A Disappointing Hunt

I was all set to go back to Burnet Woods and dig up some more relics when I thought "Hey, I've got a better idea!"  and went to Fairview park which is right around the corner instead. On the way into the park there is the cool stone archway that's been sealed off for who knows how long. I thought this would be a great spot to detect. I was wrong.

The ground right around the structure was way to rocky to dig in and the place was covered in litter.  I tried going up the hill behind it but it was too steep and overgrown.  So I went to another area of the park and started hunting in the grass.  I found a newer key, 2 Lincoln pennys, a couple chunks of metal and of course, trash.  I think I should have gone to Burnet.

Playing with Electricity

A few post back I mentioned an electrolysis method that I was planning on utilizing to clean some of my finds. The simplest method I could find called for a 9 to 12 Volt DC wall adapter, a pair of alligator clips, a piece of stainless steel flatware, and a glass of salty water. Although the actual voltage of the adapter is not terribly important, it is crucial that it be DC voltage. I opted for a 12 Volt adapter because I had a stray one and didn't know what it belonged to. Basically you cut the end off the adapter and attach the alligator clips to the exposed wires. Also, I've read some places that baking soda can be mixed with water in lieu of salt.  I used salt because I accidentally bought a big thing of coarse salt instead of fine at the store. OK, truth be told I intentionally bought coarse salt because it seemed like a good idea at the time, but soon realized it was too crunchy for sprinkling over food.


After everything is prepared, clip one of the leads to the metal object being cleaned, the other to the stainless steel flatware and drop the whole thing in the salt water. Well, all except the adapter which you will plug into the wall. It's important that the flatware and object being cleaned do not touch. I managed to avoid this, but imagine that it would burn up the adapter pretty quickly. If everything is hooked up right tiny bubbles will start to form on the dirty object and rise to the surface. If the bubbles form on the flatware you have the positive and negative leads reversed. In case of the latter situation, unplug the adapter, reverse the leads and try again. After a little while a whole bunch of nasty will be floating on top of the water.

I started my test with a dirty Lincoln penny I found in the park.  After the penny had been in the water for about 5 minutes I realized a few things.

1. The adapter was getting pretty hot.
2. I was never going to use this knife for food again.
3. The penny was disintegrating.

I unplugged the device and removed what was left of the penny. I determined that perhaps I should do a little more reading on the subject before attempting this a second time. I found out that you should not clean copper using electrolysis and that the process will "gunk up" the anode (read knife).

After testing a few more pieces of various metal things I decided it was time to try and clean the hatchet head I had found a couple of weeks before. In case you forgot this is what the hatchet looked like before cleaning.

Here is a picture of the hatchet being cleaned even though you can't really see anything.

And finally here is a picture of the hatchet after cleaning.

It's hard to tell from the photo but it actually looks way better. It took several rounds of electrolysis and a bit of scrubbing with a toothbrush, but in the end I'm happy with the results. They suggest that when you're finished you coat the cleaned object with oil to protect it from further rust.

If you want to try this method I highly recommend you do more reading on the subject. I consider it a small miracle that I didn't shock myself or set any fires so please do this at your own risk. Here are a couple links from people far more creditable and experienced than I to get you started.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4966889_build-electrolysis-tank.html
http://gometaldetecting.com/electrolysis_cleaning.htm

Recent Finds and Picnic Trash

Since I found the hatchet there's been only a few notable finds. Below is an old key and tube of AVON lipstick that a friend and I found in her backyard.

The key, although not terribly impressive, is from the Independent Lock Company. After some research I found out they made some pretty cool advancements in locks and keys during the first half of the 1900s. The lipstick is AVON's pink tinge and looks to be from around the 1950s or 60s. I'm totally taking a guess on the age but it seems similar to other AVON products from that time period. After cleaning it I was able to open the tube. To my surprise there was still a little bit of the lipstick left, although it was melted and smelled pretty bad. Here is a picture of the rest of the items we found that day.

I also went hiking/hunting around a dog park in Mt. Airy. All I found was trash and a knife. The truth is my friend found the knife tucked between some rocks without the aid of the detector. I claimed it as my find though, because I hadn't found anything except a bunch of trash around an old picnic area and she was just going to throw it away. Although some of the trash was interesting (see below), I decided I wasn't going to search anymore because my trash bag was getting full and heavy.

There was an old cheese spray container, some kind of canned meat, some soda cans and a Sterno lid.

On a side note, I will mention the futility of trying to fill in a hole while in the company of a dog that loves to dig holes. It's kind of like trying to fill a bucket that has holes in it with water. Speaking of water here's one more picture from the hike, just for fun.

A Laser and a Hatchet

On Friday I went to another park on Ravine Street.  Pretty much the same old same old, but I did find this laser.  Besides the laser and the usual trash, I ended up with a total of 70 cents in quarters, dimes and pennies.  I also found a chunk of molten metal.  I'm not sure what kind of metal it is and I should probably just throw it away, but why start now.

Cincinnati ca. 1910

I determined that if I want to find anything old I was going to have to start hunting elsewhere.  I found this old map of Cincinnati at an antique mall a few weeks back.  I understand my map credibility may be a bit tarnished after the last post but I assure you I really do have a map this time.  There is some photo evidence to the left if you still don't believe me.  Anyways, I noticed the two parks that I had visited are not on it, however Burnett Woods is.  Apparently it was about twice the size it is now, but UC is now located where the southern half used to be.  So I planned to go to there on Saturday and do some searching in the woods.

