12" wide and on flat land. At least part of that park pre-dates Canada and that is where the interesting things are going to be found.
Without the research I would have had absolutely no desire to check this park out even though it's only 2 blocks away.

Also check where colonial trails passed through "Forest" that you are able to detect. We have some Simcoe County reforestation/recreational areas that we can use when the desire to get out of town arises. It's easier to pee and smoke in the woods, bring a shovel, nobody walking up and saying "did you find anything". A friend of mine pulled a V nickle and a trade bracelet out of nowhere, then the next site found a Upper Canada token, I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it, to tell you the truth I still don't believe it. lol I'm with you in the sense that I don't have much patience for the bugs, always glad to get out of there.

I did not know those things were called nettles. I did an impromptu woods hunt yesterday wearing shorts, those things caused me to turn around because the trail became covered with them, they nicked up my chins pretty good.

Look for places that can "accumulate" gold and coins over say 100 to 150 years, don't go to the main beach.

Collect some old local maps and learn how to overlay them into google earth. With 39 local detectorists it will be harder for you to stay ahead of the curve. I only have to worry about a dozen tops, maybe 15 if I include the guys from Peterborough that come and do "hit n runs", though they never seem to work a site for more then an hour so they aren't too much to worry about.

I understand if you don't want to disclose your location, however if you give me a general idea I can have a look and see what I can dig up from the days when we were New France.

I live in London, the place is being built up like TO. Lots of areas being lost to construction. Lots of places still to check out depending upon what your searching for, like you said research. And a lot of good sites are strictly no-go, property owners state insurance reasons, city By-Laws.

I used to live in Barrie and North Bay for a few years each. Lots of Fur Trade action and places to check out. Did plenty of research in the winter. At the time, I mostly opted for beach and water hunting, time permitting as the beaches were a quick 5 minute walk away from the house.

Our club http://tvmda.webstarts.com/index.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/569033546528310/

DeepTech Vista X with 3 search coils.
Works for me

"It's something for a Canadian clad hunter to note going forward, once the nickle coins are depleted and steel becomes more prevalent, techniques may have to be adjusted if one wants to bring all the steel coins into the picture."

I live in the GTA (beaches) and have detected many schools and parks no more than 30 minutes max from my home.
Nickel coins (pre 2000) are pretty hard to find now. Interestingly I also find very few pennies of any type! Shows how
well the MD'ers have scoured all these areas.
The steel clad I get is generally 'rust spotted' already as it doesn't take long. I scrape the rust off with a knife, then tumble (after accumulating enough
to roll and take to the bank).
Some is so rusty it goes straight to the trash. It does add up though and is worth 'saving' in my opinion and does pay for my gear.
I am hoping Canada adopts a $5 coin in the future!

I haven't found a silver coin in a couple years, lol



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2017 01:50AM by canslawhero.

Sven1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I live in London, the place is being built up like
> TO. Lots of areas being lost to construction. Lots
> of places still to check out depending upon what y
> our searching for, like you said research. And a l
> ot of good sites are strictly no-go, property owne
> rs state insurance reasons, city By-Laws.
>
> I used to live in Barrie and North Bay for a few y
> ears each. Lots of Fur Trade action and places to
> check out. Did plenty of research in the winter.
> At the time, I mostly opted for beach and water hu
> nting, time permitting as the beaches were a quick
> 5 minute walk away from the house.
>
> Our club [url=http://tvmda.webstarts.com/index.htm
> l]http://tvmda.webstarts.com/index.html[/url]
> Facebook: [url=https://www.facebook.com/groups/5
> 69033546528310/]https://www.facebook.com/groups/56
> 9033546528310/[/url]

The water sure does open up some acreage. It's a nice option in the summertime when you want to beat the heat. I have a kayak too so I can escape the crowds and access some neat areas not as easily accessible by boat or car.

I will check out the links to your clubs site, see what's happening. I enjoyed browsing your other hobby site.

canslawhero Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "It's something for a Canadian clad hunter to note
> going forward, once the nickle coins are depleted
> and steel becomes more prevalent, techniques may h
> ave to be adjusted if one wants to bring all the s
> teel coins into the picture."
>
> I live in the GTA (beaches) and have detected many
> schools and parks no more than 30 minutes max from
> my home.
> Nickel coins (pre 2000) are pretty hard to find no
> w. Interestingly I also find very few pennies of a
> ny type! Shows how
> well the MD'ers have scoured all these areas.
> The steel clad I get is generally 'rust spotted' a
> lready as it doesn't take long. I scrape the rust
> off with a knife, then tumble (after accumulating
> enough
> to roll and take to the bank).
> Some is so rusty it goes straight to the trash. It
> does add up though and is worth 'saving' in my opi
> nion and does pay for my gear.
> I am hoping Canada adopts a $5 coin in the future!
>
> I haven't found a silver coin in a couple years, l
> ol

Good idea with the tumbler, I am going to get one going this year I think. I have been giving the nickle loonies and toonies a quick polish with "rubbing compound", the odd quarter too. The rest of the quarters I trickle back into to circulation via Tim Horton's, I give them a few dirty coins at a time lol. The small stuff has been going straight into the coin-star after a quick rinse. Maybe I'll play with the Deus and see if I can get onto the steel, although it sounds like a recipe for madness if I'm not careful lol.

