HOW TO: MAKE A FINDS GARDEN / TEST BED / METAL DETECTING DIRT BOX
Nov 7, 2026
Video showing how I made the metal detecting test box which will feature in a new series called 'Tales from the dirt box' (yes, that is meant to sound amusing) where I will be testing all sorts of targets in different situations.
By making such a box it gives the detectorist an opportunity to experiment with finds at different depths, orientations and also in the presence of iron / coke etc. above, below and either side of the target.
I originally saw a version of this on the channel 'Treasure Barrel' https://www.youtube.com/user/TreasureBarrel
Check out their channel and tell them Pondguru sent you.
As previously mentioned on the Treasure Barrel channel this does not take into account the 'halo' effect of coins which have been buried for a long time so is not a maximum depth test bed. Coins with a halo will give more feedback to the detector enabling them to be reached at greater depth than a clean coin.
I thought I'd make mine a portable version with the option of putting scrap targets under or above the test target to increase the possible ways targets could be identified under the ground. I also went for a larger diameter pipe with thin wall to minimise signal loss and increase size of targets which can be fed into the pipes.
NOTE: Always use the solvent glue in a well ventilated area - I found out the hard way.
Check out my other videos including the WORLDWIDE METAL DETECTING FINDS video series and feel free to contribute to future episodes whenever you want - great way to promote your channel.
Enjoy and subscribe for more videos.
Additional detecting tags:
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Hello there, thanks for tuning in.
Because it's such a god-awful day outside,
I thought I would take this opportunity to make a box
which can be used to hone your detecting skills.
Now this is not my idea. I saw a variation
of this on a YouTube channel called Treasure Barrel.
So check them out.
The guy does plenty of tests in his version of this.
And he's got some other good videos on there as well.
So, just to reiterate, this is not my idea.
This is an evolution of his idea.
And his idea may well be an evolution of somebody else's idea.
I don't know.
But in all the metal detecting books,
they will tell you to make a test garden.
Which is basically just digging holes, various depths, in your garden.
Putting different things in.
Taking note of where they are.
And then going over them with a detector.
So you get to hear what things sound like at a certain depth
when they're near other things,
when they're at certain orientations.
With this you can do that without having stuff buried in
your garden. So for this I need some pipe.
It's a two inch solvent pipe from an aquatic store.
You can also get this from builders, merchants,
anywhere that does plumbing supplies.
It's solvent pipe for a reason and that'll become apparent
because when it's all joined together I
I want the structure to be really solid so I've got the pipe
This is my box.
Roughly three foot by two foot by a foot deep.
Well, just over a foot deep.
So that's a meter by 0.6 meters by 0.3 meters.
And basically what I'm going to do is put pipes all the way through it,
at various depths, all the way down.
That'll then allow me to fill this with dirt, soil, and
Feed coins in and detect them at different depths
and also at different orientations, so
I might have one flat, see what the signal's like there.
Tilt it to 45 degrees, see if that all does
what the signal does. Tilt it on its end,
see if the detector picks it up at all. It might not,
I don't know, but I've found plenty of coins on end
and they do give tricky signals. To be
able to replicate that in an environment
where you know exactly what's under the soil,
This will be a great bonus.
So I've got the pipe, the container.
I need a drill with a hole saw.
That will cut the holes in the container
which will allow me to get the fittings on.
Now these are the fittings that are going to go
onto the sides of the container.
These were actually from an aquatic store
which is my store.
Basically what happens is you drill a hole
in the container and screw that.
That goes through the hole.
You secure it like that
on the outside of the container.
And that'll allow you to fix a pipe
from here to the one on the other side.
With a bit of solvent glue in here,
they'll be stuck together really solid.
Now with solvent pipe, you need solvent glue. That's it there.
Three symbols on the back there.
That's a fine bouquet. I think I might need
to open the window in my cabin.
When I'm putting this stuff on,
otherwise I'm going to be as high as a hippie.
So, pipe, container, drill,
drill bit, fittings, glue, ruler.
So I'm getting it the same on both sides,
and a pen, just to mark where I want to drill out.
That's pretty much it. Not many materials needed for this project.
Now because this box has got lines on, and little supports here,
it's going to be fairly easy for me to measure 2 inches,
4 inches, 6 inches, 8 inches, whatever.
If the container that you're using hasn't got any lines
on or points of reference,
draw a line from the bottom corner to the top corner, up there.
Do the same on the other side
and then just measure three inches across, six inches across,
nine inches across, twelve inches across.
Do the same on the other side, drill your holes
and it should marry up fine.
So I'm going to mark this up and then I'm going to show you it
when it's marked before I drill it out.
I've been quite lucky, I've had just enough space
to go three inches, four inches, six, eight,
ten and twelve. I've also added another one here
Between where I've allowed for the four and the three,
because in this pipe, I want to try and put
rusty lumps of iron, basically bits of crap,
deep rubbish in the soil and put shallower targets
in this one and see what that does to the signal.
I think that would
be quite interesting.
Just to clarify, where I put the cross,
the dead center of the circle,
that's the distance that I've been measuring down
from ground level.
Three inches to the middle of here,
four inches to the middle of here,
Eight to the middle of here, so on and such forth.
The reason I've gone to the centre of the hole
with the measurement down from the intended ground level
is because when I put coins, artefacts, rubbish in here,
I'm going to be feeding it in on a stick.
So by the time you allow for the stick,
that takes you up to roughly the middle of the hole.
So the middle of the hole is going
to be bang on the measurement that I want.
