FENCE IN, FENCE OUT
(Page 3 of 9)
September/October 1975
Jim Fairfield
POSTHOLES (DUG)
RELATED CONTENT
Next comes the fun part: digging holes. I can think of a number of things I'd rather do than dig postholes, and very few I like doing less. If it's any consolation to you, you do at least have some choice of method.
Around here, folks who carve out postholes by hand generally do so with digging clams (otherwise known as posthole diggers) which resemble two long-handled narrow-blade spades hinged together at the neck. Their operation is simple: Remove a shovelful of sod from the spot beside your twine marker where a post is to go. Then punch the blades down into the mud with a driving motion, spread the handles to clamp what you've dug, pull them up, and dump the dirt beside the hole.
Bill Deavers uses a file to keep his digging clams sharp enough to really dig with. A file can restore a cutting edge lost against a day's worth of rock, which is what we excavate as much as earth in our part of the world.
A chisel-nosed digging iron, used to loosen clay and rocks between clamfuls, is another essential piece of equipment. It's easier to chunk up the bottom of a hole with the iron than to rip your blisters open trying to do it with the wider blades of the clams.
Corner posts (which take the main strain of stretched wire and are the longest and heftiest) require the deepest holes, around 3-1/2 feet. If you start with a timber 8 feet (96 inches) long and bury the bottom 42 inches, an optimum 54 inches will be left above ground. That gives you an inch of clearance at the bottom, plus 47 inches for woven wire fencing, plus 4 inches for a strand of barbed wire, plus a couple of inches leeway. Wrap a strip of electrician's tape around the handle of your shovel or digging clams 3-1/2 feet from the tip. Then, when you're tempted to quit because the hole looks deep enough, you'll know better. And do start by digging in a corner post. After that ordeal, the mere 2-1/2 feet needed to set line posts should seem comparatively easy.
Bill keeps his holes quite narrow, only 10 to 12 inches across. "Some people dig a wider hole, then fill it in," he says. "Not me. I don't like working anymore I have to."
In our area, rocky ground is something we have to live with, and it's a special problem when we're digging postholes. Sometimes we can break up obstructions with a digging iron or move the post a foot and miss the stone. Other times, though, a rock ledge is too big to bust or avoid. It's possible to get rid of the blockage by drilling and blasting, but few people go to that expense. If you face the same problem and you can bore down a foot or more, the best solution is to dig a wider hole than usual, set some rocks in around the post, and fill in the cavity with cement. Then the timber should be braced to the next in line, or to those on either side. Such an upright will heave in frost but will settle back again.
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