Hand auger

[Squidlips]

I purchased a used hand auger recently and tried it today. I had difficulties drilling holes with it. Mainly starting the holes, lots of effort required and eventually gave up and used my buddy's power auger. Does anyone have any tips or such? The blades are brand new. Could it be the alignment of the blades? Thanks

[Big Red 250]

Likely the angle of the blades as I've had this problem before. I had to cut a piece of tin (called a shim) and loosen off each blade, slide in the shim and retighten blades. I added the shims towards the back of the blades. This solved my problem.

[ghostguy6]

Are you sure the blades are installed properly? Ive fixed lots of other peoples augers on the ice because they had the blades on backwards or on the wrong side. Hell Ive even put my own blades on backwards once or twice.:sign0161:

It could be that the auger itself is slightly bent and the blades are not at the correct angle. This is often caused when people use the auger as a walking stick without the blade cover.

It could also be technique. My mora auger likes a slight downward pressure, too much pressure and the blades bind rather than cut.

What kind of auger is it?

[Kim473]

Shim the blades. Can cut up a old tape measure and use the pcs as shims. Usually about 0.008" thick, depends on the tape measure, can even cut up a old feeler guage for spark plugs.

[wellpastcold]

Leave the hand auger in the garage and sell it at the next garage sale you have. Be extra nice to your buddy. Best advice I can give.

[Penner]

what brand of auger is it or do you have a pic.