How are manual post-hole augers manufactured?

4th March 2020

	How are manual post-hole augers manufactured?
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			Most of a manual post-hole auger is made from tubular steel. The threads are made from sheet steel and some handles are made from wooden dowel.

			Manufacturing tubular steel
			There are two methods of manufacturing tubular steel. One involves shaping a solid cylinder of steel into a pipe (seamless-pipe manufacturing), the other uses welding to join metal sheets together to form a pipe (welded-pipe manufacturing).

			Seamless-pipe manufacturing A solid piece of steel (called a ‘billet’) is shaped, by applying heat and pressure, into a long cylinder shape called a ’round.’

			The round is heated until it is white-hot and then run through rollers which squeeze it and lengthen it. A bullet-shaped ‘piercer’ is pushed down the middle and along the length of the round. The round emerges as a tube of steel wrapped around the piercer.

			The whole object then undergoes another session of squeezing through rollers to form the correct thickness of pipe. The piercer is then removed.

			The hot steel pipe is cooled in water after which it is ready to be cut up and welded together into the shaft, handle and T-joint of a manual post-hole auger.

			Welded-pipe manufacturing Welded pipe is made from long sheets of metal called skelp. The skelp is unrolled, heated and twisted into a tube.

			It can be curled lengthways…

			…or twisted into a spiral…

			…before it is welded along the seams and passed through rollers to flatten the welds and correct any faults in the shape of the tube.

			Manufacturing threads or cutting plates
			To make the threads or cutting plates of a manual post-hole auger, a sheet of steel is cut…

			…heated and squeezed between rollers…

			…and shaped with hammers to form the thread or cutting plate.

			The finished thread is welded onto the shaft and all the metal parts of the manual post-hole auger are coated with a powder coating (see What are manual post-hole augers coated with?).

			Manufacturing wooden handles
			Rectangular pieces of wood are fed into a machine which shaves off strips of wood like a pencil sharpener to create cylindrical dowels.

			The dowels are cut to the right length for a manual post-hole auger handle and specialised ‘shaper’ blades are used to refine the shape of the handle to make it more comfortable to use.

			Finally, a coat of wood preservative is applied to the handle to protect the wood from rot.

			Manufacturing hand grips

			Hand grips are usually made from rubber, foam or plastic. All these materials are made into hand grips using a molten form of the material pressed into a mould. Image supplied courtesy of Rutland Plastics.

			The interior of the mould is the shape of the hand grip so when the material solidifies a hand grip is produced.

			Excess material that did not fit in the mould is cut off and the hand grip is ready to be glued or slid onto the manual post-hole auger handle.