Knowledge base

Discovera Academy

Discovera Academy: 43 guides on metal detecting — detectors, VDI, historical maps, recording a find, conservation and law. Free, no signup.

🧭 Guides

Intro to Metal Detecting How to start metal detecting: why law and maps come before the machine, what to buy first, and why the diary matters from your very first outing. Top 10 Newbie Mistakes Ten mistakes that cost beginners their first season: a flagship on credit, sensitivity maxed, a field with no map, and cleaning a find on the spot. Safety and Ethics Safety and ethics in the field: filled holes as the price of coming back, what to do if you find ordnance, weather, group hunts and hunting with kids. Detectorist Equipment A detectorist's kit: what you actually need besides the machine, why a pinpointer beats a second coil, and how to know when to upgrade. Choosing a Detector 2025–2026 Manticore, Deus II, Legend or Simplex: what Multi-IQ, FMF and SMF actually mean in the field, what suits fields, beaches and trash, and where not to save money. Basic Detector Settings Setting up a detector from scratch: sensitivity, ground balance, discrimination and a ten-minute test garden — so the machine stops screaming at empty ground. VDI and Discrimination Why the same coin reads different numbers, what VDI actually means, when discrimination hurts you, and how to learn to read a target by ear. Search Tactics Tactics by scenario: how woods differ from beach and homestead, how to run a grid, why empty squares get logged, and why pace beats depth. Best Metal Detecting Apps in 2026 Which apps actually help in the field: how mapping apps, navigators and coin catalogues differ, what to check before an outing, and when one app beats four. AI in Detecting: Discovera Cases What AI in metal detecting genuinely does: a hypothesis from a photo, a restoration preview that risks nothing — and what it never replaces. Authors and Experts Who writes the Discovera Academy, which sources we rely on, where our competence ends, and how to report an error in an article.

🔧 Restoration

The first 24 hours after a find What to do in the first hours: record the as-found state, avoid harm from water and cleaning, read the stop signals, and rush nothing. Restoration Principles for Finds When a find is better left alone: reversibility, minimum intervention, before photos, and telling protective patina from active corrosion. Checklist and Mistakes What to check before cleaning a find, and the eight mistakes that cost the most: abrasives, reagent fumes, mixed metals, and wax over active disease. Chemistry and Tools Reagents and tools for cleaning finds: what soap, sesquicarbonate and citric acid actually do, and how kitchen acid destroys relief. Water, salts and hydrolysis How salt crystallisation, metal corrosion, glass leaching and hydrolysis of organics differ — and why “just rinse it” is the wrong answer to every one of them. Copper & Bronze Cleaning copper and bronze without killing the patina: a 72% soap soak, sesquicarbonate against bronze disease, mechanics without abrasives, wax at the end. Cleaning Silver Cleaning silver without stripping the patina: sulfide tarnish, 10% citric acid, thiourea, and why a mirror finish is the wrong goal. Iron & Cast Iron Iron and cast iron after the field: why a rust lump can't just be scrubbed, how to flush the salts, what tannin is for, and what happens without consolidation. Iron Electrolysis: Step by Step Iron electrolysis step by step: when it applies, bath layout and polarity, short sessions, flushing the salts, and the five mistakes that undo the whole job. Preservation Preservation after cleaning: why dryness matters more than wax, paraffin versus microcrystalline, silica gel, and how to store different metals. Monitoring after conservation What happens after conservation: control photos from the same angle, a condition log, six signs of renewed activity, and when to call a conservator. Nickel, Bi-metal & Special Cases Bi-metal, stones, enamel and organics on metal: where the usual cleaning protocols break down, what to do with thick crust, and when to call a conservator.

📜 History

Historical Maps on Your Phone Historical overlays on a phone: layer opacity, offline tiles, georeferencing scans, and which sheet series to use by region. Reading Old Maps Reading a 19th-century topographic sheet: which symbols mean money, scales and versts, finding lost villages on satellite, and fighting georeference drift. Topographic Map Symbols How to read symbols on modern and historical topographic maps: relief, water, roads, labels and the legends of Shubert, RKKA, WIG and Ordnance Survey. Roads, crossings and lines on an old map How to tell an old road from a forestry ride, a stream or a boundary, read bridges, fords and embankments, and test the guess against relief. Labels and abbreviations on old maps How to read labels, abbreviations and pre-reform spelling on old maps: why an abbreviation cannot be translated without the series legend. Relief and water on an old map How to read contours, gullies, old channels, marshes and crossings on historical sheets, and turn a landscape observation into a testable question. Overlay without self-deception: seven checks Why old maps drift against satellite imagery, how to test an overlay on independent landmarks, and how to record your confidence honestly. Red Army and General Staff maps How to read an archival RKKA or General Staff sheet: edition data, scale, nomenclature, the border and its two grids, symbols and overlay checks. Working with Archives in Russia and Belarus How to find documents in the archives, libraries and museums of Russia and Belarus: choosing the institution, framing the request, ordering copies. From map to case file: an archival case A worked case: turning a symbol on an old sheet into an archival question, choosing the institution, and writing a conclusion no stronger than the document. Visual Identification of Finds What is this thing: crosses and icons, horse harness, buttons and buckles. A five-step attribution routine, and the finds beginners throw away. Imperial Russian Coins (Field Cheat Sheet) A field crib for Russian imperial coins: rulers' ciphers, mint letters, what to log, and why the date only reads under raking light. Hoards: Types and Place Psychology Savings pot, panic hide and foundation deposit: how they differ, where each sits on the map of a yard, and what to do when signals add up to a complex.