Salt Lake City got hit with a big snowstorm this week. Jarom shoveled his walks and driveway, then noticed that his wedding ring was missing. He spent all day searching through the snow, but he couldn’t find it. He did an online search to rent a metal detector, and found The Ring Finders. I was able to be there the next day, and we found the ring in a few minutes! We are both very excited!
While I was wrapping up my work day I received a call from Tyler from Alaska. He was playing catch in the water with his Dad at Hilton Hawaiian Village. During one of his catches the football popped his wedding band right off his finger. He went ashore and got some goggles but the search was fruitless. The sand there swallows rings constantly. That’s when their Google search found The Ring Finders. I dropped off at my house and picked up my Excal and a few other necessities. Tyler met me in the parking lot. He told me he watched a Canadian guy’s website videos, I said you mean Chris Turner? Yes! That’s the guy. That’s the gentlemen who started the Ring Finders I said and actually let me join in for Oahu. We then walked down to the beach where his family was enjoying a day in the sun. Tyler and his father took me out to where they were in the water, it was chest deep. I told Tyler to stay put and I would start a grid search around him. I started about 30 feet to the West and seriously 15 seconds later I had a screaming target. One quick scoop and there was Tyler’s wedding band. The look on Tyler’s face of amazement was priceless. I have to say that was the easiest ring find ever. Aloha to Tyler and his Family.
I got a call at 6:30 PM from Nikhil on Lanikai Beach saying that when he picked up his back pack he didn’t realize his wife Sonali had put his Wedding Band in one of the pockets so as not to lose it at the beach. When he got back to their car he asked Sonali for his ring and it dawned on them that somewhere in the sand it had fallen out of the pack. I told Nikhil that I could be there in 30 minutes and it was getting dark quickly. When I arrived at Lanikai Beach it was pitch black. Thankfully I brought my Maglite. Nikhil took me to the 10 by 5 meter area they were at on the beach thinking the ring must have fallen out there. The area was neatly covered with horizontal finger rake marks where they had been searching for about an hour with no luck. Nikhil explained that they were from India and this ring had great family sentimental value. I went to work on the high side of the beach and on my third leg I got a screaming target. One scoop down and there was Nikhil’s beautiful ring. They both were overcome with joy and so grateful. Elapsed time 3 minutes and a Vacation event they will never forget. Aloha to Nikhil & Sonali!
While sitting in my truck Sunday morning I turned on my phone and realized there was a ring finders call Saturday AM that didn’t hit my phone until now. I listened to Megan from Kauai say she wanted me to meet them at Waikiki Beach to look for her White Gold with Diamonds Wedding Ring. Being just two minutes away I called and left a message saying I was on another ring hunt but should be done by 9AM. When I returned to my truck there was a voicemail from Megan saying we could meet whenever I was ready. I called and we arranged to meet at their hotel and walk to the beach. We met Megan’s husband Mike who was waiting on the beach to show me where the ring was lost. Mike & I walked out into the water and the South swell was just enough where I was going to need scuba as it was over chest deep. Fortunately, I had my scuba gear with me so we went back and got my truck to unload the scuba gear as close to the beach as we could. Mike and Megan had two different locations where they thought the ring came off. We are talking 30 yards or more. My experience I explained to them was the wife always seems to have better bearings in the water. And I’m here to find her ring so I better go where she thinks it is. Megan found a 3 foot by 15 foot cut in the reef she remembered seeing while they were hunting the previous days. So I started there. The small surf was throwing us around but between sets I was able to detect pretty well. In the reef cut the first target was a quarter, second target was deep so I gave up on it, then another quarter. Nothing else in the reef cut so I started working the sides. Another deep target couldn’t find then in a small dished out area in the reef I ran the Excalibur over and it gave a familiar sound and with one wave of my hand the sand washed away and exposed a glistening white gold ring and the diamonds on both sides were sparkling in the sun. I wasn’t sure if this was their ring because I was thinking from the description something different. But as I surfaced to show Megan & Mike the look of joy told me it certainly was. Thank you Jesus! Elapsed dive time 4 minutes. Megan had put me on the exact spot and the Excal did its job. Another vacation ends with smiles and Megan commented she was glad not to have to leave a part of her behind. Aloha to Megan & Mike!
