How To Hand Drive A T-Post Into Hard Packed Stone ... Or Just Normal Soil

[@brene339]

My hero! I never thought I'd get these posts in the ground before summer! I happened to have a tamping pole with a beveled edge and your method worked perfectly! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! ♥️♥️♥️

[@herrickkimball]

I’m delighted to know this video helped you. Thanks for the positive feedback! 👍🏻

[@tonyhemingway7980]

Growing up in Maine, we used wooden posts but the method was the same. We would use the rod to make the hole then drive the fence post in with the back of a single bitted ax. All the posts were sharpened beforehand. That was when I was a kid and I'm 73 years old now.

[@galewollenberg786]

Have a gallon jug of water handy to dribble into the hole as you jump it down. it also helps to use water when augering post holes. like a cutting fluid when drilling metal. Linemen also use the same idea when driving long grounding rods into the ground. a little water goes a long ways.

[@SimpleEarthSelfReliance]

People who share their tips and tricks for getting things into hard ground, are all-right by my books. Many thanks.

[@ronselliers6951]

I am 71 and have my grandfather's bar. He called it a Johnson Bar. I've used it in Illinois, Missouri and Texas and it never failed me, but in Tennessee it is a totally different story. Most of middle Tennessee near the Cumberland Plateau has bedrock near the surface and it has whooped me.

[@markyg1970]

I have a "Johnson bar" but I'd never stick mine in to the ground, if you know what I'd mean ha.

[@lewis2553]

​@@markyg1970In your dreams! Look again. That might just be a 16d nail that fell into your shorts.

[@bwhite429]

@@markyg1970if it is a big Johnson bar you might wanna spit it out…it doesn’t belong to you. 😂

[@MikeinVirginia1]

Back in the mid-70's I lived in Nashville and worked for a company called Vibration Control Engineering. That layer of stone in the ground meant that most road or building construction required blasting. We provided services to the blasting contractors.

[@kenlangdon505]

@@MikeinVirginia1😅

[@wncwaterfalls]

His wife is going to be surprised driving up that driveway and hitting a t-post! Thanks for the video, I'll check that digging bar out.

[@kathythompson4950]

New subscriber here and have to thank you for this video. I was out this morning trying to drive t-posts with a hammer while standing on a little kitchen step stool. I ended up somehow smashing my thumb between the t=post and the hammer when I hit the top. I was so mad and so fired up that I didn't flinch I just kept hammering but wasn't getting anywhere. I came in the house sayin to myself, there has to be an easier way to do this, since I don't have one of those driver things. I did however have what we called a rock mover that you were using to make the holes. I ran got ours and dragged (it is pretty heavy) it around to where I was working and gave it a go and omgosh!!! it was a miracle. You made my task go so much faster and easier and there was no more thumb smashing or jarring this 60-year-old woman's arms hitting that t-post. I am so grateful for your video! My fence around my coop is already up and I did it all by myself. Thank you!!!!

[@herrickkimball]

That's wonderful. Thank you. 👍🙂

[@echognomecal6742]

Goodness, this is going to help me so much. I have a bad back, etc! & have to get a garden in. Thank goodness for the online global community helping each other out!!! 🗽

[@tlfreek]

great video. My wife has watched it three times - she should be good now.

[@kennyward4674]

😂 You have a good wife. 😊

[@minervapalacios3660]

😂😂😂

[@minervapalacios3660]

Yes I agree you must have a good wife 😂

[@donames6941]

You just save a 70 year old man a lot of work, thanks👍🏻

[@politicalpartyagnostic268]

I bought one of those at Habitat Restore. I didn’t know what it was for but knew it had a purpose. Thank you for teaching how to use it!!! My land is rock hard and setting T Posts is a real bear. You have made my day!!! 👍🏻

[@nancycornell3413]

I'm 73 and don't have these tools you show. I don't have the strength either. I feel it's hopeless and my sanity needs a bird feeder outside my window. For many years, sitting here alone. I am a bird lover. Can't do this 😢

[@WildBearFoot]

The digging bar I use was forged by my great great grandfather from a wagon axle. I also use a chisel from a coal mine about 3 ft long and a short handled sledge. I hit the top of the chisel a few times, smack the sides to get it to wiggle, repeat til I get the depth I need, pull the chisel out and drive my posts. We gots lots of sandstone here, if we're lucky there might be some dirt too so the extra effort with the chisel saves the effort of arm breaking post driving through 4-6 inch stone slabs.

