You haven't really dug a hole until your only tool is a shovel and every time you stick it in it hits a root or a rock, and the whole time you are fighting sticky stiff clay.
>sticky stiff clay.
I'll see your clay and raise with nothing but river rock 1 foot below the surface because your housing subdivision was built on an ancient riverbed.
had this fun with digging a 6x6 fence post hole this summer
the bonus was after 3 feet finding an unreported power cable which I nearly hit with my shovel
then we had to fill in the hole and dig it again a few feet over
I bought one from HF and it bent easily. I returned it and bought a better one from elsewhere. It still bends a little, it is not designed for prying. I just straighten it. Mine is a 6 footer and weighs a little more than 18 lbs.
I sharpen it often. It is wonderfully effective and very satisfying to use.
But sometimes a digging bar won't cut it and you'll need a rotary hammer and feather wedges.
Or you can just drill one hole and do the old 22LR trick. Which is explicitly banned where I live and I would NEVER promote or practice.
But sometimes a digging bar won't cut it and you'll need a rotary hammer and feather wedges.
Or you can just drill one hole and do the old 22LR trick. Which is explicitly banned where I live and I would NEVER promote or practice.
I dunno if it's called shovel or spade in English, but the narrowish, straight edge, sharpened one will go through smaller roots and all types of dirt. If you don't have many rocks most of the time it's all you need.
Sounds like what a nurseryman would call a "balling spade," and every time you sharpen one, the very next time you use it you hit a fricking rock as soon as you get an inch below ground.
I'm with you anon, I was digging trees 40 years ago, and we'd sharpen daily, twice a day if it was particularly rocky. It's just one of those things in life that you can count on. Nice fresh sharp edge? Here! Have a rock!
90% of my work is for broken people with 8 back surgeries, who could otherwise do the work themselves. Don't go into the military, you will just get fricked up and spit out. Course, no one here is today, becasse your commander will be a politically- appointed troony.
Don't abuse your body. You'll end up 50 yrs old and unable to climb a ladder. I'm nearly 50 so they like that, but have zero mobility issues.
There's a good stump grinder channel on youtube. That's what he needs. If he's somewhere it doesn't matter, he could get crazy and make a swedish fire log out of it. Bore a vertical hole and an intersecting diagonal, throw some firelighter in there and strike it. If left to burn too long, and the roots are too dry, fire can creep underground and travel, setting other stuff on fire. YMMV, and buyer beware.
I made my digging bar (pictures above) out of a 1" square stock of 1045 steel and heat treated the business end of it, I'll break my back well before I bend it. I found 3 foot to be a good length since it's easy it's at a good height if I need to use a hammer on it,, then just use a piece of conduit (plus a shovel some times) if I need more leverage.
I recently saw a beefy looking digging bar at Home Despot. I didn't buy it though since I'm happy with mine so don't know how it holds up.
One time during the Basic School (Marine Lieutenant training) we were digging fighting positions on base and the ground was frozen solid. A guy in my platoon was talking shit because he was going through the ground like butter while we were struggling. 5 minutes later he dug up a couple pieces of toilet paper. Turns out he was digging through some previous unit’s cat hole. The sun came out and it got a little warmer and he smelled like a cess pool the rest of the week.
I'm an expert at getting rid of these things with fire. Usually there is radial cracking once the stump is properly dead, dig like pic related under the base of the stump. Build a tiny little fire with kerosene and sticks in or right over biggest crack making sure air draws through. Fairly soon both sides of the crack will be burning. Blast accumulating ash out with a blower. Once ash is falling out the bottom its done the stump burns away right down the roots.
Shovel quality matters, look at Fiskars 397900-1001 PRO. They're fricking amazing and unbreakable by a goddamn human.
My yard is packed down burnt over houses melded into clay heavy soil covered in tree roots over top of a retired train track lane that was filled in with boulders and countless rocks watermelon size and up - so ANY hole is LITERALLY a 4 hr job of digging roots, debris, rocks, Black folk. You can't drive a nail in it without a sledge hammer in summer when the water table is down.
Took all goddamn summer to plant thirty trees because my dumbass bought the 2 gal pot ones and each hole was 6hr+ of work to remove 5x my body weight in rock and tree roots.
Granted, that's a lot of roots. But:
I see no enormous rocks.
I see harmless dirt. Where is the clay.
You haven't really dug a hole until your only tool is a shovel and every time you stick it in it hits a root or a rock, and the whole time you are fighting sticky stiff clay.
>sticky stiff clay.
I'll see your clay and raise with nothing but river rock 1 foot below the surface because your housing subdivision was built on an ancient riverbed.
That sounds good for your house unless the riverbed good
Floods sorry phone posting.
I'll see OP's clay and roots, your river rocks and raise you 2 feet of straight up sand over 3 feet of caliche. I hate the desert.
had this fun with digging a 6x6 fence post hole this summer
the bonus was after 3 feet finding an unreported power cable which I nearly hit with my shovel
then we had to fill in the hole and dig it again a few feet over
Did you call 811 before digging?
Good thing they always send intelligent young men who mark everything correctly haha
>Did you call 811 before digging?
You don't have to if you're not using power equipment.
:^)
This. Though I found a pickaxe to be handy with clay. Makes it slightly easier.
Jesus christ i already forgot how painful it is.
>gatekeeping hole digging
but also frick that
I would choose clay and roots over rocks any day
Just yeet it out of there with a backhoe or excavator...
You do own at least one of each right?
A real man (a really poor man) gets by with pic related. 16 pounds, about 5 feet long. Stab those roots and pry those rocks, all the live long day.
