The Discovera Academy is a practical knowledge base for metal detecting: maps, machines, restoration, law and ethics. This page explains who writes it, where the facts come from, and where you shouldn't take our word for it.
How we write
Practice over filler. Specific protocols, concentrations and checklists. If a piece of advice can't be acted on at a kitchen table on Saturday or out in a field, it's useless.
Verifiable sources. Material on machines, restoration and maps draws on open archives, conservation literature and community field experience. Where we rely on a specific document, the link is in the text.
The product where it belongs. Discovera gets mentioned where it genuinely does the job — overlays, the diary, restoration previews. There are no articles here written in order to mention the app.
Nothing about getting around the law. We don't explain how to detect on protected sites and we don't publish coordinates. See law and ethics.
What we don't do
This matters more than the section above, so it gets its own:
- Academy material is educational. It is not legal, medical or laboratory expertise.
- Restoration advice carries a risk of ruining the object. "If you're unsure, don't clean" is a working rule here, not a politeness.
- Laws change, and faster than articles get updated. Check the official texts in your own jurisdiction.
- We don't value finds and we don't publish price guides.
What we rely on
- Field practice and machine reviews from 2025–2026 — see choosing a detector.
- General conservation reference points, in particular Canadian Conservation Institute — Care of Metals.
- For the UK, the PAS recording culture as a working model of a responsible hobby.
- Historical maps: open archives and legitimate sheet series — see reading old maps.
Editorial
The material is produced by the Discovera product team together with practising detectorists as consultants. Every long article has a structure, internal links and a separate pass for harmful advice — particularly in the chemistry and safety sections, where a mistake costs the most.
Found an error
We'd be grateful, and that isn't a formality: in restoration and law an inaccuracy can cost a reader real money.
- Describe it briefly: which article, what's wrong, what you're basing that on.
- Write to [email protected].
- If you'd like to contribute a field case, follow the format of the AI cases — minus exact coordinates of valuable finds.
Where to start reading
If this is your first visit, the route is: getting started, then beginner mistakes, then choosing a detector and reading old maps.