Digging up a fence spike

[OLTB]

Afternoon all

I need to dig up an old metal fence spike in the grass (not concreted in) and was wondering if there's a 'hack' or if I just need to get at it with a spade? I had thought about using a carjack and a metal bar through one of the spike holes but not too sure how that would work.

Any clever ideas?

Cheers, OLTB.

[AF62]

Standard solution seems to be to excavate around them and then get a good long steel bar under the box section and lever it out.

[richlist]

If the ground is dry then as they are wedge shaped they normally pull out without to much effort.

[ReformedCharacter]

If you are going to lever it out with a bar then I'd suggest making some preparation with something such as a concrete block of a solid block of wood to use as a fulcrum. I think I'd try and carefully remove the soil around the spike and, depending on how much you care about the aesthetics of the grass, slice it out so that you can replace it after you've removed the spike. I'd use more spade than lever, personally.

RC

[OLTB]

Thanks all

As the rain is about to fall tonight and the ground is very dry, I thought I'd give richlist's instructions a go - dug down about 10 inches, wobbled the spike around and it came out fairly quickly. Thanks all again for your offers of advice.

Cheers, OLTB.