The Coin Probe - Electronically Powerless

Among all of social media, hundreds of YouTube videos and various detecting magazines and publications, I've yet to see a serious discussion...no...any discussion at all...of a useful tool borne by electronic treasure hunters for many, many years. It ain't got no screen, it don't need WiFi, and Bluetooth, in this regard, simply means someone just ate a pint of blueberries. 

Coin probes in action...or inaction...hard to tell with coin probes

No power, no batteries, no solar cells, BUT, I can assure you it is completely WIRELESS! A varnished wooden handle embedded with a quarter-inch diameter steel rod running around 7 inches in length...a probe...what we used to call a COIN PROBE in the old days. The probes I own are commercially made, slightly bent from continuous use and lightly discolored except for the polished and rounded steel tip, because it is continually shoved into the sometimes-difficult  ground. It is a piece of field gear I don't leave home without, and you shouldn't either.

Probing a flattened aluminum can; highly conductive target, but highly deceptive

I use a probe like this all the time, so much, it has it's own spot in my field pouch, and always the first thing in my hand when a large, hard to ID, target reveals itself.

Left to right; coin-probe, cleaning brush, Gator digger, and Garrett pin-pointer

Despite our newfangled hand-held pulse detectors, I still instinctively probe carefully beneath the surface for the "hard-strike" of the actual target...also a useful technique in figuring out where the edges of the target lie. Now a lot of people new to the hobby (pretty much everyone in the last year or two) tell me "I don't want to scratch the coin using that thing!" Well, unlike using a ground-down screwdriver, or an old ice pick (OMG...an ICE PICK!!) these feature carefully ground-down tips...careful probing will not scratch coins or artifacts...of course if you try really hard, you probably could. Don't try really hard!

ground down and semi-rounded coin-probe tip

Here in Florida, a "clever" move by many city officials is to not prohibit metal detecting per se, but they snicker quite a bit when they put a "no digging" clause in the rules (hahaha!) so though you can scan for targets, you cannot "dig" for them!!! Using a probe, however, you can physically check for the target, maneuver it beneath the object, and "pop," or work it to the surface, and out of the ground, or between the grass. No digging took place...you just went around the rules and legally recovered a coin or artifact. Of course, there is a limit to what size target you can do this with, and I usually restrict this kind of coin-probe recovery to coin-sized items. For bigger items, you and your friends are going to need to petition city hall and get your detecting rights back!

Of course, you can make your own out of old screwdrivers, old ice picks, and the like...just be very careful to make sure the tip is ground down and rounded...I once scratched the face of an 1879 Indian with a homemade screwdriver-probe...I'll never do it again! Good luck and happy hunting!