A few years ago I picked up a gas powered auger from Harbor Freight that has a 6" auger bit and is obviously used for drilling large holes in dirt, mainly for things like sinking fence posts in the ground. Since I've been working on setting up fences and with that, fence posts, it was high time to bring this tool out and put it to work in drilling post holes in order to make my life easier with regard to the amount of elbow grease expended in the process of installing the fencing. The auger is powered off of a 2 cycle engine, probably of a grade used on larger trimmers but is able to be handled by one person.
After using some premixed 2 cycle fuel I had laying around I fired the auger up and went to work drilling the first hole, in the corner of the garden where the dog kennel greenhouse initially sat but now is the new fence line to the garden, behind the drum planters that I set up earlier this year. The auger made fast work of the dirt, drilling well over a foot into the dirt before I was satisfied with the hole enough to go ahead and clear the dirt away enough to be able to put the post in the ground. I didn't want any dirt falling back into the hole since I was going to fill it with concrete. As with other posts, after setting the post in the ground I poured raw concrete powder around the post, then making sure post was vertical and concrete was tamped down before slowly pouring water all around the concrete and letting it soak in. After I was satisfied that the concrete soaked up an adequate amount of water I tamped the wet concrete down then made sure one last time that the post was vertical before measuring out where to drill the next post hole. After seeing how fast this went I took the other post, which was 8' in length and laid it on the ground, with the end centered with the first post. Where the other end of the post was I marked as the center for the next post hole. I moved the post then put the auger to work again drilling the hole. After clearing the dirt from around the hole I set the post and poured the concrete powder in and soaked it with water. Making sure the post was vertical I measured out another 8' by walking the distance between the first two posts and walking the same distance to where the third hole needed to be. I drilled it out then repeated this process with a fourth hole. I really just wanted to play with the auger some more. If the holes fill in with mud or anything because of rain I'll just auger them out again before sinking new posts. After seeing how nice this tool worked I had to kick myself for not pulling this tool out sooner to get post holes dug out. This was one of the main reasons I stalled with getting things set up for putting up fence panels, the idea that I didn't want to hand dig post holes since that is some back breaking work with this hard ass soil. Another thing this auger would be good for is drilling holes for sinking burial tubes for survival supplies or "tools". Since the auger bit is 6" and with some wobbling the holes are more than 6", a typical PVC sewer pipe will easily fit vertically in the hole, allowing one to sink a myriad of supplies all over a property with a low profile as far as someone trying to use a metal detector to find them. If the pipes were laid horizontally in the ground they would be more easily found compared to a vertical tube that has a mere 6" footprint. Plus since it is a gas auger, this operation can be performed anywhere you need to bury tubes, just be sure to make note of where you do put the tubes otherwise they may be lost forever.
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