Steve Zazulyk, Author at The Ring Finders

This is definitely one of the best Ring finder “Live Video” returns of the year.

One of the most difficult things to find are lost earrings with metal detectors! It takes a very specific detector and a lot of experience to locate such a finite piece of metal. The following story and amazing “Live Video Return” of the 1.5 Karat, near flawless Diamond earring is truly amazing! Finding this beautiful stone is a great example our commitment, persistence and experience here at Ringfinders!

Please enjoy.

I received a call from a woman who lost a very expensive diamond earring in the woods at a high end golf course just north of Toronto. Apparently while golfing she lost her ball in a small wooded area between 2 Fairways. The area was thick brush with a lot of branches and fall leaves on the ground . After the woman recovered the ball she remembered a branch grazing the side of her face on the way out. Once at her golf cart she noticed that one on the earrings that had been on her ear for over 20 years was gone!

The beautiful diamond was an anniversary gift from her beloved husband. Understandably she became frantic and went back into the woods on her hands and knees but could not find the beautiful stone. She notified the golf course and over a two-week period many of the Golf Course staff searched the wooded area for the earring. Trees were pruned, dead branches were cut and many individuals scoured the area for the earring with no avail!

After sometimes she decided to hire another detectorist to come out and look. Unfortunately after 2 days of thoroughly gridding the area  it was not located. At this point she gave me a call!

Along with having a very extensive repertoire of metal detecting equipment I am fortunate enough to be on the test team for one of the largest metal detecting companies in the world. Being on their test team allows me to have metal detectors that other ring finders and detectorists do not have and in the situation it greatly helped! Along with my extensive knowledge on finding very small pieces of metal and the right machine, I was extremely fortunate that day.

After arriving to the wooded area the woman told me the story. By this time she was completely exhausted and had given up all hope on finding the earring! I had told her this is only a matter of time and patience and I was quite sure that I would be able to find the earring for her. Unfortunately her face did not have as much confidence as I was hoping for and understandably. I started gridding the area with another detector but by this time the area looked literally like a minefield . Unfortunately no luck so I started testing the other ear ring that she still had on with my detectors. I finally found a prototype detector with a very specific setting I made heard it perfectly. At that point I literally walked over to the area where “I ” believed it had fell off and on the second swing got the beautiful signal I was expecting!

The following “Live Return” video shows the entire event and is one of the proudest moments of the year for me.

This video shows two great Ring finds in Hamilton Ontario just after Christmas in -30 wind chill weather. The first one was very difficult. A young married couple were out hiking in the woods and decided to have a bit of a snowball fight up on a ridge. The lady noticed that her ring came off after she was going to put back on her mitt. After hiking back on the frozen trail about 30 minutes in -15c temperature the young husband showed me the area. He had been there the day before for 10 hours on his hands and knees looking for the ring. As you can see in the video after extensively gridding the area with my high-end metal detector I find the ring.

The second video is incredible. The ring found is actually a 1.5 karat engagement ring. Originally the ring was thought to have come off her hand in the cold between the back door of her house and her car as she was on her way to her friend’s house across the other side of town. After searching the area I realized it wasn’t there and told her that I suspected it might be in her friend’s driveway. Young lady stated that it was a very small driveway and she highly doubted that it would be in the other driveway but I insisted for us to drive across to check. As you can see from the following video clip the young couple where in utter shock when I discovered the beautiful ring at the side of the driveway in a snowbank.It was very successful Ring Return.
/>

 

