Deep-reach post-hole digger

I needed to dig a number of 4-ft.-deep holes for a row of posts. Fortunately, the soil was pretty soft, and I had a clamshell post-hole digger to get each hole off to a good start. Unfortunately, the clamshell digger had a reach of only about 30 in., after which it failed to grasp loosened dirt because the handles couldn’t open wide enough at that depth. How to remove the loosened soil?

As shown in the drawing, I cut the bottom off a tin can that equaled the diameter of the hole (lacking a similar can, you could cut a circle from a sheet-metal scrap). Next, I punched a couple of 1/8-in. holes in the center of the disk, about 1/2 in. apart. Then I made two radial cuts on opposite sides of the disk, leaving an inch or so between them. I screwed the disk to the end of a 6-ft. 2x2 and bent one side of the disk down and the other side up, creating a kind of auger blade. At the outside edge, the opposing blades were about an inch apart.

By dropping this rig into the holes and twisting it, I was able to pick up the soil loosened by the clamshell digger that remained out of its reach.

Werner Krupp, Pittsburgh, PA