In the early years of Metal Detecting Titanium didn’t belong to the list of elements a Metal Detector could find. The time has changed in the recent years with machines having better technologies and capabilities. Yet people are still questioning and wondering if titanium is detectable or not … Especially those who are just starting …
So, Can metal detectors detect titanium? Yes, most recent metal detectors can easily pick up Titanium as far as you are using a suitable machine and configuring the right settings and ground balance. It is also possible whether it is on its pure form or mixed in alloys with other metals such as silver, bronze, copper or ever gold.
It is interesting for people who practice this hobby on a daily basis to be aware of the machine you should use for titanium and similar elements. In addition, you should learn how to clean your finds properly to preserve its value. I will also add some valuable items made out of this metal and locations you would likely find such valuable targets.
Titanium is not easily detectable though!
Titanium is not a regular metal, it rather belongs to the cothegory of transition metals as it is very light with a high resistance to corrosion. It is neither magnetic nor with a significant electrical conductivity. This is what caused problem to the early generations of detectors to find this element!
Even with recent devices you need a bit of skills and understanding to detect it. Otherwise, you will find some difficulties …
… First of all you need to operate on pretty low frequency. Thus, you will discriminate junk metals made out of aluminum for example that would confuse you.
This depends on each equipment, but keep in mind that you should opt for settings range suitable for light metals. This includes things like foil …
You should also avoid highly soaked soils as this would highly affect the received signals. In addition, you need to adapt a proper ground balance for your machine. So you won’t have issues if the ground conditions are not good enough for detecting.
If the soil is highly mineralized, you probably should avoid it unless you’ve got an advanced machine that can handle that.
What Metal Detector to use for Titanium?
If you opt for a cheap metal detector to pick up titanium, it won’t be useful for this case. Unless, you are in a location full of titanium potential targets with perfect ground conditions! Which is absolutely rare …
This doesn’t mean that you have to opt for a 1000 dollar metal detector! Unless you are hunting for gold too especially in a highly mineralized soil.
In this case, investing in an average machine would be perfect for your goal and for your budget as well! A Bounty Hunter Discovery 3300 (Check its current Price Here at Amazon!) is one of the best machines for this specific need …
You should keep in mind that this device is not totally adapted for copper and zinc. Other than that, it works just as accurate as it comes …
It has a LED screen that facilitates the task for you by showing you the depth you are operating in. The depth could be at 5 different levels from 2 inches depth up to 8. This depth become more important with a better coil up to 11 inches if you wish.
What is good about this device is that you don’t really need to change the default settings too frequently. Unless there are close junk metals causing additional useless and disturbing signals.
There are 9 sensitivity levels that you can adjust according to the expected size of the target!
One of the sweet advantages of Bounty Hunter Discovery 3300 is the possibility to reduce tones volume. This is really useful as the tones might be a bit annoying for you. By the way, several machines that are reputable lack of this feature which is important in my opinion.
The main advantage that comes with this machine is its discrimination and notching ability. The screen allows you to easily do that which will allow you to find valuable items made out of titanium.
Finding rare items like titanium requires generally lot of time and patience. With this machine this won’t be a big issue as the battery has enough autonomy for this purpose. In addition to its low weight of a 2 and a half pound ~ 1.1 kilograms.
Valuable Titanium Targets you can find …
It is possible to find this metal on its pure form, yet this remains very very rare. That’s why, you should not expect that … Instead you should rather go for items made out of it.
Below some examples of targets you should expect:
Screws and Hex nut: The ones that have the best quality are made of this metal. You can find them around construction sites and dumps.
Pocket knife: Usually these kind of knifes are made of steel or even stainless steel for the quality ones. Yet there are some of them made of titanium.
Hammer: There are some expensive hammers that cost up to 200 buck element of this metal. Finding a hammer like that outdoor is less likely, but you never know!
Cutlery tools: there are some brands that produce forks, spoon, things like that made of titanium. You may find these items around houses or in dumps.
Women’s fashion: There are several items that women use nowadays for their beauty. This includes earrings, necklaces and most commonly rings made of this metal. You can find these targets pretty much anywhere especially in locations usually visited by lot of people like parks.
The previous items are not purely made of titanium. Most of them are alloys that include other metals that also hold significant value.
Clean your finds Properly …
I can’t stress enough the fact that cleaning your finds is a crucial skill that you need to literally master. Detecting a valuable target is necessary but not enough; you need to preserve those finds by cleaning them properly. Many people were lucky enough to find targets holding tons of value, but due to their lack of education or a cleaning mistake their item lost half of its value if not more!
Anyways, here are some few tips that will help you to clean your titanium finds:
- Put your item in a bowl full with warm water.
- Few minutes later, put in the bowl several drops of dish cleaning soap.
- If your find is a jewelry (ring, earring …) instead of following steps 1. and 2. You can just softly clean with a jewelry cleaning solution.
- Don’t use any cleaner that has bleach on it!
- After that, you need to dry your find slowly using dry soft cotton. Any rough cloth could seriously scratch the find especially if it is colored!
By following these few steps you will be just fine!
What does Titanium look like?
You probably should visit Wikipedia to find out more about this metal! Indeed, many people including me at the beginning didn’t’ know what titanium looks like especially on its pure form.
Indeed, it is simply a mix between silvery, grey, white and metallic colors. Somewhere in between. Sometimes, it could tend to a specific color or appearance depending on the environment. But, generally it most often sticks to that appearance.
Does Titanium set off Airport Metal Detectors?
All what we’ve said about conventional metal detectors apply mostly to airport machines! The detecting relies mainly on the electrical conductivity that titanium probably lacks of it but still has enough to be detected.
Many people ask this question because they have dental implants made of titanium. In this case, airport detectors is set off which could lead you to being questioned by the security in there.
In this case, you should probably get a signed proof sheet from your dentist confirming that you’ve got that implant. Then just show it to the security before going through the detector.
Conclusion
I hope I’ve put together in this post all what I know about this element and its detectability using your machine! Hopefully, you’ve learnt many things and that you’ve got your questions completely answered …
… Now I really want to hear from you! Did you ever found anything made of titanium? If so what have you found exactly? What device did you use? Let me know more about your experience in the comment section below …
… Finally, I would like to share with you this detecting article for Tungsten! In fact, I think that besides Titanium, Tungsten is a good target that is still underrated … I am sure you will learn some helpful info in there!
