the probe
An important tool used by many bottle collectors to
locate rubbish holes, tips and long drops, the probe was first used by
armies to locate disturbed ground where supplies were buried. Dug soil is
always softer than undisturbed ground and even many years later remains
so.
To use the probe, you simply investigate a likely
looking area and walk around poking the soil regularly looking for an area
that appears softer than the surrounds, then by digging a test hole you
will hopefully determine that something was buried there. Sometimes the
probe itself will hit on glass rusty metal or rocks in the ground and with
practice you can pick the differences in the sounds and work out where to
dig.
It is not always so easy, an area I have almost finished
digging is in sandy ground and often feels really soft in a lot of places,
in this case it just gets down to having a dig every time you think could
this be the spot. With trial and error and by reading the contour of the
land it may be possible to determine that a low spot could have been man
made, thus it will be the first area to investigate.
Making a probe is easy, the hardest part is obtaining a
high tensile rod from a boot spring from an early model car (if removing
it yourself). Cut it down to your chosen size around waste height and use
a piece of water pipe or something similar welded as a T piece to form a
handle. Weld a ball bearing that is bigger than the rod on the other end,
it can still work into the ground easily and will not scratch bottles like
sharpening the point may. Add rubber grips like those on a bike to your
handle and away you go.
Do not use an excessively big ball bearing or too
thicker rod it will only make life hard.
This is my probe the handle is a bit to long, it is more efficient to
have your hands closer to the centre.
some times you may need to work it left to right to penetrate harder
ground
