Extending Demolition Hammer Bit

Rent a gas-powered post-hole auger.

GWE

Firearms.

On Sat, 27 Jan 2007 00:26:49 -0800, with neither quill nor qualm, Jim Frame quickly quoth:

A client recently rented a hole auger for me to use for putting up his fence. They go for $80/day and work like a charm down to about 3'. I got deep holes in under two minutes apiece with 1/10th the effort of a clamshell. Extensions may be available for these beauteous beasties. They're a helluva lot easier on your body, let me tell you.

My few experiments in welding, making, working with the bits and shanks of jack hammer grade steel have not ever been good.

my Braze will not work. My 7018 skills do not work. I suspect that a professional welder/metallurgist would know how to untemper, weld, re-temper and perhaps succeed. The blows of a rotary hammer may not feel like much, but they are constant. I have used a bit of hard face to rebuild the working end with mixed results. I took one piece in to a blacksmith, his efforts lasted longer than mine, but also failed. His shop was placed on the national historic record, interesting old duffer. His prime anvil was on a tree stump with the rest of the shop built around it.

I think your best bet would be to use a "Johnson" / spud bar to break out the hardpan if you don't want to resort to the power augers.

I would cut the bit and sleeve the two halfs and weld them. Even brazing might work. The sleeve could even be a piece of solid steel of the correct temper with the ends bored out to fit over the halves.

On Sat, 27 Jan 2007 15:00:56 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, RoyJ quickly quoth:

You obviously didn't go view the type of beastie I used. It's on wheels and eats rocks for lunch.

I'd weld it. Bevel the ends well to get good penetration.

Shaped charges

Gunner

"Deep in her heart, every moslem woman yearns to show us her t*ts" John Griffin

It has to be welded with similar metals, annealed, then reheat treated after stress relieving.

Id never try to weld up a rotary hammer bit in this fashion.

It would be better to hammer forge/weld in a length of similar metal

Gunner

"Deep in her heart, every moslem woman yearns to show us her t*ts" John Griffin

OP would probably would have problems getting that and staying free. Still, I wonder what a .308 into the hard pan would do for softening it up.

Now in sand, pouring water to keep the hole from caving in is the path to success. I've used a motorized ice fishing auger w/out the blades mounted to drill post holes with success. Not sure if the op lives where having ice drilling tools is likely.

Wes S

For what it's worth, the bit in question isn't a rotary, it's a chisel for use in a demolition hammer (just bang-bang-bang, not bang-bang-turn).