underwater metal detector Tag | The Ring Finders

Lost Grandfathers Ring in Concrete Mix

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We got a call from a gentleman who was mixing concrete for a row of 2 X 2 Steps.  He was making about 20 steps for a customers’ walkway.  In the process, due to some recent weight loss, his treasured ring which his Grandfather had worn his entire life and then passed on to our him disappeared.  Short story, he had the ring on, made 20 concrete steps and 2 hours later when finished the ring was gone.

He was pretty sure it was in the 3rd step as a bag of quikCrete had burst open and he had scooped concrete with his hands.  Upon arrival with our Garrett AT Pro Metal Detectors we began scanning each step.  Few normal beeps and noises until I reached the 1st step.  It was not a normal Gold Signal but it was extremely strong.  I told the customer, I’m not sure it’s your ring but there’s definitely something there.

He said OK and picked up the 2X2 step and threw it on the ground breaking it into pieces, then he yelled “There it Is”. He did a little dance in the yard, gave us a big hug and told us we made his year.

This hobby/business is so much fun…

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Lost Tiffany Diamond Ear Ring Skydiving

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We got call from Faith, she said she was Skydiving for the first time.  Once she landed in the field she was taking off her Goggles and felt her brand NEW (only had them 24 hours/10yr anniversary gift) Gold & Diamond Ear Ring flew off.  She immediately dropped to her knees with her parachute still attached and started looking for her ear ring.   Her partner and all of the staff at the Sky Diving Club searched and searched but with no luck.  They bought a metal detector NO Luck, the had someone come out with a better Metal Dectector- NO Luck.  Someone suggested she better hire a Pro, so she called « The Dallas Ringfinders ».

We got the call 1 week after the loss, we scheduled to come out after church on Sunday and met the couple and all 7 of the staff of the Sky Diving Club, everyone there had been searching for the Ear Ring.  Great thing was the staff had put out a orange cone at the landing location where Faith had landed.  Ellen & I got our Garrett AT Pro Metal Detectors and  our Garrett Water Proof Pinpointers and began our search… it only took a minute.  I got a solid 45 gold signal at less than 2 inches deep.  I checked the site with my Pinpointer but go No signal, I then cleared the dried grass with my foot and scanned again,  still getting the 45 Gold signal indicator.  I then bent down and slowly and carefully scanned the area with my pinpointer and got a hit on the edge of the thick grass I had cleared.. still seeing nothing I use my hand to slowly clear the grass and then I saw the « Glint ».  What fun to return a beautiful ear ring..

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Lost Aggie Ring to the Yellow Duckies

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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What a fun search, we got a call from a retired Fire Chief in Lewisville, Texas.  He was helping out with a community Fundraiser where they pushed 40,000 Yellow Duckies off the falls and each duck had a value, they raised over $200,000 but our Aggie while pushing the final Duckies off the falls his Aggie Ring flew off into the pond.
He was very distraught over loosing his ring and tried to rent a Metal Detector but not knowing how to use it was a challenge, he actually was talking to the Fire Department Rescue Scuba Divers about trying to find it for him when he found “The Ring Finders” and called us.

Ellen and I met him on Tuesday morning and found his ring, I love what we do….

Another Successful Find for the Ring Finders

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  • from Cape Girardeau (Missouri, United States)
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Lost wedding band found after 30 years in Lake of the Ozarks
Rose contacted me about looking for her deceased husbands wedding band. It had slipped off his finger while he was swimming by their private dock at their summer home on Lake of the Ozarks. The loss occurred 30 years ago. They had wanted to have someone search for the ring but could think of no one until Rose heard about The Ringfinders.
We came up with a plan to get permission from the current owner of the property, then meet there to search for the ring. I was expecting mud and tree debris on the bottom but there was none. The water clarity and temperature was nice.
I want to commend Rose for thinking to bring pictures of what the search area looked like 30 years ago before the new boat dock was built. With planning and good diving conditions, I found the ring within 30 minutes!
Upon seeing the overwhelming emotion expressed by Rose at that point, I was extremely grateful that I was able to finally connect her with the ring that meant so much to her.

