Mattock

[zendriver]

Anyone own/use one?

I have to dig out some areas that I need to put some drain tile that I can’t get a power trencher into.

Seems like it would make more progress than just using a pickaxe.

Thanks.




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[sublime68charger]

I have one it does okay,

yep works good for digging down a squared off trench,

is ground rocky? you also need a pickaxe when you run into rocks to root them out.

 

[240sxguy]

I'm in the same boat with the same questions. Let me know how it goes OP

 

[Citation]

Anyone own/use one?

I have to dig out some areas that I need to put some drain tile that I can’t get a power trencher into.

Seems like it would make more progress than just using a pickaxe.

Thanks.




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Just the other day my parents sent out a text asking if any of us kids knew where theirs was. It was in my garage as I used it to put some drainage tile in.

Great tool for a very specific job.

 

[Todd.Brock]

It works great for hacking out honeysuckle root balls. I sharpen the “axe” side and go to town. I think they are 8lb and will tear some **** up ( arms included)


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[SeisMec]

I've used one a few times in my life. Always belonged to someone else. Effectiveness seemed to vary a lot. Kind of like the three bears: some too heavy, some too light a few just right.

Any opinions about where to buy - who makes the best one?

 

[RTM]

I dug a trench for a gas pipe once, and found the big mattock a bit much. I found a small hand held that worked well for 18" down.

This is my current critter for digging out gopher trenches.

https://hidatool.com/item/1864

 

[Dave455]

I’ve got one. Common tool in the U.K.

Works great on hard soil that’s too hard to dig, but not so hard you need the pick, which is most of it where I am!

They tend to be heavier than a pick so watch out they don’t get too heavy. Having said that, I find you don’t need to swing them so much. Once you have a small hole, you can just chop forward and pull the soil toward you. It’s quite quick work for trenches!

 

[TuxThePenguin]

I use this one - a Nupla that was a little over $40 https://www.zoro.com/nupla-pick-mattock-24552/i/G2918781/

I just dug a short trench about 2 feet down

The soil in my area is kind of rocky (numerous rocks that are small enough to remove with this) and it progressively gets to be more clay as I get down. Going 3 feet deep would probably have been hard. But for a short trench at 2ft this worked out pretty well. (Even if I had needed to go 3ft down, I don't know what other option I might've had for better tools, aside from something motorized)

I like the fiberglass handle. I had an old wood-handle one someone gave me, but that handle needs a refinish. Not sure why someone would buy a wood handle and commit to having to refinish it in the future. Just buy a fiberglass handle. But that's a personal preference.

I think just about any brand of mattock would have worked fine here.

For my specific purpose, I haven't used the pick end too often but for some purposes it should come in handy

 

[jshillin]

Yep, works really well for what you are doing. I have one and it has saw plenty of use.

I have found most people have no idea what a mattock is though...

 

[jives]

Own two. Use a lot. . . perhaps I should rent trenchers. Both were very cheap finds at garage sales.

Nothing better for digging out roots. Mattock head on one side, 'axe' on the other.

 

[theoldwizard1]

I have a HF mattock. The ax end would not cut soft butter, but the other end works pretty good.

 

[seber]

I have three. The lightest one bends and is totally worthless. I just haven't gotten round to removing the handle to scrap the head. The other two are antique, robust, and do a ton of work. In anything other than soft dirt they are the Naz.

 

[GrantCee]

There are, as you've probably found, two types: a regular mattock, which has offset cutting edges (an axe and an adze), and a version where the axe is replaced by a pick. I have both, and find jobs for both, but the pick mattock sees more use.

Just this summer I had to cut into a hillside to build a 14' long retaining wall. It was next to a building and had trees on the uphill side, so I couldn't use heavy equipment. The soil is very rocky (shale) plus had tree roots. I ended up using the pick mattock the majority of the time, largely because of the need to break up the rocks.

I've also used them to dig electrical trenches and foundations for small sheds. I even use them for planting fir seedlings (that's the way my Dad taught me many decades back), although everyone else has gone to a planting shovel.

Once you get a rhythm going, you can move through a lot of material very quickly. In fact, it usually takes more time shoveling out the loosened overburden than doing the cutting. Wouldn't be without one.

 

[gnpenning]

Very useful.

Used on Forest fires for years.

 

[Kaizen]

Have one. Can’t remember why or what I used it for.
I have soil so a nice serrated shovel works well for trenches. Even if I only need a four inch trench I’d rather dig with long handle shovel then swing a mattock.
Actually I bought it for digging up a root ball.


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[saryon7]

They are awesome tools. Just make sure to only get the biggest size. Anything less will crumple under swings. Even the biggest ones seem like they aren't made with quality steel, but seem to last- ok.

 

[southalabama]

I’ve got one that’s got a wide cupped blade. Great trenching tool. The decal has long since fell off or I’d get another so when I have help.

 

[Ton ton]

Amleo.com is one place to look. Some of their tools have a lifetime warranty.

 

[Skiff Builder]

One of these spades to go along with it. Works for shoveling snow too - you wont hurt your back

 

[sreeb]

I like 2.5# mattock cutter version. If I need a pick, I will use a pick.

 

[zendriver]

Just decide to go with a “mattock” 23 bucks Menards lifetime warranty.

Actually that was about all that was available in 5# other than a $50 fiskars from Lowe’s.

It will probably last longer than I will,lol

Thanks for the input.




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[Miss the Pontiacs]

I’ve got one and it is great. Didn’t know the proper name for it until it surfaced in another GJ thread. I was told it was a Tree Hoe, no not a free hoe.

 

[HenryAZ]

is ground rocky? you also need a pickaxe when you run into rocks to root them out.

I use a hand pick-mattock most of the time, but when a rock is exposed, here in AZ you never know if it is just a rock, or the top portion of a two ton boulder. Our standard mattock here is a 6 ft digging bar, with one end pointed and the other a chisel. It is standard equipment on any crew truck that has to do any digging.

 

[Ton ton]

I use a hand pick-mattock most of the time, but when a rock is exposed, here in AZ you never know if it is just a rock, or the top portion of a two ton boulder. Our standard mattock here is a 6 ft digging bar, with one end pointed and the other a chisel. It is standard equipment on any crew truck that has to do any digging.

Sounds like Virginia to me.

 

[Raisedonadeere]

I use this one - a Nupla that was a little over $40 https://www.zoro.com/nupla-pick-mattock-24552/i/G2918781/

I just dug a short trench about 2 feet down

The soil in my area is kind of rocky (numerous rocks that are small enough to remove with this) and it progressively gets to be more clay as I get down. Going 3 feet deep would probably have been hard. But for a short trench at 2ft this worked out pretty well. (Even if I had needed to go 3ft down, I don't know what other option I might've had for better tools, aside from something motorized)

I like the fiberglass handle. I had an old wood-handle one someone gave me, but that handle needs a refinish. Not sure why someone would buy a wood handle and commit to having to refinish it in the future. Just buy a fiberglass handle. But that's a personal preference.

I think just about any brand of mattock would have worked fine here.

For my specific purpose, I haven't used the pick end too often but for some purposes it should come in handy

I have the Nupula and another similar with a cupped. They stay on my tractor which is usually around where I am digging. Extremely useful tools. Some times the cupped one works when I am clearing dirt around a stump or footing. Other places the Nupula seems to do the trick. If I could have just one it would be the nupula. I sharpened the cupped one and it does better than the nupula chipping roots. Somehow it digs in and less prone to bouncing back from the root. YMMV