How to manually dig a trench faster and easier to lay electrical cables, plumbing or drainage

The article Chainsaw trencher shows a fairly simple and quick way of digging a trench with a gasoline-powered tool in hard-to-reach and other places. But such a tool is not supplied to Russia (and to the countries of the former Soviet Union). Perhaps Chinese manufacturers will soon fix this gap.

In the meantime, it remains to work with hands in hard-to-reach places. It is easy enough to dig a trench with a shovel only to the width and depth of the bayonet. To lay the cable, a trench wider than 15 cm is not needed, but a depth of at least 70 cm is required.

The first way is to modify the shovel for digging a deep trench.

We take an old shovel, cut off half of it (the lower part) with a grinder, put it on the handle of another shovel (and in the right place for the required depth), fasten it with self-tapping screws. This will be the footrest. Watch the video and you will understand the process:

The position of the stop can be adjusted depending on the depth of the trench. At the initial stage of digging, the stop can be removed. And deeper - already look where to screw. My opinion is a simple and ingenious solution that simplifies a complex process.

If you do not need a trench 214 mm wide (the width of a standard shovel), but you need less, then the so-called drainage shovel is suitable for work:

The width of such shovels is usually 127-150 mm. Comfortable handle (like snow shovels). The height of the bucket allows you to dig into the ground 0.5 m more easily than a conventional shovel. The cost of this series of shovels:

Prices from 700 rubles. and higher. The demand for such shovels is not great, so the prices are much higher than for garden shovels.

If you screw the stop shown at the beginning of the article to this drainage shovel, then it can easily dig trenches to a depth of 1 m (if you install a long handle).

The third, semi-mechanized method for non-clayey, loose soils. A motor-drill is used to drill adjacent holes to the required depth. Next, the jumpers between them are loosened with a shovel. The crumbled soil is scooped up with such a homemade bucket on a pole with ropes:

It is convenient for two people to work with a bucket: one holds a pole (a screwed on the handle of a shovel) - the other pulls the bucket. Excavator principle. In clay, this method will not help. Cutting plastic clay requires effort and sticks to the tool. You will have to manually clean it from clay. Worked at one time as a drill TISE - I know how it feels.

The process itself can be viewed at the link: https://youtu.be/bjwMqQQIzK0

If someone has their own ways of digging a trench for cable, drainage, etc. - share in the comments.

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Photo taken from open sources, from Yandex. Pictures

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