Over the 18 years I’ve driven over 400 T-posts by hammer or pounder. I found out they drive a lot easier if you dump a gallon or two of water on the spot you plan on driving the post. Just let the water sit for a few minutes to soak in. The sad part of this is…I only learned about this trick the last 2 years.
And if you got $ to spend, buy a power T-post driver.
Or if like me, wait until after rain to drive posts. I also built a custom post driver that weighs about 10 pounds. It is heavy enough to knock a post into soft ground in 3 or 4 hits.
I used to use a full sized sledgehammer but it was such a pain to swing; at some point I bought a hand sledge and that pretty much solved my post problems. The water would let me do it with fewer blows but the hand sledge will get in about any post if there’s no massive rock in the way.
For putting up trellis support ground screws, there the water is critical. They can be impossible to get in with dry soil. I was having horrible luck and then just happened to try again later after a rain and it was trivial.. lesson learned.
Twenty-five years ago I built a post driver out of pipe and strap steel with a welded plug at the top. I worked in place that had a welder and scrap metal and pipe. I would guess the weight at about 10 pounds like Fusion’s. No matter how hard the soil this thing drives t-posts down easily. The same tool can be purchased at any farm store or on line and will virtually last forever…get the heaviest duty model for best results. Or go to a local welding shop for a custom made devise.
These work fine
Just in case anyone besides me is over 50 and not above cheating to make the young guys wonder how I get that much done.
For 8 ft 4x4’s I use a post hole digger and cement them in 2 feet deep and tie back to ground anchors.
Im never driving another post by hand ever again. Ill rent ome of those post drivers from now on lol.
Another thing that helps, is driving a smaller post/rod/pipe into the spot before the t-post. I use a lot of pvc pipes for stakes, so I use those.
That was how I learned about it. I drove some after a rain. But sometimes it does not rain here for 5 or 6 weeks in late summer.
Which one you got?
I been cheating and we are driving them with a bobcat bucket.
Must have some really hard ground. I’ve always used the regular t post pounder by hand and it takes seconds to drive a post. Although it could be a different story when I’m 25 years older.
I’m not driving tposts at the current time we are driving oil pipe. We are going to drive tposts soon for the grapes. It also depends how many you drive. The first 30 are no problem by hand , but at the end of the day on your 200th post , your hands will be blistered through what’s left of the gloves you started with. A tpost you grab set it tap it with bobcat and move on getting 400 or 500 done in a day. It is not what you can do by hand it is about working harder allowing yourself to do it tomorrow instead of hobbling around like your 95 because of what you did to yourself yesterday. Working smarter not harder pays off long term. I say that as I can barely move from framing last night after work. A few years ago I came down with an illness I refused to give into and it refuses to let me win either. I suppose it forces me to do even more because I’m stubborn like that never giving in to anything.
Rather than just dumping water on the surface, dig out a wide but shallow hole first and fill it with water. That way the water stays where it’s needed.
Your back and the entire rest of your body thanks you
Any tricks for removing 7’ t-posts, other than soaking the ground or rocking them back and forth a lot. My dad had a post puller I could have taken from his estate, but our vehicle was too weighed down to fit it in for the 2000 mile trip home again. I keep kicking myself that I didn’t try to tie it on somewhere.
Thanks for the ideas for removing posts. My deer cages around my apple trees are cramping the branches, so we need to do some serious refencing. Not so easy for old folks.
