First you need to think like me.....

[wroughtn_harv]

Have you ever used a set of manual post hole diggers and found it very frustrating when the hole is deeper than two feet and you can't get them to close because the handles hit the sides of the hole?

I look at manual post hole diggers different from ya'll. If the digging isn't super hard I won't pull out a power unit if there is less than ten holes most days. I can hand dig that many holes with about the same effort as unloading the hydraulic Beaver and digging the holes and then putting it away.

Now my diggers are all steel. I use the blue all steel clay diggers you buy at professional dealers. Even my diggers like you get at the box stores have had the fiberglass or wood handles tossed and they've received pipe handles. I like them to have some weight. They dig better.

When I dig with the power auger I still come back and finish clean the holes with the hand diggers. I like a clean hole for my concrete and post.

One of my peeves has been the problem with the handles restricting ability to clean holes effectively. I figured there had to be a better way.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Then you need some pipe and one of these....

 

[wroughtn_harv]

And it really helps if you have one of these...

 

[wroughtn_harv]

When you're done with the heating and hammering you grab a pair of digger buckets that have been taking up space and glue them on to your handiwork

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Another view....

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Now look at the last two pictures.

Get it?

It is so slick it makes WD40 look like glue.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

OK...I'll ask the tough question...

Where'd the chicken go? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Sometimes it takes her less time than others to do her thing. Day before yesterday it took her no time at all.

Actually it's a time share. I own it. When she uses it she leaves an egg as rent.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Makes you wonder why it wasn't designed it that way in the first place!

John

 

[Bird]

Never seen a "backward" post hole digger before /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif - good idea, but I've had more experience than I ever wanted with the regular ones. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[wroughtn_harv]

This is the prototype. I've got to fine tune it a bit. It's fantastic for cleaning out the eleven by forty inch holes I'm using on this job. But I haven't got the angle of the dangle just right for chopping and cutting yet.

I figured with my background it would be a nightmare trying to adjust to the "backwards" action. By the second hole it was like I'd been doing it this way for years.

There was a part of me that considered being all secrety and applying for a patent because the idea is good and I'd never seen it before. But the experience with the my other patent has left me a little disappointed with that system.

It's a lot more about the game than the score.

I do plan on fine tuning the diggers and then attempting to sell them to professionals. One of the things I'm wanting to do is to have short wood handles. The wood doesn't get as hot as metal does during the summertime. It also doesn't transfer the shock from impact like metal handles do.

I used some buckets off of a pair of diggers that I'd removed the handles for adding pipe ones to some time ago. They're not what I want. They're a little too small as far as capacity goes and the arc shape doesn't accomodate the ability of my diggers to pick up small amounts.

I'm excited about them because they work and I think professionals would appreciate them. And unlike modern thinking I want to have the finished product to be just that. I don't want to have a product with planned improvements as a marketing move.

The product I have in my mind will use the backwards principle with good steel buckets and wood handles. I see two versions. One for normal work with shorter handles and another for the utility work like power and telephone companies do. Those will have longer handles.

Right now I buy and modify a pair of hand diggers every three years or so. I'd like to sell a product that lasts a lot longer than that for the professional.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color="blue"> The product I have in my mind will use the backwards principle </font>

wroughtn_harv

Finally caught you getting something backwards!

It's those other ones that use the "backwards principle..."

Nothing backwards about your set up. I'd say yours use the...

Forward Principle! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Inspector507]

harv...........you said it all in the title of the post

NO ONE thinks like you in the first place /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Just teasing

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Since you already learned about patents, go do some research on "disclosure statements" filed at the patent office.
Much more cost effective, and you can do it yorself, and it really works.
Of course, it won't protect you from Walmart's biggest suplier,China.

 

[mrcaptainbob]

A neighbor brought home a wood handled post hole digger from work (Edison). The handles were almost nine feet long! The most intriguing part---they (like yours) were 'backwards' from the ones we're all used to. I was impressed how deep a hole could be dug and still 'clamp' the dirt. This was eight years ago. I still don't understand why all diggers aren't made the 'correct' way. It's a much more natural movement.

 

[GaryM]

WHarv,

Have you ever heard of the Boston Digger? Here's a link:

http://www.hooverfence.com/tools/nu-boston-digger.htm

I saw it on Ask This Old House a while back and it looked slick. You probably know all about it.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

<font color="blue"> It's a much more natural movement.</font>

That's what I'm finding out the more I use it. I'm going over how I'm going to make my buckets and how I'm wanting the wooden handles.

It will come together, always does, just sometimes not the way I wanted. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[wroughtn_harv]

<font color="blue">Have you ever heard of the Boston Digger?</font>

I have one. I bought five maybe more years ago. They are great in clay. If I only dug holes occasionally and I lived in an area with clay it would be the one digger I couldn't live without.

As it is I have so many other options it was just a great experience for me. It's weathering away at my place. But I have nothing but admiration for the guy or gal who came up with it. It is a getter.

 

[Darren]

Thanks for posting that link to the Boston digger.

The ones I saw before were a lot more expensive.

 

[GaryM]

Re: Thanks for posting that link to the Boston digger.

I had never heard of one before seeing it on the TV show. Looked like it worked very well, particularly in a deep hole. WHarv's is probably better though. He's probably dug more holes in a month than any four of us have ever seen.