[@westcoast3595]

Thanks for making a pot hole in your driveway to show us

[@FreshAF_11]

Probably the most useful video on KZbin. Hammering those suckers in the ground is a headache. You just made this single mom’s life’s a whole lot easier. Thanks for sharing!!!☺️💯

[@JWHealing]

UPDATE- THANKS so much for this video. It is GENIUS to use the (6ft heavy) digging bar to make it easier to get t posts or u posts into the ground, in addition to finishing off with the manual post pounder / manual post driver. Also how you showed rocking the digging bar around a bit to nudge the rocks out of the way was also very helpful. Man I'd been putting this project off for many months but knowing to rent these two tools locally really made the project super simple. We even made one of our holes too deep it was so easy w/that digging bar! So then we just filled it back in a bit w/dirt. I rented a 6 ft digging bar & what they called a manual post pounder. We got 7ft u posts into the ground so easily w/those two tools.

[@WilliamHunterII]

Where I come from, we call that a pry bar. It's a very useful tool. Your application is new to me. Thanks for the tip.

[@nivid01]

A pry bar is a vastly different beast buddy! A pry bar is a short sturdy bar with a ‘J’ curve at one end with a ‘V’ cut-out for levering open doors, pulling large nails, fencing etc. Looks like where you come from have been using the wrong tool!

[@suibora]

@@nivid01 I think you're talking about a crowbar 😂

[@mikewithers299]

Great video. My grandfather used to dig all his fence post on the farm this way and showed me this at a young age. Now at 61 I'm revisiting this old trick to set posts into gravel/clay soil. Not a fun job but it's all I got

[@pdornai]

Holy crap thank you! I've been scratching my head on how to firmly place my t posts. I'm trying this today

[@DiSanders]

OMG finally someone that put up a video that showed me exactly what I needed to do. You’ve saved me thousands. Thank you!!

[@paulgewiss9238]

Once a carpenter always a carpenter. I've got 40 years in and don't plan on stopping. Keep on bangin

[@JamesJohnson-yh1oh]

Elizabeth says, I've put so many heavy duty t-posts in our rocky ground, and never thought of using a digging rod. We have several rods of different length and weight. What a great idea, because I always just pounded them in using the post driver, from on top a ladder. Thanks for such a simple thing that makes it so much easier. Good to see you!

[@gord2667]

Good demonstration. You can tell you've set more then a few posts in your time. Thanks so much, it's very helpful.

[@gsxr-ui6xy]

Thanks for the effort. Just what I needed to tackle my job. My dog will have more freedom because of you!! He thanks you!!

[@HM-oy1cm]

I need to build a fence to protect my dogs up here in the very rocky Sangre de Cristo mountains, and I didn't have much hope until seeing this video. Thank you so much, Mr. Kimball.

[@bugwar5545]

Thank you for the information. Made it a LOT easier for me to get the fence posts in. Probably the same amount of labor, but a LOT quieter overall.

[@rville5]

When you drive the post with the driver never let the post leave the pipe driver. As you were driving I saw the top of the post come out of the driver. When you come down to drive you may miss the post and destroy your hand on the post top as you are holding the driver handle I've seen it happen not trying to be a know it all but trying to avoid you an injury

[@pdloder]

His driver is VERY short compared to good ones - probably saved himself some $.

[@jackjohnson291]

You can also hit the top of the T with the edge of the driver and drive all of that weight and force into the top of your head/face with the driver. I’ve had it happen to me, and it darn near knocked me out. I know another guy who did the same and had to get some 40 stitches in the top of his head. Your scalp is extremely vascular and difficult to stop any bleeding. If you’re way out in the middle of nowhere, that could spell disaster.

[@hanksmith4065]

Oh please!

