Is this tool available?

[TPCDrafting]

I'm fencing another ten acres this summer. Covenance requires that I use treated wood poles. No big deal, the hood looks better with them. But when I did the other ten I tamped them by hand with my +/-30# tamping bar (about 240 poles). It kicked my butt doing it and my back could only handle around 12 poles a day. When I worked for the DOT I saw on a guard rail rig once a hydraulic tamper and was wondering if there is anything like this available to rent/buy? How about a jack hammer with a blunt end? Anybody ever use something like this? I need to get the fencing started soon but dread working the dumb end of that tamping bar. :{

 

[parcher]

Some places call this a foot tamper, others call it a jumping jack. It should be availabl ein you area.

 

[Doc Tinker]

While vacationing in Montana, I saw a jeep with some sort of hydraulic tamper hooked the the front bumper that they used to drive fence posts.



Doc

 

[illflem]

Post expert here

In my orchard we probably have installed in excess of 20,000 treated wood trellis and deer fence posts up to 6" in diameter several different ways depending on how many we had to do.



In my area the rental yards have hydraulic pounders like this http://www.wheatheart.com/hitter.html that they rent with or without a tractor. Sink the post two feet in one to three smacks, no hole digging or tamping. Posts are much stronger than a dug hole. Have done over five hundred a day with one of these. The posts must be pointed, rocks don't matter, they get pushed out of the way unless you are right on top of a big one. Best with two people, one to drive posts, the other the tractor.

BTW, the hydraulics don't actually drive the post, they just lift the 100 lb pounder head up, four humongous springs pull the head back down at what seems like 400 mph.



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The method we use for just a couple hundred is to use water to make the hole. Have a tee shaped handle with valve connected to 100 psi water source, we use a sprayer. The head of the handle is made with a 4'' long piece of pipe the same diameter as the post with a pointed end with a 1/4'' hole for the water at the tip. Takes two people about 30 seconds to set a post. One guy blasts the hole and the instant the hole is deep enough the other person drops the post in and levels it quickly. The soil suspended in the water instantly settles and sets the post like it's in concrete, you have to work fast before the soil settles. Half a shovel of dirt and the post is done. One advantage of this is that gravel settles at the bottom of the hole, making an excellent base.



When we have just a few posts to do and dig the hole by hand or with a tractor auger we just kick the soil in about 3/4 of the way, pour in water then fill the rest of the way with soil and tamp. All we use for a tamper is a 3/4'' pipe with an inch square piece of plate welded to it, don't need the weight when you use water. With a slight bend in the pipe your hand doesn't skin up against the post. Used to use a shovel handle end to tamp but it wears them out fast. When I suggested my 30+ lb bar for tamping to my strong,young Mexican workers they just shook their heads no.



Another post trick. Use a couple sheets of toilet paper to mark where the post goes. One roll will get you a couple miles. A lot easier than fooling with flags or lime. You have to make the holes rather soon though or mice will haul the TP away for their nests.



We also use a level with two vials mounted to a piece of angle iron, checks the level of both sides at the same time, attaches to the post with a Velcro band. Many hardware stores have them.

 

[QRTRHRS]

You may be able to rent a post pounder. It can be difficult to get someone to drive them unless you have enough to make it worth their while. Even 240 is not that much because like illflem said, you can put a bunch in during a day.



The crew I use also supplies the posts but ours come blunt ended. If it won't drive, they drill. I have done holes by hand that have taken a good hour due to hard pan but these things will pound right through. They are in the ground so hard, I have broken them in half pulling them out when I made changes. No way you can get them in that good by hand.



I have some that were driven into rolled/compacted soil five feet. I wanted some extra insurance to hold the fencing.



The pounders will stretch a piece of tensile wire just off the ground between two points and use that to reference the line. They get them pretty straight too.



20,000 posts? I got a thousand to take care of, can't imagine 20?

 

[illflem]

Just my 12 mile deer fence has over 5000 fourteen foot posts driven in two feet with a hot alternating with ground wire every foot, about 130 miles of wire and 30,000 insulators. The treated posts have been in for over 25 years and are holding up fine. One charger does it all and will throw you for a loop if you touch it. The orchard looks like a post farm when the trees (140,000 of them!) are dormant, with posts set 12 x 48 feet.

Just down the road is a 32 mile long deer fence that the state put in through rough terrain. All the post holes were dug by hand and the posts hauled in by helicopter. One summer after it was installed a wild fire took much of it out and it had to be done again...

 

[Champane Flight]

Knew it!

I always knew Ill was a holy man!

 

[TPCDrafting]

Thanks for the suggestions, I have seen these pounders around and I have access to a JD tractor. I'll see if I can rustle up a pounder and I know a few places I can buy pencil tipped poles. This sure would make this project easy for me. My back thanks you.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Pencil tipped poles.

Originally posted by tpcdrafting

Thanks for the suggestions, I have seen these pounders around and I have access to a JD tractor. I'll see if I can rustle up a pounder and I know a few places I can buy pencil tipped poles. This sure would make this project easy for me. My back thanks you.

Now that takes a big sharpener.

 

[TPCDrafting]

It has a big handle too! Well I called several rental outfits, even the big national guys like RSC. Nobody has a post pounder, but I did find a rental guy that has an air powered tamper that has a 5" dia. round head on it. I have to rent the compressor to run it as well, but for $132/day I should have it done in less than two.