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Metalman9
M E T A L M A N 9
M E T A L M A N 9
Ph: 204-223-7809
METALMAN9
Ph: 204-223-7809
METALMAN9
Click the date link, then a photo to start larger photo gallery & see descriptions
November 3, 2020 - St. Pie
November 5, 2020 - King’s Park
November 24, 2020 - Year 2020 Round Up
November 8, 2020 - Petersfield & Matlock Beach
November 14, 2020 - Louise Bridge South End, Redwood Bridge East End
St. Pie Expedition. The year is 1891. There has been a church on the St. Pie location for 12 years already. (1879) The railway arrived but passed through Catherine, what is now Letellier bypassing St. Pie and Gaulthier.. also known as Two Little Points. The St. Pie church was moved to Letellier and Two Little Points fizzled. A commemorative Cross was erected in 1924 on the site of the old church. Also the disembarkment location of pioneer settlers arriving by way of the Red River is near here somewhere. The exact spot, I have yet to locate but it is where my own forefathers set foot in Manitoba. There is a rich and early history here. What a great location to Metal Detect. Here are a few pictures of the day's finds. For those that are new to metal detecting please note. The detector signals on all metals but metal only. The glass and the pottery and the pieces of brick I hand pick out of personal interest. Notice the letters on the pottery? At the Church site I found the square nails and most of the aluminum pieces. The sheer quantity of aluminum surprised me. They were all over the site. They might be pieces of flashing possibly from around a chimney. There are also small pieces of iron everywhere, mostly nails as is typical of homesteads and of early sites. I only dug out a few. Got to love the barb wire wrap. The big iron pieces, the two pennies, and the small door to a wood burning stove were found on an altogether separate part of this River Lot. This land has been used for agriculture for a very very long time as indicated by the horse shoe. It's my first horse shoe find while metal detecting. The pennies date from 1938 and 1939. These are the oldest coins that I have found anywhere to date. I was hoping to find older coins, like the large one cent coins but I'm super happy that I found any coins at all. What an exciting day. Warm weather in November. Bonus. Special thanks to the land owner for allowing me to detect on this property. I hope to be back but only after more research. Questions and comments are always welcome.
Petersfield and Matlock Beach. Sunday was overcast but yet warm and still no snow. A Bonus for metal detecting in November in Manitoba. A long time "Stamp Collecting" friend put me on to a farm site near Petersfield that belonged to his wife's family. Satellite imagery showed the road into the farm site but little else. By 8:15 in the morning, I had boots on the ground and I was swinging the coil. (Metal detector talk) Lol. I love detecting around big trees. They've been there for a long long time and they tend to push up items long buried. Under such a tree, I found a stash of iron pieces. The broken hoe, horse tack, a large nail and the round thing that looks like a gear. In what might have been the "Yard" to the house, I unearthed a badly corroded sealer jar ring. My "Bounty" brand metal detector is great. I had a repeating signal over a 4 inch area. Definitely not a coin. I'm glad I'd brought a full size spade with me because at over 18" in, I came across a thick crumpled iron plate. Amazing detector. But the hole in the ground also revealed that most of the area I was in had been back filled and leveled. I came across black top soil at a depth of about 14 inches. An area that I thought was a small creek was actually the original yard base. It became apparent that would probably not be able to find the footing of the original house and walkways. Both key locations for metal detecting. In the woods around the site, I found various gun shells, a flattened oil filter, a few more iron pieces, a spike with a part chain and a nice long piece of barb wire. From this site, I headed over to Matlock Beach. From farm to beach in about 15 minuits. I combed most of the beach but the real nice finds and all of the coins came from grassy strip along the edge of the parking lot. The blue canister, the sunglasses and the pull tabs came off the beach. And to further boast the detector, that small half inch aluminum blob was detected and found in 4 inches of beach gravel. It took some effort to see it amongst the rocks. On both of today's locations I picked up lots of pop and beer cans. At some point in time, I'll cash all these in along with the iron and copper at a metal recycle place. I should do well. I thank my stamp friend for the lead and the directions to this family farm yard. An interesting site. Every location offers new insights and adds to my knowledge base. It's a part of what makes metal detecting fun and rewarding. Always: the fun of the hunt.
