PSA: The $80 post hole digger that saved my sanity on a rocky job

I had a job out near the old quarry in Millerton last spring, ground was like concrete with fist-sized river rock everywhere. My old manual clamshell digger was about to shake my arms off. On a whim, I grabbed a cheap auger attachment for my drill from a discount tool place. It was $80, which felt like a gamble. That thing chewed through that rocky soil like it was nothing. I did six holes in under an hour, work that would have taken me half a day and a lot of swearing. The auger head is a little bent now, but it paid for itself on that one job. Anyone else have a cheap tool that turned out to be a total hero?

3 comments

3 Comments

jesse_lopez1416d ago

Glad it worked for you, but I'd be careful calling that a post hole digger. That's a drill auger, and running it in rocky soil is really hard on a regular drill's motor and gears. You got lucky it didn't burn out. For real post holes, you really want a proper auger made for that kind of work, or at least a low-speed, high-torque drill meant for mixing mud. That bent head is a sign it was pushed too hard.

hunt.hayden16d ago

Watched a guy shear the chuck clean off his Ryobi doing the same thing. The bang was honestly impressive.

jones.kim16d ago

Saw my neighbor try that exact thing last summer. He hooked a big auger bit to his regular DeWalt and went at some hard clay with rocks. Made it about two holes in before the drill started smoking. The whole thing seized up and he had to buy a new one. Ended up renting a proper two-man auger to finish the fence.