From The Archive: First Day Out 5-19-08

As I recall, my first day out was on a relatively nice, not too warm, sunny day in May. I had been cleaning out my closet where I keep miscellaneous things so as to not clutter the rest of the place, when I saw my metal detector I had purchased maybe two years prior, and had never really gotten out and used it.

It was a nice bright yellow Garrett ACE 250 I had bought online from AAFES.

So I said what the hey, threw some batteries in it and outside I went. Right out front of my apartment is a nice large community field. It seemed like a logical place to start. However early on I realized that digging in dirt, completely sucks ass. The apartments also have what we in "the BIZ" call a tot lot (playground for children). It was filled with sand, and what better a substance to dig in, than sand!

Over the next hour or so I dug out what you see pictured above. I'll inventory it for your reading pleasure.

3 x Pull Tabs
1 x Nail
1 x Bent Hoop Earing
1 x Aerosol Cap
3 x UFO
2 x Nickels (1997, 2005)
6 x Dimes (1974, 1993, 2 x 1995, 1999, 2000)
13 x Pennies (1969, 1970, 1972, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006)

For those of you that are new to the hobby, or in general not familiar with the term I used there, UFO. I use this to refer to "Unidentified Ferrous Objects", or simply metal things that are unknown to myself.

Not too long after that first trip, and feeling pretty good about what I had done a few hours earlier, I went back out, this time landing what you see in the following picture.

4 x Quarters (1980, 1981, 2001, 2008)
3 x Pennies (1959, 1994, 2001)
2 x Nickels (2004, 2007)
1 x Dime (2006)

I really couldn't have been more happy with my first day out, netting $2.06 in clad out of the sandbox.