DAE think a cheap pinpointer beats digging with a big shovel at old house sites?
I spent 2 hours at a 1920s house in Boise last Saturday with my full size shovel and only pulled 3 rusty nails, then switched to my $35 pinpointer and got a 1943 wheat penny in 10 minutes. The pinpointer kept me from scratching the coins too, which the shovel did to an Indian head I dug earlier this year. Has anyone else ditched the big digger for a handheld at trashy yards?
Funny thing is this same stuff happens with fishing too. Guys haul out the giant tackle box and cast a mile, then some old dude with one little jig out-fishes them all day. Small and careful beats big and messy just about everywhere. At a trashy yard the shovel is basically a bomb going off in the ground, it rips through the dirt and whatever is under it. A pinpointer lets you sneak up on a target inch by inch so you feel the coin before you hit it. I've had way better luck slowing down myself, the finds come faster when you stop trying to force them.