Name That Tool

That be the giant can of 'Grade Be Gone'!

--Winston

Reply to
Winston
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I'd use a webbing sling but I agree. Karl

Reply to
kfvorwerk

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I've pulled 'healthy' posts and footings out of the ground using a hydraulic jack and web strap. It is amazing how elastic those web straps are at 250% of their rated load.... :)

I agree with you, Gunner that an aircraft cable lanyard is probably the only way to fly.

Pulling un-rotted posts is relatively quick, but it comprises a very small proportion of the challenge.

Usually, I find that the post is mostly rotted at (and below) grade so the challenge is to pull that mess out of the ground efficiently. I have not discovered the best way to do this so I break up the footing with a chipping hammer and pull the various bits of rotted post and footing out of the hole by hand.

There has got to be a better way!

Very occasionally, the post will be so rotted that I can lift it out of the footing in large pieces. On those occasions, I undermine the footing with a shovel, route my web strap through the square hole and pop the footing out of the ground using the jack.

I fantasize about using some powder actuated masonry fasteners to attach 'stamp eye' end fittings to the footer, then popping the mess out of the ground en masse.

Anybody done that? I'm all ears.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

Ah, you betcha.

-- Most people assume the fights are going to be the right versus the left, but it always is the reasonable versus the jerks. -- Jimmy Wales

Reply to
Larry Jaques

I'll bet. But why would it take that much pull? You soak the ground beforehand, oui?

Yeah, around the footer. I've only pulled one that way but it came easily.

I found that most of the wood will drill out easily, then I put a digging bar in the middle of the footer and break it into 4 slabs, ideally.

There ya go. I need to replace the springs on a farm jack I got which was in a fire. I think it might work as a post jack, but once it dries up enough to run that hot lead to my battery, I'll finish the installation of the little winch on my truck. A triangular steel framework with a pulley on top (plus a truck/winch) would be ideal for lots of things.

Nevahoiduvit.

I think an 8" eye bolt might be usable. Drill, lag into the somewhat rotted wood, and pull vertically. As a che^H^H^Hfrugal SOB, I liked that spare tire puller, but a direct vertical pull is best, I'm sure.

P.S: Boy, are your fantasies dull. Masonry?

-- Most people assume the fights are going to be the right versus the left, but it always is the reasonable versus the jerks. -- Jimmy Wales

Reply to
Larry Jaques

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Thassa good idea.

I *had* a nice auger bit bought specifically for that purpose around here but it lost track of me.

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The 'no sweat' approach.

Still would be faster than anything I've tried before.

The tensile strength of that rotted wood is about zilch point zip. It started out life as untreated redwood, with an axial tensile strength of zip point zero 1. By the time I get to it, it is holey red mush. An expanding masonry fastener or a couple powder fasteners into the footing would work 'way better.

(Obvious 'hard joke' redacted)

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

Can you burn the wood posts (maybe with gasoline) out of the concrete? Do the posts go all the way through the concrete, i.e., after burning out the posts you will be left with a square hole all the way through the concrete?

If so, you could probably find some square steel tubing that will fit in the hole and fabricate your own "toogle bolt" type of device. Just put it in the hole of the concrete so that its spring loaded "toogles" will flair out on the bottom side of the concrete block and yank out the block with whatever lifting force you want to rig up to this gadget.

Just an idea. Dave

Reply to
dav1936531

I got a set of HF 18" augers for $8 and have been using them for a decade (so far) on things like that. A smaller $4 trio of 18" twist billdrits accompany it in my truck. Handy!

Precisely. I'm able to appreciate those more and more with age.

And there's always the lovely aroma of gunpowder to contemplate.

Luckily, most of the posts I've removed haven't been that far rotted.

Yeah, redwood doesn't have the integrity that the absolute lowest grade of SPF (with brown dye and fungicide on it!) has, does it? Especially after a dozen years of marination.

Only if the cement is solid. I've pulled apart some mighty thin-walled and crumbly footings.

-- Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. -- Peter Minard

Reply to
Larry Jaques

You forgot the bit about 3-6" of excavation around the footer first, though; less if it has a lip.

Did you "get" to take all that heavy crap to the dump, while you were at it? I tend to hire guys for that stuff nowadays, paying them half the rate I get so I'm still making money on it.

-- Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. -- Peter Minard

Reply to
Larry Jaques

This doesn't solve exactly what you're attempting to do, but there's an Atlas Copco hydraulic post puller made for road crews:

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's pricey (although maybe you can rent one) and it doesn't solve your problem of grabbing what you want to pull (big or little). Just more food for thought.

Reply to
Denis G.

Technical fix: you can put a Sonotube type (cardboard) form in the big hole, to hold a modest charge of concrete. The hole sides needn't be the concrete form. Packing soil around the Sonotube can be done before the pour, or after.

Reply to
whit3rd

I solved the problem by waiting until the soil had dried enough to be self supporting. A few scoops more and I had sufficient depth. It is still wet mud however.

The Sonotube will save on cement once the hole is at depth. I pay only 3 bucks and change for a 50 lb sack so I'm not averse to throwing 2 or 2-1/2 sacks per post.

