Tom Caldie, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 2 of 4

Lost ring in Door County recovered through teamwork!

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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On August 21st, I received a call from Jake about his lost wedding ring at Jacksonport Beach, a popular spot on the east coastline of Door County.   It slipped off his finger in chest-high water about 35-to-50 feet from shore.    I drove out later the next day, after giving some storms time to pass by.    I arrived to see white caps rolling in, but they weren’t too high close to shore in the troughs between the sand bars.   Further out, they were pretty strong.

I knew this would be an arduous search because the Lake Michigan side of the Door County Peninsula is colder than the bay, and fighting the incoming whitecaps can tire a person out pretty quickly.   I taught Jake how to detect small round objects with my ancient Fisher 1280, an analog model that is easy to use because it goes by sound.   I used an AT Pro, which has been pretty effective for me on sand beaches.   Jake used my heavy steel scoop, which has enough weight to be effective in surf.   He is a bigger guy, so he could handle the deeper waves better than I could. I started out about chest deep, and worked my way into the shallows, figuring the waves may have tumbled the ring toward shore.   I worked back and forth closer and closer to the beach, but only found one hammered coin of some kind, to be cleaned and researched later. Jake and his sons arrived to observe and assist, and his wife and baby boy came by later to watch and give encouragement.   After the better part of an hour Jake waded in with a huge smile and his artisanal ring in the scoop!    Nice recovery!  Their whole family was beaming!

Jake gave me a generous reward, which will be used to bring our grandson to a Timber Rattlers and a Milwaukee Brewers game!    I hated to take it, since he was the one who scooped it using my gear, but the main thing is we worked together and found it!

Something gleaming in the scoop!

(Word to the wise:   Wedding bands without protruding stone settings will sink where they fall in sand until they reach equilibrium!   The ring stayed put despite the waves.)

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Lost Ring in Sturgeon Bay recovered!

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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On July 21st, I was called out to a house on the shore of Green Bay, between Luxemburg and Sturgeon Bay. A guy named Eric had lost his wedding band in some rocks in chest-high water, and he REALLY wanted it back. I drove out there, and found a beautiful rustic cottage/home on a bluff overlooking the bay.  I climbed down a lot of stairs to the dock, jumped in and started hunting. Rocks are very hard to hunt in, especially different sized ones, because the ring can slip between them and be lost forever, but I detected a strong signal! A scoop was useless in the rocks, so Eric speared the bottom with a stout stick  so I could pull myself down with a snorkel and mask and stay there, and I spied the ring laying on the surface of a flat rock.  What good luck!
Afterwards, Eric sent this tribute, which was awfully kind of him:
« I was visiting from Florida up in the Sturgeon Bay area and swimming in the lake this last week. I was trying to find my wife a special rock at the bottom of the lake and started to pick up the rock and my ring fell off while I had the rock in my hands. Aside from the normal stress this could cause any husband and wife, I was panicking and didn’t know what to do. I stayed up late to research how I could get this done. I knew I couldn’t do it myself and I came across Tom’s profile on Ring finders. I couldn’t of asked for a better individual to help me: kind professionalism, and most of all they were able to find my ring for me at a very respectable price. I can tell Tom is a man of integrity and I’m thankful that I had him here. God bless this company and anybody who loses their ring. Please give this company a chance and you won’t be disappointed. »
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Tom Caldie recovers engagement and wedding ring set!

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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Ryan and Krissy contacted me about her wedding band and engagement ring set that was lost in a ditch off of a bike trail near Combined Locks, WI.   It was getting late in the day, so I speedily loaded my metal detecting gear and brought  several  headlamps just in case the sun went down before we could find it.  Krissy had accidently driven off the trail into a steep, rocky and woody ditch.  She was lucky not to be hurt.   In throwing out her arms to break her fall, the ring set went flying into the brush.   I started the couple and their two kids hunting near the trail in case it had fallen off there and I started a pattern in the woody bank.  It always helps to have more people looking, so I bring extra gear for helpers!  After moving aside the branches from a fallen sapling, I heard a signal and saw the ring set sparkling in some leaves.   Luckily, our search ended in smiles! 

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125-year-old Engagement Ring recovered in Sturgeon Bay

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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I had great success recovering a lost heirloom engagement ring last Friday in Sturgeon Bay. Its owner, Gena, had given it and her wedding band to her father while she went tubing. Somehow, it flew out of his pocket somewhere between the boat, the launch, and his house, though the wedding band was still there. She put a notice in « Door County Lost » on Facebook, and someone saw it and contacted me about it. That put the search in motion.
I interviewed everyone, and traced the likely loss point back to when the most hand movement occurred, which was probably the yard. (I didn’t want to jump in the water at the launch without checking the yard, first, because launches are full of lost metal of every kind: keys, cans, phones, sunglasses, boat parts, lures, coins, pop tabs, and other junk, which necessitates a lot of scooping and sorting.)
Gena’s father had cut the grass, so I was running my Minelab Equinox stock coil over the clippings before they were discarded. They were spreading the 3rd load over the driveway to make it easier, which was taking a while, so I decided to sweep the grass along the road, in front of where the boat was parked while I waited. Gena made it easier by passing her wedding band under the coil so I could choose which program . of the eight would work the best. After only a few minutes, the ring sang out! I couldn’t believe how pretty it was – a 125-year-old vintage cut diamond discontinued in 1945! I shouted out « we’re done, » and then the hugs and celebrations began! What was lost, was found!
of .d!
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Sapphire Ring recovered in Wisconsin Lake

