That's a divining rod.?ÿ I remember my grandfather having one.?ÿ That brings back memories.
I and several other folks watched the local water maintenance supervisor use a couple of bent pin-flags to "witch up" a buried pvc main that had no tracer wire.?ÿ After about 30 minutes of backhoe work the crew found the main exactly where the supervisor had indicated.
A few of us were amazed.?ÿ He freely admitted there was no magic involved though.?ÿ The main had been exposed a year or so previous and notes on his water atlas indicated how far the main was from the edge of the sidewalk.?ÿ He said he just liked to "put on a show" every now and again.?ÿ I believe his comment was something along the lines of, "You can't find sh*t with a stick or pin flags."?ÿ ?ÿ😉
A grand old lady I knew many year ago was a water witch. Some of the local drillers would call her for a dowsing if their clients requested it. She was no 'backwoods' gal either. Very well educated and I believe one of Herbert Hoovers grandkids.
Anyway, one time I was over for dinner and as we were sitting out back chatting over cocktails the subject came up. She stated just about anyone can do it with the right gear. She went inside and returned with what appeared to be two welding rods (minus the flux coating) bent midpoint at a 90?ø angle. She also had two short lengths of pvc pipe which acted as holders for them. She handed them to me said to follow her over to one side of the yard. I was instructed to grasp the pvc pipes with the rods sitting inside and try to balance them as I walked so they remained pointing ahead of me and remain parallel to each other. I bent my arms at about right angles with my elbows at each hip with forearms facing forward. She pointed me in the direction towards the far end of the lawn and mentioned that her water line from the well crosses ahead of me somewhere. As I proceeded 20 or 30 feet the rods quickly swung in towards each other and crossed in a shallow 'x' then as quickly returned to their forward facing position after a few more steps. I turned and repeated the walk a few more times out of curiosity and they continued to swing each time I crossed the line. She did confirm that the water line crossed where I doused it. Interesting stuff...
I've seen it done and still don't believe it.?ÿ Of course, since I don't believe it, I can't do it.
My mother in law and my brother in law (adopted, no inheritance from her) both used it.?ÿ We experimented one time and my wife sort of got an indication.?ÿ I got none.
One of the first field projects I did out of university was at the Oregon State Penn for a big remodel.?ÿ The locators could not find the water lines so the PC broke out some welding rods and started divining.?ÿ I laughed at first but it worked like a charm.?ÿ Over the decades I've been know to break them out myself.
What I see is a fellow who needs a belt for his pants.
I have done it many times.?ÿ I was a non-believer until I tried it.
I've seen it done a couple times.
First time, my grandpa used two copper rods to "find" water on his property. I watched him get the two rods from the shop, hold them close and walk slowly across the ground in his pasture. Once the rods crossed each other, he stuck a pin flag in the ground and began digging. After digging for a bit of time, the hole filled with water. There hadn't been any rain events recently so it wasn't ground water and the area wasn't in a low area.?ÿ
Years later, while surveying to locate a water line, (which no one seemed to have record information on) a man from the local water system came to the site with two copper rods and while holding the rods he walked along a gravel drive that entered a large pasture. Upon crossing the approximate right-of-way of the county road, the rods crossed. The company was there with a backhoe and began digging...never did find that water line.
Needless to say, for me, the jury is still out.
A problem is that the rods respond to any significant disturbance.?ÿ It might be showing you the site of an outhouse from the 1930's.?ÿ For linear items such as water lines and gas lines the important part is to get enough "hits" to be able you are getting something similar to what you are seeking.?ÿ A single hit doesn't mean much.
Walk through a cemetery with them.?ÿ They will rotate when you cross over a grave.
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Yeah, I seen it, tried it and could do it.?ÿ Seems to have worked better when I was younger.?ÿ Like you said, lots of things show up and you don't know what.?ÿ If there is only one pipe down there, well it can be located.?ÿ Multiple stuff and things you are not aware of show up, degrades the usefulness somewhat.
The old gal that showed me the bent rods method still preferred using her wooden dowsing stick like the one pictured on the OP. Can't remember which species of wood she used though.
Good to hear from you. You must be keeping quite busy these days. We haven't slowed down a bit.
A locator used brass rods to mark a water line I was mapping. He couldn't look back on his located because of the hills but when it was plotted up, he didn't vary more than 0.2' from a straight line. There wasn't any features for him to use either (edge of pavement, fences, ect.) so I was impressed. My brother made me some fancy ones with swivel handles and we located my waterline but I put it in so wasn't a believer until I used them for a neighbor and he said I was within 0.5' from where he found all the lines in his field.
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??Mild success can be explainable by skills and labor. Wild success is attributable to variance.?
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