Coin probe.... Do you use one?........ If yes why, if no why?

Coin probes. Brass or steal with a ball on the end. Whats your style and take on the coin probe. Do you use one? Why? or Why not?



I dig a plug for all targets. I use my pinpointer to locate the target and remove it from the plug. I am thinking of trying a coin probe but have read some stories of guy/gals hurting coins with it. I have already made a nice brass probe and I am ready to take it out and give it a whirl.

  No and I'd quit detecting before dealing with that.  Popping modern coins in a park to me sounds like a low paying nightmare job. 

I used to... and might still all depending on where I was digging.  It's great for lawns where dexterity and extream care is a must. 

I never hunt in lawns anymore and rarely find coins so I never use one - although I have one my dad made and a few I've made over the years.

All mine are home made and brass, with rounded tips.

Even when I started hunting I was told to use a probe.  It was a brass rod which you GENTLY push into the ground to touch the coin or target.  Then once it's location was found you could pop it out of the ground with a screwdriver or knife.  Sometimes a slit was cut to get to the coin.  There is no one method as all ground is different.  The main thing is to leave the ground so nobody could tell that you were there.  Since I am lazy if I couldn't touch it with the probe I usually left it in the park grass.  Now where there could be older coins and the ground area was ok, I now use a inline probe when land hunting.  Something I am doing less of now because of the gravity increasing in the parks.

I use one when I hunt parks, it is brass, I find target with my detector, use uniprobe to isolate the exact location of target, cut slot in sod, probe to see depth, and use the EZ-Dig-R to recover it. Sounds like a lot of steps, but it takes on couple minutes start to finish and when I am done you can never tell I was there, which is important in city and county parks, with manicured grass. Ground here is easy to probe most times, probe useless in rocky or hard clay.............

Iron Patch, I hunt for jewelry, the clad coins just come with the finds while searching. I have found several nice silver, and gold rings and earrings at parks this way. I also have a jar with over $450 in clad coins rolled up and still increasing.......That "low paying nightmare job" will buy me a detector, take me on a nice vacation, or what ever I wish to use it for.....

The coin probe thing started back in the 1960's due to the lack of pinpointing ability. Many early machines absolutely stunk when it came to pinpointing a target.

So, many used brass welding rods placed into screwdriver handles. I tried it and after scratching several otherwise nice finds the thing went into the trash can.

Coins scratch so very easily that the slightest touch of anything leaves a mark that may be seen with the naked eye or under magnification. Nylon rods and all the rest scratch coins. Even rubbing a dug coin to read the date scratches them and lowers the value. Look closely at most dug silver in Today's Finds and you'll see loads of scratches. This is one way SOME members here tell real dug coins from those bought on ebay. They know 98% of THers scratch their dug coins.

The best is to learn how to pinpoint with your machine.

teddy

I am not a coin hunter but I use a probe when out relic hunting though.  When I find an iron target (especially a larger one), I will usually probe gently to try to find the edges so I know how big of a hole to dig.  I dig in the woods 95% or more of the time with permission to use a shovel so I am not worried about manicured lawns.  I do always fill my holes (with the "sod" on top, if present) and if needed I will put a rock about the same size as the relic to keep from having a void from where the relic came out.

Doug

I use one all the time. Mine gets me abut $150 - $200 a year in clad.

Ray S

I don't ever use a probe.  I've tried one before but don't have the need myself.  I cut small plugs if I  don't want to disturb the surface much.

Well thanks for the replies guys. It looks like everyone is all over the board on this one. 

I will give it a go and see if it will work in the park for me but I may just stick to plugging. I will let you know when I take it out what I think of it. Thanks again for the replies!

A screwdriver will work just the same. In the rare case when I go into a park-type area I bring a flatheaded screwdriver with me. If the target is only a couple inches deep then I will probe with the screwdriver to find it and pop it out.

-Swartzie

A screwdriver will work just the same. In the rare case when I go into a park-type area I bring a flatheaded screwdriver with me. If the target is only a couple inches deep then I will probe with the screwdriver to find it and pop it out.

