It was six weeks since I had a request for help to find a lost object when an E-mail requesting help arrived. Steve asked for help in finding an unusual wedding band in an unusual environment. This was the start of a very unusual and interesting day.
The environment… a 10 foot long sectional sofa; 5 pieces of furniture with lots of staples, nuts, bolts, a metal frame and many metal plates, springs and lots of padding. This plus the sofa was inside a house with its electric wiring many electronic gadgets. These electric items emit EMF (electrical interference) that tends to adversely affect a metal detector’s optimum performance proving a challenge for most detectors.
The ring… you would think that after 30 years of detecting experience I would know what to use and how to search. But in this environment and the fact that the palladium and gold components of the wedding band were encircled by an inlay of meteorite, I needed all the help I could get. Most any discriminating detector would be confused by the iron property of the meteorite masking the palladium and gold mix yet we wanted to locate these 3 metals and not the others in the sofa. A brainstorming session with Kent B. from the Gateway THC and Eleanor H. of J&E Metal Detectors to identify the best equipment and tactics to use in this situation was a must. Do you have any thoughts yet?
The arsenal… first the ATPro with excellent notch filtering and iron mode control had located platinum rings in a snow bank. It might just function well here, especially with a new smaller 5X9 coil. As most, if not all, pin pointer probes do not discriminate their usefulness here was limited. Still we brought one. To overcome the pin pointer’s shortcoming, a Sun-Ray 1 inch coil probe on a White’s detector brought small area discrimination capability to our arsenal. A staple remover, flashlight, screwdriver, awl, pliers, and lastly a Canadian detector (a magnet on an adjustable length shaft) rounded out our arsenal. A “Canadian detector” can pick up the Canadian coins that have iron content which is similar to the meteorite iron. Keep that in mind.
The search…Kent was not able to join Rick and Eleanor who started by taking backs off the sections, opening Velcro straps and removing staples allowing access to the sections inner workings. Then the detector assault began. Only one promising signal was heard in an hour of searching and it turned out to be a zipper pull. The family dog was also scanned, the detectors did not signal. The detectors gave way to tactile exploration of the sections. The fourth section, an end unit, with a U-shaped wooden trough which could not be probed by human fingers, called for the Canadian detector to be brought to use. It was slid between the tight fitting arm and seat cushions; down into the void and swept through the trough’s length. When we heard a “Clunk” we knew we had something. The slow and careful removing of the magnet heightened the anticipation of success and then there it was; a palladium, gold and meteorite ring hanging from a magnet. My first gold ring retrieved with a MAGNET! – Thanks to the iron properties of the meteorite material.
The ring was promptly returned to the owner. With the ring’s return Steve was smiling and had no need to watch after his pet dog. Maureen, Steve’s wife, now has the matching wedding band to her own band back where it belongs and has a happy smile. Lastly, Steve’s daughter was absolved of any wrong doing in the ring’s 34 hour AWOL status.
My thanks go to Kent and Eleanor for their help and to Steve and his family for giving us the opportunity to be part of a Happy Ending with Smiles galore.
Rick and Eleanor,
Maureen and I just wanted to send you this note to thank you so very much for the great thing you did for us yesterday. We were so distraught over the loss of our wedding ring that we didn’t know what to do. Even though we knew the ring was in our home, we were at wit’s end on how to actually find it.
Your patience, attention to detail and methodology is what made finding our ring possible. I don’t know how many times I had searched the same area where the ring wound up being. Your detection equipment certainly eliminated where it was not, which finally led to where it was!
You were both so conscientious and your calming presence made us both feel that everything was going to be OK.
Again, our most heartfelt thanks goes to you and the whole community behind TheRingFinders.com. What a wonderful service you provide.
Sincerely,
Steve & Maureen