Louise and Redwood Bridges Today I decided to try my hand at metal detecting a completely different type of location. Under an older city bridge or two. I looked for age and ease of access and decided to detect under the Louise Bridge, south end and the Redwood Bridge east end. Well that was quite an eye opener in many ways. Maybe the most striking were the homeless people encampments under and around the wooded areas of the Louise Bridge. There is a nice parking area on the south east side of the bridge complete with a boat launch. It’s easy access to the river using the launch or by walking right under the bridge. It is a bit late in the season so much of the river bank soil was frozen and too hard to dig. The other eye opener and this applies to both bridges is the sheer amount of trash lying about... metal, bricks, plastic, wood, clothing and just stuff. For example, just east of the Louise Bridge and protruding halfway up the river bank was a set railway tracks??? Looks like someone simply filled in soil over a rail line. Next to the Redwood Bridge were two enormous steel cables disappearing into the river bank. These things have to be 6” thick. For anyone just wanting to walk around and collect metal, there is a small fortune to be made. Detecting these spots proved to be much more difficult than what I had anticipated but I’m glad I went. It’s all part of a learning curve. What works, what doesn’t and how to better prepare for the next time I try detecting under such a structure. And I did return with a bit of aluminum wire and with a copper engine gasket. I also found a steel shoe heel piece. It was a pleasure to be able to get out so late in the season. Now the winter wait begins.
Index Index Index Index Index Index
Year 2020 Roundup. Here it is. The year's roundup of what proved to be a great first run at metal detecting. You will find attached, pictures of the treasure and spoils that I found and dug up in 2020. Here are a few approximate stats. 27 outings between April 21 and Nov. 14. 117 + lbs of Iron 7.4 + lbs of Aluminium 2.5 + lbs of Copper and Brass 1.4 + lbs of Lead $37.58 in various Coins. ( $ 1.45 US ) It's now a personal challenge to beat these numbers in 2021. The game is on. Come on and join me for an outing in 2021. It was a surprise to see all these items put together and spilled out on the table. I'd forgotten about some of the pieces. What a pleasure to see. Fun memories. Most of these finds were pictured on a post some time this summer. Every piece has a story to tell. For those that are new to these posts... metal detectors do not "ping" on glass, ceramics, coal or rocks or on plastics. Those items pictured, for example the glass, are pieces that I manualy picked up that were laying on the surface of farm fields. Same with most of the rocks and brick pieces. I hope to make some sort of art this winter with some of it. Well that's it for now. I'm practicing "Staying Home". A good time to enjoy my finds and try my hand at being creative. Stay well and stay healthy all... And stay tuned for Season 2. Roger Fontaine Aka: Metal Man. Thanks for all of your support and encouragement in 2020.
King’s Park King's Park is a 92 acre green space located at 198 King's Drive in Fort Richmond. It sits nice and snug inside of a large meandering bend of the Red River. It hosts a great off leash dog area, ponds, walkways and river side trails. Tess and I have often walked our dogs on these walkways and trails. Today, I chose to metal detect the river side trails as they are sort of closed off to the public as the river banks are slipping away into the river. Quite safe. Just a lot of narrow trails on uneven ground. It took all of 2 minuits and I bagged a Loonie. 3 more pennies were found later including one from 1965 in great condition. I also found a vintage 1994 Dog Tag... go figure eh! Dog park... dog tag... who would have thought. A curious object was pink cylinder with a white top. At first I thought I'd found another Geo Cache but when I opened it up; it unscrewed in the middle, it contained 3 small batteries. Maybe this was a mini flashlight ? Not far from this cylinder I came across a unique piece of art on a rock near a park bench. Got to love it. Thanks Ken for suggesting adding a ruler in with the pictures. It does help give a sense of scale to the items found. Maybe I can collect royalties for promoting BDO. Lol Id love to add a hyperlink to the detecting location but my teckie skills are limited. Especially with this phone. Over all a good hunt. I got the River trails detected before they are completely inaccessible. Found more neat stuff. Got a few hours of fresh air and exercise and bonus... picked up 2 more rare aluminium pull tabs. Yes, 2 out of 100 billion or so. One of the new members to the group had asked... " at what point would an overwhelming amount of pull tabs make me reconsider my choice of detecting location". A very good question actually as I have complained on a previous post about exactly that. A bus stop somewhere. Well, modern and better quality metal detectors have features that alert specifically to P.T. pull tab. It avoids a lot of unnecessary digging. My detector also has a function that eliminates Iron signals. Today was a perfect example of where I looked for iron but for a few minuits only. Just to see how much iron is on the river bank. It's everywhere. I dug up a few of the more shallow hits and that's where the nails and black plate come in. Two days ago, when I detected St. Pie, I left the iron signals on. I wanted to hit on everything. It helps you chose your targets and get a good sense of what lies below. Well, we all know that winter is quickly closing in and that my metal detecting days will be over for 2020. Wish me luck and lets hope for extended warm weather. Enjoy the pictures.
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November 14, 2020 - Redwood Bridge - East End November 14, 2020 - Redwood Bridge - East End November 24, 2020 - Year end Roundup November 24, 2020 - Year end Roundup November 24, 2020 - Year end Roundup November 24, 2020 - Year end Roundup November 24, 2020 - Year end Roundup November 24, 2020 - Year end Roundup November 24, 2020 - Year end Roundup November 24, 2020 - Year end Roundup November 24, 2020 - Year end Roundup November 24, 2020 - Year end Roundup November 24, 2020 - Year end Roundup