Posthole digging in the woods

[Crowbob]

Update:

170’ DONE

608’ TO GO

I dug the 25 holes by hand. PTO PHD is still in boxes, it’s waiting for Phase II of the project:

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

The more I think about it paying the $ and having a beer is looking pretty good.

Looks like you put your beer down and said, "Hey y'all watch me do this!"

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Nicely done and a lot of work!

[Jolly Amaranto]

It has been many years. My brother and I helped my dad build a pole barn. Rocks were our biggest problem.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Update:

170’ DONE

608’ TO GO

I dug the 25 holes by hand. PTO PHD is still in boxes, it’s waiting for Phase II of the project:

I'm very disappointed in ya CB.... I expect a pic of the sammich and her holding the post hole digger ...

All holes are not created equal .... soil types matter... still a freakin' workout... IRregardless

[stevej37]

What color are you using for when you paint it?

[billybek]

Hmmm, some shade of baby poo?

Nice job on the fence.

[fintstone]

Great work! That is a really nice fence. I put one in like that in my first house, but the posts were set professionally (relatively cheaply) by a company that would do it if you bought your materials from them (it cost about the same as just buying the materials at Home Depot). But there were no trees in that subdivision yet.

My dad and I did a barbed wire fence about that long when I was in my early teens. We did it much as his dad did. We had no truck and did it with hand tools. Over the winter, we cleared the land and burned off any stumps and removed large rocks. That summer, we cut black locust trees as nearby as possible with a crosscut saw and axe so that we would not have to carry the posts as far. Sawed each tree into 8ft lengths and then used wedges to split each section into fence posts. Sharpened one end with an axe and then dug starter holes with a post hole digger and a long bar. I held the posts while my father drove them about 3 feet in with a huge mallet. We did not use concrete as it was never necessary as the soil was still compacted and like concrete (especially with the high clay content). It seems like it took most of the summer (when not doing other farm work). That winter, we strung barbed wire. The next spring, every day after school and weekends, my father and I spaded up the land by hand and hauled in tons of manure and rotted sawdust by wheelbarrow to mix with the clay soil. We planted there later that spring. While those power tools are certainly efficient, I would not trade that time with my dad for money. I guess you cold say, we always worked harder, not smarter. Of course we could never afford anything more than the old hand tools we had.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by Jolly Amaranto

It has been many years. My brother and I helped my dad build a pole barn. Rocks were our biggest problem.

We called those a two man. My brother laughed has ass off at me when he let go and I was running the throttle. And yeah, a rock at full speed is no bueno. That's why my brother let go and laughed.

[RWebb]

that lil sapling is gonna be trouble

if you like it, you can just attach the re-fence panels to it every decade as it grows and knocks the post out

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by RWebb

that lil sapling is gonna be trouble

if you like it, you can just attach the re-fence panels to it every decade as it grows and knocks the post out

Yep.

I hate sawing them off, hell, I root (pun intended) for them on other parts of my farm.

Kill it now: You have to be relentless on fence lines, sea walls and driveways.

[stevej37]

[QUOTE=Crowbob;11060426]Update:

170’ DONE

608’ TO GO

I dug the 25 holes by hand. PTO PHD is still in boxes, it’s waiting for Phase II of the project:


Did you run into any roots?

[Crowbob]

Originally Posted by RWebb

that lil sapling is gonna be trouble

if you like it, you can just attach the re-fence panels to it every decade as it grows and knocks the post out

I didn’t have the heart to cut that little thing down. I was on my knees ready to put the saws all to it and...Nope.

Gonna use it as a fence post...eventually. Good call, webby.

There are three trees dead nuts center where the 6’ chain link (Modified California Style) with 4X4 posts, typical galvanized top rail notched into the tops with no other crossmembers between the posts. Chin link stretched TIGHT.

Anywho, there’s a green spruce, a white pine and a red oak all being 12’ chest high or better. I got options. Woohoo!

[Crowbob]

Thanks, fint!

Totally, absolutely fking lucked out with roots! Biggest one was maybe three inches. Sawzall cut through it like butta! Buncha small ones who easily obeyed the shovel.

One rock the size of a basketball. Woohoo! Gotta place it. I love rocks.

During the lockdown I got Netflix Neck. Won’t go away. Fencin’ is no help, neither.

Sandwicher carried 15 21’ long, commercial grade galvanized 2” top rail, 140’ of 6’ commercial chain link rolled and three commercial grade 10’ single swing gates. I could a had three beers instead of two by the time she was done, but I took my time. No sense in getting hurt.

[Crowbob]

This guy helped allot! There was a high spot in the way that need leveling or removal or whatever. Loader has a sharp tooth bar.

Come to find out, the high spot was actually a dump truck load of topsoil from 50 years ago! Black dirt. Anybody familiar with our Kalkaska sand knows black dirt is really gold around here.

[fintstone]

Maybe that is where the chicken house (or outhouse) once was.

[Crowbob]

You a genius, fint.

I was thinking all day after my discovery of buried treasure and could not come up with a reasonable scenario of how it got there.

Then I remembered. 30 years ago when I bought the place (vacant land) it was totally overgrown and gone back to the wild when I found some very old and rusted strands of bobwire in this very spot.

Chickens!

[Crowbob]

My little private road empties into a long and winding road that used to be the main Indian trail from the uplands where I live right down into the bay; some 500’ of elevation drop.

I can easily see that road as a natural ramp way back when all the way down at a remarkably constant grade. Bikes love it, of course. 50 mph, easy if you let her go all out.

Your bigass pile of furs and whatnot would practically deliver themselves to the shipper, especially in winter.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Anybody familiar with our Kalkaska sand...

As compared to the opposite hard grey clay in SE Michigan.

I welded shut/reinforced the shovel, and sharpened it to a Santoku edge with 240lbs bouncing on it.
The ground finally peeled up like a slab of slate in small pieces.

That layer was a foot or two thick, about six inches down, but finally got to sand underneath that.
Digging in the pouring rain was easier.

[RWebb]

BTW - is the Kubota fun?

[Crowbob]

The sand is like powder all the way down. You can’t even dig it. You sort of have to scoop it out of the hole. I had to lie on my stomach and scoop it out by hand. Fortunately it was mostly undisturbed and packed pretty hard so no cave-ins.

That Kubota is an awful thing to operate. It so bad I had to get 11 attachments (if you include the soft-sided cab). The thing just sits, unused, for days at a time; sometimes up to a week!