Summarize:

There are several choices when it comes to boring your well. You can use a hand auger, a well point, or a DIY drill. Each method involves different equipment, but all will require a lot of physical labor. Note that these methods will only work well in soil, soft gravel or other softer land types. Rocky terrain or soil with a high clay content may require a professional drilling rig. Reach your required depth. Using your chosen method, work until you reach the depth you want for your well. If you want to check to see if you’ve reached water, tie a small rock to a string and feed the string down the hole. When you feel the rock reach the bottom of the pipe, pull it back up. If the string is wet, you’ve reached the water line. For the hand auger method, you will need an extendable auger and a lot of patience. Depending on how deep you want your well, you may need many extendable attachments for the auger.  Turn the auger in a clockwise direction into the ground. This will move the earth and create the beginning of your hole. Continue to turn the auger to displace the earth. Remove the auger when full. Once the auger is filled with dirt, you will need to empty it. Pull the auger out of the hole and dispose of the earth. Start a pile for your dirt and continue to empty the dirt into this pile for easier cleanup. Continue to bore into the ground. Continue drilling deeper, always moving clockwise. Empty the dirt into the same pile and work the auger until it you can’t reach any further. Extend the auger when it becomes too short. Add a drill rod to the auger when it can no longer reach the bottom of the bored hole. It may become difficult to detach the auger once you’ve added many extensions: to overcome this, use a spanner to catch the auger while you install or remove the auger in pieces. Drill until you reach your desired depth. Depending on how deep you want your well to be, continue to add extensions to your auger as you drill to that depth. Once you’ve reached the bottom of the well, stop drilling and remove the last bit of dirt. You’re now ready to bail the well. This method can be easier than the auger method and requires less specialized tools. You’ll need your PVC well pipe and a sharpened “well point” attached to the end of the well screen.  Start a pilot hole. Using a post hole digger or shovel, dig a hole two feet deep. This will give you a good starting point. It will also give you a good idea of the softness of the soil, and let you know how hard it will be to dig. Install your well point. Well points are generally made of steel or any other hard metal so that they can withstand being driven deep into the ground. They are available for sale in a variety of sizes that will fit onto the end of your PVC pipe.  Begin driving the well point. If the soil is soft enough, you can use a rubber mallet or other heavy hammer to strike the end of the PVC pipe section, driving the pipe into the ground. If the earth is harder, you can use wrenches to turn the pipe, screwing it as you would a screw into wood. Be careful not to apply too much force to the PVC with either a hammer or wrench: it can shatter. Add each extension of pipe. The end of the pipe that you are striking or screwing into the ground will continue to get closer and closer to the ground. As it becomes level with the earth, add the next length of pipe, screwing the joints together. Then continue driving the pipe into the hole. There are ways to construct your own drill that will make digging faster and better for permeating hard soil. However, these methods take some mechanical know-how and can be dangerous. They’re also more expensive than an auger or well point. Research methods online, or ask mechanically-handy friends.  Use a water drill. This type of drill works by forcing water into the ground. The high pressure of the water acts effectively as a drill bit, moving dirt out of the way. There are many resources online that can help you build a water drill, but the process is time and labor intensive. Use or modify a digging machine. If you have a tractor or other small farm machine, you can use or modify a post hole digger or mechanical auger to dig the hole. Be aware that these methods require a large financial investment if you don’t already own them. They may also only be able to dig a hole up to 10 feet deep, requiring modification that can be dangerous if you don’t know how to use the equipment. Bailing the well will remove dirty, non-potable water that has been sitting at the bottom of the well. A bailer is a thin, hollow rod on a string that you’ll lower down your PVC pipe. Once it reaches the water line, it will fill up with the dirty water. Draw it back up out of the well and dump out the water. Repeat until the water runs clean.
Bore the well. Use the hand auger to bore the well. Use the well point method. Use a DIY water drill. Bail the well.