Showerthought: I used to rent a gas auger for every fence post, now I dig them by hand with a $20 clam shell digger

Kelly Garcia · 2026-10-03T10:00:03.259629+00:00

Five years ago I put in a 40 foot privacy fence in my backyard in Boise and rented a two man gas auger for $85 a day. The thing hit a root, kicked back, and bruised my ribs so bad I could not sneeze right for two weeks. Last month I set 6 new posts for a garden trellis using a $20 clam shell digger from the hardware aisle and a jug of water to soften the clay. Took me 3 hours total and my ribs are fine. The holes were cleaner too, and I could feel where the sprinkler lines were instead of just shredding them. I think the auger only makes sense if you are doing 20 posts at once on flat ground with no utilities. Anyone else gone back to hand digging after a machine tried to kill them?

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Showerthought: I used to rent a gas auger for every fence post, now I dig them by hand with a $20 clam shell digger | Backyard Structures - Librear