Greg Lewis, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 2 of 4

Engagement ring lost on Oregon coast.. found!

  • from Oregon City (Oregon, United States)
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Late Friday night, I received a text from Ricardo, stating he needed help finding a lost engagement ring somewhere behind a very popular resort hotel in Cannon Beach, Oregon.
After seeing the message, I noticed that I had missed a call from him earlier.

I called him back a bit after midnight, and we discussed the situation. He said he had purposed to his girlfriend, now his fiancée, during their trip to the Oregon coast . He had hired a photographer to take photos of their special moment. Several photos were taken.

Into the photo shoot, one was where Ricardo was reclining in the sand, with Daniela, his now fiancée, was on top of him, showing the ring. When they stood up, Daniela brushed off the sand from his back. Shortly afterwards, she realized her new engagement ring was no longer on her finger.

Ricardo was confident the ring was in a small area, even though they had spent hours sifting through the sand with no luck. Even people staying in the resort overlooking the beach had come out to help, but the ring was still missing.

I already had a search scheduled for the next morning, but this was looking for a lost earring in a private yard. This was convenient, since I already had my gear loaded. I texted my prior appointment, letting them know I had a time sensitive search, asking them to reschedule.

Cannon Beach is a bit more than two hours from my home, so I set the alarm and was on the road around 0530.

I gave Ricardo an update on my ETA and he said they would meet me when I arrived.

I arrived at the Hallmark Resort slightly after 8AM. I explained to the front desk why I was there, and they graciously told me I could park in their lot until I finished finding the missing ring.
Ricardo and Daniela met me, and we walked down to the beach where the ring went missing. On the way, they told me we were looking for a platinum ring, with a single diamond.

Once in the area, I started a circular search from where they thought the ring had been lost. There had apparently been at least one beach fire in the area, so the detector was getting multiple hits.
On the outer edge of my search area, I hit a strong, shallow signal. Reaching down I found a steel cap from a beer bottle. I picked it up and palmed it, thinking I might be able to use it to extend the suspense of the search for the missing ring.
Searching a bit lower from the suspected area, I received a faint, but repeatable signal. I used my foot to sweep back some sand, and the signal got better. I kicked back some more sand, and about 4 inches deep I saw the glint of a diamond ring.
I turned back to Ricardo, holding up the bottle cap saying this is what I always find on the beach. He looked at me a bit perplexed, then pointed down to the sand and said, “Wait, what’s that??”
I was forced to admit I was trying to play him a bit, and that was the ring. I picked it up from the sand and handed it to him.
After a few seconds for the realization to arrive, Ricardo put the ring back on Daniela’s finger.
Suddenly there was a huge amount of cheering from the overlooking balcony’s. Looking up, we saw many people in the overlooking resort had been observing the search.

I just didn’t have it in me to ask Daniela to take off her ring so I could take anymore pictures of it in the sand, so I just have these photos.

Maybe 20 minutes of searching recovered the missing ring.

We were able to find the ring early enough so Ricardo and Daniela could go have a nice breakfast before their drive to the airport, and flight to Texas.

I’m so happy to be a small part of the story of Daniela and Ricardo’s future together. All the best going forward, and I thank you for the invitation to your wedding!

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Wedding ring lost in the park….

  • from Oregon City (Oregon, United States)
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Oregon lost ring

The other evening, I received a message from Anthony saying “I’m pretty sure I lost my ring in Raleigh Park and I need help finding it.”

I wasn’t able to go search at that time, and being this is a public park, and time was essential to search, I suggested he contact the other local Ringfinder to see if he could come out immediately. I also told him if the other Ringfinder couldn’t help, I would go out the next morning and search.

A short time later, Anthony told me he left a message, but hadn’t heard back. He sent a Google image of the park, with a section circled where he and his wife had been playing with their dog. I let him know I would go out the next morning and do the search.

Arriving, I used the image to locate the right area. There is a Pickleball court on the lower section of the search area, so I was able to that fence as a reference for my grid search. The area was pretty clean, not counting the obligatory pull-tab. On the fourth pass, I hit a good high tone on the Manticore, but couldn’t see anything under the coil. Moving the grass with my foot, I saw the faint outline of a ring. I took a quick pic, then picked up what I had been looking for.
I sent Anthony a message telling him I thought I had found the right area to search. He replied asking if I had any luck. I said absolutely, and sent a picture of his ring.  He was in the middle of dealing with a pet emergency and was at the vet hospital, so couldn’t meet me. I told him I would do some metal detecting at some other parks in the area, and to let me know when we could meet to get his ring.

A bit later, I got his call and we met and I returned his ring.

Its always a happy day when I can return something, and make someone smile ?

Best wishes for your pups health and thanks for your generosity.

