farmers request for lost item recovery ... advice needed

[sharkey]

hi all, well after a response from a permission letter we sent to a guy in the Wrexham area, i went to see him today, and after a brief chat he guided me to a field of his. he told me that he lost a securing pin from one of his machines recently, within a 10 metre area around the border of the field (approx 8-10 acres). to describe the pin, i would compare it to the type you slide through a jcb bucket and has a split pin to secure it on with. approximately 30 cms long and about 30mm diameter.

i immediately thought to myself  ' are they really that expensive ' etc, but then thought that recovering the pin could be a great way to build his confidence and allow us to do the rest of his land afterwards. so we are relishing the challenge!

anyway, he didnt speak too much about letting us roam the rest of his fields, and i thought it too early to start pushing boundaries so agreed that danhunt and i will focus purely on finding the pin for now.

the advice i need is - we both have ace 250's. is it a case of putting on all metal mode and digging every signal, do we get stringlines etc to make sure we do not wander off course (my usual trick!). could it possibly give us a crystal clear bell tone?

sorry in advance if it is as straight forward as just digging every target etc, we just want to have the best chance of finding the pin. he also said that the field has not been touched in 150 years, so i wonder if we can accidentaly stumble on some coins between iron targets 

finally, i hope he's serious, and not just going to sit in the house laughing away at us looking for something not there 

thanks in advance

Sharkey

[Dungbeetle]

The pin you are looking for will be steel so you will have to look at every big ferrous signal. Probably easier to buy him a new one. Sounds like he is testing you so go with the flow.

[Mike]

well all metal seems the way to go , how long has it been lost ? if the land is not ploughed and a recent lost it should be on or just below the surface , its a big lump of metal so im sure your gonna hear the signal , i would do a boundery at a time and see what comes up and keep ypur eyes open when you walk , it might just be lying there waiting to be picked up , good luck to you both

[Chef Geoff]

If it's the normal lynch pin then they are not small so you don't have to worry about small signals. They are steel so if you are serious about just finding the pin before any "normal" detecting then I would notch out your non-ferrous signals. Is this arable or pasture? if pasture then you can even turn down your sensitivity.

[Mike]

these  things cost about £20 on ebay and that includes the postage  theses farmers are tight as a ducks @####

[sharkey]

haha thanks for the replies, yes buying a new one sounds great to me aswell 

it was lost in the winter, and the field is pasture and looks to me like its been pasture for a long time (but i am new to the game).

yes it is steel, and turning off the high end blocks could work out good for us too.

and if we do not recover it, but still manage to get on the rest of his land, i will buy him a new pin for christmas, bury it in his field, and lend him my detector 

[Val Beechey]

He should know which side of the field he lost it Sharkey. If he lost it on side one his trailer would have come off by the time he got to side two.
It'll be on the top after such a short time and shouldn't take much finding. The biggest problem looking for something like that gives you is the temptation to stop and dig any other signals.
Lets hope you find it quickly and he gives you the nod to go back.

Val

[sharkey]

thanks for the reply Val, going to make a start there tomorrow. will update once home 

[Dryland]

Go find it Sharkey and good luck with the permission.

[jayhay69]

youll find it quite quick i`d scout around for a bit first wait for the farmer to leave and dig all signals to check what type of field/finds your possibly gonna get,if you find it quick and he`s watching hand it over if he`s not there put it in your pouch and have a detect

[dances with badgers]

you will know when you find it lol it will blast your ears off they are a fair size lol

[Val Beechey]

One days honesty will pay it's own rewards.   

Val

[dances with badgers]

good luck.personally i would get the details and buy him a new one ,you will make the cash back in hammies

[ysbytymike]

Just do what you were asked to do...
Why risk a possible permission for a few minutes of  non sanctioned detecting? You won't enjoy it
because you will feel your being watched all the time, if you do find something, maybe he
knows its there and is seeing if you find and declare it to him? As I said at the start. When I'm
asked to do this type of thing I only do what the farmer has requested and not an iota more.

[sharkey]

right, thanks again for the responses. i got to the farm at around 8am today, and after a quick chat with the farmer, i got onto the field.

i decided to work on all metal mode with the higher half of blocks switched off, and immediately lots of low end grunts. i dug the first 20 or so iron signals, regardless of how small they seemed to be when pinpointing. finds included barbed wire, hot rocks, nails, and a huge piece of chain. from then on, i seemed to be able to tell if the item was of any size, so left the tiny objects and focused on 'longer ' targets. i found a few decent sized nails, a file of some description, and a few hooks and old pins from older farm machinery i did this for 3 full sides of the field, and by this time the farmer had returned home for his lunch. i went to see him and show him what i had, to which he replied ' i can see you have had a good go at it, so why don't you forget about the pin and do the other areas of the field on your next visit. as far as i know it hasn't been detected before so may be some coins about'.

i explained that i wasn't finished looking for the pin yet, so after a bap and a drink i was back on the field finishing the 4th side border off. being honest, i did not give this side as much attention as the others, mainly because i could still hear the word 'coins' in my ears  . with the borders done, i switched the top half of notches back on, iron OFF   then went back to border one to start all over again    i spent around an hour working up and down side one,and had a half penny 1899, penny 1860, very worn george 3rd coin, then just as i was ready to call it a day, a ring pull signal next to a new metal fence. i thought it was my coil picking up the fence, but it was saying it was shallow so dug it anyway. really glad i did, as after recovering and staring at this object for a minute or so i realised it was my first hammered coin! S**T!

i made a mental note of where i found it because i was ready to go home, and then went to the farmhouse to see if he was about. he wasn't there, but could see/hear him in his tractor in another field, so went and shown him all the coins, told him that the hammered could be worth something, and his response was 'oh very good, it can be your reward for clearing my field of big iron objects. this field has not been touched either if you want to look for coins on here too'. result!

i said i'd be back with Dan to do the first field more thoroughly and would happily do any extra fields he has. what a day! i cant wait to go back!

 

Sharkey