# Best hand ice auger?



## pheasantphool (Nov 30, 2007)

What brand of hand ice auger do you recommend?


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## ICEMAN2 (Dec 5, 2008)

I guarantee the best hand ice auger is the one your buddy is using to drill the holes for you. I finally broke down after 15 years of hand drilling holes and bought a power auger, I found myself not wanting to move and drill more holes with the hand held, I would just sit there and wait for the fish to come back, it is so much more productive now, If I don't get bites within 15-20 min I move to another location, the power auger is easy. I always drill a series of 3 holes in a triangular pattern. 2 for poles and one for the camera. So doing it with a hand drill sucks, I have seen guys who adapted there hand auger to a hand held drill, they have adapters to do it, they actually work well for about 10 holes then they run out of juice. But if you had a couple of batteries for your drill it might work well. Good luck. Just remember to keep it SHARP and your life will be much better. I remember a few times drilling 2' of ice with a dull auger, I though I was going to die before I was done, I didn't move the whole day,


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## ICEMAN2 (Dec 5, 2008)

I almost forgot to add, you want to look at the angle of the blades, the flatter they are the harder it is to drill, I have seen guys put wedges in the blades before they tighten them down to adjust the angle of the blade, I remember and eskimo auger I owned, it was almost flat and it totally sucked to drill with, I have an older one with the blades at about a 15 degree angle and that thing cuts quick. so look at the blade angle before you buy one.


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## Hellsangler69 (Sep 26, 2007)

I want to get one but the Nils is consider one of the best and maybe the most expensive hand augers .
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...parentType=index&indexId=cat603938&hasJS=true


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## flyguy7 (Sep 16, 2007)

any hand auger with sharp blades works well on everything but ultra thick ice


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## Troll (Oct 21, 2008)

I have an adapter that uses my 18Volt drill to power my auger. My 8" drill is pushing it, my 6" drill will cut like crazy.
All I did was to cut enough off of the hand crank section of my auger to give me one of the pin holes to connect to the auger. Then I welded a bolt to the cut end and ground the bolt to have a triangular end piece for the drill chuck to get a good non slipping grip on.
One fresh 18 volt battery is good for about 10 holes in 10" of hard ice. About 100 inches of drilling.

If you make or buy one of these, you have to also make a stop to prevent the auger from disapearing down the hole if the auger comes out of the drill. I made a simple disc of plywood that is 10" in dia. I put it on the auger than put the pin in to hold the auger to the adapter. This way if the auger comes off, it only falls until the disc hits the ice and I don't lose my auger bit.
Also, if you make one of these, after you have your hole drilled, reverse the drill to make the auger push all the slush down the hole and under the ice.

This is also a great set up for drilling inside the tent as there are no fumes from a gas motor.


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

Strikemaster is good. A lot of folks like theirs.
I have an Eskimo that works OK, but it is a lot of work to use with ice over 8" thick.


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## copper (Sep 11, 2008)

Apparently the Nil's are nearly as fast as power augers.


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## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

I just have an Eskimo 8" hand auger and I really like it. I have never used anything else, so I have no comparison, but I didn't think it was hard at all to get through 8+ inches of ice. One trick is to get in good shape PRIOR to ice fishing!  It helped me last year! :lol:


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## sliverflick (Sep 18, 2007)

I've got the 8" StrikeMaster Laser ($79). I've used it for the last 3 seasons with the original blades and it still zips right through the ice. I agree with Flyguy7 that any hand auger will work great as long as the blades are sharp and installed correctly. I know a few folks who've installed new blades backward and had a hell of a time cutting through the ice!!! :wink: 

In hindsite, I might have purchased a smaller diameter auger (6" or 7") as it would be much easier to cut new holes and would allow me to be more mobile. On the other hand, I do like the 8" diameter hole for some strange reason....gives me comfort in case I hook into a really big fish (hasn't happened yet). Also, I might have purchased the cheaper model StrikeMaster, the Mora. It sells for $49 instead of $79 and I really don't think there's a difference....just good marketing.

One drawback about the StrikeMaster Laser is the top handle likes to pop off if you pull up on it. This is really annoying and has popped off since the first use....

I've heard good things about the NILS augers but they were way too expensive for me.


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## flyguy7 (Sep 16, 2007)

Ha! but I did at least find someone with a power auger faster than I could have switched 'em!


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