Milo had started a walk with his two dogs. Nurture called for one of them as the other took off into the field of the school. Keeping his eyes on the second dog, Milo had retrieved a doodoo bag from his pocket. While picking up the dog’s deposit, the ring Milo had placed in his pocket took a swan dive into the grass. There was now a void in his pocket where the ring had been sitting. Milo being constantly aware of the item in his pocket felt this void. The fun was over for the trio. Milo had a new mission. Finding his wedding ring was now on the agenda. After combing the grass with the search pattern, he learned in boy scouts, the ring eluded his eyes. Although the eyes can’t see the ring, the metal detector knows it’s there. Milo knew what he needed to do. Calling a Ring Finder was the solution to his problem. With almost an hour drive away from the ring, I got ready and headed to the school. There was little time wasted when we met up and went over how the ring was lost. I inquired about where he pulled the bag out of his pocket. Milo put me on the path he walked. Just as I passed by the ring, Milo told me to turn around and check the far edge of the path. This 180-degree turn put me right on top of the ring. The detector lit up with a 16 signal and it showed one arrow of depth. I knew the ring would fall in the 12-20 range because I had tested out 4 of the rings I have, before I started his ring search. My pin pointer buzzed in the patch of grass and Milo and I, pulled back the blades to reveal his ring. With the quick search over in a blink of an eye, the ring Milo had lost had found its way back to his hand. The paths we take may be long and full of challenges but when you find a friend to help you out, no problem you encounter will stop your trip.
Lisa sat quietly at the edge of a dock she had been visiting since she was a little girl. While recalling all the fun memories, Lisa felt the need to feel the cool water of the lake one last time before her vacation was over. With a quick jump Lisa dove headfirst in the deep green water. The rush of the coolness and the excited arm movements brought Lisa back to the surface but sent her late mothers heirloom ring sinking deep into the abyss. The quick fleeting elated feeling she had, vanished as she actually felt the ring slide off of her finger. There was no time to waste. The news of the lost ring made it back to her family at the lake house. The idea of a lost ring sparked a memory in the mind of Lisa’s daughter Samatha. She had seen The Ring Finders videos and looked up the website.
As I sat baking in the warm morning sunshine, I got an unknown number on my cell phone calling me. Samatha was the caller and had found my finders page and was asking for my help. However, the urgency of the call became apparent, when she said she had to take a flight home at 4pm that day. As quick as a comic book superhero could change out of his street clothes and into his super suit, I packed up all of my gear and headed to Deer Lake. I met Samantha and Lisa at the dock, and we went over the details of how Lisa lost her ring. Then the meticulous task of a solo dive began. No step can be missed. Hook up regs to the tanks, turn on air, check mouthpiece and pressure, spit in face mask, put on fins and Bcd. Double check the air and pressure. Then over the edge of the dock I went. I searched for about an hour with no luck. I came back to the surface to let the silt die down and realign my search grid. The second dive turned up a bunch of cans but no ring. With 1000 psi left in the tank I came back up. As I was looking for Samantha, she came walking up to the edge of the dock. She had to go catch her flight. So, as she left, she told me to look more to the left of my dive line. I took her advice and moved my line a few feet over. As I started searching again, I found another can but after that signal a low but steady signal screamed in my headphone. After pinpointing the target, I activated my patent pending grab and pull method. As the silt clouds plumed over my head, I felt a hard object touch my fingers. As it bobbled around in the mud, my finger slipped through the hole in the middle of it. I frantically moved my hand towards my mask to turn on my GoPro so I could capture the moment I found Lisa’s ring.
After quietly celebrating, I heard the urgency clock ticking in my head. Had Lisa and Samantha left? Can I catch them before they leave? All these thoughts ran through my head as I slowly ascended to the surface. The dock was full of people that knew I was looking for a lost ring. So, a small celebration happened as I popped out of the water saying, “I Found it”. After, I had to make my way back to shore to shed off my gear and then make the all-important call to Samatha. “Are you still here? ” I asked her after she said hello, she replied with a ” Yes”, so I said, “I found it “. The news spread through the family’s home like emotional waves and Lisa and her sister embraced each other as they both cried happy tears.
