Old School House

I got out about an hour and a half yesterday to an old school house owned by one of the Mennonite congregations around here. A couple three years ago I had gotten permission from the grounds committee, through the pastor. Not sure what they use it for now, maybe storage.

The area around the little one room brick schoolhouse can't be more than 3/4 of an acre.

There is a layer of what looks like coal and ash roughly 4-5 inches under the topsoil. The coal 'look a likes', vary in size and shape. Some are marble size, some are oblong golf ball size. When busted open (on the hard side) or chipped they are super high gloss shimmering black.

They give mid to high tone on the f-75, depending on the size and the propointer sounds off on them also. There is also a picnic area that was used up until recently, judging by the looks of the table and B-B-Q pit. A underground electric line goes to a wooden pole, for light. This area has foil of all kinds with minimal bottle caps.

You should hear the f-75, thousands of mid tones with highs and grunts in between. There is no timing. The tones don't coincide with the coil sweep....seems like everything is moving around. Plus, ad in some emi, to boot.

I was constantly doing a 'wiggle' over where I thought the high tones announced themselves. They would disappear and pop up inches to a foot away.....what a trip, had to chuckle a bit.

I have never dug any deep or old coins here, recalling, only buffs, wheats and mercs...no shields, v's or indians. My guess is, at one time (mid 1800's or before) the school was heated with wood. In the early 1900's, they switched to coal and dumped the spent material on to the property. The older coins are below the coal, in the strata when wood was used. The coins I'm finding are probably after they switched to oil. I did manage to recover a merc at 3"...got lucky I guess.

The hot/cold rocks/coal are guarding the old coins..and doing a good job of it...I cant get through them, but it's fun to try...

Have a Happy New Year Everyone...........be safe.

Wow, ozzie...that sounds like a NIGHTMARE. Not much fun at all, I don't imagine. Since you said "it's fun to try" then you must be a glutton for punishment!

Steve

Yea steveg, I do get a little game in me at times...especially when it's something I like doing. I'm sure I'll be back there in the future, after I forget how tough it was.

"after I forget how tough it was..."

Yeah, I hear you there...that happens to me sometimes, too...

Steve

Do you have the 5"coil? Have you tried that one? I would.

Good luck on it Ozzie..

Sounds like you need a CTX on that site with a 6 inch coil!

Keith

Sounds like NOT fun!

I'd definitely try an FBS machine of some type or a PI if there's not much iron/trash at all.

Good luck and HH

Try a CZ there...... and see how it handles the hot rocks.

PittsburgWill- Yes I've tried the 5", it will get surface metal but it's not deep enough.

Keith- My buddy has a CTX but only with the standard coil. Do you think the CTX can get past that hot rock layer? Without spending 60 hrs learning the CTX, what settings would you recommend?
The top layer (5"+-) is topsoil w/ some modern trash. Second layer (4-6"+ thick) are the hot rocks mixed with iron and ash. Below that seems regular dirt with some iron...that's where the oldies are. We have hot rocks here, but this area has the most concentrated on any site I've come across. Usually I hit strays (mid tones) in farm fields and a bit more, closer to the old homes. My buddy is not the one to ask about the settings. He buys the latest and greatest, and rarely goes out detecting. He hasn't learned the CTX's max potential and don't think he ever will. I'm not inclined to borrow from friends especially new items. This is a site he would walk away from.

MRH- I have used the MLse with surprising results. Pulled out 3 silvers, 2 mercs, 1 rosie.. but in the top layer only...on the coin program!!! no less! There is iron, like you find at older sites.

I may have to set up a test with these rocks to see how they affect the coil's signal. Maybe mess with the gb. It may be best to set the test up in that location.... Hmmmm.

Coming from the blue coal mining area of Pa. basically was heated with coal and the ashes thrown in the yard. More than one local yard has drove me bonkers and trying to hunt around the old breaker is impossible. Personally would look in the area where perhaps they held their parties and fund raisers which might not have the same ground situation and contain some old coins. Found one such isolated old church and was hunted so hard couldn't find much but in the back area in a clump of trees managed 3 barber dimes which the other hunters must have missed. Of course your situation may differ and good luck but in some areas no known metal detector will cut it do to the ground conditions.

Yes Tom, I had dismissed using the cz there....worth a try. I can distinguish a 'lone' hot rock in all metal on the f- 75, they make kind of a 'boing-ish' sound.

Dan, I think this is the same situation you found yourself in. I'm also in Pa. These 'old breakers' as you call them, probably started out in your neck of the woods. Ha Ha Ha, you're welcome to come back and get them, if you like. Dan, are these rocks un-burnt or what? They look like hard coal.

