John Fox, Author at The Ring Finders

corners on 10 acre plot found

  • from Phoenix (Arizona, United States)
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A man bought 10 acres of land near Williams in a large open area with very little infrastructure.  He thinks it will be worth something in the future.  However, he had no idea exactly where his ten acres were, nor where the corners were.  A surveyor offered to mark the corners for $2500, so he called me instead.

It was a long drive from Phoenix, but I liked the challenge so I took the job.  First, I had to look at the county site to find the plat for that subdivision.  Once I saw where the lot was supposed to be, then I marked the distances and directions to know where to work.  I drove out, very glad I had my four wheel drive, as the road was nearly impassable in more than one spot.  When I got close, I used a GPS positioning app to make sure I was on the right property to start.  None of the « roads » were named or marked, so it was easy to be in the wrong spot.

After assuring I was in the correct spot, I started by looking for the first corner.  They were marked a few decades ago when the land was developed, and the rebar was still in the ground.   I found the first corner.  Then, I had to use my old boy scout experience of map and compass.  I lined up the correct direction on the compass, then had to use my « pace » to determine 660 feet.  The topography was up and down, so that had to be taken into consideration too.  I walked what I thought was 660 feet, in the exact direction my compass told me to walk, and stopped.  Then, I looked around.  There was a pin literally about 4 feet away from me.  I was surprised I was so close, after too many years since scouting, but marked the second corner.  I did the same for corners 3 and 4, both another 660 feet away, and marked all four corners.  The owner was ecstatic, s he had tried to find the corners and could never get close enough to see them.  Two of the four were visible, and two were buried under dirt from all the years, and needed the metal detector to find.  All 4 were marked and I went home.  Happy and successful.

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Ring found at Volleyball court

  • from Phoenix (Arizona, United States)
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I received a call from a woman franstic about her lost ring.  She was playing volleyball and jumped to spike a ball, and when she hit it her ring flew off.  The game was stopped and numerous people looked for the ring, but it was not to be found.  Her husband decided to go to the local store and buy a (CHEAP!) metal detector to look for it.  First off, it was not high quality.  Secondly, they did not really know how to use it. S till, it beeped on a few things and they dug, but no ring.  Then, after 4 hours, they called me.

I arrived and set up my Equinoz 900.  I used a regular park setting, with no special settings required.  It shoudl have been an easy search, right?  I knew it was there, it was a clean area, and it could not be too deep yet.  So I started searching.

I searched back and forth, just not believing my lack of finding it, for almost an hour.  I had confirmed with her where she was standing, how she hit the ball and where it should have fallen.  Then, I decided to use logic that has served me well int he past.  « If it is not where you are searching, elimiate that area and search where it should not be.  Because it must be somewhere, and that is all that is left ».  I expended my serach.

It was a large volleyball court.  I searched the whole thing on the side she was facing.  Nothing.  then, I even decided to search the side she was on, behind where she hit it.  Of course, it could not be there, but it was not where it was supposed to be so I wasn’t going to stop with what I had done so far.  I searched.  Nope, it was not there either.  So I expended the search AGAIN.  if it is not where you searched, search somewhere else.  I went BEYOND the volleyball court, about 40 feet form where she spiked the ball at the net.  Lo and behold, just as we moved to that area, the ring was sitting right there.  Not under any sand, not hidden from view.  Just in a spot where it should not have been.  yet it was there, and it was found.

Although it sounds like captain obvious, I know searchers who search where something « has » to be and then when they don’t find it they eventually have to give up.  Because they know if can’t be anywhere else.  yet if it is not found, it MUST be « somewhere else ».  My expansion helped me find it, and the owner was very happy.  I have her picture, and she is showing off her rinf that was now back on her finger.  ALthough it was hard to locate, I had a fun search.

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Ring found in attic

  • from Phoenix (Arizona, United States)
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I received a call from SHow Low, about 4 hours away.  I don’ t normally care about the distance, since I do this more for fun than for the potential of profit.  So I took the assignment.

A man lost his ring in the attic.  He heard it hit the plywood, then go into the foam insulation.  Looked for 3 months but could not find it.  Hence the call to me.

I arrived and the first thing I did was remove my normal loop from my Equinoz 900.  It was too big for the space between the joists and would have too much interference.  I couldn’t « swing » it and keep it in the gaps, so I put on a smaller loop and worked it that way.

I had a few beeps, and decided to check them, even though they said they were (Nails or braces).  Sure enough,t hat was what they were.  Then, I got a solid beep, in between where nails should be.  I pulled back the insulation and viola.  the ring was sitting on the drywall for the ceiling below.  total time?  Well, 4 hours driving up, 10 minutes setting up and changing loops, and then 3 minutes to find the ring.  Hey, if it is there, it should not take long to find.  The owner was ecstatic and also impressed with the discriminati9on on the machine allowing me to ignore all the iron from the joists and focus on the ring.  We finalized the trasnaction and then I headed back 4 hours towards home.  ALthough actually I spend the night up there first,  as one can’t go to the mountains without spending some ime hiking and enjoying the beauty.

As easy hunt.  But only if you know what you are doing, trust your machine, and can use a small enough loop to get it where you need to go.  I almost though of using my pinpointer instead of the machine, and would have done that if after 15 minutes I had not found anything.  It doesn’t have the discrimination though, so I’m glad I had my Equinox.  Mission acconplished, and another smile for the wall.  🙂

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Property corner marker found in Show Low

  • from Phoenix (Arizona, United States)
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It’s not just jewelry and rings that need finding sometimes.  A man called me because he could not find the fourth property corner on a property he just recently purchased.  he sent me the information and I went to work.   Instead of searching randomly in the general area where it was supposed to be, I instead took the subdivision play map and looked for existing corners.  I found the one on his property on the northeast side (I was looking for southeast side) and I found the one on the southeast side of the adjacent property.  Then, I found one across the street which was close to the one I was searching for since these are all five acre parcels.  I triangulated the three pins to find where this specific market should have been.  I marked that spot, and then I finally took my detector from the truck.  I received a hit about 4 inches away from my marked spot.  Dug three inches, and there was the surveyor’s cap on the rebar showing exactly what we were looking for.  The project was done, and my client saved over $1,000 from what a surveyor wanted to charge him for the service of finding that missing pin.  Grnted, if the pin was missing he would still have needed the surveyor, but since we found it we marked it with tape, dug it out from the hole it was in, and he is another very happy client.   Corners need found too!  And metal detectors work wonders if they are still in place but buried.  🙂

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Lost Rings found in Phoenix

  • from Phoenix (Arizona, United States)
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Another successful search.  A woman was bagging leaves and lost two Sapphire rings while doing it. There were numerous large bags and it was a daunting task for her to go through them looking for these rings.  So she called me.   We took all the bags and laid them out as flat as possible.  We then searched, and of course received a wonderful signal from the middle of one bag.  We emptied the bag, again found a signal, and reached into the leaves.  the first ring came out.  the second ring was only 6 inches away.  Both rings found, both in one bag, and A very happy client.

 

 

 

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