What tool to dig - Restricted space

Mon Apr 13, 2009 12:57 pm

you sound like uncle albert from fools and horses bodgeit!
torpedoed 14 times etc etc lol
there is definitely a knack to digging,when i am over the allotment it breaks my heart seeing people dig with their 4.99 forks etc. mind you i would probably be rubbish at their day job :;):
LLL

Post: # 36618Post **msh paving** Mon Apr 13, 2009 6:37 pm

if you went through electric cable with a shovel you need to be more carefull
maybe use a c.a.t before digging,serious burns come from electric cables,i always have a squeze off in the digger or van in case of water or gas damage that way no stopping MSH

Post: # 36621Post **seanandruby** Mon Apr 13, 2009 7:29 pm

fredmila wrote:What is the best tool (or tools) manual or powered to dig where I cannot get a digger. This is a trench for a drainage pipe. The soil is compacted and it has bits of stone and brick in it. What I hate about a spade is that it cannot do anything when it hits a stone.

A clay spade on a jack hammer fl22 or simuler. maybe a wide chisel on a t76.

Mon Apr 13, 2009 8:23 pm

we have our own shovels and are very protective of them, i have a small graft maybe 60mm blade by 150mm high thats great in difficult stoney ground, a fencing bar with a wedged head and a 3 inch round foot for compressing backfill, and a little pick and i can get through anything. haha

bodgeitandscarper · Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:59 am

We used cats, but not always accurate!! well not ours anyway. I was Looking for a well hidden manhole, no trace of electric then bang.

Having been working on so many properties it was surprising how high the electric cable can be. One guy was cutting the tarmac and unluckily the tarmac was only thin and came away the cable was 30mm from the surface!!! He didnt scan!!

Young lad in North Wales Nr Betws Y Coed hit a large cable and died as a cause, they couldnt push the poor lad off the machine.

Another useless comment from Bodgeitandscarper

bodgeitandscarper · Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:02 am

We used cats, but not always accurate!! well not ours anyway. I was Looking for a well hidden manhole, no trace of electric then bang.

Having been working on so many properties it was surprising how high the electric cable can be. One guy was cutting the tarmac and unluckily the tarmac was only thin and came away the cable was 30mm from the surface!!! He didnt scan!!

Young lad in North Wales Nr Betws Y Coed hit a large cable and died as a cause, they couldnt push the poor lad off the machine.

Didnt discover the squeeze off until gas man arrived!! Boss didnt buy one, Tw&t!!

Another useless comment from Bodgeitandscarper#

Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:18 am

hit an old 12" metal water main once thing just disintegrated and filled the trench up in less than a minute that was a job and a half, also working at Sale sharks old ground building a stand we hit sky's fibre optic link for the live tv pictures. fibre optics can't be repaired so had to relay it all 120 metres of it, but its was 30 metres from where it should have been on the plan provided by bskyb, lucky escape.