[@dozi3r]

i have came down hard enough to crush my gold wedding band and cutoff circulation

[@kord530]

Funny story, this happened to me. but I was very sick at the time and not paying attention. I overshot the rod and with all my force slammed down the pounder. I was setting ground rods at the time. The rod hit my safety glasses and then hit my eye. I’m lucky to have that eye now 🥴

[@juneramirez8580]

Great tip to set a T post when you are alone. Will use this today as I am enclosing a pen for my horses today!!! Thanks!!

[@trevor8049]

This is the best way to get them into rocky ground without the post twisting out of line. Thanks.

[@sleeve8651]

When you brought out that 17 pound bar, it brought back memories of my younger years ! I was a, " Gandy Dancer " ! Working Maintenance of Way for what then was the Louisville and Nashville, aka. L&N, then also for the Norfolk and Western, aka N&W, Railroads ! That 17 pound bar got pretty heavy by days end, especially after some of the other things we did, like Two guys tossing 300 pound creosote covered railroad ties, from a moving train ! You get the picture ! Anyway, we called those bars, " Spud " bars ! Used mostly for leverage when forcing Track into position ! Hope that helps ? ⚒️

[@LM-iv4yz]

I was having a hard time using a small sledgehammer to drive my tpost in, until I saw your video. Just so happens I already had a long bar similar to yours that I bought when I planted a tree. Worked great and saved me a lot of time and work! I needed to drive in the tpost in the middle of my sweet corn rows to mount a tpost sprinkler on the top. Great video....Thanks!

[@dfrozendog3849]

I paid 20 bux for a similar bar at a used tool store years ago. Money well spent. When you need it, you need it.

[@user-mi4fj9rq7v]

this tip helped me so much! i was able to get posts/ and a fence into a rocky/gravel area that i was going to give up on a few days ago. THANK YOU Herrick Kimball!!!

[@lakesnake2005]

Sometimes here in the Texas Hill Country we have to use a drill driver to get through the limestone to set a T post. We use a rockbar to dig post holes and the post hole diggers to clean the hole. Up by Llano they have granite and I have no idea how they dig holes for anything, You are digging in soil....I'm jealous.

[@brightphoebesays]

I love my digging bar too. It's several decades old too. Found it here on the property when I moved in. It's a lifesaver for digging my post holes for my fence. I also bought a small semi permanent vinyl fence for use over a short length, but it wobbles, so I'm thinking of stabilizing it with rebar stuck in the ground and zip tied to the fence posts. I can use this method for that too!

[@roostershooter76]

Adding water to the work also adds in hard clay soils. I learned that trick when setting ground rods for an electrical contractor in the mid 90's. Keeping a constant water source on the hole works as the same concept of wet drilling in the oil industry. The water dries in a day or two.

[@InssiAjaton]

In “another world” a long time ago, on our farm, I participated in yearly hay harvesting. It had to be hung up from ground on wooden stakes, some 8 or 9 ft long. The stakes were about a forearm thick, naturally thinning to the top and sharpened at the thicker end for 8 to 12 inches. We had to use those digging poles or rods, just like you showed, to make the holes for our stakes. The method was exactly as you show. On the fat section of our stake, there was a 6 to 7 inch cross member that would support the first bunch of hay some 18 inches above the ground and then the whole remaining length of the stake was loaded with additional hay, crisscrossing. With air gap under, the hay was let dry for about two weeks without catching mold. Finally the dry hay was collected and brought to one or more barns for winter feeding of our 6 dozen cows and a dozen horses. One thing, though - working at the “receiving end” when the fay was brought in, I developed a lasting opinion that I still relate Earl Gray tea taste or smell to the smell of our dry hay, which every year for a week or so every day penetrated my nose and throat. I like all OTHER tea flavors, but Earl Gray.

[@herrickkimball]

The method of drying hay that you describe is something I remember reading about in Farmstead magazine back in the 1970s. I was fascinated by it and saved the article. I never knew anyone who actually did it. Where in the world your farm was.

[@InssiAjaton]

@@herrickkimball Finland. We sold it, when none of us 3 sons was adept and willing to continue farming, especially when the other two would have to be paid off. All 3 had already academic degrees and professions in other fields than farming.

[@lainebauer9359]

So glad I found this video - I have more confidence that I'll be able to get my [four lol] t-posts in my yard's hard clay soil! Thanks!