This was the hardest Ring find I have done since starting. When I was called by this lovely couple who were frantic about the ring they had lost I thought it would be a sure find. The man had been in Lake Erie swimming a few days earlier and lost  is platinum wedding ring in 3 feet of water. He wasn’t far from the beach and thought he knew exactly where it was. Should be easy right? However when I got there the winds had come up and there was 5 ft waves with zero visibility in the water. I had driven over an hour and a half to get there and when I saw the conditions my stomach sank. I knew this was going to be a hard one but  I have found some pretty difficult rings in the past and knew I needed to at least give it a try. When I went into the water there was also a lot of trash like tin foil which sounds terrible on a metal detector and can drown out the sound of gold. There was lots of pull tabs, pop tops (which by the way sound like gold on a detector) and Nails in the water making it even more difficult to find the ring. However I’ve been in bad conditions before and with the experience of finding over 300 rings I knew I might have a chance so I took my time and persevered.  The Zero visibility water and high waves were throwing me around quite vigorously for the better part of 20 minutes. However amongst all the odds I finally got a signal that I was sure sounded good. The bottom was solid stones  and gravel so I had to reach down a few times and pick up handfuls of the sharp stones until I finally got the target in my hand. When I came up from the water I saw the edge of a beautiful platinum ring amongst all the gravel in my hand. I held it up high and as the couple watched in disbelief I pulled out his lost wedding ring from the cup of my hand. They were amazed & ecstatic😀

Had a great Toronto Ring Finders call last night from a husband explaining that his wife could not stop crying about her Diamond Platinum Engagement Ring she had just lost. Kim had been out walking the dog along a local path that night and when she got home noticed her beautiful ring was missing off her her hand. She looked throughout the house and finally realized she must have lost it outside along the 1/2 mile walk she was on. The weather in Toronto has been quite cold for April and the cold temperature must have made her hands shrink. With flashlight in hand Kim headed out in the pitch dark and went up and down the snow covered path with no luck. I can’t imagine how devastating this must have felt, the ring was an absolutely beautiful Platinum band with an exquisite Princess cut Diamond. Not to mention the sentimental value of loosing an engagement ring would be the worst feeling……. but they found me on the Ring Finders Toronto page and there was a glimmer of hope. I had told them that last year I returned over 50 rings to people in the same shoes, not to worry and I would be over first thing. I told my wife and 2 adult daughters the story and they were all pretty adamant that I get there first thing before a passer by finds it before me.

When I arrived I met Kim a very nice young Lady and her Dog Georgie an awesome bulldog (my favorite dog) and they took me to the path. OMG she walked 1/2 a mile along the path weaving on and off the trail as the dog did his business. I told Kim that it was a huge area to look and most people have a better idea of where the ring came off within a smaller area like a back yard. This was going to take all my know how and tactics to find this ring…. it literally was a needle in a haystack. Actually that would be easier to find.

Kim left me to do my work and said she was easily available by cell and not far if I needed her, so, I started walking the path up and down which was taking about 30 minutes a pass. The ground still had lots of snow covering it which in my mind, made me think the Ring was somewhat suspended over the solid ground. This is ideal because there are tonnes of metallic targets in the ground that make a detector go off like pull tabs and pop tops. These objects sound just like Rings and if Kim’s rings is a bit higher off the ground it will lessen the other bad signals. With enough experience and the right equipment ( my detector is a Pro series worth $2800.+) you can also identify which are good and bad signals and which ones are close to the coil.  I have found literally hundreds of rings and have one secret technique that helps me find some of the most beautiful rings you’ve ever seen. I have also found very deep old rings with this exceptional detector.Last year I found a Gold Ring dated 1882 on the inside and it made American Digger magazine in the states. However that was last year and here I was on a half mile long haystack and I wasn’t leaving without finding this one for Kim and her husband.

So I started off and had made about 3 passes up and down the 1/2 mile of path, I noticed that the snow was melting fast and there wasn’t time to loose. I remembered she had said she watched her dog poop in this one area and as a responsible dog owner gathered it up in a plastic bag for disposal. Usually you focus on an area like this because the hands are going in and out of pockets more creating a great opportunity for a Ring to pop off. After another hour as I must admit I was getting a little discouraged I heard a low grunting signal. A Very familiar signal! ………  I called Kim and as you can see on the following youtube video the rest is what all of us were waiting for…….

