Well today I learned 5 things about post hole augers

   / Well today I learned 5 things about post hole augers #51  
If it gets real stuck, leave it there and use it for a post...lol Back when I used mine, I'd break the shear bolt when it got hung up. Of course with 100 pto horses, that was easy.
I screwed one into clay so deeply that it took two of us, with a 24" pipe wrench and an eight foot cheater, an hour to unscrew it. And it was trash when we were done. Good times ...
 
   / Well today I learned 5 things about post hole augers #52  
First; if you don't know what you are doing (read: there's gotta be an optimal order of operations) then hooking one up to the 3-point is a real beast of a job.
Second; Hanging it by a rope from a tree on sloped ground is not the best storage option.
Third; Go slow stupid. Speed is not your friend when working with powerful hydraulics and heavy equipment.
Fourth; there is a reason they put that little valve under the front of the seat.
Fifth; get yourself an old school manual post hole digger to get the loose dirt out of the last foot of the hole

I did get one post in.

I got a question for the initiated.
Do you bother making sure your angle of entry is as vertical as you can by moving the tractor as you lower the auger? I did but I sort of wonder about the wisdom of it.
I start at a bit of a slant so it will straighten out as it goes deeper.
If you stop the auger before you lift it out, a lot of the dirt will come out with it.
Don't drill it into the ground and let it freeze in there either (why I hesitate to loan some people stuff)
 
   / Well today I learned 5 things about post hole augers #53  
Why mine (3 point digger) hangs in the tree and I use a post pounder (Shaver). Much easier to drive them in. In fact, my Shaver will drive in railroad ties. Should sell it (the one hanging in the tree). Nice thing about a post pounder is, one person operation, always drives straight and vertical and you set the drive depth the way you want it.

Downside is.. They are expensive and you need a pretty good sized tractor to operate on so little tractors (CUT and smaller) are out. I can set 100 posts in a day, no issue, no holes, no backfill no helper.
Speaking of driving 100 posts in a day....when we were setting posts for a new fence, years ago before buying our 3-point digger, I asked this older gentleman, who helped us a lot on the farm, how many post holes he could dig in a day. He said a good man could dig one hundred post holes in a day. I realized I was not a "good man", but I'm sure he was in his younger days.
 
   / Well today I learned 5 things about post hole augers #54  
You'll get better at it. Let me know when you come up with a good way to store the post hole digger. Strapping it to a tree isn't much better than hanging it from a rope.
Yes, I move the tractor back and forth when digging and also sometimes when pulling the auger up if it is deep.
Go slowly.

Oversized holes are much easier to dig and to fill than perfectly sized holes.. A bucket full of good compactable sandy clay, a shovel, a level, and a tamping rod makes it easy to backfill.
Go slowly.

Oh, and about those fancy augers with the replaceable offset digging teeth and tips - if you have rocky soil they are not only more expensive, they are worth it.

Finally, I won't have to say "go slowly" ever again after the first time you get an auger stuck.

good luck,
rScotty
Another quick, easy and very secure way to set a wooden post is to fill the hole with small pea gravel. We used 10 -12" diameter creosote posts for our corner and brace posts. You cannot budge a post after setting it this way and there's no need to tamp.
 
   / Well today I learned 5 things about post hole augers #55  
Never used a post hole digger yet. I rented a post pounder, me and my helper could drive about 100 posts a day. Fast and easy to do. Cost me about $160 CAD a day to rent it. Im fortunate that I have very few rocks here, mostly clay. I think I hit 2 rocks out of about 300 posts pounded.
I wish I could find one to rent.

I've got about 60 to put in and I'm unlikely to have many more ever on this property, so it makes no sense to buy one, so I'll have to suffer with an auger and concrete as nobody I've contacted has one to rent and the biggest fencing installer doesn't use one apparently it's generally too rocky? - where I'm putting a fence in though (about 1400') I'm unlikely to hit much rock.

(I'd probably use more or all wood post and less t-post if I had a post driver to use, too.)
 
   / Well today I learned 5 things about post hole augers #56  
I got a question for the initiated.
Do you bother making sure your angle of entry is as vertical as you can by moving the tractor as you lower the auger? I did but I sort of wonder about the wisdom of it.
Yes I do. A straight hole gives me more room to put the post in the exact spot I want.
When I dig holes, I like to have a spotter so they can help line things up and we do move the tractor as we dig to keep the hole as straight as possible.
This 100%
 
   / Well today I learned 5 things about post hole augers #57  
Not all the lessons,there's another.
Sixth; get yourself an old fashion pipe wrench and cheater pipe to "unscrewuch"the auger when it catch's a root and screw's itself into the ground. :cry:
I had this happen in clay... I had a huge pipe wrench and a cheater and could not turn the blasted thing. I had to get my old manual post hole digger and dig it out. It started out as a post hole, ended up looking like bathtub :)
 
   / Well today I learned 5 things about post hole augers #58  
We set 2 8ft long 4x4 pressure treated posts 3 feet in the ground. Attach two pieces of 1x4 to the top of each post so it forms a cradle. Cut a piece of 2x4 or 3x4 long enough to straddle the 2 vertical posts. Back the tractor up to the posts so the arch of the boom is directly over the 2 cradles. Slide the 2x4 or 3x4 crossbar in place under the bottom of the arch. Lower the 3 point so the boom and the whole phd is supported by the crossbar. Unhook the phd and drive away.

Simple as that. It'll be waiting for you when you're ready to use it again, takes about 5 mins to hook up if you're slow. No wrestling, and not much swearing.

There are pics here of the one I built in 2011, we're still using the same one.
 
   / Well today I learned 5 things about post hole augers #60  
I store my PHD in the ground. Dig down a foot or two and cut the tractor loose. Easy to reconnect when needed
So what do you use to dig the hole? Someone out there may be wondering.
 
 
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