This thing will make you tougher than anyone you know
>Hits unmarked 3 phase power line and turns into an overcooked hot dog
sorry pal, should have been a fiberglass mattock chad.
>Hits unmarked 3 phase power line
It's free energy
Close
Close
Fricking bingo RIP spine
i bent mine
One brand of these is called a 'Mutt'.
I bought one from HF and it bent easily. I returned it and bought a better one from elsewhere. It still bends a little, it is not designed for prying. I just straighten it. Mine is a 6 footer and weighs a little more than 18 lbs.
I sharpen it often. It is wonderfully effective and very satisfying to use.
Cheater bars for digging bars when peace isn't an option
But sometimes a digging bar won't cut it and you'll need a rotary hammer and feather wedges.
Or you can just drill one hole and do the old 22LR trick. Which is explicitly banned where I live and I would NEVER promote or practice.
you live in a mountain or something?
>Give me a big enough lever, and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I will move the world
you're not digging you're mining
My grandfather worked in the steel mill and made one of these, but his is 6' long and weighs 28 lbs. It's an inch thick of solid iron.
my favorite tool. I have two
>youre not a fat boomer like me right
not a fat boomer like me right
Nah fat millennial (technically, don't feel as though I fit the category though)
People actually manually dig holes without using a mattock? The shovel is just to move loose material.
I dunno if it's called shovel or spade in English, but the narrowish, straight edge, sharpened one will go through smaller roots and all types of dirt. If you don't have many rocks most of the time it's all you need.
Sounds like what a nurseryman would call a "balling spade," and every time you sharpen one, the very next time you use it you hit a fricking rock as soon as you get an inch below ground.
I hit plenty of rocks and it still is going strong, still cuts roots. This isn't cabinetry, you don't need a perfect edge.
I'm with you anon, I was digging trees 40 years ago, and we'd sharpen daily, twice a day if it was particularly rocky. It's just one of those things in life that you can count on. Nice fresh sharp edge? Here! Have a rock!
That's what a cordless grinder with a #60 flap disc is for. I sharpen all the cutting edges on my pioneer tools.
We call those "sharp shooters" here.
Where I live it's nothing but silt until about 25 down, so a shovel is all it takes.
That's a pickaxe motherfricker
Sorry mate, as guy with least seniority, you'd best get to chopping. Can't do it, me discs are slipped, don'tcher know
90% of my work is for broken people with 8 back surgeries, who could otherwise do the work themselves. Don't go into the military, you will just get fricked up and spit out. Course, no one here is today, becasse your commander will be a politically- appointed troony.
Don't abuse your body. You'll end up 50 yrs old and unable to climb a ladder. I'm nearly 50 so they like that, but have zero mobility issues.
There's a good stump grinder channel on youtube. That's what he needs. If he's somewhere it doesn't matter, he could get crazy and make a swedish fire log out of it. Bore a vertical hole and an intersecting diagonal, throw some firelighter in there and strike it. If left to burn too long, and the roots are too dry, fire can creep underground and travel, setting other stuff on fire. YMMV, and buyer beware.
This Old House has a segment on this.
>add twigs, coal, etc.
>pour gasoline over it.
>light it and let the fire do the job for you.
heh, nothing personal.
I made my digging bar (pictures above) out of a 1" square stock of 1045 steel and heat treated the business end of it, I'll break my back well before I bend it. I found 3 foot to be a good length since it's easy it's at a good height if I need to use a hammer on it,, then just use a piece of conduit (plus a shovel some times) if I need more leverage.
I recently saw a beefy looking digging bar at Home Despot. I didn't buy it though since I'm happy with mine so don't know how it holds up.
Friendly reminder to take a bastard file to your shovel before every days digging for an easier life.
Another idea that someone smarter than me had, and I have yet to build, is a slide hammer cutting/digging bar.
Can't just jack the stump out?
Nobody wants to watch you jack your stump, buddy
Step aside.
Heh. Nothin personnel, kiddo. Move!
Just put a few sacks of anfo and detonate it when at a safe distance
Pack around it with tannerite and shoot at it.
One time during the Basic School (Marine Lieutenant training) we were digging fighting positions on base and the ground was frozen solid. A guy in my platoon was talking shit because he was going through the ground like butter while we were struggling. 5 minutes later he dug up a couple pieces of toilet paper. Turns out he was digging through some previous unit’s cat hole. The sun came out and it got a little warmer and he smelled like a cess pool the rest of the week.
That's why I hang on to a few old saw chains. Dig em in the dirt, they're already shot
Finally, more excuses to use improvised dynamite.
>using the right tool for the job
I'm an expert at getting rid of these things with fire. Usually there is radial cracking once the stump is properly dead, dig like pic related under the base of the stump. Build a tiny little fire with kerosene and sticks in or right over biggest crack making sure air draws through. Fairly soon both sides of the crack will be burning. Blast accumulating ash out with a blower. Once ash is falling out the bottom its done the stump burns away right down the roots.
Shovel quality matters, look at Fiskars 397900-1001 PRO. They're fricking amazing and unbreakable by a goddamn human.
My yard is packed down burnt over houses melded into clay heavy soil covered in tree roots over top of a retired train track lane that was filled in with boulders and countless rocks watermelon size and up - so ANY hole is LITERALLY a 4 hr job of digging roots, debris, rocks, Black folk. You can't drive a nail in it without a sledge hammer in summer when the water table is down.
Took all goddamn summer to plant thirty trees because my dumbass bought the 2 gal pot ones and each hole was 6hr+ of work to remove 5x my body weight in rock and tree roots.
Thanks for reading my blog