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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A few weeks ago, I traveled with Jeff Wettstein to a lake near Fremont to search jointly for a lost ring set. (Jeff and I are both ringfinders for Northeast Wisconsin.) Luckily, third time was a charm. We had the husband in a kayak directing us where to put the grid and dive, so we ended up a little further out. Also, I used my old Fisher 1280, which is quite sensitive. I had done some repairs on the handle, so it was ready. The last time, I was under 8-10 feet of water for two 3-hour sessions. This time, I was under for only 2 1/2 hours, and finally teased out a signal. The ring had settled on hardpan, which was underneath three layers: a seaweed carpet about four inches thick, over about four inches of silt, then about six inches of sand. My detector shaft kept getting caught up in weeds, so I had to use my arm as the shaft and hand sweep the coil underneath the weed layer in the silt, which kicked up in a cloud creating zero visibility and going by sound and feel. And, there was this big largemouth bass that kept playing with the coil like a cat after a toy. That was funny and made me laugh in my air regulator! (I didn’t know I could laugh underwater.) Finally, success! My fingertips felt the two-ring set among some pebbles on the hardpan! We had searched for 19 1/2 hours total.

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Lost Platinum Wedding Band recovered in Fremont area lake

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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On August 14th, fellow Ringfinder Jeff Wettstein informed me that he was scheduled to referee three soccer games, so he needed me to help out on a recovery.  We frequently back each other up when we have other commitments, since we are the only two water detectorists/divers in the Green Bay and Fox Valley region.

The groom, Mike, told me he had been swimming at a rental cottage and noticed his ring was missing at the end of the day.   Some days had passed, and he had returned home, so we had to request permission from the property owner and the new renters to access the property.  Permission was granted, and Mike and I hunted  together,  figuring two searchers would increase our odds.    Mike used my Fisher 1280, and found some clad coins, and I used my Garrett AT Pro, an older but reliable model, and we swept the swimming area many times.  After 2 1/2 hours, I

found it!  Mike was grinning from ear-to-ear!  I love this hobby!

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Precious Wedding Band Recovered from the bay of Green Bay

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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Last June, I received a frantic request from Rob, a visitor from Los Angeles, California, who had just lost his wedding band.    He was renting a vacation home near Red Banks, was tossing one of his nephews off the dock into about 4 feet of water, and his wedding band splashed into the drink!   Unfortunately, Rob’s wife had passed away only three months previously, and the ring was inscribed with a message of love from her.   It was important to recover it!   Rob asked me how long it would take, and I replied « About two minutes. »   I knew this because I knew the bay sediments very well from years of experience, my Garrett AT Pro could easily discriminate out iron.  Besides, Rob was a professional roofer and had pulled a nail finder over the area many times, pretty much cleaning it out ahead of time for me!   I hopped off the dock in my wet suit, and had the ring back on his finger in less than two minutes!   Whew!  I’m not always that bold in my predictions.      Rob thanked me profusely, and insisted I share a beer and watch the sunset with his family, though the real glow was coming from his smile.   

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14k Gold Wedding Band recovered in Waupaca County

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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Kevin was making memories, tossing his kids off the swimming raft into the lake when a unwelcome memory intervened – his wedding band also decided to take a plunge.   The bottom was 12 – 15 down with limited visibility.   Luckily, Jeff Wettstein was available with his hookah technology.     Tom Caldie was the aquanaut, and he recovered the ring perched on top of some invasive milfoil plants after almost two hours of gently sweeping over the top.  Lucky for that, as deep silt was under the plants, and the ring could have been dislodged and sunk down too deep for recovery.  It took a light touch to detect a signal without losing the ring forever, but it was well worth the effort.     This is why they call this the « Book of Smiles! »

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Lost wedding band recovered in Door County lake

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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June 27th,  I was called up to a Door County cottage to find a ring that was lost the previous weekend. It was next to the dock on the « fishing » end of the lake, which means muck and weeds! It took me 90 minutes of probing with a small coil on the Minelab Equinox 800 and a Vibraprobe, but after being misled by a few really old beer cans that were opened with a can opener and a few bottle caps and pop tabs, I finally teased it out of 18″ of muck. I also looked at the far end of the dock for a gold watch that was lost years ago, but the silt was shoulder deep, so all I got was a beauty treatment, if that is what muck in your hair does. The water felt good, though. It was nice to get Chris’s 14k gold wedding band back on his finger where it belongs.

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Engagement Ring Recovered using Hookah Gear near Wautoma, WI

  • from Green Bay (Wisconsin, United States)
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Wrinkled fingers, but nice ring!

On August 15th, 2019, Jeff Wettstein received a call regarding a lost engagement ring off the end of a dock in central Wisconsin.    Having just purchased and tested a new hookah arrangement with three 60-foot hoses, we were soon on our way to try recovering the valuable ring.    It was a cold week, but we had multiple layers of neoprene ready to wear.     It’s not wise to dive alone, so we used the buddy system.    My turn was first with Jeff serving as top tender.   I was having so much fun playing with the blue gills, I didn’t realize I was under water for two hours!     After sorting through a lot of junk and weeds, I found the ring and popped to the surface.     We didn’t get a photo of the bride because she was in contact with us by phone, but you can see it was a valuable recovery.   She was quite happy.

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