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Deep Post Hole Cleaning Tool

13K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  lugnut  
You built an articulating catch basin spoon.


Looks like a fun little project. Finding spoons isn't easy. That's not something your local hardware store is likely to carry!

Yup. Dug many a hole, 6ft to 11ft deep, with spoon, spade, and split handle jobbers.

Pretty neat contraption OP. How has it worked out?
Sometimes it is easier to dig a little deeper than necessary, and leave the spoils in the bottom, to obtain desired depth.
 
It has worked well. My only complaint has been that I wish it would haul up more dirt with each trip out of the hole. I may cut up the other "spade" part I have from the donor digger and weld on some small side wing extensions to add some width and make it carry even more dirt for each trip up out of the hole.

For my project the county requires a 56" hole of which the bottom 8 inches is filled/tamped with 1" or larger rock, leaving a 48" hole for the post with a 8" footing. They wouldn't let me get away with digging it deeper and leaving the spoils in the bottom of the hole.
I understand.
However, if you dug a 60"-66" hole, with loose spoils in the bottom, tamped the loose spoils tight, then added and tamped dirt to get your 56" depth. Then added your rock, and tamped it to the 48" depth. you'd have your hole without manually pulling dirt out.

It's raining here and supposed to be for the next 2-3 days. I'm bored.
 
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