First post is in, aligned straight and level. Now to wait for the mud to cure the cement! I think I can do that. :)

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

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That is similar in concept to the cart I welded together for the same purpose, though I grant that it probably works faster than my little hydraulic cart!

Turns out that I very rarely need to pull a post that is still firmly affixed to it's footing. A vast majority of the time, the post has parted company with it's footing and my job is to lift the footing from it's hiding place below grade.

Thanks!

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

I dropped ~ $30. for that missing auger so color me green.

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(power winch)

I hear ya.

Basement Skeet!

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You are lucky. The stuff I'm working with is quite damp and *full* of termite trails.

Now I'm dumping about half a box of borax into each hole just prior to placing the PT posts.

Termites don't like borax. Heh.

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I dislike redwood but I can't get people to buy teak for some strange reason. :)

As have I, for sure. OTOH, a year back I pulled some 30 year old footings that had been placed by a friend of mine. They were solid ~120 lb monsters! The hydraulic cart worked a treat and they each came out of the ground in one piece. I'm on the hook for further duty so I want a speedy means of removing the big'uns.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

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I kinda doubt it because of all the water, though to be honest, I have not tried it. I expect that the wood would act as a wick and merely draw water from underneath as it steams off the top.

Yup. I'm sometimes left with the world's ugliest, stalest, biggest donut. Normally burning isn't necessary, as the rotted wood *does* come out of the hole in pieces, with a little convincing.

Yup. I was thinking of an internal 'scissor grapple' that would tighten against the inside of the square hole as lifting force was applied for those rare instances when I have a 'complete' footing to remove.

Most often, I'm left with a few teensy tiny concrete rocks or a leetle concrete ring. There normally isn't a lot of area to grab. So the challenge is to find a hand tool that'll generate the couple hundred lbs of force necessary to grasp and pull little shards out of the clay a couple feet below grade. My slate bar is a champ for loosening this stuff up, for example.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

Ouch!

Kin ewe say "clay dust "? I knew yew cud.

WHAT? You must have some mighty hungry termites down there. Dem bugs prefer every OTHER type of wood to redwood and cedar. But they'll eat pressure treated lumber nowadays, too. There isn't anything on the market which is still safe to use.

Forget that. Buy some Boracare or TimBor, treat the posts with it, and then seal them before cementing, so it doesn't marinate off. I'm painting cuts on PT wood with Jasco Termin-8 preservative.

I had the entire bottom of my house treated with TimBor this year.

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don't think you can use -any- of the above in the Republik of Kalifornia, though. I think they limit you to flyswatters there.

The quick fix: Find new clients made of money.

Cool.

How big is big? I think I'll build one of these pulleyed bastids.

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(first video) and use my winch with it. [I blew leaves into piles this morning (@34F) instead of wiring the winch. Too CHILLY!]

-- Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. -- Peter Minard

Reply to
Larry Jaques

NO, they're usually soaked with water, but if you did, the concrete would gall and send shards everywhere. Ixnay.

Redwood is a nasty thing to burn, too. Ixnay atthay, ootay.

That would simply break it apart, as my digging bar does, unless you excavate under the concrete plug and can get the jaws to expand beyond the hole. Then it would simply lift, not spread while it tried.

The concrete ring would be a heavy bear, but a 1/2" hooked rod should do it.

Whoa, how'd you make a bar out of _slate_, Mr. Wizard? Ain't she fraggle, er, fragile?

Hmm, smells like my teriyaki boneless beef ribs are getting done. Time to make the rest of supper.

-- Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. -- Peter Minard

Reply to
Larry Jaques

I got some bugs that *love* redwood.

I dunno. The PT posts I put in a few years back are still solid.

They let you have flyswatters?

Ain't it always.

I'd like to be able to pop a ~150 pounder out of the ground without needing flat space around it. I'm thinking 'tripod'.

I think I'll build one of these pulleyed bastids.

As Gunner mentioned, a tripod and winch would probably be way more portable and useful.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

The big footings my pal put in would've popped out before breaking, without question. Mr. Sledge had a heck of a time breaking them up!

Still too iffy IMHO. Requires the footing to remain in one piece. I really like anchoring the ferruled ends of an aircraft cable loop to a couple three places on the footing and yanking the whole mess out of the ground via a tripod mounted winch. It'd work on cracked footing pieces and be Quick and Fun!

The challenge is to have the proper tools on hand to clean out the hole efficiently, no matter what size or shape.

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's made of steel! About 5' long. Amazingly useful.

A pal is dropping by in an hour with Chicken and Dumplings or BBQ ribs (She can't decide which). I will happily eat either. Yum!

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

I'll take your word for it.

Hey, who misspelled "flare" on me?

I still think I'd prefer a truck-mounted winched model, though I could still build and use the other type in the occasional odd situation.

Oh, suuuuuure.

Verily. I end up taking 400+ tools on my daily grind. (Right, Gunner? You, too.)

Mine's an HF special which looks the same but for the dogleg. My carved up Dodge torsion bar was loaded on the moving van but never made it into my house when I moved up here. It made a good tamping bar, and I'd ground a point and notch into it on the other end. Took forEVER, even with a 36 grit angle grinder stone.

My Certified Angus (supposedly "Choice" beef) was tough. Time to get that guaranteed refund.

-- Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. -- Peter Minard

Reply to
Larry Jaques

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