Oklahoma ranch · Land recovery
Handmade Damascus steel knife recovered from a hay field
A rancher lost a handmade knife while spreading a round bale. A focused detector search found what hours of hand-searching could not.
Lost while feeding livestock
A goat rancher contacted us after losing a handmade fixed-blade knife while cutting the twine from a round bale of hay. After the bale had been spread across the pasture, he noticed the knife was no longer in its sheath.
The Damascus steel knife with a G10 handle had personal value, so the owner spent a couple of hours kicking through and sifting the hay by hand.
A professional search replaces guesswork
He considered renting a metal detector, then realized that owning or renting a detector is not the same as knowing how to use one efficiently. He found our recovery service online and called for help.
Later that same day, the search began. Within about 20 minutes, the missing knife was located and returned to its owner.
Lesson from the search
Grass, hay and leaf cover can hide large objects surprisingly well.
When the probable loss area is known, a controlled search pattern and properly configured equipment can cover the ground much more reliably than visual searching alone.