Recently, I wrote a blog post for a local blog called Madison Mom’s Blog. They were gracious enough to allow me to be a Guest Contributor. The blog post covers how I got into Metal Detecting, becoming a Ring Finder and why I feel it’s so important to find a hobby to do with your kids.
I received a call from Abner about his dorm key that was lost as he was out jogging around a local park. I had a commitment that kept me from going on the day of his call, but we arranged to meet the next morning. He told me that this was his dorm key from his university (UC Riverside), and he was told that if he did not produce the key on the day I came, that the school was going to charge him an exorbitant amount of money to get him a new key because they would have to change out the lock as well. I could hear his desperation when he called, and being a student, I realized it would be difficult for him to come up with the sum the school would require of him.
I had a 73 mile drive, and the traffic was good which allowed me to arrive at our appointed time. Abner showed me the area where he knew the key was lost, as he told me he felt it leave his hand as he was running. I explained that I would search the area he showed me, and if it wasn’t found, I would begin a search « outside of the box ». As I searched, I encountered quite a bit of metallic objects, but none of them turned out to be the key. Abner then sat down, and it seemed he was getting a bit discouraged, but I figured it was time to stretch the search area. I went out about 10 to 15 feet further when I got a good hit on the detector. I pulled my pinpointer out and started to reach down, when I was able to see the key slightly covered by some grass, but on top. It was surprising that even though I knew something was there, it was almost invisible.
Well when I came up with the key, I could see the relief come over Abner’s face. He was surely happy he did not have dig into his « starving student » fund to replace it. He and I just sat down afterwards and talked a while about school and life in general, as I have a son about his age in college as well. It was nice meeting him, and being able to make his day.
If you lose your ring or other metal item of value, call as soon as possible. I will work hard to help you find what you thought might never be found again. I search, Beverly Hills, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica, Seal Beach, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Venice Beach, and all parks, yards, gardens, and ponds (to 5 foot depths) in all of Orange County, all of Los Angeles County, and Ventura County.
I received a call from Derrick this morning asking for help in finding his wife’s wedding ring. He and his wife had been carving pumpkins in the back yard yesterday in anticipation of Halloween, and so as not to get her beautiful diamond wedding ring covered with pumpkin goop, she decided to remove it and place it on the blanket they were using. When they were done Derrick lifted the blanket, forgetting the ring was on it, and it disappeared into the grass. He told me they searched for a while right after the loss, but it was getting dark fast making a visual search harder. He then got up this morning with the new light and conducted a more thorough search of the area with no luck. He began to do some research on the Internet, and found me on TheRingFinders.com web site. I was due home in about 15 minutes, and told him I would leave for his location as soon as I got my equipment together.
I arrived at his house, and he invited me to the location of the loss, wherein I was looking at a rather large yard of nicely manicured grass, and figured it may take a while to search for this one. Derrick showed me where they were sitting, and what he had done to the blanket. He didn’t think he had flipped it too hard, but you never know with such a small item that can fly quite a distance with minimal effort, so I resolved to myself that I would be searching the whole yard. Thinking in that mindset, I started in the most likely beginning point. I swung my detector 2 times hearing many multiple high tones like rusted nails, and thought this might end up being very difficult. I swung once more and heard what I was listening for, not believing that I could have found it so soon, but went down with my pinpointer, and located his wife’s ring, all in about 10 seconds. I reached down and brought it up to show an unbelieving Derrick. I got to thinking that he might have thought I brought the ring with me, and had it in my hand when I began the search, because it was found so fast.
Derrick was very happy to have the ring that he gave his wife on their wedding day to give back to her today. I could tell it meant a lot to him, and am sure his wife was ecstatic to have it on her finger again. He did not want his full picture taken, but did allow a bust shot of him holding the ring. Trust me he was smiling, and very happy. I was glad to have made his day. The story of this ring continues.
Derrick sent the following to include here:
Thank you, Steve. Article looks great. Thank you again. Here is a little something that, if you want, please feel free to add.
