Posthole Digger Homemade Post Hole Digger

[N80]

Below is a picture of my homemade post hole digger. I've had the main parts for over 17 years and just finally got around to putting them together with the digging parts. It is not particularly reliable but I'm hoping it will get more so with age. It requires tons of maintenance and just like any other piece of equipment you have to watch it carefully. But, I had all the parts and so I figured what-the-heck and put them together to see what it could do. Surprisingly it was actually a big help and nearly cut my work in half. It cost virtually nothing to make (and that part was fun), but as mentioned the maintenance is just awful!

 

[Ductape]

It reminds me alot of my fathers home-made wood splitter that he used to split all our firewood back when i was a teeneger !

 

[N80]

I posted this to be funny of course but I put it in the Attachments Forum for a reason.

First the story. I'm starting my tractor shed and corral. The shed requires 12 three foot deep pole holes. The fence will require about 30 two foot deep holes. At this point I'm not thinking about the fence. And up until this weekend I had no plans to buy a PTO post hole digger. I don't want one and I'll probably never use it again after this.

Well, this weekend I figured that I'm still young enough and tough enough to dig post holes by hand. Well, twelve post holes later, even with the help of my son (pictured above) I'm pretty much done digging them by hand.

Let me tell you why: my dirt. There are three layers. The first is about 2-4 inches of topsoil. Below that, clay. Not like red Georgia clay. It is yellowish or grayish and in terms of consistency, imagine pottery clay. They call it bull tallow. When you set the PHD in the hole, the clay is so dense you can't close it. And then when you try to pull it back out, you have to yank it out of the clay. So you have to take small bites and when you pull it back out you can't get the stuff out of the PHD without banging it on something or scraping it out! And if you set it down in the waste pile more clay sticks to it. It is maddening. The clay goes down around 18". Below that is this hard crumbly stuff with lots of mica in it. The PHD won't touch it. So you have to chip away at it with a long pointed pry bar. I give out after 6" of that stuff. So none of my holes is more than 2 1/2 feet. It will just have to do.

Once I get the shed up I've got to put the fence in. And I'm not digging 30 more holes by hand. Either I need to rent a gas powered one or I need to buy one for my tractor. I can't find a PTO one for rent. So is it worth buying one for 30 holes? After that I think it would just sit and rust. Are there other uses for a PTO PHD? Do those of you who have them use them often? For what?

 

[EdC]

I bought ours for post holes after I had shoulder surgery but it sure works good (with a 12 inch auger) for planting trees.

 

[N80]

I starting to worry that one of those gas powered deals might not be 'man' enough for that clay. I just remembered that before we built the cabin I had to dig some holes for a perc test. I rented one of them and it seems like I had to struggle as much with it as I did with the manual post hole diggers.

I guess I could buy a PTO post hole digger, use and then sell it. I'll take a little loss on it but it would probably be worth it.

 

[mattellis2]

i too am building a fence, but mine is right in the middle of ga. i'm fencing in about 4 acres around the house so my pups have room to spread out. i sure hope they appreciate it, because it has been a ton of work. thank goodness i am using t-posts excepts for the corners and line braces.

i rented a gas powered jobie from the local ace that was mounted on a buggy. it had a 9 hp honda engine, and i have to say that it wasn't worth spit. anytime i hit a (small) root or rock it would cause the auger to wander around, resulting in a less-than-straight hole.

i think i would suggest either using t-posts or sucking it up and digging your holes by hand. alternately, you could put that 17 year old phd back to worker to pay for some of that upkeep.

mine isn't quite there yet:

 

[dtd24]

aww, thats a cute kid. I like the home made phd too!! Thats funny. He will thank you later for helping him develop a strong back. My Dad did the same! I've been tryin every night for mine.

 

[bucmeister]

I starting to worry that one of those gas powered deals might not be 'man' enough for that clay. I just remembered that before we built the cabin I had to dig some holes for a perc test. I rented one of them and it seems like I had to struggle as much with it as I did with the manual post hole diggers.

I guess I could buy a PTO post hole digger, use and then sell it. I'll take a little loss on it but it would probably be worth it.

I would have to suggest that for the task you have your best bet is to rent a skid steer unit with a hydraulic post hole digger so that you can put some down pressure on it to make it dig. I have a 3ph digger and in our clay/loam soil in this area we still find it tempting to get over the top of the head and add weight. In fact if I were going to set a fence line I would probably try to figure out some kind of way to hang 400-500 pounds on it to get it done and over with. From the sound of the mica you were talking about some kind of serious down pressure is going to be needed to cut those holes.

Not sure how rental rate would compare with buying one from TSC or a AgriSupply affiliate. I would just lay all the holes out and dig them all at one time on one rental then backfill with loose material until you are ready to set the posts if you don't want to leave them open.

 

[N80]

Well, my B-I-L just called me and he and another local fellow are having a bunch of 14' PT 4x6's delivered for cheap and wanted to know if I wanted to get in on it. So I bought 24 of them which should be enough for the shed and the fence too. So its a go now and if the holes get dug, we'll have the posts to put in them.

Fortunately the mica stuff is right at 2' down so for the fence posts I won't have to dig into it to much.

This same B-I-L has a pto PHD and he lives next door. Its beat all to heck and I generally don't borrow his equipment. I don't like borrowing and he hasn't said so, but I know he doesn't like lending much either. Fortunately he is not afraid to work and doesn't mind helping out with his stuff. Also fortunately, my wife (who is his wife's sister) has always been able to sweet talk him into stuff and this corral is pretty much for her and my daughter. So she's going to ask him if he'll bring his old JD and his old PHD and his old self and help us dig the holes. So my problem may be solved.

Otherwise, I'll just have to be ready when he drops by for a beer or a Dew (which he often does) and I'll be posed out in the sun holding my back with one hand and the manual PHD in the other looking like I'm about to faint and he'll help out of sympathy. He doesn't want me croaking from a heat stroke because he's very picky about his neighbors and he doesn't want anyone else living on my place!

 

[Barneyhunts]

Sounds like you have a plan! Good luck. I have a PHD for my BX and though I don't use it much I do use it most times when I have to dig a hole; planting, putting up bluebird houses, deer stand supports, etc.