[@seanharracksingh279]

Dude, thank you , you just saved Me 4 hrs of brutal labor. Thx

[@davep6977]

100% right on for using T post, the drive and remover. They come in handy in many ways from staking to holding down a fabric covered green house/car port

[@larryschmitt2513]

Thanks for sharing, here in SW Missouri our yard is much like your driveway with a dusting of dirt. A tankers bar is one of my favorite outdoor tools.

[@JJE2010MO]

@5:09 You sir are a GOD!!!! Bravo! Thank you for teaching me today.

[@FEISTYJustine]

omg.......you have just made me so much smarter............now where to get this digging tool?? I just have 4 T-Posts to dig............ wow, thanks so much for sharing your wisdom

[@williampockoski5029]

Thanks for the information, sometimes old tech is the best tech. My dad had one of those I remember farting around back in the 50’s. Never really understood how to use it correctly until now. Thank you again, have a great day.

[@bigviper64]

WWe do this all the time here in SW Texas, we call the steel bar a Texas Toothpick. We have so many rocks here that even an electric Jack Hammer won’t get through them.

[@general5104]

If you weld a 1/2" plate across the end of a piece of 3" steam pipe and weld 2 pieces of 3/4" pipe and space it out 2" welded parallel with the big pipe of 3' long. You can use this to drive pipe or T-posts or put a Larks head knot around the base of the post and hook to the bottoms of the pipe offsets and work opposite, to pull the post out. Used this method over 50 years. Had one stolen, one borrowed and never brought back, and I lost one, made another one and then found the one I lost and I donated it to a fellow that installed fences. Thanks for your time.

[@demitaylor8873]

That method works best on rocky soil BUT I live on top of a mtn where I have only 6in soil base. I have slate not rocks. I've been told that I must use an auger for holes. I use my "special powder" it is powder that when water is used will create a dynamite effect without the loud booming noise. I LOVE the stuff!!!

[@mjanderson437]

I was actually looking for assistance in driving T posts in the ground straight as I have a terrible habit of leaning one way or the other without realizing until they're too far down in the ground. I think that your video will help me achieve that even though it wasn't the main focus. Now I just have to see if I can find one of those bars. Thanks for the good advice.

[@wheepingwillow24u17]

WOW, A DIGGING BAR. I HAVE WANTED TO MAKE A FENCE AROUND A CHICKEN COOP (STILL 4 YRS LATER WITH NO CHICKENS, YET LOL) NOW WITH AGE, I'LL HAVE TO HAVE SOMEONE ELSE DO IT, IF EVER IT GETS DONE, BUT THAT BAR THING IS A GREAT, GREAT IDEA. THANK YOU SO MUCH. :)

[@MarkHendershot-t2l]

Never pull the driver above the top of the T-Post. You can drive the Stake into your hand. Did that once tired and took 19 stiches to close it up.

[@micpotato8158]

Yeah very true…the driver or dolly used in this demonstration is too short in design

[@frank-hd6ts]

I`v put a lot of t-post in the ground in North Carolina, and we always used that same Johnson bar to break up the hard clay soil.

[@rexmagi4606]

Halfway through I was thinking "Well, that really isn't gonna help the guy who asked about rocky ground", then he starts driving fences into his driveway lol. Very nice.

[@gord2667]

Great demonstration I can tell you have set more then a few posts in your day, lol. Thanks very much for passing your experience along.

[@rambletamble47]

Thanks! Great piece of information. I looking into how to drive t stakes into various soils. The dig bar is indeed a great tool! Found that out while installing close to 350 feet of spilt-rail fencing and had to work around the root systems of Monterey Pines.

[@mikedee8876]

In industrial maintenance, we called it a pinch bar.....used to move seriously heavy machinery,...coax steel plates into place....and general leverage.....with a pinch bar, a BFH, and a pipe wrench, one can destroy/fix just about anything....great to have around the house too...

[@rickmarkgraf2617]

OMG. Thank you. I only need to do a few, but I almost paid for the driver. I have a bar. Thank you, sir.

[@domenicozagari2443]

I used to drive a star picked in to the bitumen on the road for a temporary fence using a slage hammer for gimpy.

