Lost Ring

[jasonw77]

Need some help, I have a equinox 800 and a neighbor just posted that she lost her ring that held a stone from her grandmother. It's a white gold ring and it was dropped yesterday. My wife asked I would help her find it with my detector and I agreed. Any suggestions on VDI numbers that I should keep an eye out for. I assume it shouldn't be deep into the ground, more likely in the grass. Any suggestions would be help so I'm not looking at everything that sounds off

Thanks

 

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[vferrari]

VDI is hard to nail down on gold jewelry. I would say likely 7 to 12 but it could be 4 to 20. See if the person who lost it has a similar ring or at least a ring of similar size/composition (doesn't need to have a stone setting, a matching wedding band would do) and key off that. Use a gold ring test target (or the similar ring of your "client"). No need for multifrequency on this one, use single frequency at 20 khz or preferably 40 khz. The higher frequencies do well on gold and they penetrate less into the ground further reducing the chances of hitting off anything other than very shallow or surface targets. Don't use gold mode, you want to hear a nice crisp tone ID and the VCO audio of gold mode will cause all targets to sound the same. You can also bump up the tone pitch in the 10 to 15 bin if you want to give you that high ping or use 2 tone mode. Set the test target on the ground and lower sensitivity to about 10 or 15 and ensure you can still clearly hear the target. You can further limit hitting deeper targets by increasing recovery speed to maximum. You can also probably safely notch out any TID less than zero and greater than 20. This should allow you to laser in on the target. The only problem you will have is if there is a lot of shallow can slaw or pull tabs because they tend to ring up like gold but I would expect those to fall mainly in the 12 to 15 TID range. Good luck.

 

[Donut]

VDI won’t help much. Rings can hit all over the VDI. watch your depth scale. Also it should be a solid signal.
Do you know the area and hope big the area is .
Doug

 

[jasonw77]

VDI won’t help much. Rings can hit all over the VDI. watch your depth scale. Also it should be a solid signal.
Do you know the area and hope big the area is .
Doug

The area is a trail to sidewalk, just spoke with her to know exactly where she walked.

 

[McKinney_5900]

Here is a pic of a white gold ring I measured with the Equinox. The picture is bad quality but I'll describe it. It had a narrow, dainty band on it. The stones were set into a facing, which was perforated with a bunch of holes. It wasn't solid. It couldn't gave weight more than 3-4 grams. Its VDI was -4. Har it been solid, the VDI woulda surely been positive numbers, but low single digits, under 10. Small ladies engagement rings with many stone settings, will read lower than anything solid. Good luck. It'd help if she had a photo of the ring.

 

[Donut]

Here is a pic of a white gold ring I measured with the Equinox. The picture is bad quality but I'll describe it. It had a narrow, dainty band on it. The stones were set into a facing, which was perforated with a bunch of holes. It wasn't solid. It couldn't gave weight more than 3-4 grams. Its VDI was -4. Har it been solid, the VDI woulda surely been positive numbers, but low single digits, under 10. Small ladies engagement rings with many stone settings, will read lower than anything solid. Good luck. It'd help if she had a photo of the ring.

I like the white one on the left. ��

 

[jasonw77]

Here is a pic of a white gold ring I measured with the Equinox. The picture is bad quality but I'll describe it. It had a narrow, dainty band on it. The stones were set into a facing, which was perforated with a bunch of holes. It wasn't solid. It couldn't gave weight more than 3-4 grams. Its VDI was -4. Har it been solid, the VDI woulda surely been positive numbers, but low single digits, under 10. Small ladies engagement rings with many stone settings, will read lower than anything solid. Good luck. It'd help if she had a photo of the ring.

Thank you for the info, that will help with the search

 

[McKinney_5900]

Thank you for the info, that will help with the search

I purposely took the photo of the ring just in case she ever loses it. I highly doubt I'd ever look down as low as a -4 Vdi. I am becoming very confident that if I had a pic of the ring, or a pic of a ring just like it, that I could narrow the VDI range on it. Engagement rings especially. If someone tells me they lost a solid gold ring and it was small or medium or large, those have fundamental Vdi zones. Extra decorations and fancy settings...it gets tougher. Silver rings are WAY easier. GL

 

[nuggetdog]

Pay close attention to any double tones because if she dropped it recently it’s either on the surface or just below

 

[cudamark]

I'd put the detector in Park 2, horseshoe on, lower the sensitivity to 10-12, and if it's a dainty little thin band engagement ring, concentrate on I.D. numbers from 2 to 10. Don't ignore numbers higher or lower, but, It should be in that range if it's 10-18K gold. Any target hit and check the depth meter. Anything deeper than 2 inches you can ignore unless we're talking about a soft dirt, mud, or sandy area. You may also have readjust your thinking if it real deep grass too. In this case, or, and area with deep ground cover or bushes, run the sensitivity up as high as you can and still be stable, and pretty much ignore the depth meter.

