Excavators feature a bucket, arm, rotating cab, and movable tracks, providing superior digging power and mobility. This allows the heavy equipment to perform various functions, from digging trenches to excavating mines. Shovels have a pointed blade design that makes it easy to dig into the hard ground. Hoes are versatile digging and cultivating tools with a thin, flat blade used for breaking up soil, cutting through roots, and mixing amendments. An auger efficiently digs post holes evenly. Having appropriate equipment can be useful. People have created folding shovels.
A trencher can dig a 4 foot wide, 36 inch deep trench. Loosen hard soil with a pick axe. Pull soil from the bottom with a grub hoe once too deep for a shovel. Explosives are placed using open-pit mining which involves digging into the planet’s surface. The explosions create a large pit providing access to the rocks beneath. This method can extract minerals. Underground mining has a lower footprint than open pit mining. Diagram illustrating narrow vein stoping in underground mining.
Trenchers
Trenchers are construction equipment used to dig trenches, especially for laying pipes or cables, installing drainage, or preparing trenches. Trenchers range in size from walk-behind models to attachments for a skid loader or tractor, to heavy tracked equipment. Use both hands guiding the trencher’s handles. Trenching involves digging a narrow trench to install, maintain, or inspect pipelines, conduits, or cables.
Equipment Variety
A garden tiller can loosen top 4-6 inches of hard soil. Remove loose soil and repeat until desired depth. Digging a trench averages $8 per linear foot including equipment and labor. The drainage spade made for digging shallow 12 inch deep, 5 inch wide rough trenches. The long blade makes easy digging shallow utility line trenches. The rounded bottom creates a rough trench.
Specialized Trenchers
Tow-behind trenchers attach to tractors, ATVs, or utility vehicles to excavate long trenches, up to 36 inches wide and 8 feet deep. Some have hydraulic controls to adjust digging angle and depth. Skid steer trencher attachments available. The BLACK+DECKER Trencher provides precise, clean trenches at three depths. It’s convenient for a range of gardening tasks like trenching around garden beds, decor, borders, and trees.
Additional Details
Loosen hard soil with a pick axe. Define trench sides with a shovel point. Pull bottom soil with a grub hoe when too deep for shovel. Place removed soil on one side. Hardware stores may not have rentable trenchers. Which trenching tools needed depends on project like trenches for drainage pipes versus flower beds or pet fences.
Specialized Trenching Machines
Walk-behind trenchers offer power, size, affordability balance digging 1 to 4 foot deep trenches. Their manual operation may not suit hardest soil or rocks. Handheld trenchers typically dig 2 to 6 inch wide, 30 inch deep trenches for sprinkler, lighting, or water lines with precision and less effort than manual digging. Rockwheel trenchers cut through rock or pavement with a spinning, toothed metal wheel. Quickly replace blades according to soil as they can get damaged.
Advanced Trenching Techniques
Skimmers excavate long 0.25-1.5 meter wide, 3 meter deep utility trenches where accuracy needed. Micro trenchers dig narrow 30-130 mm wide, 500 mm deep trenches to minimize excavation and disturbance. Chain trenchers use a digging chain. Trenching equipment enables efficient utility installation project trench excavation for underground lines like water pipes, sewer lines, power cables, or telecommunications cables. Trenchers specially designed to excavate trenches come in various sizes and types, including walk-behind, ride-on, and tractor-mounted, using a digging chain or wheel.