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Just realized I've been setting my post hole digger wrong for like five years
I was working on a cedar fence job in Tacoma last week, and my helper, this kid fresh out of trade school, asked me why I was using the digger with the handles so far apart. I told him that's just how you get more power, right? He said his teacher showed them to keep their hands closer together, almost touching, for way better control. I tried it on the next post, and man, it was a game changer. The dirt came out cleaner, I wasn't fighting the tool, and my shoulders didn't ache at the end of the day. I'd been muscling through it for so long, thinking a wider grip was stronger, but it just made everything sloppier and harder. I must have set over a thousand posts the wrong way. Anyone else have a basic tool trick they learned way later than they should have?
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the_amy7mo ago
Honestly, how many years of back pain do you think that wrong grip cost you? Tbh it's kind of amazing you didn't just give up and start setting posts with a spoon. I guess we all get stuck in our ways and just assume the hard way is the right way. At least you finally got a helper who actually paid attention in class. My big lesson was learning you're supposed to clean a paintbrush, not just toss it in a bucket.
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webb.jordan5mo ago
Man, that paintbrush thing hit close to home. I was the same way with my circular saw blade. Used to just keep cutting until it started burning the wood, thinking it was just how it goes. Then a buddy at the jobsite showed me how to swap it out for a fresh sharp one. Took me like four years and probably ruined a dozen good fence boards before I figured it out. Now I check the blade every single job. Feels stupid that something so basic was making everything harder.
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