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Scuba Diving for a Lost Ring – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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I have been doing this for awhile now and I realized the other day that I was coming up on my 80th return. I was hoping that number 80 would be a special ring and it certainly didn’t disappoint. The other day I got a call from a Pennsylvania number and I answered to hear Terrie tell me that she needed some help. Her family was down vacationing in Orange Beach and when they were docking the boat in the marina, Josh, her son-in-law dropped his wedding ring in the water next to the dock. To make matters worse, the water depth where he thought it came off was about 8 or 9 feet deep. This was definitely going to take some dive gear to search for it. I agreed to come out and meet them and called my friend Charlie to see if I could use his Hookah dive rig. My gear was in for its annual service so this different setup would be a new experience as well. (Thanks Charlie)  When I got to the dock, the whole family was there to greet me and Josh showed me the general area he thought the ring had come off. He also explained that this was an heirloom ring that his father had given him. That made me even more determined as I jumped into the water. I brought along a 30lb weight belt to try and offset not having a steel tank while wearing my drysuit. I quickly realized that there was no way I was going to be able to stay on the bottom. Imagine wearing a giant life vest and trying to swim to the bottom of a pool.  It’s almost impossible. I wanted to use my drysuit because spending a lot of time searching on the bottom in murky marina water will freeze you to death but I decided the only way I was going to find this ring was to take off my drysuit, strip down to my bathing suit and bite the bullet. Now with the heavy weight belt I plunged to the bottom and oriented my gear. I had to look up occasionally to get my bearings by seeing Josh’s silhouette against the sky. I found a few different junk signals and then I heard a much stronger solid tone. I maneuvered over where I could see the bottom through my mask and waved my hand hard to clear the silt and sand. When it finally settled, there nestled amongst some oyster shells was Josh’s ring, safe and sound.  I surfaced and started handing gear up unable to talk yet with the regulator still in my mouth and the weight belt dragging me down. I handed everything up including the sonar cover for their boat that had gone over during the mishap. When I finally got the weight belt off and was able to take the regulator out I got a huge smile and handed Josh his heirloom ring back. I swam over to the boat to use the ladder to get out and the whole time the family was cheering and celebrating. It’s such a great feeling to be able to help people with this hobby. Terrie said it best when she texted me that evening that Josh was back to happy with a pep in his step and I had put their vacation back on track. I’m so glad I could help!  Terrie and Josh you have a great family. 😃

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Grandmothers Ring slides into Cedar Creek Lake, Tx

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We got a call from a mom who was so upset, her daughter had been at a Labor Day Swim party at Cedar Creek Lake, and the group of teenagers decided to take a midnight swim.  While sitting on the swim platform of the ski boat tied off at the dock.  A boy reached up and grabbed her hand and pulled her into the water.  As Alina was going under she her grandmother’s ring slid off.  She screamed and all of her friends tried searching for the ring. The water was about 5 feet deep with ZERO Visibility.

She then had to call her mother in tears and tell her that Grandma’s ring was gone.

I fully believe that Mom was more upset than the daughter.  Mom calls us and we set a time to come out to the lake 4 days after the loss.  The drive was 2 hours, but the subdivision was beautiful and the water was like glass… BUT BUT BUT the dock was a single dock that pitchforked out into 4 more docks and the daughter was not completely sure which dock they had been swimming on since it was dark.

I began my search using my ATPro, and water scoop.  The bottoms were 18inches of mush, like wet mash potatoes.  I began clearing all the normal junk.  Soda & Beer cans, nails, and junk.  After 4 hours of going over and over and increasing my search grid area with every pass.  I was about to call it quits, the mom had come over and said she understood I had gone above and beyond in my search and understood if I need to call it.

I said I wanted to do one more pass, I had one signal that was funky and I just wanted to pull it out to be sure I would have no regrets in my search.  I made my last scoop and nearly could not lift the 30 pounds of muck, had to use my hand to squish the much through my fingers and suddenly I saw the glint of a ring.

I called the daughter and the mom over and had them explain one more time what happened and then I said… « I have a question for you ….. « Does it look like this? »  And screams and tears began to flow… mom and daughter hugged and cried tears of joy.

Another successful find for the Dallas Ring Finders.

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3 Rings Lost in Apt Yard in Dallas, Texas

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We got a call today from a gentleman who was inquiring about our services, said he lost 3 rings in his apartment complex common area.  Something did not sound right about his story so I inquired further, letting him know that 50% of our business is from people who throw their rings, primarily women.  Letting him know I was not here to judge anyone, but that we just needed the facts so we could find the rings.

I arrived within the hour and met the young man, he ask me not to discuss the thrown rings with his wife as she was embarressed. I assured him that I would be very discrete.  I began my search by scanning the open areas between the bushes where an extreme amount of sticker vines intertwined in the bushes.  Having cleared the open areas I scanned the bushes themselves going all around the bushes.  But still no luck.  I have to then begin pushing my ATPro Detector into the bushes as far down as possible.  I then began removing all the major surface trash(tons of it).  Finally, I spotted a glint of gold between the hard stalks of the bushes… so the first of 3 rings were found.

