Sceptic turned believer? - Dowsing Newbie

eman1000

Hero Member
Feb 24, 2016
728
1,105
Elizabethtown, IN
Detector(s) used
XP Deus ORX, Etrac, F75, Simplex, MX5, V3i, Equinox, Tesoro Vaq, F22
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Last week if you didn't see it Gary blackwell from XP Metal detectors posted a short video with dowsing rods and did a quick overview. Now I regard Gary as a stand-up no nonsense guy who tells it like it is. I also own the XP ORX and it is my go to metal detector.

Now I should note upfront that I am and have been a big sceptic of dowsing but having seen this video I thought why not give it a shot in my own back hard. So....

I made two aluminum dowsing rods from an aluminum wire hanger and put a quarter on the ground and walked over it a few times and nothing. Then I thought why not try a blind test and put the quarter somewhere in the yard and have my 12 year old son come out and give it a shot. (In the Video Gary had said kids are usually naturals)
I didn't even tell him what the rods do just showed him how I was holding them. I also didn't tell him there was a quarter on the ground about 8' in front of him.

The first thing he did that I thought was odd was he was holding them firmer than I was and he started walking - Sure enough they crossed right over the quarter and he stopped I had him walk about two steps away and they opened up again. Then I had him go back and all be darned if they didn't instantly cross completely again.

I showed him the quarter that his foot on top of and you won't believe what happened next!

He went back inside to play Fortnite on his Xbox..lol but I decided to give it a shot in the yard and after walking maybe 30ft I got them to cross I tested this spot from all angles and then grabbed the Simplex from my truck and putting it in all-metal mode which turns out wasn't necessary and got a decent small sized signal. (40 vdi) I dug down about 6" and pulled a small quarter sized ball of aluminum can slaw but still it was something.

It was getting late and I decided to give it one more go just to appease my new bewilderment with this dark magic I had unleashed. I walked about another 30ft and got another good crossing of the rods. (btw when I say the rods crossed let me be clear in saying the rods didn't just come together at the ends they completely cross 90 degrees over each other. Almost to the point that the rods are now touching my forearms!) Then they would start to open after walking a step or two away from the target. I could repeat this so I decided to check this target as well.
This time the Simplex gave a very good signal (like mid 80's on the VDI)

Now I have detected my entire yard many times but last year we had a decent amount of fill dirt brought in and so I dug and just below the surface found an aluminum bracket u-shaped bracket. I also for kicks left the machine in all-metal and walked a 6' radius around the target area and nothing.

Now to give this a more scientific study I plan to get 10 targets and check each one and then have the same targets checked by someone else as well. Any thoughts on this approach?

I really have to admit I'm a green as it gets with this and have no idea why or how the rods work. I do know that I walked over some low iron that the metal detector was picking up and they did not cross over those so I'm not saying I'm 100% on board with dowsing but I really has my attention now.

Eman
 

signal_line

Silver Member
Nov 14, 2011
3,601
1,835
Detector(s) used
XP Deus
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.

Learn the box-in method. Toss a target in your yard and walk the perimeter. Example walk north to south line. When the target is 90 degrees from you the rods should respond. Mark that line. Now walk east to west line and find the other line. Where the two lines intersect in hopefully the general area. Now repeat the same process in closer to the hot spot to try and narrow down the area.

Imagine a big cloud surrounding the target. This is called the target field. The edge of the field will cause a rod response so you are not directly over the target. This is why the box-in method is used.
 

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