The Best Tool You Own

[Rideski]

Cracked my new craftsman shovel with the 15 year warranty at the rivets in the first 5 minutes while using it properly.

[bodywhomper]

My experience is that a Pulaski is much lighter than a pick mattock.

[old goat]

Cracked my new craftsman shovel with the 15 year warranty at the rivets in the first 5 minutes while using it properly.

Sigh. There was a time when there was a lifetime warranty on Craftsman hand tools.

[Rideski]

Looks like there’s quite a variety of $200-$300 gas and corded electric post hole augers. Any rec’s?

[XXX-er]

How many holes you need to dig I think of that as a tool I would rent ?

[Rideski]

Dunno, didn’t really intend to get into the fence biz but I keep getting referrals. It’s $100 to rent, so it would pay off pretty quick. Couple gigs.

[bodywhomper]

Some of your decision about renting vs owning is if you can mark-up the rental fee.

[Bunion 2020]

Looks like there’s quite a variety of $200-$300 gas and corded electric post hole augers. Any rec’s?

Tracked Cat or Deere Skid-steer with a 16" auger attachment off the hydraulics? If you are doing lots of post holes and especially in rocky soils.

And then find a good brush hog and rent your self to ski areas for clearing re-growth from their trails.

With A/C and a good stereo its hardly like working.

And you could always take it up a notch and get a Masticater for grinding waste and downed timber. Guy I work with gets $ 400.00 an hour for him and the machine. He is usually booked solid.

[Meadow Skipper]

Tracked Cat or Deere Skid-steer with a 16" auger attachment off the hydraulics? If you are doing lots of post holes and especially in rocky soils.

And then find a good brush hog and rent your self to ski areas for clearing re-growth from their trails.

With A/C and a good stereo its hardly like working. .

Ha. This is what they gave the trail crew at the ski area where I worked. It was really hard work - hated it. A/C, stereo?

[Bunion 2020]

I "operated" one of those when I worked at Park City. No chaps, no eye protection, no hearing protection, really steep (Black) terrain, no guidelines for work boots, figure it out.... Yes, very physical and difficult. And those fucking Stihls are pretty reliable, no downtime cause the powerhead won't run.

We were working for season passes. No W/C coverage.

I took a 4" rock off the front of the shin. Bled like a stuck pig.

The ski corp. wisely paid the ER visit.

Up here in Montucky the lodge pole pines grow like weeds. When I worked summers I was given a set up as I describes above for a week. I could get more done in 4 - 10hr days than a big crew of workers with those brushcutters could. With A/C and a so-so stereo. No XM.

You could handle some pretty steep (Blue) terrain as long as you went slow and careful and don't get sideways to the hill. It was actually pretty fun.

[XXX-er]

last time I rented a post hole auger it was manual

[BCMtnHound]

Heh. I was the post hole auger for most of the two summer months of my 14th year. We had just moved to the property in the Kootenays, and Dad wasn't about to miss the opportunity for cheap labour to get the fence repaired for the following season's cattle. Coarse gravel with half the 3' hole being nuggets the size of basketballs. The best tool I had for that my Dad called a german crowbar - 5' of 1" steel with a square point at one end.

[Meadow Skipper]

^ misery stick.

[Rideski]

Gnarly

Here mine.

[bodywhomper]

Lol. My 14 yo today busted out our rock bar today and tried to imitate some moves from the avatar with his 10 yo bro. No hospital trip!

[nickwm21]

Looks like there’s quite a variety of $200-$300 gas and corded electric post hole augers. Any rec’s?

I’d just try to find a used gas one on CL...


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[Rideski]

Certainly some extra horsepower with gas. Easy to refuel mostly wherever. Not tied to a cord.
Have to breathe the two stroke. Having a gas can in the truck is a liability.

I’m cool with used hand tools but don’t want to spend time fixing someone’s fucked carburetor.
Harbor freight gas auger is only $200.
Kinda leaning new electric though.


I bent this old guy prying out a tree several years back. Turns out to be pretty functional. Slam the pick down beside a rock or a root and you have a different fulcrum to pry with. Also nice to smack shit with where you don’t feel like pulling the 8 pound sledge out.
I have a normal shaped one as well, but this guy still gets a lot of airtime.

[old goat]

This was my favorite tool today. Stand up weeder. Cutting back the St John's Wort overtaking my wife's rock garden. Nasty stuff--spreads by suckers and each new plant sends down deep roots as well. The tool makes weeding with a bad back a little easier. It gets the roots, unlike a hoe, can work around other plants and irrigation drip lines unlike a pick or mattock.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ames-Sta...7300/206297058

[powdrhound]

This was my favorite tool today. Stand up weeder. Cutting back the St John's Wort overtaking my wife's rock garden. Nasty stuff--spreads by suckers and each new plant sends down deep roots as well. The tool makes weeding with a bad back a little easier. It gets the roots, unlike a hoe, can work around other plants and irrigation drip lines unlike a pick or mattock.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ames-Sta...7300/206297058

It must be good. Out of Stock everywhere.

[old goat]

It must be good. Out of Stock everywhere.

Probably made in China

[Rideski]

Heh. I was the post hole auger for most of the two summer months of my 14th year. We had just moved to the property in the Kootenays, and Dad wasn't about to miss the opportunity for cheap labour to get the fence repaired for the following season's cattle. Coarse gravel with half the 3' hole being nuggets the size of basketballs. The best tool I had for that my Dad called a german crowbar - 5' of 1" steel with a square point at one end.

Hey man bought one of these based on your rec and it was fucking clutch.
The one I posted above has helped me lots, but then I haven’t dug a lot of legit 30” post holes. No way my mattlock would have touched it and didn’t want to bind the auger into deep roots. Thanks duder.

[riser4]

Need a launch system for those bad boys.

[old goat]

I need to get one. Digging a hole in our yard means prying out a half dozen rocks to plant a 1 gallon plant. I see it called a digging bar or just a pry bar.

[BCMtnHound]

Hey man bought one of these based on your rec and it was fucking clutch.
The one I posted above has helped me lots, but then I haven’t dug a lot of legit 30” post holes. No way my mattlock would have touched it and didn’t want to bind the auger into deep roots. Thanks duder.

Glad it worked for ya! While digging post holes is not the most enjoyable task, hefting that bar vertically as high as you can reach then driving it down with as much force as you can muster has a certain satisfying release to it. Use one of those big stones just removed from the hole as a fulcrum, and it does a hell of a job as a lever prying small stumps out as well.

Old Goat, the reason Dad called it a german crowbar was the same reason he needed 4 asprin for a headache - there's four corners to its head.

[old goat]

Glad it worked for ya! While digging post holes is not the most enjoyable task, hefting that bar vertically as high as you can reach then driving it down with as much force as you can muster has a certain satisfying release to it. Use one of those big stones just removed from the hole as a fulcrum, and it does a hell of a job as a lever prying small stumps out as well.

Old Goat, the reason Dad called it a german crowbar was the same reason he needed 4 asprin for a headache - there's four corners to its head.

Ha Ha. That should be in the things old folks say thread.