Tuesday, September 29, 2009

A Field Guide to Posthole Diggers



In the U.S. our digs tend to be shallow -- in the 2-3 foot range is very normal. Many settes are also located in the tight confines of crowded hedgerows where rocks and roots may make digging with a shovel difficult. As a consequence, many folks find a posthole digger a useful tool to quickly break into a den pipe -- a feat that is speeded up even further if it is possible to take the first foot or two of soil off with a shovel.

Used in a conventional fashion, the hole made by a posthole digger is too small to give the dog enough room to enter properly. In order to get a hole big enough to enter a dog or pull quarry, you need to bore several over-lapping holes with the posthole digger.

A traditional posthole digger can be found in most good hardware stores and will cost $40 to $60. You want a "Hercules-style " posthole digger that has big and deep jaws, not the smaller and lighter "Atlas" type which is close to useless. Protruding bolt threads should be epoxied so that the nuts cannot come loose and rattle off while working in the field.

To read an illustrated Field Guide to Posthole Diggers >> click here.

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