Andy Douglass
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2017
- Messages
- 221
Let's get real controversial...An Estwing Brickset/Mason's hammer is something to think about.
I have found that I can't stand round shovels for anything. Yes they have a bit of a point that allegedly helps break hard ground when digging. But in reality, it is terrible for digging and doesn't hold as much dirt as a square point shovel. The square point shovel is the king of shovels. You can use it as a scraper, an ice chipper, a snow shovel, and it moves a lot of dirt and makes nice square holes and trenches. Where it doesn't shine so much is with hard pack dirt. You can use a corner as a point and be almost as effective as a round point shovel in terms of breaking up hard pack, but it's not the best.
This is where the brickset hammer comes in. I have found that the hammer combined with a sturdy square point makes a formidable set of equipment for digging. The hammer is basically a portable mattock(pick). If I am digging any sort of hole or trench at home, a lot of the time I end up using the brick hammer as much or more than my mattock. A while back, I was running power and water lines on our property. Water needs to be four feet deep where we live, so I dug the trenches with an excavator. But we have granite boulders and when I would run into a cluster of them, they would be locked together with coarse sand. I found myself in the bottom of the trench with just my little brick hammer, clearing out sand and dirt from between boulders so the excavator could move them.
So, camping in the field, the hammer is used as a mattock for breaking up hard soil, and then the square point shovel is used for moving dirt. You should have a hammer anyway, so the brick hammer replaced my claw hammer in my travel tool kit. But then I didn't have the claw hammer for pulling a nail. So I have a couple of tiny blue flat bars in the kit for pulling nails.
The hammer is also all you need for cat holes. Break up the ground with the hammer, scoop out loose soil into a pile with your hands, then use the cat hole. Afterwards, drag or push the pile of dirt back into the hole using the hammer sideways like a rake.
I have found that I can't stand round shovels for anything. Yes they have a bit of a point that allegedly helps break hard ground when digging. But in reality, it is terrible for digging and doesn't hold as much dirt as a square point shovel. The square point shovel is the king of shovels. You can use it as a scraper, an ice chipper, a snow shovel, and it moves a lot of dirt and makes nice square holes and trenches. Where it doesn't shine so much is with hard pack dirt. You can use a corner as a point and be almost as effective as a round point shovel in terms of breaking up hard pack, but it's not the best.
This is where the brickset hammer comes in. I have found that the hammer combined with a sturdy square point makes a formidable set of equipment for digging. The hammer is basically a portable mattock(pick). If I am digging any sort of hole or trench at home, a lot of the time I end up using the brick hammer as much or more than my mattock. A while back, I was running power and water lines on our property. Water needs to be four feet deep where we live, so I dug the trenches with an excavator. But we have granite boulders and when I would run into a cluster of them, they would be locked together with coarse sand. I found myself in the bottom of the trench with just my little brick hammer, clearing out sand and dirt from between boulders so the excavator could move them.
So, camping in the field, the hammer is used as a mattock for breaking up hard soil, and then the square point shovel is used for moving dirt. You should have a hammer anyway, so the brick hammer replaced my claw hammer in my travel tool kit. But then I didn't have the claw hammer for pulling a nail. So I have a couple of tiny blue flat bars in the kit for pulling nails.
The hammer is also all you need for cat holes. Break up the ground with the hammer, scoop out loose soil into a pile with your hands, then use the cat hole. Afterwards, drag or push the pile of dirt back into the hole using the hammer sideways like a rake.