When I arrived on Saturday, I found a trail and started looking for places off the beaten path to search.  I was looking for level areas underneath large trees where perhaps years before someone may have shaded themselves on a sunny day.  At first I was finding many of the same items I did at the other parks.  Then I cranked up the Ace 150's sensitivity and started digging on deeper objects.  I started finding old style beer cans, mostly Miller High Life.  I had found plenty of the pull tabs from that style can but no cans so it was a little exciting.  Then the detector was giving me a strong "coin" signal at 6+ inches.  I began digging and found an old lath hatchet head about 8 inches down.

Up until now I had only found newer trash and coins so needless to say, this was extremely encouraging.  The hatchet was in pretty rough shape so I'm trying to clean it using an electrolysis method I read about online.  I'll put up some more photos after I'm finished cleaning it.  

I also found a hubcap about 1 foot down and 64 cents in modern change, but nothing else worth mentioning.  I plan on going back there often this summer.

Osiris, Venus, Police and Pull Tabs

I'm sure many of you have heard of the transit of Venus that occurred on June 5th.  I had been eagerly awaiting this planetary alignment for some time now.  Quite a while back I had acquired an ancient Osirian papyrus scroll that would identify the location of a great hidden artifact on this particular occurrence.  According to the scroll, the projected image of the sun was to be oriented to a map on it's reverse.  One hour into the transit the dot created by Venus would indicate the location of this priceless artifact.  Ten minutes before the transit was to occur I set up a test using my telescope and projected this image of the sun onto a piece of paper. However, when the time came for Venus to move into its position, dark storm clouds rolled in and obscured the sun foiling the last opportunity to uncover this ancient mystery for the next 115 years. So I grabbed my metal detector and headed to the park on Ohio Ave.  

When I arrived, there were quite a few people despite the overcast skies.  Being my first time out in public I took my gear to the far side of the park to begin detecting in the hopes of avoiding contact with anyone.  This didn't work.  There is a walking path around the park and I got a lot of questions as people were passing by.  "Find anything?" "Some pennies."  "How much does that cost?" "150 dollars."  or my favorite comment "I've seen people do that on a beach but never in a park."  I'm not really sure what the law has to say about digging holes in park so I was a little nervous when a police cruiser pulled in.  They parked for a while and then left.  I took this as direct permission from the Cincinnati Police Department to continue my work.

I only spent an hour at the park but got many hits.  Some recent vintage pennies and dimes, a bolt, some trash and of course pull tabs.  I'm getting better at telling the pull tabs from coins, but I dig them anyways because I have yet to hear the sound a gold ring will make and would hate to miss finding one.

I don't want to put a monetary number on my findings, but I will... 75 cents... that's it.  At this rate the detector will pay for itself in approximately 198 more outings.  After that it's all profit.  Money in the bank folks.  Money in the bank.

The First Dig

A couple of weeks ago I was digging in my backyard and discovered a quarter from 1966.  It was in rough shape and not really worth anything above face value, but still I felt excitement upon uncovering the coin.  Maybe it was the moments before I cleared the dirt from the coin, the moments when it could have been something more than a 46 year old 25 cent piece that sparked a sense of adventure in me. Maybe it was finding something that someone had lost, having no idea how long it had been there and knowing there must be more buried and waiting to be found.

The next day I started looking online for metal detectors.  After doing a lot of research I decide on the Garrett Ace 150.  I was originally looking at some fancier models but after reading advice from seasoned hunters this seemed the best option given it's ease of use and price.  I spent the next few days reading tips and techniques on metal detecting so that when my Ace 150 arrived I would be ready to go.

When my new detector arrived I wasted no time assembling it and testing the settings on a few coins and other metal objects I had laid out on my floor.  At first I was getting a lot of erratic readings until I realized that it was sensing the nails in the hardwood floor.  This gave me an opportunity to test the detector's mode settings which can be used to reject the signals produced by specific metals such as iron nails.  It worked like a charm. After a few more minutes of testing I grabbed my trowel and headed to the backyard.

The first signal I got was strong and the display indicated that it was a coin.  I began digging and before long I unearthed a strange looking gear about the size of a silver dollar.  I'm not really sure what it's from, but it looked pretty cool so I tossed it in my treasure bag and kept searching.

The next few holes didn't go as smoothly as the first.  I would get a signal and dig the hole roughly to the depth indicated by the meter.  Then using the advice I read online, I'd check the hole with the detector as well as the pile of dirt I made.  If it sounded over the hole I'd dig some more.  If it sounded over the dirt pile I'd grab a handful of dirt and wave it over the magnet coil at the bottom of the detector.  If it sounded again I'd separate the handful into two and wave each hand over it individually, discarding the handful that didn't make the detector beep.  I'd get down to a tiny amount of dirt but still couldn't find the riches.  As it turns out there is a large amount of tiny foil bits in my backyard which were hard to find but triggering the detector just the same.

After a while of digging holes and finding nothing but foil I adjusted the sensitivity of the detector down and learned to differentiate the strength of the signal so as not to waste my time digging up trash. This proved effective against the foil but not can pull tabs.  Though I didn't really mind finding the pull tabs, they were the old kind and the reward in finding them far outweighed the disappointment in sifting through dirt for 15 minutes only to find a pea sized piece of foil.

At the end of my searching I counted my bounty.  In total I had found the strange gear, three pieces of can pull tabs, a toy truck, a large old capacitor and 38 cents in recent vintage change.  Judging by the dates on the coins I'm pretty sure I must have lost some of them myself a few years before.  I also found two nonmetallic treasures while digging, an old dried up super ball and a plastic army man figure.

Tomorrow I hope to go to a local park and see what I can find.