Continuing on, I was on my knees (thank God for good Knee Pads), using my Garrett Pinpointer, and began searching by hand,  pushing my pinpointer into the bushes.  My arms were severely scratched up and bleeding (looked a lot worst than it really was), Then I found the Diamond Ring… only one more to go.  I searched and searched, it was 102 degrees and the customers were watching my every move.

I was nearly ready to quit but the client had rented an ACE250 and he began searching as well, so I continued.  There was a 4-5 ft drop-off down to a grassy area next to a sidewalk, then more grass and a pond.  The customer drop down to the lower grassy area to check there, based on the small stature of the lady who threw the rings,  I did not really think she could throw a thin band gold ring that far.  When all of a sudden her husband hollers « I found it »,  it was actually his ring which was much heavier and had flown down to the grassy area.

We never care who finds the rings, we just want them to get them found.

So the lesson here is to ask for pictures of the missing rings before your search…

But another Successful Find for the Dallas Ring Finders »

Don & Ellen Wilson

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Cedar Creek Lake – Platinum and Diamond Ring Missing

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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Well, this was our 2nd attempt to find this $5,400 Platinum Ring with Diamonds. The owner had called and explained that the motor on his small 12-foot boat quit on him just 2 docks from his home.  His boat was still slowly moving in the water while he attempted to restart the engine and after several hard pulls on the start cord (with no luck) his anger increased. He jerked the starting cord one last time and as he did he felt his ring fly off into the water. He felt he knew exactly where the ring went down but after an exhaustive water search with both our Garrett ATPro and our Excalibur II in the deeper water area(s) we cleared every signal with no luck.  We scanned every area 4 to 5 times.

The only thing we can say is that possibly we were in the wrong location(?). With the boat moving and the anger seeping in along with the strength of the last jerk on the cord, that ring could be anywhere in a 50ft by 300ft area in black water.

I believe when we go back, and we will go back, we will extensively widen out our search area… it’s got to be there…we will find it.

We do not always win but we will give our all to every search.

Don & Ellen

Dallas Ring Finders

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Prepper Father-n- Law Dies leaving hundreds of Buried Silver Coins

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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We got a call early this morning from a gentleman who said that his father-in-law passed away recently.  His father-in-law was a serious Prepper, he was heavily fortified and heavily stocked in every area of life.  He said 6 or 7 years ago he had shown he and his wife a Google Earth photo showing where he had buried Multiple Boxes of 500 coins each and many packages of 100 silver coins in plastic ammo containers.

He and his family had spent 8-10 hours digging in the known places and discovered many boxes of silver everything from 6 inches to 36 inches in depth.  They were exhausted and needed help.  They rented a metal detector but it did not work well for them so they went searching and found the Dallas Ring Finders.

Ellen and I drove out as soon as we got the call. It was 161 miles one way to reach the location.  We reached the home, met the family and were shown around the property and shown the 4 potential locations of the Silver coins.  Just want to say it was 103 degrees today.  We went to work with our Garrett ATPro metal detectors and Pinpointers.

The ground was really just pure sand, very easy to dig.  We were able to scan the boxes of Silver that they had found the day before to get our search signals and searched for 3 hours, digging dozens of holes.  The challenge was there was so much metal debris all over the search areas…   (NOTE:  history tells us that people who buried things sometimes scatter scrap metal all over their buried items to discourage metal detectorists from digging).

I am not going to disclose what we found but we may be returning for further digging and possibly bring a small backhoe to take off the top 2-3 feet of soil to make it a little easier to detect.

Suggestion, if you or someone in your family buries things on their property, please, please, please make a map or show someone where your items are so that everything can be recovered when you’re gone.

Awesome day helping a family who was completely overwhelmed.

Don & Ellen

Dallas Ring Finders

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Lake Christine/Los Colinas, TX ~ Lost Phone in Lake

  • from Dallas (Texas, United States)
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Sometimes when you’re strolling along a water’s path, holding your phone and decide you need a drink from your water bottle being held in your other hand, attempting to remove the twist cap can be a little more challenging than imaginable.  That’s exactly what happened to Stephen yesterday. Getting in the water 5ft deep to search with a metal detector and scoop proved to be unreliable since the depth increased the further he tried to walk out. So Don suited up in his diver’s suit and tank to scan the bottom up to 15 ft deep.  After a couple of passes it was found in the far corner of the water.

PS… I do have to say it was really a strange feeling Scuba Diving in Lake Christine which is in the middle of 30 story tall buildings… I know we had many eyes watching us as we located this Iphone.

Another happy customer for the Dallas Ring Finders.

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