 

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Wedding ring lost in Oregon yard, found with metal detector

  • from Oregon City (Oregon, United States)
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On a Sunday evening, I received a text stating “We lost a wedding band, we think in our backyard, and were wondering if you could come out and find it.”

I asked a few of my standard questions regarding how the ring had been lost, and why they thought it was in the yard. Steph told me her husband had the ring on in the morning. After working out in the yard all day, he came in to shower and he realized the ring was missing. They searched through the house and didn’t find it, so she did an internet search and found the Ringfinders.
I was able to go out to their house the next morning, so we agreed on a convenient time.

I arrived and met with Steph. She walked me through the yard work her husband was doing, and the area the ring could have been lost in. She thought it may have been lost while he had been planting berry bushes, or trimming some bushes. She also told me they had purchased a metal detector off of Amazon Prime, but were frustrated because they just kept getting noise everywhere they searched.

Searching the front yard area and flower beds, I only found some aluminum scrap and a penny. Also no indication the ring was buried under any of the berry bushes Ryan had planted.

Moving into the backyard area, I focused on the raised area above the lawn, I hit some promising targets, but were just junk.

A bit away, I received a scratchy sound on the Manticore, but good VDI numbers, and perfect response on the 2D mapping. Leaning in I could see the faint outline of a ring.

 

Confirming this was the missing ring, I snapped a photo, and found Steph, who was in the house. I asked if she would come out so I could explain how I was searching with the metal detector. I handed her the penny I had found, and she said she was hoping it was the missing ring. We went into the backyard. I ran the detector over a couple of bad targets, then over the ring. I told her that’s the ring, but she still didn’t see it. Kicking a little of the yard debris away, she was able to pick up the missing ring!

I asked if it was alright if I took some photos for the Ringfinders website, and Steph said she was hopeful that they would be added with a successful recovery.

Steph told me she was sure they wouldn’t have found the ring without my help.
Steph was going to use the penny I had found to give Ryan a hard time for losing his ring. He was very sad to get home and just see a penny on the counter, and not his ring, but very happy to actually have his ring back.

 

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Wedding ring lost in an Oregon yard, found using a metal detector

  • from Oregon City (Oregon, United States)
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Received a text earlier this week from Rob, informing me he had lost his platinum wedding ring in his friend’s yard in Molalla, Oregon. He had searched for it, crawling through the grass, and used a metal detector, but came up empty.

We were able to meet on the property the following Saturday. When I arrived, Rob was already out searching, but he walked me through his activities the night the ring was lost, and where he had been in the yard. He strongly believed he had lost the ring in a section of the yard near a pathway where he had given his buddy an enthusiastic “bro-hug” as they walked through the area. He also walked me through all the areas on the property he had been in that evening. He was sure the only thing he had done that evening out of the ordinary was his hug.

I decided to start searching the area along the left side of the pathway, considering the left hand is where you wear a wedding ring. My grid search found the area had lots of scrap aluminum, and some miscellaneous iron targets. Did pull out a nickel and a few bottle caps. I could also see Rob was searching around other places in the yard by hand.

Before leaving the area I was searching, I moved into the left side of the pathway. Great signal turned out to be a sprinkler head.  Than some foil. A few feet later I hit a scratchy sound, but VDI numbers on the Manticore that were perfect. Sweeping the other direction, the sound was still questionable, but the VDI and depth seemed perfect. Reaching down and moving the 3 inches of wet grass, I could see the ring ?.

I went looking for Rob, who was in a lower section of the yard searching. I asked him to come up so I could show him the issues that had complicated the search. I ran the detector over a few targets, expelling they didn’t sound right, or were too deep. I then went over the spot where his ring was and told him that was it.
He dug through the thick wet grass and pulled out his ring.

Rob was super happy to have his wedding ring of 17 years back on his finger.

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Wedding ring lost in the yard in Oregon. Located with a metal detector

  • from Oregon City (Oregon, United States)
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Tuesday evening I received a text message from John asking for my help finding his gold wedding ring. He explained that the day before he had been working in his driveway and his ring flew off. He heard it hit the metal gate and it was gone. He believed it had landed in the cedar duff near the gate and tried using a “cheap metal detector” with no luck

As he was not too far from home, I told John I could come out the next day and take a look. He said he would check it with me in morning to confirm our schedules.

In the morning I received a text saying he had given it another shot searching with no luck. I told him I could be there in the early afternoon, and I arrived just after 1pm, finding John out in the yard with his detector.