My wife and I really didn’t know what to do when she lost her wedding ring in our yard. It was in our own backyard yet for some reason it still nearly impossible to find. After hours of looking in our own yard with no luck, we felt sorta hopeless. I spent sometime researching what I could do online and it was either buy/rent an expensive metal detecting device or see if someone who knew what they were doing could help us out. After reading some success stories at the ring finders, I decided it couldn’t hurt. I called Steve on a Sunday and even though I live about 35 miles away from where he was, he still was nice enough to come by. It was the best idea I had. Like Steve mentioned, within seconds he found my wife’s ring. It was such a relief not only for me, but for my wife, of course, who thought her ring was for sure lost forever. Take it from me, if you lose a ring, give someone on this sight a call, they know what they are doing and can help turn what could be a terrible situation into a cute little story.
If you lose your ring or other metal item of value, call as soon as possible. I will work hard to help you find what you thought might never be found again. I search, Beverly Hills, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica, Seal Beach, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Venice Beach, and all parks, yards, gardens, and ponds (to 5 foot depths) in all of Orange County, all of Los Angeles County, and Ventura County.
I have been metal detecting for a number of years. Early on, my mother lost her earring in the backyard of my childhood home. She immediately called me and asked if I could help find it. It was a yellow gold hoop earring. She had been in the garden, pruning her shrubs and pulling weeds in her flower beds. I searched and searched, even returning multiple times – but never found that earring. She sent the other earring she still had to my sister to try to find another pair as a replacement for a Christmas gift. Fast forward 3-4 years … and while at my son’s soccer game, she lost one of the new earrings. Could I redeem myself this second time and find the lost earring and return it to my mother? After about 5 mins of searching, we found it. My mom was very happy and rewarded us with a nice batch of chocolate covered peanut butter balls – a family favorite.
Check out the full story here:
http://www.lostandfoundring.com/lost-earring-found-redemption/
Toby was out for a fun day at the beach, just yards from his vacation hide-away.
A bit of catch was in order when it happened…the ball came in at just the right angle to whisk his wedding band off of his finger. The last glimpse he had of it was it flying out of sight. Game over.
Hours of searching with a rake, shovel, rented metal detector, many friends and family including his father-in-law crawling in the sand. Nothing seemed to work in the daylight…neither did flashlights in the dark of night.
His friendly neighbor started searching the world wide web and came across a site called TheRingFinders.com. Minutes later Toby was convinced to give Rick Browne a call. And so he did.
Within an hour the call was returned, tide time and weather check was made along with a meeting time for a search for the ring to begin. The next day after an introduction, bit of information gathering, the entourage was off, down the wooden stairs, the aluminum stairs (more like a swinging bridge) to the edge of the wet sand. After a quick demo of how and where the ring was lost and I began the search.
Forty-five minutes later, after covering the area I was shown plus a bit more, I was going to enlarge the area even more. One pass, one turn and three steps later my detector gave me the best signal I had had all day. A shallow scoop of sand and there it was, in my scoop, Toby’s ring. A quick rinse and it was presentable enough to let Toby retrieve his ring from the scoop. He did it in grandeur with yelps and praises. Of course with a smile a mile wide.
I received a call a few days ago from a guy who had lost his wedding band in Lions Head ON. Myself and my father both avid users of metal detectors decided to take about an hour drive up to see if we could locate this item. We soon came to realize that the beach we were metal detecting had some large rocks making for a difficult search. The water depth in this location also dropped off very fast making it challenging to check further into the water. After about a steady two hours of searching as well as using goggles to go under and see if we could locate it by eye we decided to call the search off for the day as we covered pretty much all the area that we believed the ring was lost in. I had my suit about half off when he told us there was one more spot he would like us to search. The family created a rock statue and threw the rocks back in after they were done. I quickly suited back up and went over to the location the rocks had been thrown into. Within roughly a couple minutes I had a very strong beep ringing up at around a 63 on my Garrett AT Pro. I spend a small amount of time locating what rock this beep was coming from. I bent into the water and lifted a rock about the size of a football. Sure enough if his platinum ring and diamonds was not under that rock sparkling in the sun!!
