Serious question, is a post hole digger really better than a shovel for rocky ground?

I've been setting fence posts for about 5 years now, mostly on the outskirts of Austin where the soil is half limestone. Last month I tried using a regular shovel versus a clamshell digger on the same stretch of fence line. The shovel took me 15 minutes per hole and left me cussing, while the digger cut that down to 8 minutes but still hit rocks just as bad. Has anyone else seen a real difference between these tools in rocky dirt, or is it all the same in the end?

2 comments

2 Comments

sanchez.sean4d ago

Rent a gas powered auger for a day instead, that clamshell will still make you want to throw it through a window when you hit a big rock.

emma_smith4d ago

You just reminded me of the time my neighbor borrowed my post hole digger to put up a birdhouse. Swore up and down the ground was perfect soil. Came back an hour later saying the tool was broken. Turns out he hit an old buried concrete block from a long gone mailbox. The digger was fine, the concrete was not. Anyway, that's my story about rocky ground and tools doing what tools do. Shovels and clamshells both get the job done, they just complain differently about it. I'd pick the digger every time, but neither one is a magic wand for rocks.

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