carpe diggum
Elite Member
Thats what she said.
Show me your Digger
- Thread starter Slugrusher
- Start date
Midasmulligan
Forum Supporter
Been diggin' at the beach so I haven't tried it all yet but here's our arsenal. The kids liked the smaller aluminum scoop in the dry sand and the larger one was all I needed in the wet. Adding the bike stem handle was a godsend. Gonna try the new dirt tools out today. The other stuff is kitchen utensils from WalMart and a couple of hand tools that we already had from Lowes or for camping that never got used. Wife liked the black plastic Farberware sieve in the dry sand but the handle just snaps on so it's not really good for digging unless you wrap your hand half around it. Light and easy to clip on and carry though.
I gotta say this sand diggin' really spoils ya.
I gotta say this sand diggin' really spoils ya.
Surf Master
Forum Supporter
mws_1984
Elite Member
Show you my digger, we just met!
Midasmulligan
Forum Supporter
Thinking outside the box for extreme conditions
Actually we have a common soil type around here that is one of the most ignorant concoctions on the planet. Very high percentage of glacially deposited quartz mixed with very fine granules of clay. Any implement that you swing on it typically encounters a piece of rounded quartz and bounces amid sparks and stone chips. The clay, particularly when dried out, bonds the quartz lumps together like concrete.
I had one of those little Mantis cultivator/tillers that I tried to use to tear a hole open and the ground literally bent the tines around on themselves. Even my big 8 hp Troy Built bounces and shudders and runs away from this stuff. The final insult however is when you go at it with a back hoe or excavator bucket and the machine's teeth just screech across it like fingernails on a chalk board repeatedly.
Once you get past the baked clay and quartz layer there are usually strata of sand or mainly clay, but that first layer is absolute hell. I have found nothing that will manually deal with this condition without producing rivers of sweat, mounds of blisters and a river of expletives. The closest thing to effective was actually my gas powered post hole digger. Not very forgiving on artifacts but it may have possibilities.
How about a heavy duty cordless drill with a screw type hardened bulb planting bit?
http://www.festoolusa.com/products/cordless-drills/t-153-lithium-ion-cordless-drill-set-564250.html
http://www.google.com/products/cata...a=X&ei=tPQiTonKHsidgQeJhNC-Cw&ved=0CH0Q8gIwAQ
Here's something else that I stumbled across on Amazon that might have some potential in softer ground or maybe with a few mods to the cutting edges:
http://www.amazon.com/Yard-Butler-Garden-Planter-BPL-6/dp/tags-on-product/B000RYL198
Actually we have a common soil type around here that is one of the most ignorant concoctions on the planet. Very high percentage of glacially deposited quartz mixed with very fine granules of clay. Any implement that you swing on it typically encounters a piece of rounded quartz and bounces amid sparks and stone chips. The clay, particularly when dried out, bonds the quartz lumps together like concrete.
I had one of those little Mantis cultivator/tillers that I tried to use to tear a hole open and the ground literally bent the tines around on themselves. Even my big 8 hp Troy Built bounces and shudders and runs away from this stuff. The final insult however is when you go at it with a back hoe or excavator bucket and the machine's teeth just screech across it like fingernails on a chalk board repeatedly.
Once you get past the baked clay and quartz layer there are usually strata of sand or mainly clay, but that first layer is absolute hell. I have found nothing that will manually deal with this condition without producing rivers of sweat, mounds of blisters and a river of expletives. The closest thing to effective was actually my gas powered post hole digger. Not very forgiving on artifacts but it may have possibilities.
How about a heavy duty cordless drill with a screw type hardened bulb planting bit?
http://www.festoolusa.com/products/cordless-drills/t-153-lithium-ion-cordless-drill-set-564250.html
http://www.google.com/products/cata...a=X&ei=tPQiTonKHsidgQeJhNC-Cw&ved=0CH0Q8gIwAQ
Here's something else that I stumbled across on Amazon that might have some potential in softer ground or maybe with a few mods to the cutting edges:
http://www.amazon.com/Yard-Butler-Garden-Planter-BPL-6/dp/tags-on-product/B000RYL198