[@edwardmmanns7454]

Thank you ,sir. Here, in NE Pennsylvania we have rocks from the glaciers so most ground is like our driveway. I used to dread my wife bringing home a plant even if it only went down 6 inches or so. I ended up using a pick axe. Even with that it was hard... I am 76 and often tired, lol. Your "bar" makes sense. Enjoy .

[@joeysplats3209]

Great idea! I used an angle grinder and cutting wheel to make a pointed end on my T-posts but this is helpful also.

[@wenjolas]

Well done, Sir! You really made a good point. Now I need to go find that tool.

[@johnhubert339]

I always use water. If you can also have a garden hose handy with a spray nozzle, it will dig a hole in no time.

[@Kenjiro5775]

Excellent tip! I need to set some anchor posts for a shed I'm about to build. I even have a similar bar already! Thanks again! 👍😁

[@colindeer4908]

Many thanks for letting us know. Wonderful Herrick. Greetings from Cairns Australia

[@SK-tr9ii]

We used an axle from a horse drawn corn planter that was blacksmith sharpened to a round point for making holes for white oak fence posts. Pounded the posts to depth with a 13 pound post mall.

[@brandonlykins9245]

We call it a spud bar here in Kentucky. Works great for getting out rocks when digging a hole for a wood post.

[@robertcoffey7642]

6:15 pm, Right on, that’s what it is here in southern Ohio.

[@acharyajamesoermannspeaker6563]

Top notch. Difficult to find how to set T posts without the post hammer. I inherited a digging bar now 50 years old. Did not know that's what they are called. I've always used it as a lever.

[@ErikStenbakken]

Thank you! Your “part 2” in the Rocky driveway is just about what my front yard is in the Colorado mountains. 😂 This is exactly the solution I’ve been looking for.

[@poladelarosa8399]

ditto!

[@nivid01]

A crow bar is the correct name for a tool like that, albeit that a crow bar has a heavy flat piece on top for pounding & compacting the soil around the fence post when the crow bar is inverted.

[@SURVIVOR-og6dl]

Been looking through all the comments for that answer, wondering if anyone else learned that name.

[@alonalanski7119]

Thank you so much for sharing that useful method.

[@Mountainlover1111]

This video is going to help me in a lot of ways. One because my property is pretty rocky, and I was fearing how challenging it would be to just sink a post. But also, I’m always trying to think of ways that I can do some thing by myself, and trying to sink 6 foot posts when I’m only 5 feet tall… I was wondering if I might have to use a ladder… But the idea of putting in a pilot hole first and dropping the post over a foot in the ground, that will make it possible for me to use a T post pounder hopefully standing at ground level. I appreciate you!!! I dont feel so intimidated now

[@TheDidjidude]

Learned something new today. Thank you

[@gretafields4706]

I got one of those. Use it for Everything. You can pry tracks back onto heavy machine with it.

[@wudangmtn]

Thanks for the tip. I just bought thirty t posts, and I was dreading putting them in. A digging bar should make it much easier.

[@bugwar5545]

Define 'easier'. I think you do just as much labor, but it is spread out so that the seventeen pound bar does most of the digging. Once the guide hole is finished, it only takes a few pounds on the post hammer to finish setting the post. Definitely a LOT quieter overall.

[@josephsimpson4295]

I have an iron bar that belonged to my father and my grandfather before him. I don't know where he got it. I have used the tapered end to make pilot holes. The flat end is good to tamp rocks in around a post. I have also used it to break all the rocks in my yard down to below ground level for ease of mowing. It is one of the most useful tools I own. I live in Tennessee also. I have broken a lot of rocks.

[@colonel9990]

I've always heard it called a spud bar. Just got interrupted driving T-Post for my chicken run by a heavy rain storm. Guess driving them will be easier when I'm able to get back to it. Decided to search KZbin to see if there's an easier way to hand drive them, and your video came up. Looks like I'm doing everything you recommend. I have clay and rock in the area I'm putting the fence up.

[@victoryfirst2878]

Thank you very much for the information Herrick. Now I can make things happen.

