Post Hole Problem - Farm Hand's Companion
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- Опубліковано 22 січ 2025
- Pa Mac overcomes a problem while digging the first post hole for his new workshop.
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The best way to beat the rocks here in Kentucky is to use an electric jack hammer. The limestone I have here is just plain everywhere and even limestone when it is fully supported in the clay is a great difficulty to get through. Mostly large 1 foot across stones by 2 inches thick. Some though are three and four feet acrost and ten inches thick. The advantage of the electric jack hammer is that you can go along with a generator and get to isolated areas. 🙂
Same fun in NH when you live at the base of a steep hill...
I know this is an old video but just found your channel and was perusing your content. Saw the thumbnail of your head in that post hole reminded me of myself digging the 4ft hole for our power pole. I had a digging bar a pot and a pan. Hit 4 ft just as I hit a solid shelf of rock. All the neighbors had to come see, no one could believe I got 4 ft on this rocky Arkansas ridge. One year, two trenches and 18 post holes latter and I haven't gotten 2 ft without hitting solid rock thank God for my rotary hammer with a chisel bit.
Wow. That looks like a very hard work to do, If that;s for a tree I rather put it while it's small. I have a beautiful tangerine tree I planted it outside and it died and I took it out and planted in a pot and putted next to my balcony and when I went to throw it out I saw new leaves coming out. I was very happy because my daughter gave me this plant. Great video.
this is great! and i know THIS problem! what i can't believe is that it took me to age well into my 50s before i finally bought a post hole digger. my goodness! a hole in 10 minutes (when the rocks ain't in the way, of course)! unbelievable!
Been there done that. I did hit an underground spring once. Hole filled with water till it ran across the ground. I put in the post and filled it anyway.
Had those kind of days myself from time to time
this is how my days go to sometimes but it funny when it happen to some one besides me thanks good luck
Those rocks make post hole digging so much fun. Just comes with the territory I suppose. Just found your channel and I like it.
I have the same dang problem here in Tennessee. I seem to grow rock in my vegetable garden...
I wish I had so few rocks here in Soddy Daisy, TN LOL .. I live on what once was a river bed thousands of years ago .. there is a river rock quarry down the street from me .. they have been digging rock there for 20 yrs have never hit bottom lol .. but this makes for excellent septic fields lol
I have been there before, good luck!
Thanks for the fast reply...
i remember my Dad digging holes with those things but he cussed while he did it. The only new fangled invention he ever loved was an auger. Won't Ma bring you out some iced tea?
Hey there, Nery!
I wish I had your green thumb to bring a dead tree back to life! I'd go and fix one or two I planted that failed to get off to a good start.
Yours truly,
Pa Mac
Hey there, David!
Sorry about your sawmill man.
Yes there is a special rip chain for milling.The teeth are sharpened at a low angle and there are fewer teeth per inch. They say this makes for smoother boards and quicker milling. My first chain was custom sharpened at a low angle, but every chain after that was a normal chain with a normal angle. With a powerful saw normal chains worked fine for me. Bottom line-a special rip chain would be preferable but not exclusive.
Thanks for watchin!
Pa Mac
Great channel!!! Keep up the really awesome videos please. :)
I love your video's I've seen all of them so far they are very informative and inspiring. Inspiring me to go find some land and do this. You sir are very knowledgeable and I am wondering did you learn all of this from your dad and grand pa. Or did you have other living records to also tap into their knowledge and experience? I love the barn project especially the floor so far. You sir are the opposite of people today you are a worker just like your previous generations NOT a lazy man even though you use a tractor and chain saw (I will also). How long has your Arkansas homestead project been going on now and are you done with your barn? One more question is why didn't you build a cabin/house first and what do you live in while building your homestead (I will use my camper when I find suitable land)?
Thanks for your video's keep them coming.
Hey Rick,
Thank you for your kind compliments on the show! I think you may be too generous, though, in your assertion of how knowledgeable I am. I will tell you this: a lot of what I've learned over the years has come from a broad range of sources, largely just "doing" and makin' mistakes. Yes, my daddy taught my brother and me a whole lot about tools and the way his daddy (the original "Pa Mac") used 'em and farmed; but daddy's largest and best contribution to my brother, sister, and me was showing us an example of resourcefulness and determination (and with few words!). He was and still is my biggest hero (and I'm thinkin' you'll be seeing him briefly in an upcoming episode). I've also discovered great sources of knowledge from simply asking questions and talkin' to some of America's greatest treasures ... our senior citizens, many of which still remember the things they, their parents, or grandparents did to make "a living" in hard times.