Lisa and Samatha came back to the dock to reclaim Lisa’s ring. I was so happy that I didn’t have to spread my wings to catch them in midair. I would have gladly done so to see the smile Lisa had on her face. That beautiful sapphire ring was the last item her late mother had given her before she passed away.
If not for Samatha’s redirection I would of ran out of air and postponed the search. Sometimes the smallest adjustments make the most profound changes, always listen to what is being said and react accordingly.
The thought to remove one’s ring before doing an activity may very well save the rings from being lost. However, for Linda the act of taking off her rings was what led to the disappearance for her wedding ring. While traveling in their rental car to their next destination, Linda decided to put on some sunscreen. The car her husband was driving had a large console in the middle of the car. On the console was a sliding door with a lip around the outside. A very nice resting place for her two wedding rings. Although the lip around the door was sufficient, the inertia caused by a right-hand turn sent the two rings flying. The large engagement ring stayed on the door, but the smaller thinner band had a mind of its own.
The car made it to its destination, Linda and Jeffery her husband, nonchalantly began to look for the lost ring. It must be on the floorboard they thought. So, under the floor mat they looked. They also looked under the seat and on the side of the seat. Their mood changed dramatically, a lost and hopeless wave covered over their minds. The family they were with, began to help the search. Linda’s lost ring was lost for good.
Lost for good, is where the search for The Ring Finders begins.
I was out with my family when a text message showed up. Linda wanted my help with the ring in the car. The time that the car had to be returned put a rush on me getting to the rental car. With all of my lost jewelry searches I bring as much gear that I can to help me with the task. For Lindas search, I had my two stream lights, a tool called a stick, a borescope, and a no quit attitude. Every step I take on a car search is to eliminate each and every hiding spot. After searching front to back and top to bottom, I got my borescope and began looking into the cracks of the car. On the last pass of the passenger side seat, I was able to look into the console to see the void that was under the sliding door. In the far-left corner, I saw the perfect shape of a ring. The further I moved toward the ring revealed the diamonds around the edge of the ring.
Leaping with excitement inside myself, I tried to calmly say that “I found the ring”. I knew the really tough part of this search had just begun. Extracting the ring from the car would ultimately cause the ring to fall deeper into the subfloor. At which point the Ford mechanics had to step in. Two techs had to take the car apart enough to lift the console up. With the pictures Linda had taken, the men knew where to look for the ring and were successful in retrieving it.
This search took many hands to complete the mission, and I truly feel that all Ring Finders are superheroes, but even Batman had Robin.
The summer heat was making the sand too hot to walk on, so Emma retreated to the cool lapping waves on Coeur d’Alene lake. While enjoying the water, her friends and family started a game of water volleyball. While passing the ball back and forth, Emma spiked the ball. As the spinning ball flew off her hand, so did her two wedding rings. Everyone around Emma heard her panicked cry to stop, so they all froze and devised a plan to get the rings back. The rings sank deep into the water and hid in the sand as her friends and family dove and snorkeled around searching.
The day drew to a close, so the search was called off. Emma reluctantly left that beach praying for her rings, that they wouldn’t be found by a rogue treasure hunter.
Later that night, after researching metal detector rentals, Reddit told Emma to call the Ring Finders.
