[Closed] Metal Detecting as a hobby?

Anyone have any tips

Watch the magpies

I bought one abut a year ago, and then realised the issue with permissions on private land, so have only used it a couple of times.

Used to work with a guy who used to go out at night to avoid those issues - he'd take a four pack of special brew and have a bit of a party with himself as he detected! He'd do his homework though - looking at old roads across fields etc, with the theory being that these were good places to find discarded stuff etc.

If he did find anything (coins etc), he'd never do the proper thing and register them - he'd just sell them on eBay!

Been doing a bit of detecting for a couple of years now. I had an Ace 250 and found plenty with it. It doesn't work on the beach that well or near pylons but its still a great machine. J now have a Nox 600 which takes some learning to get the best out of it. As mentioned, permissions are so difficult to get. I have done a few one day rallies and enjoyed them. Usually £20 a day. You will find lots of rubbish where ever you go but just occasionally something nice will pop up. I recently had my first find to be recorded on the Portable Antiquities database. I'm a bit of an odd one as I don't like to keep what I find. On each permission I've had I compile the finds in to a display frame and give it to the land owner, its their history. I can't wait to get back out and clear my head which is one aspect of the hobby that many enjoy. Good luck and listen for the double dingers!

Oh, and get a pin pointer! They make locating your finds in the hole or spoil so much easier.

Thanks @plop-pants! I’ve got a cheap pin-pointerfrom Amazon, used if for the first time tonight and it made things a million times easier!

Permissions wise I should be ok I hope, live very rural and grew up here so know all the farmers etc.

If you do find anything covered by the treasure act you must report it. Your local Finds Liason Officer will help. Selling sites are regularly monitored for such objects. Join the National Council For Metal Detecting for all the info you need on staying legal.
Lastly, for now, look up how to clean coins and artifacts correctly. Its so easy to devalue stuff if its not done properly.

Sounds like you are well set up for some great detecting if you know farmers in your area. I never thought I was going to get a permission after trying my local farmers. Very anti! But recently a friend found out that i do detecting and has invited me on his permission of some 1600 acres!

Pub?

Detectoring!

@petrieboy - nailed it!

One thing I do know about detecting is that you should always check you hole.

FFJA
Free Member
Anyone else?….

I decided to embrace my inner nerd as it’s my 40th this week and buy a metal detector.

I was hugely into it for a fair few years. I had a 250 at one stage. It's all about efficiency at one level, the more holes you dig the higher the chances are of finding something good. Outs a never ending scratch card. Its amazing how much faster you get at retrieving finds as time goes on. That said you can go for months at a time finding nothing of note at all. Dont be afraid to dig poor signals whilst learning the machine either. Burying some items in your garden will let you practice at "getting your ear in." Buy a few cheap hammered coins /Roman off ebay for the purpose. Pull tabs give the same signal as silver hammered coins, you will dig many of them.😁 The screen is never as important as the audio is, trust your ears not your eyes.

My best recommendation is to join a local club if you can. You'll get loads of helpful advice, access to productive land you won't get on otherwise and the banter can make a day of digging up junk kind if fun. Most clubs have large waiting lists though... But if you "come with land" that can help.😉 Getting permissions is the single hardest thing in the hobby. I've spent full days knocking on every likely land owners door just to get "sorry, we already have someone on it", or just "sorry, no". Land is gold in itself. Lack of permissions is the single biggest reason people give up the hobby.

Oh, always take your junk off the field and fill the holes of course. Leaving junk in holes is stupid anyway... You could end up digging it up year after year. Get a waist pouch to hold finds/junk, small spade, pointer etc (you'll need a nice full size/sharpened spade too!)

Remember, all fields aren't equal, some will hardly have a signal in some parts of the country, research them if you have plenty of access to look for potential hotspots. You'll get used to reading the land and looking for even slight unusual features. If you aren't even getting iron signals that's a sure sign there have been much activity on the field. Where humans have been, there will be iron.

I was on a club dig when a small board of Anglo saxon items came up worth over £40k in Kent. Amazing hobby I'll return to one day.

Be patient, it took me aboutt a year before I started finding Roman and hammered silver coins even remotely regularly. Lord knows how many hundreds of hours and thousands of holes dug too...

@FFJA, What part of the country are you based in? East Anglia in the real gold mine of the UK for quantity of finds.

I would suggest watching The Detectorists on BBC. 🙂

So you want to while away your days, wandering round in fields, listening to birds, relaxing, picnicking, drinking from a (hip) flask? Maybe even with mates, having a chat.

Sounds good to me, who cares if you find anything. 🙂

I took it up as an alternative to shooting when things were quiet. Got quite bitten by the bug and have a pretty good set up.

Found a few silver coins, but it's the day to day items that I enjoy finding. It's been quiet this year obviously but most places will be happy enough for you to have a walk on their ground.

Get a pin pointer.

Patience certainly seem to be the key! I get iron signals every few metres almost but at the moment am using it in all metal mode to try to “get my ear in”....
I’m in the Yorkshire Dales, lots of old barns, walls, mining paths etc on the places I can go quite easily.
I’ve got a first edition OS Map of here that shows long demolished houses on my land, so I’m thinking those might be good places for a look, and around field gateways and things?

I would suggest watching The Detectorists on BBC. 🙂

🤔....😂

Detectorists is rather good isn’t it! 😂

I had no idea my pasture could contain such an abundance of old lilt cans, lumps of iron, .22 casings, shotgun cartridges, nails, little bits of wire, and yet be so lacking in anything interesting 😂😂😂

I got quite excited as I thought I’d found a coin but I doesn’t seem to have an markings so maybe not..... I think Mackenzie Crook is better at than me 😂😖

Not done any metal detecting but do the odd bit of magnet fishing in the river Tyne. Never found anything interesting just old bikes and shopping trollies.