Digging & Tamping Tools

Digging bars, shovels and post hole diggers are the groundwork end of utility and construction work — setting poles, opening trenches, backfilling and tamping. Digging bars break compacted soil, frozen ground, clay and rock that a shovel will not enter, with a wedge or chisel end for breaking and a tamping end for compacting backfill in layers; nonconductive fiberglass-handled bars are used where digging near energized cable is possible. Tamping bars compact backfill around a set pole so it stays where it was put. Post hole diggers open a clean, narrow hole to depth, and split-handle patterns up to ten feet reach depths a shovel cannot; replacement handles extend the life of a head that is still sound. Shovels divide by blade: pointed for digging, square and transfer for moving material, drain spades narrow and long for trenching. Bow and tine rakes finish and grade. Handle material is the choice that matters most — wood absorbs shock and can be replaced, fiberglass resists weather and is lighter. These are simple tools that take real abuse, so buy the weight the work actually needs.