I bought at auction for cheap what I thought was a post driver for t-posts. It is old and heavy and may be iron with handles that were welded on. Only thing is when I picked it up for the first time I saw that it did not have a "cap" to it. You can look right thru it top to bottom. Now how on earth do I use it with nothing to slam down on the top of the post??? Guess I don't unless I'm not getting it? A brand new one at the hardware store costs less than $22 so it wouldn't pay me to pay a welder to add a cap. Should I just use it for lawn decor? Stick it in the ground and grow morning glorys up it? Thanks for any other creative ideas :) Susan in Michigan who doesn't know much yet.

-- Susan Bisard (cobwoman@yahoo.com), August 27, 2000

Answers

We had a driver like one of those. It was for a certain type of steel post. There was no cap on it because it was the body of the thing that hit the post's crossbar to drive it in.

You coulsd probably find someone to weld on a cap for you. I really doubt any decent place would charge you more than $5, unless you happen to be looking for a welder in some big city.

-- Chris Stogdill (cstogdill@rmci.net), August 27, 2000.

I hadn't heard about that type of post driver before. I may be wrong, but I think most of the commercial post drivers have a slug of metal in the top, not just a cap. It takes a bit of weight to drive a t-post into the ground. In fact, I found another 4" piece of round, solid metal and added it to my driver by welding it into the top. Drilled a couple of holes and plug welded it into place.

-- Ken S. at TN (scharabo@aol.com), August 27, 2000.

Yes, it take more than a cap. One of my post drives has a 5 x 2.25" piece of round stock in it and weighs about 30# total, I also have a lighter one. Last year we had to have one welded 3 times, we drive posts in a lot of rock.

-- Howard C. Williams (redgate@echoweb.neth), August 27, 2000.