On 14/04/2013 10:11, dennis@home wrote:
On 13/04/2013 21:05, Phil L wrote:
unknown wrote:
Previously I've just used a spade to dig-out holes for concrete spurs
but I'm tempted by either an auger or a "post hole digger" ... which
works best?
These are available from several places; the SF ones get good reviews
but look a bit expensive compared to the others ... is the extra cost
justified?

Supplementary: how much postcrete am I likely to need when setting a
75x75 spur into a 600x150'ish round hole? (I know I could do some sums
but in this case I think benefitting from experience is going to give
a better estimate)

buy cement and ballast and mix your own, or if there's a lot, buy a tonne
bag each of sharp sand and 10mm gravel....trying to make the hole
smaller is
cutting down on concrete, thereby defeating the object of making a
hole at
all.



You don't usually need concrete at all for fence posts.
If the hole doesn't collapse when you dig it a bit of gravel compacted
around it works fine.
You don't see many telephone poles concreted in.

Telephone poles have certain differences to fence posts:

They are very often installed using a purpose-built vehicle with auger
bit which is JUST the right size to allow clearance of the pole. So they
have a nice, clean hole. Not a bloody great mess with collapsing sides.

They go very much deeper than fence posts.

Any gravel used to pack out a telephone pole would amount to a very thin
layer over a long length of pole.

Not to say that concrete is always necessary for fence posts - but
sometimes it is.

--
Rod