 

[whistler84]

Run your sensitivity on the low end. You mentioned a sidewalk. Avoid the rebar signals

 

[No gold in NY]

Jason, you haven't given enough information to satisfy me. You need to quiz this girl on site if possible. What was she doing at the time to "drop" the ring. Did she take it off to let someone try it on and fumble it? Or, did she just happen to notice it was missing from her finger at that time. In the case of the latter, it could be anywhere. If it was a fumble, and the spot is known a Radio Shack detector should be able to find it. Details,Details, Details. Hope you make the find.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

If lost recently then it should be on the surface, if she knows general area I would check all targets showing very shallow 20 and below.

 

[brianc053]

Jason how did the search go?
I recovered a ring for someone in the fall, and it was NOT where they thought it would be. Keep in mind that while people think they know where they were when they lost it, it’s not always that easy (if it was they wouldn’t need help). If you haven’t found it I suggest you look outside of the search area they directed you to.

The ring I found (a titanium health tracking ring):

 

[No gold in NY]

Jason how did the search go?
I recovered a ring for someone in the fall, and it was NOT where they thought it would be. Keep in mind that while people think they know where they were when they lost it, it’s not always that easy (if it was they wouldn’t need help). If you haven’t found it I suggest you look outside of the search area they directed you to.

The ring I found (a titanium health tracking ring):
View attachment 1904927

This is what I tried to tell Jason in an earlier post. I am trying to recover a class ring at a near by school. Talked with the grounds superintendent. He said she "discovered it missing" during gym class. Wanted to meet with the girl and her parents. The people in the office wouldn't help me. Guess I'm on my own. Digging lots of clad anyway!

 

[jasonw77]

Jason how did the search go?
I recovered a ring for someone in the fall, and it was NOT where they thought it would be. Keep in mind that while people think they know where they were when they lost it, it’s not always that easy (if it was they wouldn’t need help). If you haven’t found it I suggest you look outside of the search area they directed you to.

The ring I found (a titanium health tracking ring):
View attachment 1904927

Haven't been able to go out been on night shift. Meeting with the lady tomorrow afternoon. Going to check her yard and then have her show me where she walked

 

[jasonw77]

If lost recently then it should be on the surface, if she knows general area I would check all targets showing very shallow 20 and below.

Thanks

 

[jasonw77]

Jason, you haven't given enough information to satisfy me. You need to quiz this girl on site if possible. What was she doing at the time to "drop" the ring. Did she take it off to let someone try it on and fumble it? Or, did she just happen to notice it was missing from her finger at that time. In the case of the latter, it could be anywhere. If it was a fumble, and the spot is known a Radio Shack detector should be able to find it. Details,Details, Details. Hope you make the find.

She was walking her dog a short distance from her house. I haven't had much of a chance to look as I've been on night shift. I'm meeting up tomorrow and going to check her yard first then she'll show me where she was.

 

[brianc053]

She was walking her dog a short distance from her house. I haven't had much of a chance to look as I've been on night shift. I'm meeting up tomorrow and going to check her yard first then she'll show me where she was.

Good luck tomorrow! I don't think anyone has specifically talking about "gridding" the area, so I'll say what's probably obvious: you should detect the area where she thinks it was lost in a grid of overlapping back-and-forth passes. And if it doesn't turn up when you go back-and-forth then do another grid side-to-side (at a 90 degree angle to the first).
When I was gridding a football sized area I used two sticks that I stuck into the ground on either side of the grid as my guide. Starting at the closer stick and looking at the far stick while I walked and detected helped me keep straight lines in my grid. After each pass I'd move the sticks and detect again.
The grid thing is probably obvious but I thought it might help someone (if not you Jason).
- Brian

 

[jasonw77]

Good luck tomorrow! I don't think anyone has specifically talking about "gridding" the area, so I'll say what's probably obvious: you should detect the area where she thinks it was lost in a grid of overlapping back-and-forth passes. And if it doesn't turn up when you go back-and-forth then do another grid side-to-side (at a 90 degree angle to the first).
When I was gridding a football sized area I used two sticks that I stuck into the ground on either side of the grid as my guide. Starting at the closer stick and looking at the far stick while I walked and detected helped me keep straight lines in my grid. After each pass I'd move the sticks and detect again.
The grid thing is probably obvious but I thought it might help someone (if not you Jason).
- Brian

Thanks for that info, I didn't even think about gridding the area. Could only put in about an hour or so and head back to work, no luck so far but definitely have a better idea of where to look after spending some time talking with her