That's the holes drilled on both sides.
Now all I need to do is get my fittings.
Push them through, tighten that up,
tighten tight, do the same on the other side,
put a bit of pipe in, and then we've got
this structure braced really strongly.
16 holes drilled and 16 fittings put in.
So that means there's going to be 8 possible positions where the coins
or artifacts can be fed into.
Those of you who are eagle-eyed will
notice that I've put another one here.
I was a little bit worried that this deep one here
was a bit too close to the edge of the box.
I know with a double D coil, you would probably get it, but...
I'd rather have it right in the middle.
That also allows me to have really deep,
big lump of iron below shallower targets.
So that opens up another avenue for investigation as well.
That's it,
cut to
length.
The idea is, slot it into there,
glue it in for all of those pipes there.
I'll start at the bottom because as I glue them in,
it's going to start tying the structure in.
If I start at the top, I'm not going to be able to bend
these fittings out to get the pipes in at the bottom.
So I'm going to start at the bottom and work my way up.
Right, that's all the pipes cut to length and just slotted in loosely.
See, they've got quite a bit of play on them
because this has got to come in a little bit.
They're all in loose. None of them are glued in.
But what I'm going to do is, starting from the lowest ones,
work my way up to the shallower ones.
Basically, what I'm going to do is just put a little bit
of glue around both joints on a particular pipe.
Pull the sides in, bolt it for a few seconds,
and that'll be absolutely bonded together.
It's not going to go anywhere.
Once I do all that, I can then start filling it up with soil or dirt.
I don't know how well you can see that, but this lowest one,
I've drilled a load of little holes in there.
Same with the 12-inch deep one in the middle as well.
I've drilled a load of holes all the way around
that for the length of the pipe as drainage.
Because what I'm going to do.
Is tip the soil in, put loads of water in,
basically just make it into a thick porridge
so it beds down really tight and it fills every little nook
and cranny in here because most of the land I hunt is pasture.
It's never been turned over and the ground is very compact,
it's very hard. I want to replicate those conditions within this box.
If I was hunting mostly ploughed land, I would put this soil in loose.
And I would leave it reasonably loose.
I wouldn't pack it down as hard as I could,
because ploughed land tends to be a little bit looser.
Likewise, if I hunted mostly wet sand,
I wouldn't bother with the drainage holes.
These fittings are tank connectors,
so they're actually a watertight fit.
If I hunted mostly wet sand, or I had a particular box
that I wanted to test different items in wet sand,
all I would do is just fill it up with sand.
Top it up with salt water and just let it sit there.
That would replicate perfectly wet sand.
Also, if I wanted to do dry sand,
I would just have the drainage holes in the bottom,
fill it with dry sand, stick a piece of pond liner or something,
or make a lid so it stayed dry.
Basically, if you had enough of these boxes and the time to make these,
you could have one for every situation.
That's all of the pipes stuck in there now,
but what I'm going to do is just go around the joints.
Just clashing a little bit more glue in,
just to make sure that it's really stuck.
Now that glue takes roughly four hours to fully harden,
so full joint strength will be achieved in four hours.
I've got a nice log burning stove here,
so I'm just going to leave this next to it.
It'll really go hard,
and you've got a pretty indestructible sort of box here.
It's got a handle on either end. Two guys could carry this around.
Moving from place to place, as I said, you can make multiple ones,
and apart from filling it with dirt or soil,
sand, that's it, it's done.
And the most important thing is, the conditions in here,
hopefully, will be the same as the fields where I normally hunt,
so I can test all sorts of things.
I could have these two filled with coke,
and I could have a sixpence down in this one.
Two or three inches down below it,
see if that affects the reading of the sixpence.
I know with the E-Track generally it doesn't,
but maybe in some situations with certain metals it will.
I could have a big lump of rusty iron in the bottom here,
and maybe use a little threatening bit up here.
Or a hammered coin in this one.
That would enable me to hopefully recognise
the difference between the rusty iron and the hammered coin.
There's so many different possibilities
are now open to me after having made this box.
I'm really pleased.
So, I will be producing a series called, what was I going to call it,
there was something rather, oh that's what it was,
Tales from the Dirt Box, and in the series, Tales from the Dirt Box,
I'll be testing all different materials with different coils,
different detectors in this box, so watch out for that.
I'm sure this is definitely going to benefit me.
Learning what different coins are like
when they're orientated a different way at certain depths.
When they've got iron next to them
or to the side of them or above them, below them.
When they've got coke surrounding them or something.
I can do all of those tests within this small space.
So I'm really pleased about this.
And I can't wait to fill it and start doing some tests.
Well, I really hope that you watch me
in future videos where I will be playing around with my dirt box.
Jesus!
And don't take this the wrong way, but I'm looking forward
to you watching me play around with my dirt box.
How many emails am I going to get?
I really hope
that you join me
in future videos when I'll
be experimenting with my...
All I'll do is
just fill it up.
Bollocks, man!
Solvent cement glue stuff that you use
for gluing the pipes to the fittings
stays on the back to use in a well-ventilated area.
I would advise you to definitely do that.
If you can, do it outside.
Most of the times when I've been using that has been outside.
Today it's freezing cold and snowing out there and wet.
I can't do it outside, I'm doing it indoors.
I should have opened the windows really because it's strong stuff.
I'm not going to open the windows,
I'm going to leave the door open.
God, there's
still some fumes
coming off that.
That's the pipes all, although these are already stuck.
That's all
of the...