divining rod

[ken k]

When we had our well drilled for our house, the well driller used them to locate the best location to drill. His assistant quietly rolled his eyes. Who knows if he found a good spot or not?

k

[Rick Denney]

Joe, you're worrying me. Be careful, Mr. Haney was not just a character on Green Acres. There are con-men out in the country, too.

And any old-timer utility locater with a good memory probably remembers where all the underground laterals were installed. I think I could point to the underground conduits around traffic signals I inspected 25 years ago in Texas.

As to locating water for wells, in most places, one spot is as good as the next if you go deep enough.

Rick "not underestimating the value of knowing more rules" Denney

[Dan Schultz]

....bloke "now, a skeptic - rather than a complete non-believer"

Joe... I have two brothers-in-law who routinely use two pieces of bent coathanger to locate water lines and such. I've done it, too. I don't know exactly how it works... but it does.

[TubaRay]

I have seen this demonstrated in located graves. I'm really not sure I believe it, but I have seen it done. Water sounds more plausible.

[Rick F]

When I was still working for the FAA (Sys Specialist), we had one technician that could locate underground control cables using this technique. He'd take two 4' lengths of #6 bare-copper wire, and to get the wires really straight, he' put one end in a vice - the other in the chuck of a drill and spin it some to straighten the wire perfectly. Then he'd fold about 6" of one end over for a handle. I was a skeptic to years, until he repeatedly found radar cables buried 3 to 4 feet under the ground.

[iiipopes]

I've also seen it done with a "Y" shaped sapling cut: hold the ends bent straight out with an "underhand" grip with the point level, and when you get over water, the point will turn down towards the water, sometimes strong enough to almost pull the sapling cut out of the hands of the diviner.

Why it works? I don't know. But I've seen it done over 40 years ago as a boy as the way farmers figured out where to drill a well.

[rocksanddirt]

I've hired guys to locate utilties all over the place, and the good ones will all use the 'divining rod' method at some point.

The best ones, will first do all the fancy electronic stuff, search every corner and bush for pull boxes, and other indicator markings, and then if they don't find something that should be there....pull out the rods. One guy could even use his metal frame glasses (as a demonstration).

As far as wells go....yeah, on a given property most of the time one spot is as good as the next (especially if you are drilling more than 50' past first groundwater (which we always do for any type of suppply here in northern CA)).

So, I'm not skeptical that it works, I'm only skeptical of the reasons given for why it works. Emprically, it works. Theoretically, not so much.

[pattonsj]

Since I live in the northeast Georgia mountains, I've seen just about everything that you can imagine. I've seen the sapling to find the water. I've also seen some draw the fire out of a burn on more than one occasion. Heck, I've even had it done to me and it works. I've seen people cure thrush and quite a few more that I can remember right now. This stuff works. It all come down to faith. Not sure how many on Tubenet are from Georgia but I;m sure they've seen their fair share of this stuff that works. Am I right guys?

[lgb&dtuba]

You guys are all weird

[Kevin Hendrick]

You guys are all weird

Well, we are variously-sized-tuba players, after all ...

[pattonsj]

I've heard of the sugar thing but someone can draw out fire is way better. Burnt my hand on one headers when I was changing the plugs on my mustang. (yes I know, let it cool down first) Anyway, I was using my wife's grandfather's shop so she told me to go uo to his house and he could fix it. I had never actually seen someone draw out fire so I was a little sceptical. He just cupped his hands over the burned area, then cupped his hands around his mouth(kinda like a mouthpiece) and started blowing very slow but very hot air over the burn. Within the 2 mins that it took me to walk into the house the burned area was very red, at that early blister stage, and very painful. Well, when he took his hands away, no pain, redness gone, and never blistered. I am no longer sceptical. I've also seen someone cure "thrush", but thats another story for another day.

[tbn.al]

Down by the highway, (now that my wife has - finally - mowed down there once and NOW understands the benefit vs. $$$$-outlay) We're going to lower the angle of a very steep hill (which leads down into the ditch next to the highway), eliminate a bunch of erosion, sod it, and (finally) make the angle of the hill low enough to be mow-able.
bloke "now, a skeptic - rather than a complete non-believer"

Having seen the aforementioned hill, ditch, mowing restrictor, I would like to suggest a cheaper alternative.

Weed_Brunch.jpg

[MaryAnn]

I took a course in dowsing a couple years ago, and like Bloke, found that I got results. The teacher said that what dowsing does is get the part of you out of the way that limits your ability to receive information from parts of your consciousness that you generally ignore. It is kind of like faith...I'm surprised at how many religious people poo-poo anything outside of their particular religion that also deals with the same issues that faith deals with.

The universe is a wondrous place.

MA