How to dig a hole

Today I excavated half of my foundation trench, and I had some revelations about digging. For one thing, I've had the wrong idea about shovels. I always thought that a shovel was a perfect digging tool, but digging a hole, especially a big one, with just a shovel, is misery. Shovels are good for scooping and moving loose materials, and terrible for digging into compacted soil. In my opinion, you need two tools to dig a hole without breaking your back. You do need a shovel, but you also need a pick axe.

I started my foundation digging today with just a shovel and it was terrible. To get the shovel into the ground you have to use a lot of muscle, you thrust the thing into the ground, and then you have to stomp on it to get it properly wedged in. It is a lot of work. With a pick axe you lift it up and then pretty much let gravity do it's thing. It is a pointed weight on the end of a lever, a prefect design for breaking up earth. The energy input is minimal compared to the gain. With a shovel there are no mechanics increasing the energy you put it. You just have to work hard.

Once I figured out the digging secret, the work went pretty quickly. I would take a few swings with the pick axe to break up an area then shovel out the dirt. It took about five hours to dig half the foundation trench.