Well, I no longer do digging,but has anyone noticed that wherever you decide to dig a hole and for whatever reason, its always got a nasty surprise there, it might be a pipe or a lump of concrete, use unknown, or a nasty smell otr somthing that make alarm bells ring. As I say, I think I may well be a deviner, as no matter where I dug, it was trouble.
I never used to be able to do it - knackered too quickly.
I now do quite a bit of cycling, and found I can dig trenches. Done quite a few in the last year. Doesn't use the same muscles, but I think it was stamina rather than muscles I was lacking before.
BTW, a drain spade (or trenching spade) is much easier to use than a regular spade, if you don't have a large weight to force it into the ground. It's got a longer, thinner, and slightly tapered head.
On Sunday 21 April 2013 20:51 Andrew Gabriel wrote in uk.d-i-y:
I was better today. Because I'd had a hernia done last year, I took it slowly - which was probably the best thing. Yesterday everything ached like a bastard - today, only half the aches :)
Must get fit...
That's interesting - My wide spade was a real PITA 2ft down - it dug easily enough, but it was hard to lift out with a massive clod of clay on the end.
Anyway, obligaory pics:
(Thanks to the folk who mentioned the adjustable joint - it would not have worked without):
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The joint retaining ring is (or looks to me) quit weak, compared to normal
110mm joints, so I took great care to tweak it unti nothing was under any stress.
Then, in case of ground shifts, I shoved some C20 concrete around just the ajustable joint to reinforce it:
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And added some concrete around the gully, after tweaking for level and square:
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I lobbed some reclaimed hardcore in the concrete to fill it out - the gulley in not really a highly structural element - just need a good enough base to build a little brick gully around it (next week).
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