The back of the schoolhouse property sits a farm and an old stone farm house. Looks like big acreage. Studying an 1876 map, the stone house was the Parsonage to the old church just across the road. Now it's a private residence.

That church was built in the 1700's, the original section one anyway. Down the hill, church side, maybe 100 yds, is a old stone one room schoolhouse that may have been the precursor to the brick schoolhouse with the old breakers. I have hunted that one also. I think they put fill dirt around it....no targets from that period.....fill dirt is a cuss word to me....sorry for cussing.

It's on my list to ask permission to detect that farm. Some of the farms have big dogs that are free to roam and can come out behind you.....don't like to be in a stand off with an unfamiliar pup, especially on his turf.

Sounds like there must be a way but is it worth it having to buy a new detector. I would go on one of the relic fourms and see if they can help you.

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

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If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

LowBoy, Not really. I think I have all the firepower I need for a while. Recently picked up a new validated 75se from Tom D. I may sell the older standard 75, if I get around to it....hard to part with though. That leaves me with the 75se, a 1021-3d, and a borrowed ML-SE. Wouldn't mind adding the GMP, but, can't have everything. My extra dollars HA! are going towards updating my house....slow process.

Just a thought an the SE, are you using the Pro coil? I wonder if running an 8 inch Tornado or second pick a 5 or 6 inch cranked hot would tease out anything? It sounds like the area is really worth experimenting and exploring creatively! I'd love to hear how it goes.

Past(or)Tom
Using a Legend, a Deus 2, an Equinox 800, a Tarsacci MDT 8000, & a few others...
with my beloved, fading Corgi, Sadie

Pasttom, yes, the 11" dd pro coil. This unit I borrowed from a friend, as long as I want. It's the only coil he has for the unit. Definitely an interesting intersection...and... on country roads. Two old Mennonite churches, two one room schoolhouses and a occupied stone farm house and barn, all hovering at a crossroads.

Unfortunately the old stoves were not proficient and left some of the coal partially burnt...which further adds to the problem. As far as buying new units etc. in some of these areas just time to move on as I doubt many if any at all will work in this environment...certainly the farm area seems desirable but the roaming dogs are a minus...

Quote by Dan-- "if any at all will work in this environment" Dan, you may be right, but I'll use up my options first, of course. I'll bet they did have some humdinger picnics at the old parsonage.

Steve,,,,,,, ........... I'm going to guess that ......... on the CZ-3D platform.............. all of the hotrocks will ID as 'foil' (with its own seperate 'foil' tone). This leaves you with digging all of the pull-tab readings........... and all of the coin readings (ID's).

Tom, I'll give it a go. Should I set the GB spot on? Or to where it slightly pulls the sound out of the ground?

I guess it's a toss-up on which coil to use. I'm leaning towards the 8" but I need the depth of the 10.5". I may have to try the disc settings on the cz,... something I rarely use....will be interesting.
If I pull out a coin from below the old breakers......well... that's just plain ole fun right there.

I would start with the 8" coil.
I would (later on) try different Grnd Bal settings to see if it (in any way) helps better the ID of the hotrocks.

Hey Ozzie I like the 6 inch coil for any trash work on the FBS ..

But use combined mode open screen ...

Slide the Ferrous bin down to about 32 or so for the nails....use the conductive bins in the 4 tone stock....
high trash on
fast on..

you will surprised when using the Combined how well the machine talks to you intelligently like a normal VLF it will sound more like a linear disc machine..

the simple Combined feature is huge on the FBS platfrom...

If I could only own one machine it would be a CTX...its that good at what it does in trash and bad dirt...and when set up right in conduct and small coil its quite amazing what it finds in iron..

I want another CTX bad!!LOL!!

I have seen what it does in modern extreme trash overlaying older 100 year old iron, other's were having a time of it on a site we were hunting yet the CTX was filling the pouch full of goodies like silver coins and civil war relics with relative ease...I saw a few guys on that site want a CTX when it was over and a plethora of machines was going through there...

I see the CTX as the Best trash machine available where you cant dig it all and have limited time to hunt...I actually like it in dense modern and multi layer continous habitation trash than open field deep hunting...

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2014 08:39PM by Keith Southern.

Great !!...Thanks Keith. I will relay those settings to my buddy who owns a CTX,.............possibly converting him to hunt the iron nail sites....or.... Maybe he will just let me put some hours on the unit. Like I said before though, I'm a little uncomfortable borrowing, .....especially new toys and tools.

Hey ozzie - did you try out any suggestions here on this site yet?

Keep us updated

thanks

MRH

MRH, I haven't been out. The snow, wind, frozen ground and unusually low temps are keeping me indoors. But thanks for asking.

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