Handles that are a separate piece to the shaft can be removed and replaced.
Some handles are designed to be removed, with relative ease, from the T-joint of the shaft for storage.
Other handles are fixed in place with bolts which need to be undone and removed in order to slide the handle out.
If you wish to replace a manual post-hole auger handle with a new one and the original handle is too stiff to remove easily, try these methods:
Removing a wooden handle from a manual post-hole auger
Hold the manual post-hole auger by the shaft with your non-dominant hand (the hand you don’t normally write with), close to the T-joint, so that the shaft is parallel to the ground and the handle is perpendicular to the ground.
Using a wooden mallet, hit the end of the handle so that the sharp shock pushes the handle downwards and through the eye.
Keep hitting downwards until the handle is loose enough to remove by hand or the end of the handle has become flush with the eye.
If you cannot remove the handle by hand, clamp the shaft in a vice with the eye facing upwards and the handle pointing towards the floor.
Using a short metal bar (with a diameter smaller than the internal diameter of the eye) placed on the end of the handle in the opening of the eye, hammer the top of the metal bar until the handle has been pushed out through the eye.
You can also remove a wooden handle by cutting it off around the eye and hammering the last piece out with the metal bar, as above.
Removing a metal handle from a manual post-hole auger
To remove a stiff metal handle from a manual post-hole auger, apply lubricating oil or gel to the handle where the eye and handle meet.
Try to twist and wiggle the handle to work the lubrication into the eye and loosen the join so that the handle can slide out of the T-joint.
If this doesn’t work, you could also try carefully hammering the handle out using the method described for removing wooden handles.