It's interesting you mentioning the lack of copper lately. For the first time ever tonight I dug the same amount of silver as I did copper, at one point I had 2 silver Yankee dimes and one Canadian penny. I was going to quit then, just so I could say I found more silver then copper to a bunch of strangers on the internet, but I stuck it out to get a third dime. I'm certainly not trying to rub it in, just a coincidence, I'm the rascal who's pulled ~250 coppers out of this little parkette over the past week and a half to set myself up for tonight.

I would of thought you would find all kinds of silver in the "city", I have a friend who follows somebody on youtube in the city that apparently gets a lot of silver, not sure how old it is though. I'll see what I can find out, maybe you can do some claim jumping lol.

hey Sven, just to be fair, lots of detectors 'kill the clad' up here, nothing magic about it.
one fellow up here has been killing it forever and uses an old CZ5.
just takes the time/patience to learn how to use what you have.

LOL you have ducks on your coins

Those ducks are actually called Bucks, that is why it's on the dollar coin.

canslawhero Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> hey Sven, just to be fair, lots of detectors 'kill
> the clad' up here, nothing magic about it.
> one fellow up here has been killing it forever and
> uses an old CZ5.
> just takes the time/patience to learn how to use w
> hat you have.

Yes they do, some "digital target ID machines" better than others, many you have to really work at it. CZ5's are great on CAN clad because they like finding iron/steel washers, most "analog" ID machines work well with CAN clad, that is if you like using an older detector. I have always liked using the older analogs up here, may not be real deep like the new fangled detectors but, would get the stuff to about 5-6" with no problem. But, they really sucked as they do not unmask like the current digital detectors.
The Impact was a natural with our clad so it wasn't hard or it didn't take too long to figure out what was clad or trash. That's the big plus. In that regard, I could kill the clad with it in short order.

By the way, used to have a CZ5 back in the early days of release for relic hunting. Last fall I modified a CZ6 to a CZ6a, almost didn't sent it back to the owner because it hit hard on CAN clad...LOL I do have an old Tek Mark 1, modified and it sure likes our clad as well.

No the Impact is not magic, it works for me and fits my hunting style and conditions. Others may not like it, as with any detector on the market. It's just another choice for us in Canada for those that don't want, what's most popular here, a high end Deus, White's, Garrett AT or Minelab. And yeah many would consider the Impact overkill for clad hunting, doesn't stop Canadians from paying big bucks for a high end detector to clad hunt with. We are also not strictly clad hunters and these detectors, like the Impact cover many other types of hunting that we do. The Impact is just another tool in the tool box to get the job done right.

DeepTech Vista X with 3 search coils.
Works for me

I'm loving the Deus for it's ability to smack nickle like an analog machine. The key IMO is to use full tones and the 12 or 18 kHz frequencies.
Conversely the "digital" Minelabs are the toughest, the analog Minelabs are IMO a little easier, though my experience is limited to water. I would get some good initial nickle hits in the water, but at times you would lose them for a bit if the coin got moved a certain way.

IMO the problem with the Minelabs (for nickle coins) is the 1.5 kHz operating frequency. I know they say it is multi-frequency but IMO it is not. It must be listening to diminishing harmonics excited by the fundamental frequency. That's why it doesn't like chains despite having multiple frequencies above 15kHz, though it slams silver and copper. Also Minelabs are good at IDing iron, so once they get a wiff of magnetism from the nickle coin, it gets tough.

I often wanted to try a single frequency machine at around 900 Hz to 3200 Hz with the appropriate sized coil that is sensitive enough to get small silver Canadian 5 cent pieces at more then 4".
I was going to get an Xterra with a 3kHz coil, but they don't offer a DD around the Etrac size, just a bigger one. So I went with the Deus because the cost is comparable to an Xterra with an extra coil. For obvious reasons the Deus is much more flexible. The Deus had the 11" DD I wanted, good all around size.

As it turns out, the 4kHz channel on the Deus is not actually ideal for small silver, with neither the 9" or 11" coil. 12kHz is the magic Deus frequency at least as far as air tests are concerned, which is nice because that hits the nickle and chains well, so I don't feel like I'm giving something up to have a machine go deep on silver.

As Sven has alluded to...Tesoro detectors are one of the best at finding Canadian clad...I started using Tesoro's last spring... first the Compadre then the Bandido2uMax and quickly found that he was right!
I've since bought a Golden uMax, Silver uMax and a Mojave....it's put the fun back into detecting for me..I also have 5 other top end detectors that now set as closet queens for the moment.
My wife and I had planned a trip to Newfoundland this summer so I started saving my clad I found detecting since last spring...we're now up to $817.37 and the RV is packed and ready to go for a three week vacation
When considering a new detector such as the Impact here in Canada.... it comforting to know that this detector also shines on our Canadian clad.
Good write up Sven...Newfoundland bound

Cheers,

Whimp

HH.