metal detectors?
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fenwoman
metal detectors?
Does anyone here know anything about metal detectors? I am thinking about buying my son a 2nd hand one for his birthday but don't have much money to spare. What would be a good reliable first one?Under £50 in case he gets fed up with it?
Gidday
I believe there are a few different types and many different prices and quality. I have had a metal detector for many years now as I have a portable saw mill and use it to find nails and things in logs before my saw finds them as one small nail can cost me $100.
I cannot advise you what sort you should buy or how much you should pay, but only say like anything you should do a bit of research before buying and the less money you have the more important is the research.
I have heard you can make pretty good cash by working the beaches in the evenings too.
I believe there are a few different types and many different prices and quality. I have had a metal detector for many years now as I have a portable saw mill and use it to find nails and things in logs before my saw finds them as one small nail can cost me $100.
I cannot advise you what sort you should buy or how much you should pay, but only say like anything you should do a bit of research before buying and the less money you have the more important is the research.
I have heard you can make pretty good cash by working the beaches in the evenings too.
Cheers
just a Rough Country Boy.
just a Rough Country Boy.
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Muddypause
- A selfsufficientish Regular
- Posts: 1905
- Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2005 4:45 pm
- Location: Urban Berkshire, UK (one day I'll find the escape route)
What would you use it for? If you want to search land for historical artefacts I'd say don't buy one. Anyone who has more than a trivial interest in history will say the same. Ad-hoc metal detectorists are the scourge of archaeologists.
The thing is, by the nature of metal detecting, you tend to destroy the archaeological significance of the thing you dig up. The archaeological meaning of it is in the context of the strata of the ground it is found in. People love to find Roman coins, especially in the rare cases where they turn out to be worth a lot of money. But by digging them up without a proper, detailed and recorded excavation, they have ruined their contextual value, and that information is then gone forever.
Britain has a rare and valuable history that merits proper researching and investigation, but much it is lost and gone forever because of metal detectorists who neither know nor care about what they are doing.
The thing is, by the nature of metal detecting, you tend to destroy the archaeological significance of the thing you dig up. The archaeological meaning of it is in the context of the strata of the ground it is found in. People love to find Roman coins, especially in the rare cases where they turn out to be worth a lot of money. But by digging them up without a proper, detailed and recorded excavation, they have ruined their contextual value, and that information is then gone forever.
Britain has a rare and valuable history that merits proper researching and investigation, but much it is lost and gone forever because of metal detectorists who neither know nor care about what they are doing.
Stew
Ignorance is essential
Ignorance is essential
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fenwoman
I won't be using it at all really. It is for my son's birthday. I expect he just wants an excuse to get out and about in the countryside, walk along riverbanks and just see what he can find. I am sure he doesn't intend to try to make a living from it or find treasure trove, just the pleasure of finding something lost even if it is of no value at all.Muddypause wrote:What would you use it for? If you want to search land for historical artefacts I'd say don't buy one. Anyone who has more than a trivial interest in history will say the same. Ad-hoc metal detectorists are the scourge of archaeologists.
The thing is, by the nature of metal detecting, you tend to destroy the archaeological significance of the thing you dig up. The archaeological meaning of it is in the context of the strata of the ground it is found in. People love to find Roman coins, especially in the rare cases where they turn out to be worth a lot of money. But by digging them up without a proper, detailed and recorded excavation, they have ruined their contextual value, and that information is then gone forever.
Britain has a rare and valuable history that merits proper researching and investigation, but much it is lost and gone forever because of metal detectorists who neither know nor care about what they are doing.
By your reckoning, nobody should ever take it up as a hobby in case they find something of value or archeological interest. I understand this attitude but without amateur hobby detectorists, many valuable finds and sites would remain hidden or destroyed because of decades of deep ploughing.
Since we have both been volunteers on archaeological digs in the past I am sure he would act responsibly should he happen to find anything he thought might be valuable archaeologically speaking and make careful note of any finds before reporting them to one of the many museums in Cambridge where he lives.
So, back on topic, he doesn't plan to try to make his fortune either by detecting beaches at night or destroying archaological sites, he simply wants to wander about in the fresh air after spending the week desk bound, on ploughed fields in the Autumn, along riverbanks while looking out for wildlife. Ordinarily he would have a dog to wander with but, landlords being what they are, he isn't allowed a dog so I thought I would get him a metal detector since he once expressed an interest. This being the case, does anyone have any recommendations? What should I look out for? What functions are useful and what are unecessary? What makes are the best and what can I get for around £50?