I had him explain what he was doing when he lost his ring, and he said he had removed the dog bed from the back of his car and was brushing of hair with his left hand. He felt the ring come off and heard it hit the open metal gate. Unless it had bounced off the gate, it should have landed in a relatively small area under a large cedar tree. The area was covered in a thick layer of debris from the tree, and next to a metal framed trailer. John had also raked the area searching for the ring, so there were piles of debris.
I had some Bluetooth issues, so I was running the Manticore without headphones, and chatted with John as I searched. There were a lot of junk signals, but I got a strong hit and found a deck screw. John explained there had been an incident where the dog had scattered a box of screws around the yard, so I knew to ignore similar signals. On the back side of my first pass, I hit a signal every detectorist will dig. I kicked back the top layer of needles and found nothing. I got to hard packed soil, so I knew it wasn’t the ring, but dug around with the pinpointer. I pulled out a dime and handed it to John. Kind of a teachable moment, letting John hear the difference between a coin and junk metal.
I began my second pass up and quickly got a very good signal. Again kicked off the tree debris, the sound and VDI improved. Under about four inches of debris, there was the missing ring. (Probably buried deeper from raking and walking over the area)

I held the ring up and handed it to John. Got a high five ?️ and he was happy this would get him out of the doghouse with his wife. Had a nice chat about the metal detecting hobby, and fishing our local rivers.
Always great to meet new friends

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Wedding ring lost in the yard in Oregon,found with metal detector

  • from Oregon City (Oregon, United States)
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I received a message inquiring if I was able to help find a lost wedding ring.

I had a conversation with Cal regarding his loss.

He told me he had been doing some yard work, raking up yard debris and loading the recycling bin. He finished up, and was in his house when he discovered his wedding ring was not on his finger. He told me he never takes his ring off, and thought it must have come off somewhere in his yard, probably when he had taken his gloves off as he worked. He said it was a white gold band.

I was able to go out the following morning, which fortunately coincided with a break in the Oregon rain.

Cal showed me the area, and explained what he had been doing. I began a grid search in the back section of the yard, finding a few coins and tons of scrap metal.

Cal had to leave, but his wife was still there. I got about 3/4’s of the way through the yard, when I got a faint but promising signal. I kicked back some of the bark and saw the very thin white gold ring. I called Cal’s wife over and gave her a little metal detector tutorial, going over scrap signals, then the ring. I picked it up and handed it to her, and she was super happy.

I wasn’t able to get a picture of Cal getting his ring back, but received a text with many emojis expressing his gratitude.

White gold

 

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Wedding ring lost in Oregon for seven months, found with metal detector

  • from Oregon City (Oregon, United States)
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Right at the end of January, I received a text from Lalo inquiring if I was available to provide my services to help find his wife’s lost wedding ring.

He said six or seven months ago, he and his wife were doing some yard work out back, and her ring went missing. He had purchased a metal detector and tried multiple times to find it, but since he had no idea what he was doing, he had no luck. He was also concerned that due to some of the huge rainstorms we had, the ring may have been moved down the hillside. I assured him that unless there had been some substantial sliding, the ring wouldn’t have moved very much.

He wasn’t sure if the ring was white gold or platinum, but it was both her engagement ring and wedding ring welded together, with diamonds.

His hope was to find the ring and return it to her as a surprise Valentine’s Day present.

I was able to go over to his home the next day, while his wife was away. He showed me the areas he believed the ring had been lost. Searching that area, I found nothing but nails and aluminum scraps.
Moving lower into the yard, I still was getting junk signals, and was getting ready to switch out to a smaller search coil, since I was searching along a metal fence. Each swing to the right hit the fence, causing a big response on the detector, but since I was using a manticore detector, which is very capable, I continued.

A bit further, I got a hit off the fence, an iron signal, and something else. Using my pinpointer, I pulled out a nail. Knowing that you have to double check the hole, I used my pinpointer and found what we were looking for!!

Lalo seemed genuinely surprised when I handed him the ring. I hope his wife was pleasantly surprised to receive it back for her valentines gift

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Ring lost in Washington river, found with metal detector

  • from Oregon City (Oregon, United States)
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Sunday afternoon, I received a text from Aaron, saying he had lost his wedding ring while doing a “cold plunge” in the White Salmon River, located in Washington State. Aaron was asking if I could come help find the ring the next morning.
He said the water was probably not more than 3 feet deep, but was worried the current may have taken it away. I assured him that the water current wasn’t likely to move the ring very far, and that it would just sink and settle into the bottom close to where it was lost.                 The place where his ring was lost was about two hours away, but I was able to able to head out and meet him Monday morning.

 I arrived at the spot by the river and met Aaron and his wife. As we walked down to area where he had done the “plunge” I had to ask him why they decided to go into this really cold river. He said it was a tradition amongst his friends to do a plunge before a wedding.