As for your question about what I live in and why wasn't it built first ... it was built first, (albeit not by me); but the house you would be interested in seein' me build and the house I would be interested in buildin' was not the house my wife was interested in livin' in (and I'm all about pleasing my wife!) However, I might have a surprise along these lines for the FHC viewers and readers on down the road, the Lord willing. (So keep watchin'!)
Thanks so much, Rick!
Pa Mac
We got a posthole digger for our tractor and it been the BEST investment, holes only take a few minutes now. I have dug too many the manual way! Can I recommend a longer crow bar? :)
Those are sure nice implements to have around, Farmer Liz.
(And one of the main reasons I don't wear neckties with my overalls)
Thanks for watchin'!
Oh baby you rock...
Just found your show and watched all of the videos.... I have 300 ft of pine 9 inch around up to 4ft around laying on the ground for months waiting on the sawmill guy less than a mile from my house to come get them... I about give up on him and thinking of getting a sawmill setup for my chain saw... Do I need a special chain for my saw or can I use the current normal chain I use to cut firewood... I was told that I need a ripping chain by come folks
AMAZING
I tell everyone I know I have a PhD from MIT. Where I come from it’s so high tech you can’t put up a fence without a PhD. They usually don’t believe me until I tell them it came from Michigan Industrial Tools sold at my local tool store. Of course PhD is a post hole digger!
I'll trade ya. We live int he bottom of an old lake. 6" to a foot of soil on top of river rock. Pulled a 150 pound rock out of the ground while attempting to expand my garden last week lol.
I was looking for some of your pole barn plans detailed with dimensions. You included some in the videos , but couldn't read all of 'em. Did you put them up on the website? I looked there but didn't see 'em there neither. I may need to start with getting some of those reading spectacles but am I missing said plans some where?
+Cassian YHVH
Hey Cassian,
The accompanying posts on the website that deal with the pole barn (in the "Makin' and Buildin'" section of the site) are a little more detailed than the shows, but the most detail and instruction will be found in the "Building an Old-fashioned Pole Barn" book (www.farmhandscompanion.com/store/index.php?catalog/all/-/date/1). However, I've not laid the plans out in a conventional "blue print" style with a "this is exactly how you do it" tact, because most homesteaders aren't conventional builders. (For that matter, neither were most farmers who built structures like these). My point is that the measurements are secondary to it all, so that a structure like this can be customized (within reason) to one's own needs. Now, I would't make any span in a structure like this over 12 foot long, but anything less should work as long as a body is usin' sound materials to build with. Havin' said all that, if it helps you some, the generally dimensions of my pole barn workshop are 20' by 22' (each inner pole bein' 11 feet apart) with the side shed poles 9 feet out from the inner poles.
I really hope this helps, Cassian; and great question...thanks for askin'!
Thanks for your time in respondin'. That's exactly what I was looking for. One more question; It looked like there were diagonal braces between the trusses. Were they temporary or permanent and were they put along the entire span of trusses?
+Cassian YHVH
The diagonal braces can be temporary or permanent; while installing the trusses, I needed em to hold trusses upright and then once up, adjusted em to be as plumb as possible. They also provided stability until the lathing boards were nailed up. With the lathing boards installed the diagonal braces are really no longer necessary (and one day when I need the nails for something else I'll probably take em down!)
Thanks Cassian; another good question!
This looks just like me, only mine has nine posts, and I have hurt my back digging the holes.
to funny ilove it need to make more videos it made my day thanks funny funny funny
As an Arkansan, I know your pain
It's always somethin'!
Ahh those pesky rocks I have a dream of getting my own land and living off the land.
Hey widgeonslayer,
I might consider tradin' you somthing for that 150 lb rock ... but I'd hate for you to have to haul it all the way down here.
Let me think on it ...
Great talkin with you, widgeonslayer!
yours,
Pa Mac
Been there done that.
Welcome to Rockansas
thats why we call it Rockinsas
Thanks but I'm forced to be in bed because I broke my leg and I heard some of my plants died. Hopefully I will get out of bed soon and see what's going on with my garden.
That's the hole problem....
Rockansas
🤣🤣🤣
hahahaha