-Swartzie

I do the same thing. I am jewelry hunting, but I use my clad for a free trip to the Outback steakhouse.

Used one years ago. Now that I use a pinpointer I don't feel the need to use a probe anymore.

After I got the Garrett Propointer, I didn't need my coin probe anymore.

But to be honest, I never did get the hang of using that thing.

[Goldfinger]

I have two but never got so I could actually get to a coin with one and bring it out.  Our soil gets rock hard when dry. 

If a coin is in the top couple of inches, I pop it out with my knife. Don't really hunt for perfect coins. They're usually pretty beat by the time I get to dig em anyhow. Tips dull enough that it won't scratch em....much...lol


All my years I've dug plugs and have gotten good enough that you'd never know I was there. Fluff the grass to make it look just like the surrounding area. Just recently started using a pinpointer since I was with a guy that was pulling coins from a plug a lot quicker than I could. Love that thing.

Al

Started years ago with a brass probe , but got to were I did not use one . I had a hole plugger given to me as a gift and I started using that , worked a lot better and you could put a perfect plug back into the ground , but that did not always work . When I got a pin pointer I never even took either one with me . 
  Now I just cut a plug like just about everyone else . I never did get very good popping a coin out with the probe , by the time I had the coin out I had as big of a mess as if I had dug it out in the first place ,but did not have a grass plug to put back in the hole .
  Although I have seen a few guys that could pop a coin on the first try just about every time . 

I live in the mountains with alot of rocks in the ground and I can't tell the difference between a rock and a coin, so I don't use a probe. I try to dig a plug. I have never needed a pin pointer.  My coils have always been very accurate as to telling me where the target is. I might have had to "open" a hole a little bit, but not often. Good hunting

Probing is easy and has it's place in the finely manicured lawns of the good folks that give you permission to metal detect their finely manicured lawns.   I have never scratched a coin probing.  If I had my choice, I'd pull a nice plug to reduce the chance of scratching, but I have gashed a few with the spade.  It's madness.

With the newer detectors able to pinpoint better, and the advent of the handheld pinpointer, the retrieval of coins and artifacts is easier than a decade or less farther back. However, like many here, I started out with a ground down screwdriver for artifact digging around old ghost towns until one fine day when I badly marked a valuable coin. Lets face it, metal is metal, brass or steel it will scratch a potentially valuable find. I personally love using a probe and I continue to use a coin probe to this day, but I now use a mini carbon shaft one (not metal) I bought from http://www.ut10.com/products.html. I started using this carbon fiber probe a year ago and haven't scratched a single find since.

I also like the fact that neither of my metal detectors or electronic pinpointer gives off a signal from the probe because there is no metal in it, so I can find my target much quicker too.

With the newer detectors able to pinpoint better, and the advent of the handheld pinpointer, the retrieval of coins and artifacts is easier than a decade or less farther back. However, like many here, I started out with a ground down screwdriver for artifact digging around old ghost towns until one fine day when I badly marked a valuable coin. Lets face it, metal is metal, brass or steel it will scratch a potentially valuable find. I personally love using a probe and I continue to use a coin probe to this day, but I now use a mini carbon shaft one (not metal) I bought from http://www.ut10.com/products.html. I started using this carbon fiber probe a year ago and haven't scratched a single find since.

I also like the fact that neither of my metal detectors or electronic pinpointer gives off a signal from the probe because there is no metal in it, so I can find my target much quicker too.

I have been probin' coins for pushin' twenty years.  Probing and pushing.  Probing and pushing.  Never probe-scratched a coin.  Hacked a few with the spade.  How many coins have you scratched with a probe?  Brass or otherwise?  This is a good topic!!!

I stopped using a probe like a brass rod or screw driver and like to use a bayonet which is dull as heck but it wedges in the ring or pull tab instead of going all around it.  I don't think I have ever scratched a coin but most of my coins are clad anyway.  Depends on where you are searching and the ground, rocks and stones.  You get a feel for what it is when touching it.  I've seen guys stab a probe into the dirt to find the coins and these guys should be finding land mines.