Rocky Soil Tools?

I live bordered to good ole New England with rocky soil thanks to frost heave and have started becoming quite adapt at tackling stone up to the size of watermelons.

I want to take advantage of other's experience in handling rock excavation and ask what hand tools do you find the most effective?

My current combination includes
A. Fiskars Square Garden Spade
B. 5 foot steel pinch bar

I currently cut into the sod where I'm going to plant and shovel out the rocky soil onto a homemade rock sieve that sits on top of a wheelbarrow. If I encounter a lot of rocks or large stones that need to be removed I use the pinch bar to dig and pry. It also is useful in loosening up large amounts of dirt to then scoop out with the spade.

I work on a 1/3 of an acre so I don't have the ability to utilize heavy equipment but I have been diligently working on plucking stones out that my partner and myself are creating rock walls along our flower gardens on the property. It is kind of homage to the prior generations of farmers who built the acres of rock walls that are throughout the Northeast.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated!

I find the crowbar indispensible. Sometimes the posthole auger comes in handy to create a "delivery passage" for a large oval stone. And ever since I got a drain spade with a steel handle, it ends up getting lots of small to medium sizes rocks out of the way.

drain spade

Our land is a former river channel that has been tectonically lifted and is still rising. Sometimes I get lucky when planting a tree or putting in a post and don't hit rocks. I treasure those moments. The rest of the time I wish I had some explosives and permission to use them....

Tools I like:

Treasure hunters and trappers use TOUGH shovels. Often heavy steel handle built to pry.

Burke bar.  It was made to break down concrete form work. It is basically a chunk of leaf spring with a 5ish foot handle made from rectangular tube steel. Works like a crowbar with twice the leverage and less weight.  It won’t replace a digging bar. But has completely replaced the crowbar for me.

Learn rigging. A couple snatch block/pulley sets can do amazing things.  Or a come along. The key is knowing how to set up your anchor to move what you want in the direction you want without breaking anything else.

This might give some ideas for working with rocky soil:



https://www.lovetoknow.com/home/antiques-collectibles/old-mining-equipment

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Hi Timothy,
I too live in the rocky northeast. For many years I simply struggle through with an average spade. It worked, but took forever. The easiest time I ever had was when I borrowed my neighbor's pickaxe. It was so easy to loosen the soil with it and then shovel with a spade or square nosed shovel. I would think the pickaxe might be easier to loosen rocks with than just a prybar, but I haven't done a comparison or anything :)

yep, pickaxe or the sharp end of a mattock is definitely one of my go-to’s in rocky spots.

R Scott wrote:Burke bar.  It was made to break down concrete form work. It is basically a chunk of leaf spring with a 5ish foot handle made from rectangular tube steel. Works like a crowbar with twice the leverage and less weight.  It won’t replace a digging bar. But has completely replaced the crowbar for me.  

I had not heard of these before. Thanks!

From personal experience installing 6" fence posts a Digging Bar is by far the fastest and least exhausting. Double the speed if two guys are working it. Here's the method
If you have an industrial size trench to run though, you might want to rent industrial air compressor

Pressure washer can work too for larger round holes but the mess ...