# Witching Sticks



## Ed the Roofer (Dec 12, 2006)

I get contacted all of the time to find water, especially in drought seasons.









All they have to supply me with is.....







































A set of Golf Clubs.

I can find water anytime.

Ed


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## Brock (Dec 16, 2007)

I use them often. We have to verify sewer exits from the residence on all of our detatched buildings. Very accurate. Trick is to hold them very, very lightly. 
The old boys or "granpaws" you are reading about in this post have very high iron content in there body. Most can't wear a wristwatch without it stopping and they will set off an airport metal detector every time. Have had the pleasure of meeting two of these individuals in my lifetime.


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## Yortsoy (May 21, 2009)

*witching sticks*

Yes they do work but I'm sure why. I've never used them to find water but I use them to DOUBLE check for large utilities such as fiber optics, water lines and even old clay tiles. They are fun to play around with as they will even cross over above ground objects like bricks, manways, and surface changes (grass to concrete). Mine are made of a copper ~#10 grounding wire. In total they are ~2' long w/ 6" bent at ~65% angle for grips. The key is to hold the grips a lightly as possible. Start w/ the 2 wires pointed forward and slowly walk over a sewer manway to start out. They should cross infront of you as you stand over the manway or object. Start w/ surface objects to get the feel. Anyone can do it there is no witch about them. As far as depth of a utility, or locating deep water, I have no idea.


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## naptown CR (Feb 20, 2009)

A plumber showed me that one My first reaction was to ask for blood and urine cause i thought he was on crack. Dammed if it doesn't work. really better for finding trenches Hold loosely is definately the trick I use hangers.


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## olyteddy (Oct 27, 2006)

To measure depth the guy I knew would cross the trench in one direction, lay a shovel on the ground where the deflection started, cross from the other direction laying another shovel where the rods started moving from that side then dig twice that depth. He was good.


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## Southern Build (Feb 25, 2009)

They will work most of the time, however, they can pick up more than just water lines, and this can through you off. If electric lines are in the area, they seem to indicate the electric lines to the exclusion of any other near objects. However, and time you dig you still need to get a locate (call 811), but even for the utility, there are not many other good options when it comes to finding water mains that have been buried a while.


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## strathd (Jan 12, 2009)

Had an old farmer show me this bout eight years ago. Googled it and found this method has been around about as long as man has. It's alot of fun at partys :laughing:. Weird how it works better for some than others !!


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## jaros bros. (Jan 20, 2009)

Definitely a bunch of hocus pocus. I think it's all hogwash. For starters, no one can scientifically or logically prove how or why it works. Sure, anyone can walk around and be right about where water or lines are, maybe even 95% of the time. But many times the witchers are wrong but of course we don't include those times because we want to believe it works. If you do some research on it, there's a lot of conflicting information. And I don't buy the iron in your body or magnetic fields ideas either. There's simply no scientific or logic to any of it. Of course, just because we don't know how or why it it works, doesn't necessarily mean it isn't real. All I'm saying is that there has to be a connection. You can't tell me you have a bite if your fishing line isn't in the water. In other words, you can't tell me you know there's water down there if you don't have some scientific or logical "line" to why you know that there is.


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## A W Smith (Oct 14, 2007)

*what a silly thread*

gather up your dowsing rods and win a million dollars

http://www.randi.org/library/dowsing/


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## strathd (Jan 12, 2009)

jaros bros. said:


> Definitely a bunch of hocus pocus. I think it's all hogwash. For starters, no one can scientifically or logically prove how or why it works. Sure, anyone can walk around and be right about where water or lines are, maybe even 95% of the time. But many times the witchers are wrong but of course we don't include those times because we want to believe it works. If you do some research on it, there's a lot of conflicting information. And I don't buy the iron in your body or magnetic fields ideas either. There's simply no scientific or logic to any of it. Of course, just because we don't know how or why it it works, doesn't necessarily mean it isn't real. All I'm saying is that there has to be a connection. You can't tell me you have a bite if your fishing line isn't in the water. In other words, you can't tell me you know there's water down there if you don't have some scientific or logical "line" to why you know that there is.


 Have you tried it ? One tip, the rods have to be held level. If you know where the water line is at your residence go outside and try it. Go on , get going, hurry up. We will be patiently waiting for the hogwash results.


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## A W Smith (Oct 14, 2007)

strathd said:


> Have you tried it ? One tip, the rods have to be held level. If you know where the water line is at your residence go outside and try it. Go on , get going, hurry up. We will be patiently waiting for the hogwash results.



why waste time finding a water pipe? You can get a million dollars by proving dowsing works.


take the Randi million dollar challenge!

http://www.randi.org/library/dowsing/

try it. Go on , get going, hurry up. We will be patiently waiting for the million dollar results


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## jaros bros. (Jan 20, 2009)

Actually, I have tried it a few times holding the rods loosely. I noticed that when I walked over a water line or electrical source that I knew was there I leaned slightly back and it caused the rods to come together. I like how people tell you to try it out on a "known water line." Hocus pocus.


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## HandyHails (Feb 28, 2009)

I've had Pennsylvania and Delaware One Call come out and use dowsing rods to mark there lines. In Delaware some scmuck pulled up in his Geo Metro and started walking around in his sneakers. (Mid Feb. slop) After talking to the Super on the job he proceedes to pull out two marking flags from the ground. He strips off the flags and bends the wire and walks around marking phone line. Hops back in his geo and takes off.

Needless to say the next day the job was shut down because I drilled through the dam phone line w/ a 3" rock bit. The kicker was that I was only 3' from fiber optic lines running from FL to NY. The Fiber Optic lines were not even known about. Oh Yeah, I was drilling to blast some trench for highway construction drainage.

Dowsing is TOTAL BS.


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## rjconstructs (Apr 26, 2009)

Dowsing is bull. Three of us tried it one day,three different guys, three different locations. Might as well close my eyes and point ..."Dig here"


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## JPF (Dec 20, 2006)

:thumbsup:


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## knothole (Feb 24, 2006)

When I built my house a friend came and witched where to dig the well. He told me that he had to use a limb from a peach tree. But we've had plenty of water, filling swimming pool and all.


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## ampman (Apr 1, 2009)

Southern Build said:


> They will work most of the time, however, they can pick up more than just water lines, and this can through you off. If electric lines are in the area, they seem to indicate the electric lines to the exclusion of any other near objects. However, and time you dig you still need to get a locate (call 811), but even for the utility, there are not many other good options when it comes to finding water mains that have been buried a while.


 have found electric lines this way before


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## piercekiltoff (May 28, 2009)

Set the rig on the easiest spot that meets setback requirements...Works every time. Maybe it's just a big 'witching stick'? The only dry wells happen when we drill where the septic designer tells us to.


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## Winchester (Jun 29, 2008)

When I worked for the natural gas co. and we needed to locate stuff before digging, a guy on our crew would take tracing wire and make two rods and locate stuff for us.

Me and the other guy on the crew couldn't do it accurately, but this guy could. It worked at least 95% of the time for him but when me and the other guy tried it was like 10% or less.

For those who think it's bull you've never seen someone who can do it. If it's bull and this guy is just way more lucky than us, I need to look him up and bring him to Vegas :laughing:


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