# Question on making a privy-probe.



## Robby Raccoon (Jun 20, 2014)

I have an old hand-held  bike-pump that stopped working we were going to throw out. I realized that the handle and vertical bar are very similar to the privy-probes. Could I take it out and modify it to become a privy probe? Or should I stick to what I've read I should do?


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## RICKJJ59W (Jun 20, 2014)

No you need to work with solid materials. Spring steel, and pipe for the handle. I would just buy a probe if I were you. There are some links on my site where you can buy them.


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## nhpharm (Jun 20, 2014)

It has got to be solid like Rick says...depending on the soil type in your area it might need to be REAL solid.  I buy my probes from T&T tools...insulated handle in case you tag live electrical utilities, solid enough to go through the hard dry clay layers we have near the surface here, and replaceable tips.  I have a 6' one of these (3/8" hex, see the below link: http://www.mightyprobe.com/65/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=1&products_id=14&osCsid=bc01d2c09b874a38eecfbf14246e6111 and a 9' small diameter one from: http://www.oldwestbottles.com/Probes.php If you are going to be serious about probing it might be best to buy rather than try to make. We also run a hammer probe here to get through construction debris, concrete, etc.  Once we are through that we pull out the hammer probe and run the standard probe down from there.


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## cannibalfromhannibal (Jun 20, 2014)

As the above all said....for a starter, I would suggest the 4 foot probe from the oldwestbottles site, as they are the best and a four footer will work for a good majority of holes. You can then sell the duplicate bottles you will find and buy a longer probe if you think you need one. I rarely use my 5 or 6 footer because I invariably end up stabbing something nice. Those slam probes and utility probes can wear out even the youngest and healthiest in a hurry. Jack


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## botlguy (Jun 20, 2014)

I cannot disagree with any of the above but just HAVE to add the we made our own probes back in the day (1960s) out of old car trunk torsion / tension rods that were spring steel. Welded two together to get longer ones. There were various preferences of handles and they all worked with various degrees of success. I preferred the welded larger diameter exhaust pipe handle, gave the best sound resonance in my opinion. I could tell if it was a brick or a rock or a bottle before I ever got to it. I  always probed as gently as possible, especially after getting to the "Payoff" layer.    I once probed out a bottle and told my digging partner it was a Lydia Pinkam's  and surprised him & me even more when it turned out to be correct. He thought I was some sort of Prophet and I thought I was either very lucky or blessed. FUN! I never did tell him I didn't really have a clue.


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## andy volkerts (Jun 21, 2014)

One more thing, if you are going to make or buy a probe, make sure that the handle is not drilled all the way through for the probe rod. in other words just drilled on one side of the pipe handle, inserted all the way up against the undrilled side of the handle and welded in place. this keeps the probe from coming up through the handle if a weld breaks, and stabbing you in the guts when you ARE TRYING TO PUSH THE PROBE THRU A CLAY CAP OR HARD GROUND. I saw this happen once in the hard clay of sacramento, and it wasn't pretty. AND the probes made by Lou at western bottles are made correctly......Andy


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