Part Two with local water dowser, Bruce Irwin by Jessica Kane About three months ago, I profiled Bruce Irwin who shared what it’s been like dowsing water veins for a quarter century. To me, the idea of going into the woods or the middle of a field to locate water with nothing but one’s focus, intent, and a forked stick is rather remarkable, and I wanted to experience it for myself. So this week, Bruce is going to demonstrate how to dowse a vein of water - something he says anybody can do with practice. We’ve come to the Warren County Fish Hatchery on a perfect day for our lesson- golden rays of sun shine on the grassy field amid a pleasant breeze. Bruce gathers his dowsing tools from the back of his truck and we walk to the center of the field to begin the process. “The first thing I do when dowsing a water vein,” Bruce says, setting down his bag of tools. “Is to acertain the clients’ needs. For an in-house water supply, the water must be potable, which means no sulfur, no contaminants, and low iron content. It must flow a minimum of five gallons a minute in a sustained pump test for any bank to issue a mortgage. I like it less than 300 feet in depth because the cost to drill is 10-12 dollars a foot, and the deeper the driller goes, the greater chance of missing the vein because the drill can wander when it gets that extended. Another requirement is that nobody else can be using the water supplied by this vein, because we don’t want to dry anybody up.” The vein that satisfies these four requirements for any parcel of land, Bruce calls the “dominant vein” However, instead of trudging around the entire property which could take all day, we are going to request the information from an eternal reservoir of knowledge that Bruce likes to think of as the “Library in the Sky.” “That’s the best way I can think to explain it,” he says. I watch as Bruce takes out his Divining Rod, a forked segment of willow branch. Traditionally, he says. “A witch hazel branch was used and that gave rise to the term ‘Water Witch.’ But I can tell you,” Bruce says. “Most dowsers do not ride brooms.” Bruce raises his dowsing tool and asks out loud for a signal through the tool when he’s facing toward this dominant vein. As he slowly pivots, I see his hands begin to quiver and the tool plunges earthward in the direction of the horseshoe pit. “What’s it feel like when it goes down,” I ask. “Like there’s something stronger than I am on the other end. Like I’m losing a tug of war.” “Give it a try,” Bruce says. I pick up a set of brass rods bent in the shape of an ‘L.’ Called, strangely enough, ‘L-Rods.’ They have sleeves over the handles, so I couldn’t even move them on my own if I wanted to. “It’s important to realize that the tool is not the source of knowledge,” Bruce says, showing me how to hold them. “Dowsing tools are just the indicators. Whenever I give dowsing demonstrations, I like to teach using wire coat hangers because everybody has them at home and nobody thinks they’re anything special.” I hold my L-Rods in front of me, shoulder-width apart and parallel to the ground. “I feel nervous,” I say. “You’re just afraid of not getting any dowsing signal,” Bruce says. “True,” I admit. “Whenever I dowse,” Bruce explains. “I have to have the mindset for success. If I don’t have that self-confidence, I’m not good to anybody, much less myself.” “Do I have to ask my question out loud?” “When I was a beginner,” Bruce says. “It was helpful to hear myself out loud. Then I felt more sure about what I wanted to ask.” I have to say, I’m feeling a bit awkward, but I concentrate and ask my question, “May I please be told if there is a ‘dominant water vein’ on this property?” Bruce interrupts, “You want to be specific. Just say, ‘I want an indication from these tools...’” “But isn’t that rude,” I ask. “I thought it was best to be polite when you ask for something.” “If you ask a sloppy dowsing question, you may get an ambiguous response. Your answers are only as good as the questions you ask.” “Hmmm, that might explain a lot of things,” I ponder. “Suppose you ask if it’s going to rain today,” Bruce says. “Of course you’ll get a ‘yes,’ because somewhere on Earth it will rain. A more effective question would be, ‘Will it rain at this fish hatchery today?’” “Ok,” I say, focusing on what I want to know. “I would like an indication from these tools when I am facing toward the dominant vein on this property.” Bruce nods approvingly. I pivot slowly, and sure enough, I feel a force moving the L-Rods. I look at Bruce in disbelief, who’s smiling. “But they crossed a little later than yours did,” I say. “That delay is called ‘beginner's lag,’ Bruce explains. “That’s all it is. Your signals will sharpen up in time with practice.” Before I have a chance to marvel further at what’s just happened, Bruce continues our lesson. “We now need to know how far away this vein is from where we’re standing. So I’m gonna ask, ‘How many of my paces am I from the near

Out with the old.

I got this a few years ago at costco for probably about 30 bucks. When I showed it to my neighbor he said, Yeah, my wife bought me that same pussy set for christmas last year.

Well...some parts of it are cool...the hole saw, for example, has worked quite well over the years.
But mostly it really sucks. Almost every time I have used one of the smaller drill bits I have broken it (probably why they give you ten of each) and unless I’m drilling into soft wood they break before they even make the hole. Don’t even think about drilling into metal with them.
The screw tips (screwdriver bits for screwguns) have all broken the first time out of the box as well.

So...this was a good lesson on you get what you pay for when it comes to tools and stuff. Yes it was cheap...but for the most part, it’s cheap crap. I’m sure that an a few more years the case will be in the trash and the few surviving bits and stuff will just be in my toolbox.
In my defense...I bought this when I was a rookie carpenter having just recently started working for Dan and at that time when I bought stuff like this or circular saw blades or whatever I was working with the idea that I would buy the cheaper stuff in more varieties as I learned what I like I would replace those tools with the good stuff. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Like, for example my ten dollar pack of circular saw blades that I bought back then too. It has about half a dozen high speed steel blades in various tooth patterns for different purposes. “Great” I thought...”I’ll use these and decide which one I like and then buy that one in a good carbide tipped blade.” Well...I tried a couple of them out. The cheap crap blades tended to get hot and the teeth dulled making the blade hotter and so on. I don’t even think I got 5 or 10 cuts out of them before they were so dull I was afraid they would set the wood on fire rather than cut it. So I finally switched (on this project actually) to the multi-purpose carbide tipped blade that game with the darn saw in the first place and I haven’t looked back since. It’ll probably be years before I even have to get that blade sharpened...or just get a new one for ten bucks.

So what’s the lesson here?
Avoid cheap tools.
They break. They wear out. And they make the job harder to do before they go.

That’s why my tools now tend to be Yellow and Black :o)