 

 

 

After being married for only 2 weeks Bjorn lost his Cobalt Wedding Ring in a friendly family snowball fight. The family actually bought a cheap detector at a local Canadian tire and looked feverishly throughout the evening in the front yard. These types of detectors are very low grade and in about a foot of snow didn’t have any hope of hearing a signal. Along with lots of chatter and interference from the close by power lines to the house they put it back in the box. Know with shovels in hand they dug out the snow bank at the road from where the rally began and then combed the yard with no luck! Cold, wet, disappointed and frustrated they gave up went inside and looked online for an answer……… thats where they found me on the Ring Finders site. Fortunately we lived in the same town so he gave me a call and I replied straight away. I usually can get to a Ring Finder call within hrs or the latest by the next morning . After about 30 minutes of detecting the areas where Bjorn thought he lost the beautiful ring without any luck, I started an elevated peripheral grid search. Most times Rings are located almost the opposite direction from where people think they are. A few months earlier I located a ring using the same method 100 ft in the opposite direction that a client was sure it landed. Now as I was walking along the yard parallel to the garage in a small inconspicuous snow bank I heard that familiar low grunting sound on my detector.  As you can see on the following Youtube video the rest is what we were all waiting for….

 

The second time this year I was called by a Ring Finders client to locate a lost wedding ring due to Wasps. We had lots this summer and those pesky black and yellow air bombers initiated lost rings throughout the area. While “shooing” away a wasp while relaxing in his back yard with a few buddy’s this Milton Gentleman watched his beautiful Gold and Diamond wedding ring fly off his hand and over the fence into the neighbor’s yard. After many hours with his friends on their hands and knees they gave up trying to locate the ring and decided to give me a call off of ring fnders. They were amazed when I arrived and located the ring within 45 seconds of turning on the machine. It was very funny because the first thing he said to me was “Is it okay if I hug you dude” …. LoL  I get that alot! It was a great recovery and I was more than happy to help this kind man.

What a great story, a nice guy named Gary gave me a call who had lost a “Very” sentimental ring in his front yard 4 years ago. Gary purchased another similar ring a few year later but in his own words ” never quite fit like the original” ! He had placed his original College ring in his pocket while gardening and after a while forgot it was there. He started putting unneeded stones and debris in his pocket for lack of a better spot. When he was finished the job decided to reach in and cast it all away . He watched his ring in slow motion flying through the air and off into the grass. With the help from his wife and neighbors they tried to find the beautiful ring but unsuccessfully. 4 years later Gary asked me to give it a shot and sure enough after about 2 minutes I got a beautiful silver signal. The picture tells the rest of the story. Congrats Gary

---

 

 

 

This lost ring flew off the hand of my latest Ring Finder client 75ft. Paul was wind milling his arms to keep warm at an Etobicoke park near Toronto when he felt his beautiful gold wedding ring fly off. He heard it hit his car then silence…… After hours of scouring the parking lot and adjacent grass into the night Paul and his wife found Ring Finders on the net and messaged me the next day. I arrived within an hour of the call and immediately started gridding the area where he thought it may have landed with my Pro series detector. I decided to do a peripheral search after an unsuccessful grid search of the area where it was assumed to land. Sometimes and most times I will find the owners rings the opposite direction of where they are thought to be. Rings can cover a long distance and then roll even farther than expected.  After about 25 minutes and about 75 ft away my detector got a clear Gold signal and as I moved away the grass and leaves the beautiful wedding ring appeared . I yelled over to Paul to call his wife…he asked why and I said….. so you can tell her I just found your ring! He was shocked!  Congratulations Paul and Sandra and thank you for calling me on Ring Finders.

 

 

Got a call from a lady in Mississauga who lost 2 sentimental rings while cutting the grass in her back yard. The Rings were a gift from her mother, 2 beautiful silver rings with semi precious Larimar stones. I had a few options of places to start but after looking at the property decided to go straight to the most difficult to push a lawn more. My theory proved right and the detector found the 2 rings not 4 ft apart on a steep hill. I found them with-in a few minutes of arrival and the rings were back on her hands within 10 minutes of my arrival.

 

If you lose your rings dont give up! …they can be found as this happy Lady can attest to.