[@tfrantastic]

I like it! I have that exact bar. I put a razor edge on the bottom and can remove ice if the melt happens weird and in me forms in places where my other scrapper won’t perform. I am going to try thing in the summer

[@TieeshaEssex]

Thank you. I thought I could stomp a Shepards hook into my yard to hang my bird feeders but noooooooo! Glad I watched this

[@teresabaines3822]

Thank you so much! This is exactly the hack I needed!

[@rawbacon]

We fenced in a football field sized woods for a friend once, not a lot of rocks but a lot of roots working right next to all the trees. It can be tough going but we always managed to drive them thru, although we did break the handles loose off the post pounder and had to weld them up.

[@crossfiretour1985]

My first experience using one of these tools, about 50 years ago, was moving railroad cars by prying between the rail and the wheel. Never knew it was a digging tool.

[@herrickkimball]

Excellent! That illustrates just how powerful a wedge shape can be!

[@ordinaryguy6869]

Outstanding video. This is just what I was looking for. Thank you!

[@MrEcm51]

Thanks for this video! I’ve been hammering T-posts into the ground and I’ve strained my right arm from hammering so much. We’ve been in moderate drought here in Indiana, and this heavy clay is like concrete. I’ve got one of those bars with the V-shape at the end, and I’m going to try this method to set the rest of my posts.

[@joyabia682]

How did it go with your concrete land?

[@MrEcm51]

@@joyabia682 I got them all in. It was a task, but it’s done. lol

[@joyabia682]

@@MrEcm51 great job!

[@mvblitzyo]

Excellent demonstration

[@lorenbush8876]

I don't have one of those but I do have an old axle out of an old pole truck that is chisel shaped on one end similar to your digging bar that might work just as good. Thanks

[@AdrielGreene]

Thanks! Digging Bar now on my tool bucket list!

[@bretgreen5314]

Great, I have the same spud bar as you are using and I live on river bottomland. I'll give that a try.

[@woodman1701]

I use digging bars once or twice a week. Only done a handful of T post jobs. Good idea.

[@moonkitchengarden]

You save me time and pain! Thank you!

[@scotchvelo]

This is exactly the information I needed. Thank you!!!

[@golfaddict5276]

OMG I spent my youth with a "digging Iron" in my hand driving through bed rock in Colorado. Yes, it is the greatest way to get T-post in rock.

[@juliedean8897]

Thanks, great for my next project which I was worrying about.

[@Rio97621]

Nice. We use a 1.25" masonry drill bit for pilot holes

[@bobkirschner3952]

thanks for the great video! Just what I need

[@minervapalacios3660]

Thank you so much for the video, it is greatly appreciated 😊

[@MSmith-jf5wo]

Here in Arkansas, every Winter it seems to "Grow Rocks"! We have little (if any) Top Soil where I live, and it's difficult to even get the Johnson bar started into the ground. As a mater of fact, my neighbor rented a Ditch Witch, and had to return it the same day! It wouldn't even go through the first 6 inches of soil/rock...! Lol...

[@kenlelon369]

that 17 lb bar appears to be what we termed in the US Army as a "tanker bar". It was used to pry and punch, etc., At those enormously heavy tracks when you did a track change on a tracked vehicle; tank, BFV, M113,...

[@ksbs2036]

Fantastic. It's winter here in Ottawa Canada and the ground is frozen. I need to put in some T posts to support a tree that didn't like the snow load that it has just acquired. I have a digging bar from way back when I was making holes for fence posts and needed to clear rock. I'm going to try your technique and see if the digging bar gets through the first few cm of frozen ground so I can rescue my Service Berry tree! :-) Oh yeah, those T post drivers are a bit pricey. Nearly $100 up here. Ouch.

[@fredmcmurray6308]

We don't have stones here but boulders we call them clinkers softball size and larger could be anything from sandstone to limestone to granite.

[@loboxx337]

That is the bigger bar for loosing soil but there is a smaller bar with a curl end for pulling nails that is also used for loosing the soil on your knees for a more control digging.

[@banjohappy]

That's called a wrecking bar and the chisel end is angled, so not good for digging a straight hole.

[@dollmm23]

Great video and an excellent demonstration. Thanks!