Post hole auger.

   / Post hole auger. #11  
Yep, that's another one that will do just fine in that deep top soil seen in the video. It's another one that in such conditions I would rather do it with a manual post hole digger.

Even in the soil on my place with 9 to 14 inches of top soil, then clay, I tend to use manual post hole diggers if I'm working alone. I have a 3PH post hole digger that hasn't seen action in a LONG time. I dig corner post holes with manual diggers and press in Tee posts with a front end loader. It's not worth the bother to hook up the 3PH contraption most of the time.

My $0.02,
 
   / Post hole auger. #12  
For what it is I think it's a fine idea. The high dollar ones with the motor on a cart off to the side will resist a lot more torque. On this one I like the winch to pull it out of the hole in case it starts to screw in or gets hooked on a root or rock. In terms of safety, it just needs to resist more torque than the powerhead can supply.

No doubt soil conditions play a big part in the effectiveness of any light duty auger. If you can beat the speed of the example video digging a hole by hand I'm impressed. If you can beat it for 20 or more holes I'm REALLY impressed.

I like my 3-point Lienbach on the Belarus which has downforce. My buddy was going to rent a 2-man auger to add 20 posts to his fence line. I drove the tractor there and we had them dug in about 1/2 hour.
 
   / Post hole auger. #15  
These are all toys. Take them ice fishing...maybe.
 
   / Post hole auger. #16  
For what it is I think it's a fine idea. The high dollar ones with the motor on a cart off to the side will resist a lot more torque. On this one I like the winch to pull it out of the hole in case it starts to screw in or gets hooked on a root or rock. In terms of safety, it just needs to resist more torque than the powerhead can supply.

No doubt soil conditions play a big part in the effectiveness of any light duty auger. If you can beat the speed of the example video digging a hole by hand I'm impressed. If you can beat it for 20 or more holes I'm REALLY impressed.

I like my 3-point Lienbach on the Belarus which has downforce. My buddy was going to rent a 2-man auger to add 20 posts to his fence line. I drove the tractor there and we had them dug in about 1/2 hour.


I want to point out that my statement regarding speed with a manual digger was ONLY for the soil conditions seen in that video. The key is that you have no set up time with a pair of post hole diggers as you do with any auger contraption.

In my younger days in the right soil and with the right motivation I could dig post holes all day long. Today, at the age of 61, even though I consider myself to be in really good shape for my age, I would certainly be slowed down at the 20th. hole, but I would have been pacing myself for sure. That said, I would not have been setting the posts and tamping the soil during this contest. If I did that at race speed I would certainly want to have the paramedics standing by.

Luckily, the fencing I do these days only involves doing holes for corner and stretch posts. Tee posts do the rest of it.
 
   / Post hole auger. #17  
I was raised a farm boy in New England and I didn't even know what an auger was. I had a spade, clamshell, and a Bar. That was all dad said I needed & I laid miles of fence with those 3 items and an old Pick ax handle for a tamper. When I bought my tractor I bought it with a Land Pride PHD as my very 1st attachment to go along with those 1st 3 items along with and additional 3 or 4 bars and a newer pick ax handle to use as a tamper.I have done 3 holes in 15 minutes and 1 hole in 1/2 a day. Welcome to Massachusetts. Sometimes learning the hard way 1st is the right way. I fear those days are lost for ever.
 
   / Post hole auger. #18  
When I had my 3PH PHD, I was drilling a 12" diameter hole down 4' (frost-line is 3') when the dam thing caught on something and wouldn't come out of the hole. It was stuck up to the gearbox. I tried gently rocking the thing back and force like one does with a stuck car in winter. Eventually that did the trick, and I got the PHD unstuck. After I finished the last of the holes for my project I decided I was going to sell or trade that evil thing.

Got mine stuck nearly as deep once also. I set the 3 point hitch to pull up and slowly turned the shank of the auger backward with a pipe wrench. It actually worked smoother than I imagined.
That wasn't nearly as fun as the time I hit the 1 inch copper village water line to my house! :laughing:
 
   / Post hole auger. #19  
I have drilled some 80 holes with my PHD with about 90 more to go. Here in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, we have limestone everywhere and lacking that, some wonderful clay. I have to drill somewhat slower than 540 rpm and hope that I don't catch a rock of shelf or I'll be up to the powerhead in 90 % of the holes. If I do get stuck, I do the pipewrench thing with a 4 foot cheater pipe on the handle. My neighbor tried a post pounder for his fence, I doubt if he has a dozen post more than 18 inches in the ground. The long and short of it is that I wish I had soil like that guy had. My fence would have been done a month ago! But hey, my view is nicer...I think.
 

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