2nd Tungsten Carbide Ring

[johnj45586]

It was misty and cool the end of last week - and I agreed to take a meeting in Poway California to help a company out with a difficult space level customer. Then I had to write an extremely complex document that covered exceptions (because of laws of physics) for 9 devices that will be going into space. All of that done, I finally got a chance to fire up the metal detector today.
The first order of business was to check out the Oso Viejo park. The last time I tried to look there the park was closed for maintenance. It reopened on March 31. There is going to be a large concert like gathering on the green on May 31. I wanted to check out the ground to see what it was like before the hunt in June.
I wandered around finding a few coins here and there. I found the kiddie playground with fresh looking white sand. I checked it out to make sure no construction materials or other sharp metal made it in during the down time. The sand was pristine clean. Not a single beep other that when I ran up against pipes or other metal structure of the playground equipment.
The green looks like it has had all the grass replaced with new sod. A bad thing, there is a new sprinkler system in place. The old system is below the sod providing false hits. There is something throughout the 50+ acres of the park that looks like a nickel on the display, but is really hard to find in the dirt. I finally found one of the problematic items. It looks like a whitish rock - which is why it took so long to figure out what was setting the metal detector off. It's a bummer it picked a nickel to look like - that is what gold rings would look like! And of course I found a fair number of nickels too. I looked in all the shady areas I could find and found some dimes, pieces of pencils and pop tabs.
I have a feel for the area now and have landmarked problem areas. I can't wait to see what is dropped on the field during the concert. (A.K.A KSBR Bash).
I found a Futbol pin under one of the shade trees. It got the heart pumping with the gold look. But when I turned it over I saw "made in China". Just an interesting shiny for my treasure chest.
I left the park and went home for lunch and to pack water and drinks for a hunt at Laguna Beach.
At Laguna I headed up to the North end where the tidepools are. Against the cliffs is usually an interesting place to look. But when I got there the sand was all eroded away leaving bare grey clay and rock. There was a little bit of a sandy area and I checked that out. I found nothing but a few crusty pennies and some rusty nails. I was just about ready to leave for the main beach when I noticed there were small flat spots that had some sand left on them, probably less than 1/2 inch. I ran the detector over them and started finding dimes. It looked like conditions were just perfect for depositing some dimes. I have found areas like that before - right at the debris line from the last high tide - and always dimes.
Of special interest was a coin I found on one of the flat spots. At first I thought it was a worn away dime. But when I looked closer I could see an odd script which I identified as Kazakh. I had to wait until I was home to decode the whole coin. It is a 1 Tenge coin from Kazakhstan. The Tenge was initiated when the USSR became Russia. 1 Tenge was equal to 500 rubles. In USD 1 Tenge is worth 0.8 cents.
I headed for the boardwalk - usually the first place I check at Laguna. I found some change (love that clean shiny change from the dry sand!!!) then finally hit on something nice. It was the second Tungsten Carbide ring for me in the scoop. This one looks exactly like the first, except it hasn't been in the salt water and turned black. This one came from dry sand and looks brand new. The first Tungsten Carbide ring I sold for $10 because it looked so bad. This one is MUCH better.
I looked a little further and turned up a BIG coin. It turned out to be a one dollar gaming token from Bally's/Paris in Las Vegas. It was at this time that a boy and two girls from tourist families started tagging along. They were really interested in what I was doing.
Soon after I picked up my followers I found a flattened penny from Aquarium of the Pacific. I now have 5 flattened pennies - all different. The first treasure I found (after bottle caps, bobby pins, pop tabs and nails) was a flattened penny at Diver's Cove. The penny made a big hit with the kids. They were also interested in regular pennies - to see if they were heads up when I found them - which is good luck, you know.
Of course every time I poured a penny out of the scoop I made sure it landed heads up in my hand. The boy exclaimed that I was very lucky.
I found a model car in new condition. It was really nice looking blue and shiny - like a roadster. The boy really wanted it - I hated to part with it, but I figured he would treasure it more so I gave it to him.
I went on finding coins and wandered down into the wet sand when I got the sense that something might be there. I turned up a quarter which really astounded the kids - it was really corroded from a long time in the salt water. Up 'till now they had just seen quarters from the dry sand.
I found an Ariel (the Little Mermaid) plastic figurine which was claimed immediately by one of the girls. By this time I was moving further away from their parents so they had to go back. That was a relief - they were being quite a nuisance and I was really afraid that one of them would get in the way of the sand scoop.
Besides the special stuff I found 2 keys, a plastic indian, half of a silver necklace pendant, 15 quarters, 25 dimes, 12 nickels and 61 pennies. Not a bad restart. My money container (from clad and some stuff I sold) is now over $300 for the year.
I have realized that the test I was making for gold isn't valid. It would be for 24 K gold, but not any alloys. I am looking at buying a kit like the one offered by KELLYCO. I will check the forums out to see what I can find out. I would be interested in hearing from anyone doing testing of gold. Do the tests just show the presence of gold, or do they give the percentage? I have some rings that are solid (not plated or filled) and I sure would like to know if they are gold and if so, what K.
It is going to be in the 80's for the rest of the week and into the weekend. It should make for some great sunset hunts, whether or not there is any treasure.
Happy hunting to all!

[EBCIII]

Hey John, glad to see you post. I was wondering where you were.

Congrats on the finds! I really like the FUTBOL item and the ring looks brand new. Good hunting, Beale.

[rusty nail]

Nice finds--really like the ring-- hh Ed

[bbqcook]

Very interesting finds John, and nice also.

Earl

[Steve in PR]

AStill have not found a tungsten-carbide. Very cool.

There's a bit of information here about checking gold purity near the bottom of the article:

Turning your finds into $$$$

[Bryan Jon]

Nice finds John. Great narration as always too! Thanks for sharing.

['E']

A great day out again John, that sure is a lot of clad, kewl ring!!

[Buster]

John, thats a real nice ring for sure...Carbide is so cool..Good clad count..this will be a banner year for you...I also was wondering where you have been...Congrats on a good hunt...Buster...

[Lt1stone]

Nice Finds!

[prizm-pal]

Nice finds and lots clad good for you !