Ashs, seeds, and black dirt!

[mr.fred]

ORIGINAL: RICKJJ59W

ORIGINAL: Penn Digger

Rick,

That area is not far from a large stream that runs through town (river bottom like). At around 5 feet or so you hit a bottom of mostly gravel which usually is very wet. When digging below that, holes usually fill with water back up to that level So it appears the privies stopped pretty shallow. The one wood liner I dug to the bottom of stopped there. I imagine it to be different at higher elevations. We'll see as we're still newbies to the privy scene here.

PD

PD

Yeah Tom we had pits where the water pooled heavy!,In those cases we bucket it out so we can see the bottles and dig easier .We use a small can and scoop it in to a 5 gallon bucket.As you get deeper the water becomes less and less.
Did you try and probe those holes when you were standing in them like that? Its hard for me belive that was the bottom. of those pits.A lot of time we get those hard clay caps,and to a digger just starting,they might think it was bottom.The probe will go through a cap no matter how hard it is.
I was just hoping you guys didn't miss bottles that might have been (deeper) Like I said,never dug a pit that shallow in my life. S.R

That's exactly what i ran into Rick---clay---all i did was take a shovel full out--thinking it was at the bottom[]-------boy -o- boy- next time it won't happen--lots to learn---the trick is----take a little from all you REAL privy diggers--and apply it[]------wonder how many got away???[]----Thanks for the tips. Fred.

 

[truedigr]

First off I apologize for ruffling some feathers with some rude comments I made. Sort of felt like the new guy was getting picked on for no reason. I don't know the guy either and maybe you do have some bad blood with him. It is absolutely none of my business and I should have kept my mouth shut. I'm the type if I see four guys whooping up on one on the side of the road, I'm jumping out with a bat to try to help. Maybe that's the wrong way to be? Any how I am man enough to apologize for my derrogatory statements. Robert
p.s. I don't have that jar, but I do have almost the same lid. Probably the same company.
https://i891.photobucket.com/albums/ac111/fossilman217/100_6120.jpg

 

[RICKJJ59W]

Joe we always dig behind the wood walls,back fill has stuff it it to sometimes.When they made the box,it was always made smaller then the hole was wide.So they put all kinds of shit in there to fill up the void.I found a cobalt soda in the back fill once,it had a chipped top,But it was blue[]

 

[RedGinger]

See, I'm afraid of collapsing the hole if I dig past the wood, Rick. At what point do you do that? I found it hard to believe that just a few feet was the bottom of those privies, too.

 

[bottledigger3]

yep the oil bottle looks good

 

[lexdigger]

On a woodliner, I prefer to dig out the wood walls to Prevent a collapse. On a brick or stoneliner I will even dig out the brick or rock walls if they appear to be leaning or unstable. I don't like anything hanging over my head that looks like it could fall and knock me out!!! LOL I have ran into gravel in a privy before. It sucks, but you gotta dig it out! Rocks, bricks, gravel, are NOT bottom! Bedrock or subsoil are. If I can still stick my shovel in and dig it out, it's coming out! Usually a subsoil bottom will be AS HARD as a rock. The most shallow privy I have ever dug was 4 feet deep. Around here, they tend to run at least 6 feet deep. The more you dig em in the area you're in, the more you'll get to know what's normal and what's not. Keep at it, ya'll will get em figured out!

 

[bottle_head9]

Love that Gargling Oil!! Awsome find guys!!![]

 

[RedGinger]

Okay, I thought you should not dig out the wood because it could cause a cave-in. Good info, Chris. Thanks.

 

[lexdigger]

No, you want to dig out the hole to the clay walls (behind the wood). Use your own discretion with brick and stone liners. They seem to be pretty stable when intact. If one or more walls have collapsed or are leaning, I'd suggest digging them out as well. One thing you want to always watch out for is cracks that appear in the walls or on the ground anywhere around the top of the hole. Most cave in's can be predicted and/or prevented with proper safety precautions.

 

[logueb]

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed this post. I have never dug a privy (yet) and am lookin forward to doing so one day. With work, a large vegetable garden, grandkids, etc. it has been a very busy year with little time for digging for me. I hope to change that real soon. So good luck Joe, Laur, Tom and the rest for a great post.