Update: I used to swear by digger bars for post holes, but a soil test changed my mind yesterday

I always figured a digger bar was fine for breaking up rocky soil on a fence job in Reno, but I found out from a local soil report that our ground here has a high clay content that actually compresses worse with that tool. Switched to a manual auger with a pilot bit and it cut my digging time by 40 percent on a 20-post run. Has anyone else tried different tools after checking their soil type?

2 comments

2 Comments

kai6023d agoMost Upvoted

You're making a solid point about clay and compressibility, but I've had the opposite luck with a digger bar out here. Used one in heavy clay on a rental property fence line down the road, and it worked way better than my auger because the clay kept gumming up the drill bit. Just goes to show that soil type is huge, but local conditions within that same clay category can swing it either way.

hart.parker3d ago

Guess the local clay just had a personal vendetta against digger bars. Maybe it was the cheaper stuff that gives up easier, or just the mood of the dirt that day. Ever had a tool that seemed to have a mind of its own like that?