What to dig post holes with in rock?

   / What to dig post holes with in rock? #22  
Commonly referred to as a post bar, crowbar, digging bar, spud bar, fencing bar or a blister raising shoulder aching sob.
And in Kentucky, just "Digger Bar," and probably why all of us in our seventies have arthritis in our hands...
 
   / What to dig post holes with in rock? #23  
How are you attaching the post to that base?
Galvanized carriage bolts thru a 4x4 treated post or metal T post, whichever I'm using.
 
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   / What to dig post holes with in rock? #24  
About 1/4 of all my T-145 steel posts required a hole drilled in bedrock. That was 150 holes - +/-. My neighbor has a commercial air driven jack hammer. It bores 2" holes, very quickly, in the bedrock.
 
   / What to dig post holes with in rock?
  • Thread Starter
#26  
I will and do use t-post but I still have to have some wood post for gates and corners. I typically do rent a compressor and drill to put t-post in.
I have thought about hiring it done but am normally of the mindset to do it myself and use that money to buy more tools.
 
   / What to dig post holes with in rock? #27  
Haven't heard it called that before. I have a couple of them and they have put a lot of post in the ground, both digging and tamping. They don't do anything in blue limestone.
I just crack the rocks with the blade side, or pry them out if they’re small enough. Even had someone hold the bar like a chisel, and I hit the blunt end with a big sledge.

If it’s a BIG rock or boulder, it doesn’t matter what you use. No auger will got through it.
 
   / What to dig post holes with in rock? #28  
I don’t think it’s practical to try busting through the thick layer of limestone in middle TN with any hand digger bar. Usually it’s 8 to 12 inches thick with another layer below it.
 
   / What to dig post holes with in rock? #29  
The old homesteader never fenced all 80 acres. There are areas where solid bedrock is close to the surface. Boring a hole in bedrock with a sledge hammer and bar would not be my idea of fun.

It's taken me and my neighbor - with his commercial jack hammer - many years to get all the fence tripods replaced with actual T-posts. We would do a few every year.
 
 

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