Auger, or dig 'em by hand?? What I've learned so far ...

   / Auger, or dig 'em by hand?? What I've learned so far ... #1  

beppington

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Me & dad have fenced about 1,350 feet so far. 8' posts spacing. ~170 posts.

Augered all of them until this past weekend when the posts were pretty close to an AT&T fiberoptic line, & ATT said we had to hand-dig them (they helped). I don't know if they can enforce that, since I'm diggin on my own line, but it is a right-of-way/ easement, & I figured we might as well be cooperative. So there were 14 to hand-dig. I did 7, ATT guy did 7.

However ... I discovered that I'm pretty sure the time, & maybe even effort, to put in a fence post is actually less when digging by hand, compared to using the tractor/ auger ... :confused3:

The auger tends to get easily pushed around, off-line, by even say 1/2"-3/4" dia roots, so each hole has anywhere from a little to a lot of "sideways" digging to get the hole in the right spot, as well as clean-out even in holes that are in the right spot.

Also, with the 8 or 9" auger we're using, the augered holes are much bigger than our hand-dug holes, especially after we've had to "move" them to the right spot, so there's more back-fill & tamping that has to be done.

Not to mention, a waste of tractor: If I can complete them faster by hand-digging, why waste the tractor augering?

What do ya'll think? (I've got about 260 more to do :shocked:)
 
   / Auger, or dig 'em by hand?? What I've learned so far ... #2  
I think you answered your own questiion. If it takes less time by hand and you don't mind the exercise why bother with the auger? If you are in no hurry do so many at a time and that 260 post holes will be done in no time. I say go for it.
 
   / Auger, or dig 'em by hand?? What I've learned so far ... #3  
I agree that tractor mounted augers can be moved around by small stones. Truck mounted augers slide in a vertical rail and are much better. I prefer to backfill vs digging holes.

Craig Clayton
 
   / Auger, or dig 'em by hand?? What I've learned so far ... #4  
I would use the Auger. Drill on the center line, so you have some "wiggle" room, stretch a straight line string. One guy holds the pole centered to string while the other back fills.

I have to deal with the "Do Not Dig" allot, supposedly if you are digging deeper than 18" the National law requires you to call and have all underground utilities marked. It's free, but a pita at times.

I have never been told after they marked the ground I had to dig by hand though, but I do know the markings are not 100% accurate and I am still liable for damage to underground lines, so I have hand dug a few.
 
   / Auger, or dig 'em by hand?? What I've learned so far ... #5  
Me & dad have fenced about 1,350 feet so far. 8' posts spacing. ~170 posts.

Augered all of them until this past weekend when the posts were pretty close to an AT&T fiberoptic line, & ATT said we had to hand-dig them (they helped). I don't know if they can enforce that, since I'm diggin on my own line, but it is a right-of-way/ easement, & I figured we might as well be cooperative. So there were 14 to hand-dig. I did 7, ATT guy did 7.

However ... I discovered that I'm pretty sure the time, & maybe even effort, to put in a fence post is actually less when digging by hand, compared to using the tractor/ auger ... :confused3:

The auger tends to get easily pushed around, off-line, by even say 1/2"-3/4" dia roots, so each hole has anywhere from a little to a lot of "sideways" digging to get the hole in the right spot, as well as clean-out even in holes that are in the right spot.

Also, with the 8 or 9" auger we're using, the augered holes are much bigger than our hand-dug holes, especially after we've had to "move" them to the right spot, so there's more back-fill & tamping that has to be done.

Not to mention, a waste of tractor: If I can complete them faster by hand-digging, why waste the tractor augering?

What do ya'll think? (I've got about 260 more to do :shocked:)

Pop-Eye will have nothing on you when you are done. :thumbsup: :laughing:

I agree that back filling and tamping are a big part of the work.

I bought a gas powered and it drills a smaller 8" hole that isn't quite as bad to backfill and tamp.

I do know this I paid a guy to drill about 35 holes last year. He used a skidsteer loader and the 35 to 45 minutes it took him to drill those 35 was way faster than me digging them effort well I'll let you figure that one, but I din't sweat at all. ;) The tamping afterwards was a bit bad because he used a 12" auger.

All that said I don't remmeber post holes being that much work when I was a teenager, but now that well let just say I'm close to 50 they seem to kick my tail. :(

ps We have clay here and mid summer when the clay is dry the choice is a auger for sure.
 
   / Auger, or dig 'em by hand?? What I've learned so far ...
  • Thread Starter
#6  
I agree that tractor mounted augers can be moved around by small stones.

Yes, the 3PH auger can move around a lot. I haven't measured it, but I bet it can move 6"-8" left or 6"-8" right. There's a lot of slop in the 3PH arms, plus at the 3PH's top mount. And of course, the gearbox is hanging on a hinge, so front/back movement can literally move 2 or 3(+?) feet. And when the auger does move off line that much, the hole's going in at an angle ... which of course means it has to be manually cleaned out/ dug to make it vertical.

Truck mounted augers slide in a vertical rail and are much better.

That's just the type of thing we were discussing this past weekend. Not sure if this 3PH auger could be converted to rail-mount (prob too difficult), though, but that would be great.
 
   / Auger, or dig 'em by hand?? What I've learned so far ...
  • Thread Starter
#7  
All that said I don't remmeber post holes being that much work when I was a teenager, but now that well let just say I'm close to 50 they seem to kick my tail. :(

Funny, I'm kinda the opposite: As a teen I had to help my dad put in a couple thousand feet of fence - I thought it would never end. ('cause I wanted to be doing other things)

Now, at 42, & we're doing my own fence, because I want to, it doesn't seem so bad :laughing: I guess I've out-grown frisbee, BMX bikes, skateboards, etc. :confused3: (which is all kind of shame, actually!)
 
   / Auger, or dig 'em by hand?? What I've learned so far ... #8  
Speed being the issue the tractor does seem faster but I really don't think so in most cases. I know I got pretty fast using these and one without the other is not good.
Post Bar.jpg Post Digger.jpg
 
   / Auger, or dig 'em by hand?? What I've learned so far ... #9  
Why not use a smaller auger? If the hole your digging is that much bigger why not go down to a 4" or so auger.

Here in our gumbo clay soil it is extremely tough to dig with hand PHD. I find that having HST on my tractor is a big help and always try to scoot the tractor forward or reverse a few feet during the digging to make sure the hole is straight because it does try to come in crooked.
 
   / Auger, or dig 'em by hand?? What I've learned so far ... #10  
Here in our gumbo clay soil it is extremely tough to dig with hand PHD.

And if that clay is dry it can take a long time.:D

If it's wet it'll never come off/out of the auger. That is if you can lift the auger out.:D
 

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