Dowsing, Devining, 'Witching' for Water

[Wagtail]

I can 'do it' and have admitted so in a couple of threads here on TBN, most recently in the septic tank thread. There appears to be some off-shoot interest in the subject so I reckoned I'd start a thread about it [did a thread search and nothing about this showed up].

I use 2x 18" copper rods, loosely held parallel to the ground. My elbows are in close to my body. I then clear my mind, relax, think about flowing water and then slowly walk along.

For me, there's nothing mystical... it just 'happens' and the rods cross, sometimes tapping my chest.

So, what have you got to say?

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Nothing magic here. This is how I determined the path of my water lines. I've also seen water department employees using copper rods to find lines along roadways.

 

[cat fever]

Being a plumber by trade and having a father that was also a plumber; I can tell you it's a crap shoot. My dad would swear by the witching sticks. I must have bad vibes; could never get them to work for me. But, to each his own.

 

[jveretto]

I am a believer even though I have absolutely no ability. I have a brother-in-law and had a grand-father who were very good at it. It makes no sense scientifically but then I don't always agree with science so were even I guess!

 

[grsthegreat]

I was able to locate a 2" poly waterline buried 5 feet deep with witching wands. I even did it blindfoldeD while wife marked spot with paint.

Dug down 5' and dang if i wasnt 100% dead on.

Its scairy weird

 

[byronlj]

I use 2 brass filler rods. They work great. I was in the construction business and used them to find water, electric, and waste lines.
Dave

 

[RandyT]

I never had any luck using copper rods, but can use willow branches. Nothing like having a forked willow turn 360 degrees in your hands as you come up to and then pass a spot. What is even better is having somebody that can't do it, and hand them the willow and then put my hands on their shoulders and watch it rotate in their hands, and then remove my hands and it will no longer work for them.

 

[WM75Guy]

I located my water line using coat hangers I cut and bent. Wife did not believe it till she tried it. Also worked for the underground electrical line going to the pad transformer.

 

[vulcancowboy]

I never had any luck using copper rods, but can use willow branches. Nothing like having a forked willow turn 360 degrees in your hands as you come up to and then pass a spot. What is even better is having somebody that can't do it, and hand them the willow and then put my hands on their shoulders and watch it rotate in their hands, and then remove my hands and it will no longer work for them.

When I was a kid a well driller used a forked willow branch to locate "veins" of water at my grandmothers house. I expressed my doubts so he handed the stick to me, gave me some brief instructions and darn if it didn't work for me! No matter how hard I squeezed it, it pointed down to the same spots that he had located earlier. It didn't work at all for my brother! Go figure.

 

[jlgurr]

I never had any luck using copper rods, but can use willow branches. Nothing like having a forked willow turn 360 degrees in your hands as you come up to and then pass a spot. What is even better is having somebody that can't do it, and hand them the willow and then put my hands on their shoulders and watch it rotate in their hands, and then remove my hands and it will no longer work for them.

I find it very intriguing to hear that it works for some people and not others. Now, reading that you can affect the other person's results, that makes we wonder even more. There is a well known older gentlemen in our community who can do this. He is 100% correct every time. It's amazing and he has been very helpful in locating places to drill for water wells.

 

[dragoneggs]

I can 'do it' and have admitted so in a couple of threads here on TBN, most recently in the septic tank thread. There appears to be some off-shoot interest in the subject so I reckoned I'd start a thread about it [did a thread search and nothing about this showed up].

I use 2x 18" copper rods, loosely held parallel to the ground. My elbows are in close to my body. I then clear my mind, relax, think about flowing water and then slowly walk along.

For me, there's nothing mystical... it just 'happens' and the rods cross, sometimes tapping my chest.

So, what have you got to say?

I just spent three weeks down under... didn't get to your neck of the woods, but got as far south in spending a week in Melbourne and almost a week in Perth. Next time I hope to set foot on Tasmania. Actually could justify it with a little business. Okay way off topic... but I would love someone to prove it to me. I won't say 'bullcrap' but seeing is believing for me. I guess this is why I switched from Electrical to Mechanical Engineering. I couldn't see the dang electrons. :laughing:

 

[square1]

I then clear my mind, relax, think about flowing water and then slowly walk along.

Same here! Well, except replace "water" with "beer" and "walk" with "stumble"

 

[buckeyefarmer]

there's been other treads where this has been hashed out. It works for me, but you really need to have an idea of the direction of the underground pipe, and cross at 90* angle. works on the same principal as magnetic field in transformers, but using the earths magnetic field.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I can do it; I use some heavy-duty steel wire, but the green branch works for me too. The branch is always impressive to me; it bends with a force that I could have never imagined. The rods work well...sometimes too well...they will detect overhead wires, sewer lines, buried electrical lines and telephone lines, and some other things and I know know what they are. There are several places in my yard that react very strongly to both the branch and the rods, and they are all near the creek. I am assuming they are water. I once helped a contractor find a buried man-hole cover in my back yard, much to his surprise.

Someone on another thread, on another forum, made the statement that there is an ethnic element involved here, that the gift is most prominent in American Indians, Irish and Jewish. I have at least two of these in my heritage, and possibly all three. It is purely a scientific/practical/fun exercise with me; I rebuke even the slightest hint of the supernatural.

 

[s219]

We used to take brazing rod, bent with a 90 angle to make about a 6" "handle" on one end, and then stuck that handle into small copper tube. You'd hold one in each hand, and the rod would freely spin around in the tube. Where the rods crossed, water! Can't say how accurate it was, but an old well-driller showed the method to us, and my father was sure a believer.

 

[mbohuntr]

Now here is a new twist.... A friend started raising goats, and asked a friend to "Dowse" the females to see which were pregnant... she was 100% right, now he does the same with what he claims are excellent results. Never saw it though.
I have tried the bent metal rods with good success, and the apple branch was very strong only when the guy I hired placed his hand on my shoulder. Don't understand it, but watched it work enough to believe it.

 

[jjlite]

It works for me .I used to do under ground storage tank testing. A lot of the places wouldn't have their charts with the size and gallons of the tank so you would have to figure it out. The dia. of the tank was easy enough with a tape measure. The length would get witched with a couple of coat hangers bent into L shape. It worked every time even through thick concrete. I would witch the tank from one direction and make a mark on the concrete with caulk then from the other direction then measure, The tanks that failed got the concrete jack hammed off to expose the top of the tank and look for leaks and retested. If the retest failed the tank came out of the ground. BIG $ depending on something not so scientific. It was funny some of the guys on the crew would just shake there head when I got the coat hangers out. I would let them do it sometimes some could do it and make believers out of them others could not.

 

[Looking4new]

I use metal coat hangers cut and bent into a 90 degree angle with a six inch handle each. With my elbows into my sides and holding the hangers loosely where the water is they cross. I witched both my dug well and the drilled well that way.

 

[Loren49]

Check out the studies done over the years.
Dowsing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://water.usgs.gov/edu/dowsing.html


Loren

 

[speedbump]

I am a Well Driller by trade. I used to be a surveyor when I was in my young 20's and my crew chief proved to me that the L shaped coat hangers did work. We located a 12" gas main with them. Like someone said earlier, you need to know the direction the pipe is laying before it's really useful. I have also had people claim to be water witchers or dousers and to that I say bull****. Having drilled wells in two different states, I have proven to myself that it doesn't matter where you drill, there will be water there. This isn't true in some isolated situations, but holding a willow Y branch in your hands isn't going to tell you where that water is. Think of it like this. The douser walks all over your yard and determines that if you drill at this exact spot you will hit water. Does he actually think water veins are that small???