I put on my waders and boots, and went into the cold water. After several minutes, my detector hit a very promising target, but it was about four feet under water and buried in some large rocks. The only way to explore it would have involved getting pretty wet, so I marked the spot and moved on, thinking I could return later if nothing else was found.           As I continued, I heard a strong sound in my headphones. I used the pin-pointer mode on the Manticore, then my pinpointer to sift through the gravel and sand. Through the water, I could see the faint outline of a ring. Aaron and his wife were standing on the shore watching as I dug around, and I told them it seemed like people fished in this area. There was a little disappointment , until I held up the  ring and said “People also loose their rings here.”
Many happy smiles, handshakes, and high-fives followed. They said they didn’t really think it would be found. I jokingly said it was disappointing they doubted my ability’s, but I was very happy to return the ring to Aaron,s finger.

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Lost wedding ring in Oregon found with metal detector

  • from Oregon City (Oregon, United States)
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Kyle sent me a message a couple of weeks back, asking if I was willing to search for his wedding ring that had been lost in his yard for the past couple of months. I was out of town vacationing that week, and Kyle was gone the following week. Since the ring was likely in his yard, it was not a time critical search. He said he would reconnect with me later.

Fast forward about two weeks. Kyle reconnected with me, and I asked him to describe how he had lost his ring. He said he had been on his front porch one afternoon and saw a squirrel in the yard. He had been dealing with squirrels tunneling under the porch, so he grabbed a small chair and threw it, hoping to frighten it away. Unfortunately, his ring slipped off at the same time, vanishing to parts unknown. He was very confident it was somewhere in the front yard, or maybe in the neighbors yard. Kyle had to be at work, but his parents would be at the house, babysitting his young son.

I arrived and met Kyle’s father, who had been helping to look since the ring had been lost. He had even rented a metal detector, but he said it just made noise everywhere he had searched. Once I fired-up my detector, I found the first issue they had encountered. There was a huge amount of interference, likely due to the nearby houses and wiring running across the area. There was also a low, galvanized metal fence, metal landscaping trim, and a section of river rock. All can play havoc on a metal detector. I made adjustments on the Manticore and started searching the front yard. There were a few promising signals, but they all registered too deep. I moved over into the neighboring yard and began searching. Nothing until I moved a bit further from the likely area, where I received a promising signal. Using my foot, I kicked back the grass and still saw nothing. Using my pinpointer, I found the item, scraped a bit of dirt, and saw the ring. I went to retrieve my phone to take pictures of the find, and as I started back, Kyle’s father and young son were on the porch. I asked the boy if he wanted to help find his dad’s ring, and we went to the neighbors yard and I handed it to him.

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Lost engagement ring lost on Oregon beach. Found with metal detector.

  • from Oregon City (Oregon, United States)
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Oregon lost ring
This Sunday morning, I received a message from Angie, telling me she had lost a ring on Sand Island, at Rooster Rock State Park the previous day. This area is a very popular, clothing-optional beach east of  Portland, in the Columbia River Gorge.

I asked her to explain how she had lost her ring. She said she had removed the ring and tied it into her top, thinking it was a good place to secure it before going swimming. She and her friends enjoyed the day at the beach, beating the hot weather. When it was time to go, she put her top back on, packed up their stuff, and headed home. Shortly thereafter, she realized her ring was gone. They immediately went back to try and find the ring on the crowded beach. They had no luck, but someone suggested she drop a pin with Google Maps to lock down the location.

Angie had posted her dilemma to Reddit, and she was referred to look for a Ringfinder. Being the only Oregon listing, she contacted me. We agreed to meet up in the closest parking area at 0900 for the search. I want to get on it as soon as possible, and hopefully get there before it was too crowded and hot.

We met and discussed the plan. I told Angie the search could take two minutes, or two hours, so I handed her a beach chair, grabbed my gear, and we started our hike. It took about twenty minutes, and a wade through shallow waters to reach the spot she had pinned on her phone. She gave me a rough estimate of where she had been, so I started a search pattern.

The beach was remarkably clean, so on the first pass I found an aluminum pull-tab and a penny. Angie joked if I could find a few thousand more, she could buy a new ring. About halfway through the third pass, I heard a nice tone in my headphones. I dug into the sand with my hand and there was her ring. I let out a little laugh, and Angie asked if I had found something interesting. I said “I sure did. Your ring.” She was sitting about 15 feet from me and it took a couple seconds before she processed I was holding her ring up. She jumped from the chair and ran over to get her ring. I almost thought she was going to cry, but then her face lit up and she did a little happy dance on the sand! When she finished, she asked if it was okay for her to hug me, and I told her sure.

We packed-up and made the trek back up to the parking lot. Total recovery time was one hour, including the hike to and from the beach. Super helpful that Angie had marked the location, and was able to be there to guide the search.

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