Auger Points and flights

[paccorti]

The past two weekends my wife and I have been augering post holes. We are completely fencing in the yard. My best guess right now is 370 post holes. My problem? There is a serious degradation in performance of my auger from the first hole to the last (29 holes so far). The auger just dosen't want to dig! It just lays on top of the ground spinning around.

Now I've heard all about downforce kits and such. I'm sure that would help. But I think that the main problem is that my auger point and flights (those little removable teeth on the screw portion) are getting duller and duller. The auger point particularly bugs me. It seems to be cast metal. And the threads on the auger point are very wide (thick, whatever). The threads do not develop sufficient psi to break the dirt. Imagine ramming a steel cone into the ground. Spinning the cone would not really help, right? With the wide threads that's my situation here with the auger point.

Auger points are $25 from my dealer. Today's performance leads me to believe that auger point #2 is getting tired too. Is this the normal life expectancy? I'm sure that I can add a little edge to them to help them cut. I wish auger points had some sort of removable teeth like flights. Plus they should be made out of some super hard metal like machine cutting tools.

I guess it is time to go out to the garage and get the grinder running...

Peter

 

[RJohnson]

IF the ground is real dry (hard) then you might pour about half a 2 pound coffee can worth of water where you want to drill. Wait a few minutes for the water to soak in and try the auger.

Good luck,
Randy

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Ever heard the expression you get what you pay for. it applies to augers as well. The ones with the aggressive cast iron pilots (tips) and replaceable teeth (hardened, hard face, carbide) are expensive but they do last longer. The good news is the standardization of the output shaft sizes on the drives allows you to put most manufacturers heavy duty augers on anyones drive (2" or 2 9/16"). Take a look at www.easternfarmmachinery.com for the difference in prices and specs.

 

[radman]

Try removing the auger flights and sharpen them on a grinder. This will help a lot. I also sometimes sharpen them with a hand held grinder without removing the auger flights. Sometimes I also add a peice of angle iron to the boom of the digger and hold it with a 3" U-bolt. On the angle iron I put 150-200 lbs of suitcase weights to help the digger perform better (suitcase weights balanced on each side of the boom). I have never tried a downforce kit but I have never needed one if I sharpen the flights and add weights as needed. I have never bought a new set of auger flights! I have dug well over 2000 holes. Digging holes is the easy part. Tamping in the dirt around the post is the hard part! I have never sharpened the points. I don't feel it is necessary unless point is extremely worn or bent. The point mainly serves as an anchor as the bit turns.

 

[paccorti]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll try the water trick this weekend. Plus I've sharpened the flights and point (just a little). We'll see how it all works out. Failing that, perhaps it's time for an upgraded auger bit.

Thanks for the advice,

Peter

 

[cowboydoc]

Pete,
Also if you're digging in grass or such pull your auger up and check to see that the blades aren't covered in grass. Whenever I dig post poles I have to take a shovel and dig away the grass or else it will get on the cutting part of the auger and it won't dig. My post hole digger is probably 8 years old now and I've dug probably 2000 holes or better with it and I just used it this last weekend and dug about 80 posts with it with no problem at all except the grass issue.

 

[gerard]

ditto what cowboy doc said about the grass. start the hole with a shovel so the point is in dirt, not digging through the grass and it makes a world of difference. The grass tends to wrap around the point filling in the flighting on the drill point and defeating the "drilling" effect.

 

[Rch]

http://www.pengocorp.com/
The above Co. makes aggressive auger bits. I have seen them specifically for post hole augers. The web site is under construction but the e-main function works.
http://www.pengocorp.com/

RCH

 

[radman]

Good point by Cowboy doc. Clear the grass away from the site before digging. Grass or debris on the points will make for poor digging. I never found the water trick to be too useful. Works for top few inches but then ground is dry and difficult to dig again.