Posthole Digger Post hole digger basics - getting the dirt out

   / Post hole digger basics - getting the dirt out #11  
Depending upon the soil condition I like a little water. Little is the key word.

I've also noticed, in the last couple of weeks I've dug and cleaned about a hundred and forty holes one foot wide and three to six feet deep, that with the post hole diggers there's a technique that is hard to describe but works.

I've found that if I open the jaws as far as possible and then clamp them down tight the sandy dirt clumps together and comes out with the digger full. If I just squeeze the diggers closed and the soil is silty or really dry it'll fall out before I can get the diggers up to the top.

This is one of those feel rather than explain well kind of things. But it works. And when you're an old man doing young man's work you learn this kind of stuff, have to.

If you do use water remember too much and you'll have the same problem as too little. So start off with a touch more than spit and work up.
 
 

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