Name That Tool

Winston · 2010-12-30T06:26:25+00:00

During fence repairs, I sometimes need toretrieve 3-5 lb. 1"- 4" diameter chunks ofconcrete out of a ~15" - 24" deep hole in the ground.(They are very unevenly shaped pieces.)Right now, I squat and grab. This is gettingold fast.What I want is something resembling a miniature'post hole digger': strong, 2" wide blades that would allow meto grab these pieces from a moderate stoop.I've cruised and Googled over the last few days.Closest I've gotten is the HF Long Reach Locking Pliers:They won't work because the jaws won't open nearly wideenough and the adjustment is too fiddly for suchbrittle material.What is the name of the tool that will do this please?Thanks!--Winston

Dec 30, 2010 67 Replies

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alan200 15 years ago

They get bogged.

I use my Yanmar B13 excavator for lifting.

Most recent job was loading 67 limestone blocks on my trailer. The hard part was that they had to be loaded under a carport which was slightly higher than the excavator cab roof, boom would have hit it at full height.

The blocks were 1 metre x 450 mm x 350 mm and really made the excavator grunt, especially with the boom fully extended to load the far side of the trailer. Original weight guesstimate was about 150 kg, revised version was 220+.

Alan

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Rich Grise 15 years ago

Hell, in the time you've wasted flogging this on USENET, you could have already dug them out by hand and be done!

I'm reminded of the time I took a couple of rolls of coins to the store, and the girl said, "Oh, these have to be weighed." I said, OK, or I could dump them out and count them. But she wasn't having any of that. She had to leave the checkout station to go get a supervisor and tell her that the coins needed to be weighed, while I stood aside and let her serve the other folks in the line (she had come back from notifying the supervisor, who had my coins); finally, the supervisor weighed the rolls of coins and approved them. The girl came back and said, "OK", and I said, "well, I could have just counted them right here on the counter, you know. two, four, six, eight, ten, and so on and I'd have already been out of here!" Apparently, that concept was beyond the grasp of her uncomplicated mind.

Good Luck! Rich

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GeoLane at PTD dot NET 15 years ago

What thickness pipe is that and how do you secure the top end?

What's the load capacity of the tripod?

RWL

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Larry Jaques 15 years ago

That must have been it.

Oh, I forgot. You live in one of those places where it's legal to put homes SIX FEET APART.

-- 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

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Winston 15 years ago

That project is long done. I was looking for a metal tool or a tool I could make from metal to speed the process up, next time I need to replace fence posts. I figured it would be useful info for other recreational metalworkers too.

I will adhere to the charter more diligently in the future.

Sorry to take you away from your religious and political diatribes.

Carry on. :)

--Winston

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Winston 15 years ago

And could have been upwards of 380 kg! Dayum.

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--Winston

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Jim Wilkins 15 years ago

The pipe is 8' x 2-3/8" chain link fence posts, for lightness. A 100 Lb, 2" water pipe tripod was too difficult to carry and set up on rough ground, though fine around the yard.

Here is the top connection:

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I wrote a paragraph explaining the engineering, then reconsidered and deleted it. Good luck, you're on your own if you get hurt.

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