Tuesday 20 February 2007

Star Post Removal Tip

I recently headed into the local agricultural agents in Grenfell (Hargrave and Sons), ‘took the plunge’ and purchased a star post driver, star post lifter and some star (steel) posts as you will see in the accompanying photo.

What’s fantastic about buying locally at a town like Grenfell is the staff in the local businesses and the range that they sell. The staff are (almost without exception) both friendly and extremely knowledgeable, and they share all manner of hints and tips. The range of goods offered for sale is limited to what’s been proven to be the best over time – reducing the possibility of the items being returned and ensuring an extended usage period. Yes, at times the local goods can be a bit dearer at face value, but over time this is rarely the case when service and convenience are taken into account. I’m reminded of one of my maternal grandfather’s wise sayings “Always buy the best you can afford”.

A great tip given to me when buying the post lifter was what to do if a star post proves unreasonably difficult to remove. Over time under the soil the posts can rust and earth is ‘attached’ to the post in the process. This then makes it very difficult to remove with a lifter. When this occurs one simply hits the post a little further into the ground, which frees the ‘attached' soil from the post making it ready to remove, and use the lifter to do the job in the normal manner.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Phil. Interesting that I came across this article today (as I further explored your blogg site following Barry's 'perish' article) as I have only recently returned from Bunnings where I purchased a picket 'hitterinerer' and 'picketgeterouterer'. The two posts I removed were impacted as you indicated and whilst I did get them out, it would likely have been easier had I used the approach suggested. Well done.