last night on 11/24/2015, I received a call from a nice gentleman who lost his ring while working outside on his home. After speaking to him and going over the details of how he lost the ring I agreed to meet him at his home to do the search on the next morning at 8:00 am on 11/25/2015. When I arrived at his home it was right at 8:00 am like we agreed on. He walked me though everything he had done up to losing the ring. He also explained that when he was done working he had went to the side of the house to rinse a bucket out he was using. He put his hand in the bucket that he had the ring on the stir the water and wash the dirty bucket out. Since the water was dirty and cold it would only make sense why he would think the ring would come off in the water. He explained that he dumped the water out on the side of the in the leaves. Well when I decided to begin my search I had my Regulator long range Electroscope and decided to use it first to check the areas. Instantly I got a signal with it when I was standing in front of the house while shooting it down toward the side of the house. After establishing the first line on bearing I change my angle and shot a new line of bearing while this time standing further out in front of the home so I could shoot across my first line to see where the strongest signal would cross. I got 3 hits across my first line of bearing, 2 of them was 2 weak to worry about but the Third one was very strong so I started my search there. The strongest was not on the side he thought the ring would be but instead was where he was working in the front. I grabbed my detector and sure enough I found the ring in the strongest area in less than two minutes. I was very happy to help him recover it fast. He was happy to have it back.
I had only been home about an hour from conducting a successful ring search on the other side of our great state of Wisconsin when I received an email from Phil Johnson in Greenfield, WI. On November 14th he lost his wedding ring while cleaning out the rain gutters on his house. He had no idea where to begin searching. Carly, Phil’s wife joined him, scouring the immediate vicinity of the house but without success. The white gold inscribed ring had vanished.
Like an increasing number of people in his situation, Phil turned to the Internet for tips on searching for lost rings. That is where he discovered The Ring Finders website and my profile on its directory of Metal Detecting Specialists here in Wisconsin.
Phil had plenty of questions. What kind of success rates did I see? How long does a search take? Are there terrain limitations I needed to be made aware of? How quickly did a search need to be done? How could he go about scheduling a search? And when could I come? It was clear from Phil’s questions he was a detail man. I like that because recovering lost rings is all about details. Details can mean the difference between a successful recovery and a ring that eludes discovery despite even the best search efforts.
It was my plan to drive over to Phil’s house the next morning. However, work responsibilities and pouring rain combined to delay my search until late in the afternoon. By the time I arrived, the rain and the wind had increased significantly. The street in front of the Johnson’s home was like a torrent of water. I donned rubber boots and rain gear, calibrated my XP Deus wireless detector and made my way to the front of the house. In my mind I settled in for a long soggy evening searching the entire .3 acres.
As often is the case around houses, the ground was full of metallic debris. Further fine-tuning was needed to discriminate against ferrous metal and high mineralization in the ground. I also used a test ring of the size and gold quality that closely matched the one Phil described. Tuning complete, I made exactly four sweeps of the coil when suddenly I heard a perfectly matching signal to my test ring. Thinking I needed to make further adjustments to my detector, I bent over to look more closely in the gathering darkness. As I did so, rainwater poured off my parka. Parting the grass with my wet fingers, I saw to my utter surprise it was Phil’s wedding band!
Phil, you asked, “How long does a search take?” Well, congratulations for being my client with the fastest ring recovery to date! I conservatively estimate it took less than 4 minutes to fine tune my equipment and locate your ring. Your recovery was also my third one in just 7 days, a personal hat-trick record!
It was great meeting you both. May the story of your ring continue for many years! And thanks for your generous reward.
Veterinarian, Dr. Sarah Slaby, was assisting her husband, Noah with chores on their family’s Cozy Creek Farmstead near Arcadia, WI. All was routine until Sarah arrived back at house and realized to her horror that her wedding rings were missing! That was Saturday evening, November 14th.
She recalled having the rings on her finger as she removed nylon netting on a bale of hay out in a field. Some of the strings had become entangled on the ring’s diamond posts. It crossed her mind to remove the rings and put them in a pocket for safekeeping, a precaution she later regretted not heeding. Thus began a desperate search. But where does one begin to look for a ring on a farm and in a barn full of hay, cattle and manure? The proverbial needle-in-a-haystack metaphor seemed very real.
After fruitless hours searching on her hands and knees through feed troughs and around hay bales it was all Sarah could do to fight back the sickening feeling at the thought that her precious wedding rings might be lost forever. Had a cow ingested them? If so, they could be anywhere by now.
