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Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:25 am
by fredmila
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.
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:15 pm
by Dave_L
Are you sure you can't get a mirco in there?
Most will go through a 730mm opening........saves a lot of physical work!
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 1:11 pm
by Amogen
Done something similar recentley and we were getting nowhere with a spade. Asked a mate and he said to buy a Mattock. It worked a treat. Still need a spade to move the stuff that been loosened, but for breaking stuff up, going through a few tree roots, its brilliant.
Wikipedia - Mattock
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 2:59 pm
by lutonlagerlout
a bulldog fork and a pick axe
a mattock strictly speaking is for tree roots
me and my m8 can dig a foundation trench 7 m long by .5m wide by 1m deep in a day using just a fork and a shovel
needs to be a heavy duty one though
LLL 
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 4:11 pm
by fredmila
Dave_L wrote:Are you sure you can't get a mirco in there?
Most will go through a 730mm opening........saves a lot of physical work!
I'll go and double check. Is it difficult to learn to use?
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:00 pm
by Dave_L
lutonlagerlout wrote:me and my m8 can dig a foundation trench 7 m long by .5m wide by 1m deep in a day using just a fork and a shovel
needs to be a heavy duty one though
LLL
Crikey, that's over 7 ton of dirt out!
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:01 pm
by Dave_L
fredmila wrote:I'll go and double check. Is it difficult to learn to use?
Not really, but they can be a little jerky/erratic as they are so small - slight overswing if you are close to buildings etc could be expensive!!
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:15 pm
by Tony McC
Amogen wrote:Done something similar recentley and we were getting nowhere with a spade. Asked a mate and he said to buy a Mattock. It worked a treat. Still need a spade to move the stuff that been loosened, but for breaking stuff up, going through a few tree roots, its brilliant.
Wikipedia - Mattock
Pavingexpert - Mattock
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:37 pm
by Dave_L
I like that page Tony - "Is it a spade or is it a shovel?"
Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:44 pm
by msh paving
myself i call a spade a spade...............lol MSH
Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 10:08 am
by Rich H
My lads could represent Poland at olympic tool breaking. Last week they took my tree-roots-only mattock to flinty ground to dig a little trench and broke the head in two.
Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:33 pm
by Tommy
My old man bought a £3.99 garden fork this morning, less than 10 minutes later, its in two pieces in the bin
Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 9:00 pm
by Edgecraft
You could try to get hold of a decent long handled grafting spade, I use to work for BT and we called them rabbiters, we use them and post hole diggers for putting telephone poles in.
The one I've (still) got has a 15" blade and 6ft long steel shaft and it will chop straight through a brick (and your foot if your not careful) :p
Darren
Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 12:38 am
by lutonlagerlout
i never use the mattock for digging (got bollocked for that as a lad) its always fork or pick,with the lad backing me up on the shovel, and a 6 yd skip a day is our benchmark for 2 men although i have done more and less depending on the ground etc
some plonker i know in brum tried to impress me telling me that him and his m8 dug a trench46m long by 600mm wide and 1.8m deep in a day
lol
LLL
Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 5:30 pm
by bodgeitandscarper
Grafter is my choice of tool!!!
I used to work for a well know drainage outfit, and used to hand dig all day, everyday. Everyone can dig but it all depends on the ground. Obviously sand is easy but so is hard clay (comes out in a tidy heap) the only down side is when it gets wet.
Ive been through alot of Gas and water pipes in my time and used to enjoy the break!!! (waiting for the four gas vans to come and fix the main to the house.)
The water was a twat as I always punctured one where the main stop tap was knackered, so had to turn on all the taps to the house and try and squeeze new connection together whilst getting soaked in freezing water.
Electric was enjoyable as I enjoyed watching the electricians (dicing with death) repairing the live cables.
Those were the days!!!!