Had the worst day with a frozen auger last winter

I was out on a job in northern Minnesota trying to set posts for a 200 foot run of privacy fence. Ground was frozen solid and my auger wouldn't dig more than 6 inches down before it bound up. I ended up chipping through the frost with a digging bar for 6 hours. Has anyone else run into this and found a trick to get through frozen ground faster?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_derek2d ago

What did you try besides the digging bar?

felix_coleman872d ago

I mean, you probably already tried this, but boiling a big pot of water and dumping it right where you're digging can buy you a solid 20-30 minutes of workable ground. I did that once for a 4x4 post hole and it softened the frost enough to get a shovel in about a foot deep before it started freezing again. Also, if you have one of those propane weed torches, running it over the spot for 10 minutes before you start works way better than you'd think, just don't set the grass on fire.