We are very pleased to have helped this gentleman and look forward to many more searches to come!
Thanks,
Mitch
Fourth of July ended with the sky rockets bright glare and a bang, as I returned Alex’s lost and found wedding band. The band had been lost the day before and no amount of searching had found it. I was called and was quick to start a search. Not wanting to get my socks wet I started the grid on the ocean side, working toward the beach which had some drainage and the tide was coming in. The search went to the second possible area as detailed by Alex who had left for a birthday party. Not finding the ring, I had no other option but to hit the drainage run-off areas. Yep, there it was about an inch deep in the center of the run-off. My feet were wet, the ring came up, the sun went down and everyone left the beach and I headed for the party. I was greeted by a houseful of wonderful family members. Entertaining stories were exchanged and pictures taken as we watched a fireworks display beyond the back yard. A fitting end for a memorable day.
I ran across a Craig’s list ad in the lost and found section that told of a lost wedding ring at the dog beach in Coronado. I emailed Lisa back about TheRingFinders.com service and that I would be willing to look for it if they wished me to. A series of e-mails later, arrangements were made to meet at the beach at a low tide on Saturday morning. That beach gets detected almost daily, so. I just hoped the ring was still there, especially with an active Craig’s list ad.
I arrived early to beat the traffic and find a parking spot easier. I started detecting the beach but I didn’t know the search area yet, so, I just made my best guess on the most popular area. After detecting for a while and finding some targets (a good sign), Lisa’s husband, Olivier, and their son showed up to direct me to where they had been several days earlier when the ring was lost…the other end of the beach, of course! Olivier and son had been playing ball at the water’s edge when Olivier’s ring flew off. I had them give me the dimensions of the search area which ended up being about 80′ squared of wet and dry sand. I started at the middle of one edge of the square and proceeded to cut the square in half and work my way toward the edges. 10′ into my first pass, I had my first target, his ring, and it was in my scoop! They couldn’t believe it and thought I must be some kind of magician! A happy Olivier had his ring back so it can continue it’s story. Thank you for the reward.
The other day I went to the beach at night to cool off & relax and of course do some metal detecting. I started searching where all the people hang out by the logs during the day, there were some partiers still out there at midnight and one of my treasure hunting friends showed up so I headed to the other side of the beach away from the young kids. I was finding the coins and a ton of bottle caps then I found a silver ring. I could see the 925 stamp inside the band so I put it in my pouch and carried on.
When I got home early in the morning and after a couple of hours of sleep I was on my computer and I checked out the craigslist to find an ad about a lost silver wedding band with a great drawing of the location the ring was lost…I knew it was the ring I found. So I sent a picture of the ring and said I think I found your ring…The phone rang minutes later and the young lady couldn’t believe that I found it. She was so excited and told me that she wasn’t going to tell here husband she was going to surprise him. They only got married two months ago and he was very sad!
I arranged a meeting place and the young lady picked up her husbands ring and headed for home after a little interview…Below you can watch the video.
I love this hobby and I love helping people find their lost rings!
Thanks for reading my blog! If you need help finding your lost ring call me ASAP
Chris-778-838-3463
Proud member of The Ring Finders
Saturday .. 6-27-15
Saturday evening I received several text messages asking me if I could help Lindsey find a metal item lost in the sand. She had believed that it was lost while playing volleyball earlier during the day.
I returned several texts explaining that 6am Sunday morning would give me the best chance to find her sentimental metal item. For some reason we could not talk on the phone. This has happened to me before because the person was occupied at a meeting or other function.
I left at 5am to meet Lindsey and her boyfriend at 6am in Venice Beach. We were able to get to the Volleyball court before the tractors raked that part of the beach. She then told me I would be searching for a silver Tiffany bracelet that « could have be lost while playing volleyball »
They played both sides of the court. I decided to start where we were standing outside the playing lines. Two grid passes diagonally across the court rewarded us with Tiffany’s beloved bracelet.
We were all surprised that it showed up because Lindsey could not definitely recall when it came off her wrist. Another successful recovery for TheRingFinders.com.