I got a call from Emma while at work. Emma described her tragic day to me. The news that Emma’s silver wedding rings were lost on CDA beach was alarming. I was off like a flash to gather my gear and head to the beach. After getting in the water and Emma giving me x and y axis for the drop zone, I began searching. The wind was whipping up the waves so high the water crested over my head. I kept the search going for two hours. After completing a wide seach area, I asked Emma for more areas to search. This question revealed some discriptive details that Emma’s brother in-law had noted. There were notches cut into the retaining wall for the beach where Emma sat. Her brother in-law had counted off 5.5 notches to the west and counted out 18 paces into the water where Emma was standing. I walked backwards as I kept my eyes on the 5th notch. About belly button high water, I got a repeatable 7 signal on my Equinox. It wasn’t a silver tone, but I dug it up anyways. As the sand fell through through the holes on my scoop, a diamond ring appeared. While calling Emma over to confirm that I found her ring, I noticed the stamp in the ring said 18k. With a dreaded tone in my voice I said to Emma, “It’s not your ring it’s a gold ring”. As Emma returned to where she sat, I finished detecting up to the edge of the water. Thinking the ring I found was super valuable I called Emma over to keep a hold of it. As I handed her the ring, she exploded with emotion. “That’s my ring!” she said. I was shocked, so I asked her to show me the photo she had of the ring. It was a match. The silver color was what Emma was describing to me, not the metal the ring was made out of. Determined, I knew the other ring was not far from the one I found. Keeping the same line, I walked backward into the water. I was in chest high water when my detector picked up a 7-8 signal . I shook out the sand to reveal a rusted bobby pin. As I removed it from the magnet in my scoop, I saw a shining object in the corner of the scoop. It was Emma’s other ring. I pumped my fist into the air to show Emma I had found it and walked quickly back to the edge of the shore. The news I found her rings reached back to the small family sun bathing on the beach, and they cheered as Emma and I walked off the beach.
This search tested my stamina, but the sharp details Emma’s brother in-law had recorded, gave hope. Hope mixed with prayers was the recipe that found these rings for Emma.
If Cheryl knew that cleaning up the yard with her husband Don would cause her to lose her wedding ring, I think she would have stayed inside that day. However, hindsight is 20/20, and Cheryl had the best intentions while removing all the rocks from the yard while her husband mowed. Every little stone and big stone were thrown over the edge of a hill next to their house. Cheryl had no idea that the littlest of all of these stones was on her white gold wedding bands. After discovering the tragedy of her lost ring, the search was on. Metal detectors, flashlights, brother in-laws all came out to help. With the ring’s hiding spot not found, Don looked up metal detectors. I got a call in the afternoon on the 3rd of May. We made plans for me to come out the following day. After arriving to Cheryl’s house, I began recording my YouTube video. A few stops and starts of the tape and a redirection by Cheryl, pointed me in the right direction. I just so happened to walk straight to her ring. The happy ending is captured forever, in the last moments of the video. Cheryl told me off camera that she was very upset about her lost ring. As she was crying by the fire pit last night her husband Don told me he made a promise to her that he would find her ring. The Ring Finders…. helping a husband keep his promise since 2009.
What was a mother named Kelly to do? For her son had lost his wedding ring in a backyard game of football. Asking the almighty Google to show her the finder of rings, I the Idaho Ring Finder answered her call…aka text. After completing my noble work, I made forth my way to the house of the lost ring. As I grabbed my trusty Equinox I laid eyes on my evil nemesis. A well manicured lawn. It’s luscious green grassy fold clinged tightly around the cold metal tungsten ring. With quick swipes and long strides I tamed that evil grass and reclaimed the lost ring. Kelly’s surprised smile and joyful laughs warmed my heart and gave proof to the power of the knights of The Ring Finders. With my coil raised high I mounted my noble steed named Toyota and rode off into The Ring Finders golden sunset.
“May we all find what we seek and may we recover all that is lost.”
In the summer of 2023, a bad fire season kicked off. Between the two major fires that took place in August-September there was 385 homes lost. Just about a year later, I was contacted by a family who had lost their home. In the house, they had silver and gold. I worked approximately 24 hours sifting and metal detecting the burned ashes of the home. 158 silver coins where located, 5 coast guard metals and one set of dog tags. Also, I pulled out a few hundred keys and a few hundred coins along with 2 watches and other jewelry. The house was completely burned to the ground, I am truly happy that I got to recover at least a few valuables. I hope you enjoy the video please excuse the dirty camera and shaky hands; I was working hard.
Join me on my latest water search for Nicholas lost tungsten wedding ring. Nicholas is quiet in the beginning of the video. He’s telling me how he thinks he lost his ring by making large strokes in the water.
