Newbie seeking advice

[Unitof1]

A wooden or plastic Matock maybe just the tool that you are looking for. Are you expecting any Skeles on this site?

[Antipesto]

Always got good mileage out of a few plastic spoons collected with my morning cup of tea. Still got some in my kit from 6-7 years ago. And for your own sake never use a plastic handled mattock, the flex in the shaft will ruin your wrists if you hit something hard (like a buried flint nodule or lump of sneaky concrete) - evil evil things.

[BAJR]

Of course I subscribe to the lovely tools that Past Horizons sell ( and I use) quality gear. even dug sand skellies with these. wood is my preffered. though I have a set of delicate plastic that will only work on the softest


http://www.pasthorizonstools.com/Delicat...ekit03.htm

[Tool]

Thanks for the advice all. I ended up whittling a chopstick to a knife-like section at one end and a wider flat at the other. Worked rather well! I shall be adding to this bespoke item as and when opportunity/cash allows.

[stinker pinker]

On a sandy site the wooden forks from the local chippy work wonders- the pointy ends are great for getting between ribs. Next to useless in clay or heavy silt though.

[Dinosaur]

Of course traditionally the site director was despatched to the nearest shop for a job lot of ice-lollies (for the sticks, of course!)

[Tool]

Sometime during week three: Body slowly adjusting, paperwork starting to make sense, grown an aversion to hobnails and an appetite not known for years. Still haven't a clue what I'm doing mind...

[Dinosaur]

Who has? At least you won't be asked to write a book about it afterwards :face-approve:

[Tool]

Discovered how useful a pair of 9" tent pegs are for attaching string for section drawings. They're longer than a 6" nail (by about 3" by my reckoning...), so if the ground is soft and uneven, they're spot on. And considerably cheaper than them fancy shmancy survey pin thingies! Also managed to work out the relationship between three features all on my lonesome! OK, so it was blindingly obvious once you started furtling, but hey, small steps...

[kevin wooldridge]

......one of the many uses of the famed 'krafser tool is to upend it, place a large stone on the blade and you have a perfectly serviceable section string end-point up to 1.40m in height. Will try and get a photo tomorrow of said device in action....