Id love to try my hand at dowsing, but no way Im going to purchase rods!

DeepseekerADS

Gold Member
Mar 3, 2013
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SW, VA - Bull Mountain
Detector(s) used
CTX, Excal II, EQ800, Fisher 1260X, Tesoro Royal Sabre, Tejon, Garrett ADSIII, Carrot, Stealth 920iX, Keene A52
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I'd love to try my hand at dowsing, but no way I'm going to purchase rods!

My property is at the base of a large mountain in SW Virginia. My land has been in my family as much as 300 years, we're not sure.

People here were poor folk, but my grandmother told me that back when she was a child in the early 1900's there were a whole lot of people living in the back of me up towards the mountain. I've hiked it till I grew tired only a couple times, found two spots which looked to have been old homesteads.

In fact, my driveway now was part of the original county road in the 19th century.

Back to dowsing, I've a great curiosity.

Old time dowsers used wooden sticks, so our old movies tend to show - looking for water.

What kind of wood should a dowsing stick be composed of?

One just never knows! And I like that philosophy :)
 

My father always used willow or apple. I prefer willow but have used almost any tree or bush available in the area as long as it is limber.
 

In that part of the country you should have no problem finding someone to show you the ropes. I have seen it done when I lived back there and it is pretty neat. Makes you wonder what all the hype is about with our new modern and expensive detectors. Usually some war of words pops up when you mentin dowsing. I have only one problem with dowsing, its when they start adding electronics to it I have to scratch my head. Some of those after market gizmos are very expensive. Having a open mind is one thing, having a open wallet is another.
 

Having a open mind is one thing, having a open wallet is another.

I have to respond to this! Truer words were NEVER spoken my friend!
 

Deepseekerads....You can use just plain old metal coat hangers too. Cut two into L shape and good to go! I've seen it done off and on over the years locating pipes with my Grandfather. What's actually happening is a whole debate! But it does work. He never measured the length or any special tools, He would just grab a coat hanger or two, a pair of wire cutters and sit bending them into L shape.

The problem is? Finding the good heavy coat hangers now a days!:laughing7: Not just for dowsing, they can be used to open cars, clean drains etc....:laughing7:

Playing around here I used some tig rod a while back trying to figure out how dowsing works. So anything works!
 

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You don't need to purchase rods. Using branches from a tree will certainly work, but you must walk over a potential spot to locate your target. Using 2 brazing rods, bend a L at 5 inches. The long end should be about 12 inches minimum. Cut 2 pieces of 1/2'' pvc pipe 5'' long and use a coin? glued on one end to hold the rods. Use a wooden dow rod on top with a hole large enough to accommodate the rod down though it without binding. Hold at a slightly upward angle to prevent windage and gravity swing(10 degrees). Hold you arms tight against you sides as you walk across a field?, they will point in the direction of any electrically potential target(gold, silver, copper ,platinum). When approaching a target they will stZrt crossing and will fully cross at the target. To determine the depth, back up until they fully uncross, that will be the depth of your target. Good Luck. rockhound
 

LOL In April 2012 I started a thread "Dowsing for what?" My life growing up, dowsing meant you were witching for water. But since then I have learned, dowsing includes many things besides locating water. Gold, Copper, water you name it. Also there were many types of equipment to accomplish the task not just a willow branch. My question then was how do I know why my instrument is responding to water? Maybe I have located gold? Maybe Silver? But I'm looking for water. There were several replies to my question but simply put, the response I got was, " as you are dowsing you must be thinking of the object you wish to find". I would love to know the why such things work. I know witching for water works, have not proven anything beyond that.
 

I saw some old timers doing it, and they used modern coat hangers. They absolutely swear by it.

I tried it and it worked, however, my college education tells me it should not work.

Best of luck to you on this one!
 

Hi DeepseekerADS,
You can use any kind of branch. If I'm looking for groundwater in a certain area, I will correctly cut one from a nearby tree so as not to damage the tree.
Mark one fork with tape or something for right hand or left hand and always pick them up that way.
This way the same polarity along with the operators essence is going in on the same side when you use them thus increasing the sensitivity.
The water in the branch serves as a bait/witness to the ground water in the area.
You can also use a forked branch after it dries up, it will just feel and react a bit different in your hands, something you will need to get used to.
Hope this helps,
Jon
 

youtube search.... making your own dowsing rods ..... need I say more?
 

Old wire coat hangers I have plenty of, so that's the direction I'll try first.

Thank you everyone for the great responses! I have too much water here already, spring fed water supply from a spring house. I'll be looking to head up the holler to those old home sites!
 

Old wire coat hangers I have plenty of, so that's the direction I'll try first.

Thank you everyone for the great responses! I have too much water here already, spring fed water supply from a spring house. I'll be looking to head up the holler to those old home sites!

aarthrj3811 here on dowsing forum helped me by describing how to set up a pair of wires and try them..(Thanks again aarthrj).
It is something you don't know for sure till you try it!
 

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The same suggestion above regarding polarity using the forked branch also applies when using the L-rods.
Jon
 

Deepseeker, welcome to this forum. I see you on other forums. I use 1/8th inch diameter copper rods (6" for the grip and 12" for the pointer part) bent 90*.
I have never used a witness material of any kind, just the copper rods. Others like to use a witness material the same as you are searching for.
The rods/willow branches/ pendulum are only tools and have no abilities themselves. IMO your detecting/finding stuff is between your Universal Mind and the Earth. That is my opinion and others have differing opinions. All I really know is that my way works on land.
I'm still figuring out Map Dowsing. You must understand that Science is not developed enough to adequately describe why Dowsing works IMO.
Good luck, Marvin
 

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