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I'm going to tackle our fence this spring and will have about 25 posts to sink adjacent to a disused railway line, so probably earthy material, chance of stones but probably small ones. Has anyone used a STIHL BT121 ? Are they any good or will I wish I'd never seen it ?
Vicious things in the wrong ground.
I've used many big fencing companies in the past, some doing standard post and panel others doing 100's of metres of palisade fencing, not one has ever used a borer, everything hand dug. Make of that what you will.
Do it by hand or get someone in. I'm all for buying more tools usually but can't really see the point in this case.
I rented one to do a load of fencing a few years back.
Roughly 1 in 10 it went great, perfect hole really quick with no problems.
The rest were dug by hand after the machine kicked, jumped and stuck and was generally a pain in the arse.
I hired a wheeled auger this winter to dig a similar number of holes. Went fairly well, but if your ground is stony it will be hard work. I found that if dug until I hit a big rock that pushed the auger off centre, I could fill the hole with water and come back to it later - the rock could then easily be removed.
I wouldn't like to use a handheld one - it was hard enough with the wheeled version.
the hand held borers are a right royal pain in the hoop. I'd definitely hire rather than buy as for 25 holes it might only help you for 7 or 8. I hired one for 10 hole and it only helped significantly with two, with each of the rest it beat me up and then left me to scrabble the rest of the hole out with my finger nails while it looked on mockingly.
I've also rented the bigger ones on wheels - a hydraulic post hole borer
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Much, much better behaved, better able to deal with any obstruction, and no ligament tearing side-strikes to the knees when it does get stuck. When you hire get it delivered/collected by the hire co as they're a bit of handful to get in and out of a van.
Hand dig will also give you a better chance of spotting stray electrical cables as well.
Cheers lads thats pretty much made my mind up I'll do it by hand. No chance of hitting the electric cable I know exactly where that is cos I got it with the mini digger last year !
It's amazing what topics come up on here...
I'm going to be fencing off about an acre of woodland in the next month or so, and was planning on hiring one of these borers to use for the straining posts.
But having seen the responses on here it looks like I'll be digging them all by hand now!
What fun!
If digging by hand well worth getting hold of a proper fencing spade and hinged post hole shovel.
Surprising how quickly you can dig 3ft deep post holes and how little material you need to remove.
I've just been having a search about what other tools I'll need to get now...
I think I'll probably go for one of those hinged post hole shovels, and then a chisel ended digging bar to at least attempt to get through some of the roots!
I'm also thinking a post knocker for the line posts as well... there is no way I want to be having to dig all those holes as well!
The really annoying thing is the local farmer offered to put them all in with his tractor powered post knockcer... but the tractor won't get in the woods!! *grumble grumble*
hinged post hole shovels, and then a chisel ended digging bar
Very effective though I wouldn't want to do hundreds of holes like that. In my heavy flinty garden the hinged thing mostly just removed the spoil but the bar cut the hole a treat.
My old man is a relentless digging machine but at 75 he's slowed down a little now. He swears by an old spade he calls a "spit"
It's just like a long nosed, narrow spade but it's way easier than a regular shovel or even one of those hinged things. The hardship these days is finding a good quality one though. My old mans spit is probably 40 years old and he loves it like BB King loved his guitar. They seem to be also called draining spades. I'm sure he'll be making good use of it on our fence now we've decided post hole borers aren't worth bothering with 🙂
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We hired a two man borer to do some fencing work at our place, it was actually a great bit of kit.
It was the Stihl BT360 and with some care it was not a problem. Our ground isn't stony though, being mainly soil.
I'd hire one again to be honest
If you hire one makes sure the auger bit is in good condition. Hired one like in the pic maccruiskeen posted and the bit was crap and was very hard work till we got fed up and took the old bit back and got a new one for it from the hire centre.
The really annoying thing is the local farmer offered to put them all in with his tractor powered post knockcer... but the tractor won't get in the woods!! *grumble grumble*
How come? Narrow gates or mud? If the former, his knocker should fit onto a smaller tractor. Knocking the posts in by hand is a horrid job. Quick tip for using one - use two people, and get them to each have a hand on each handle. I did most of mine with one person per handle - not nearly as easy!
misterfrostie... I saw those while looking for implements, however I need to dig the holes about a metre deep, and not sure those spades do that so well.
siwhite... Neither, it won't really fit round all the trees to get to the places we are putting the posts, as the fence is inside the woods. We are fencing off an area of land for some pigs within a larger area of woodland.
Unfortunately we don't own the woods, just have permission to put up the fence and graze the pigs, so need to try to cause as little damage as possible.
As for putting the posts in... hopefully we'll have some help for most of it... *fingers crossed* but will remember the tip about the post knocker, cheers.
I had about 20 posts to put in and used one of these
It was brilliant, and has been used many times by a number of friends. Cheaper and far easier to use than a power borer.
It does struggle with big stones, but normal stuff just comes up with the soil.
Hand dig imho
Use a fencing space with a longer handle than the one pictured
A set of spoons to remove spoil and a rammer to compact it back in.
Satisfying work if physically hard but the beer tastes good at the end of the day
You need to google a 'fencing graft' job done.Usually made from a cut section of 4" pipe and a length of scaffold pole. 8)
Fencing bar to make hole and post bumper for posts (you will want an assistant to help with the bumper)
Shove holers, spade and bar to dig in straining post & a wire strainer or two to tension wire if you're doing that too.
(Worked for national trust for a bit as a assistant warden so have done miles of fencing)
You could always get a local farmer with a tractor mounted bumper to knock the posts in for you too.
This looks like just what you need
"Mechanical pole erection".
I got this thing off someone on here, it's amazingly quick at digging a hole:
[url= https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8644/15995009134_de37369f79_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8644/15995009134_de37369f79_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/qnqAXy ]Untitled[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/10954782@N00/ ]Ben Cooper[/url], on Flickr
I can't remember the brand, it was a wee British manufacturer - can nip out to the shed for a look if you like.
Anyone ever get somone with a tractor to use one of those fence planting things
looks a great bit of kit an a lot less hassle than manual 🙂
Bencooper yes please
Can't you just staple some wire to the trees?
Okay, it's a Steelesmith Garden Buddy - unfortunately the only internet hit seems to be this forum 😀
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/tell-me-what-this-tool-is-for
👿Can't you just staple some wire to the trees?
Please tell me you're joking. 😥