The next day I received a call from Sarah. She was thinking of renting a metal detector but while looking on line she stumbled across The Ring Finders website and its directory of metal-detecting specialists. Would I consider coming to Trempealeau County, a four-hour drive away? Dr. Slaby was able to provide a precise chronology of her activities, a factor that contributes greatly to successful recoveries. History, in fact, is key.
I arrived at the Slaby homestead the following morning around 9:00 a.m. The weather was threatening rain and so we began the search outside in a field where she had last observed the ring on her finger. The rain, however, forced our retreat to the barn and to an area where she had been stripping hay from a large round bale and feeding it to the Holstein herd. Almost immediately I picked up a distinctive signal from my XP Deus wireless metal detector, one I was hoping to hear. Unbelievably, beneath a three-inch layer of hay and straw lay Sarah’s wedding rings! The accompanying photo of the rings is complete with dust, just as they were found. It wasn’t quite like finding a needle in a haystack, but I think it came awfully close!
Thank you, Sarah, for allowing me the privilege of recovering your precious rings and for your generous reward. Our success was largely due to your precise chronology of events, without which, the recovery would have been nearly impossible. My four-hour journey home was a satisfying one knowing you and your family would be savoring your ring’s story and the video that you took of the occasion with little Zionah. We prayed for success. God, by His grace, was pleased to answer our prayers.
A glorious fall day in South East Wisconsin was robbed of its joys for Krystal and Chris Schlegel when Krystal’s 1-karat solitaire diamond engagement ring vanished into a thick leafy carpet in the couple’s backyard. Renting a metal detector only turned their hopes to greater despair when all it yielded was a cacophony of squawks and screeches regardless where they searched—the ground was full of ferrous metal debris! That is when they discovered The Ring Finders website and learned of my metal-detecting services right in their hometown of Menomonee Falls, WI. An email and a phone call was all it took to make the arrangements.
I met up with Krystal on the afternoon of November 10th. She showed me the area where they believed the ring went missing. About an hour’s search using my XP Deus detector with its unique, all-wireless technology, was all it took to locate the ring’s hiding place amidst the rusty rubble. The smile on Krystal’s face was, well, her picture speaks for itself. So glad I was able to help you find your ring, Krystal! May its story continue for many happy years to come. 
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.
Happy Milton Man with his lost Wedding Ring
SEE THE FIND-Movie!!! Finding Vans Ring
Van and Ellie called us with bad news and good news.
The bad news was that Van had been swimming in the Hilton hotel’s lagoon in Waikoloa and lost his new wedding ring! He’d put sunscreen on and within minutes of getting in, felt it fly off as he moved his hand through the water. The good news was that since he had felt it slip off – he’d marked the precise location, time and depth before calling us.
There were no waves in the lagoon, the deepest part of the lagoon was shoulder depth and within a controlled space (as opposed to a public one – so someone who may have seen them searching couldn’t return and keep Van’s ring if found).
We met them at the entrance to the main lobby where the hotel had also arranged security to log us in and bring us to the lagoon. We were relieved for the buggy ride as the hotel grounds are huge and we’d brought two underwater detectors as well as light scuba gear in case…
Van climbed over the rocks and went into the water with me while Sylvie gave me (and Van’s wife Ellie) moral support from the nearby shore. Sylvie didn’t get in as I thought it would be a quick find – since everything was going in our favor – it was almost an “ideal” location.
One and a half hours later, I was starting to worry… We’d gone over-and-over the square he’d marked the moment his ring was lost. I continued to expand the search at every pass. Sylvie called over, “Should I gear up and bring in the Sea Hunter?” We use the pulse induction Garrett Sea Hunter MkII with a big coil in clean sandy-bottomed areas.
“I think so…” I replied not sure how I – or my Minelab Excalibur could have missed the ring. I was getting cold and frustrated that something seemingly so right had gone so wrong.
Just as Sylvie started walking over to get the other detector I suddenly heard the loud clear tone that tungsten makes in my headphones. “Cancel that!” I yelled over to Sylvie. Van looked up. He was holding the Go Pro and started filming. I stuck my head in the water, scooped and looked into the basket. “Does it look something like this?!” I asked, picking the ring out of the mud and stones.
Van and Ellie were so relieved to have their precious ring found!
And so were we – Phew!
