The eagle eyed among you noted the asterisk in the title, and that's due to three interesting factors:
1) The fence I'm building is on a property that doesn't yet have electricity
2) None of the local tool places are renting due to COVID
3) You can't dig very deep in TX without hitting limestone. I made it roughly a foot and a half using a manual post hole digger, with another foot and a half to go.
Searching CL yielded two gas powered jack hammers, both with $1000+ price tags. In total I need to create four post holes, which doesn't-quite-justify going out and buying one. What says the hive mind?
No equipment rental places nearby? They got the gas powered ones with the auger, should make quick work of the holes and you give it back when you're done. Probably no more than 50-100 bucks for a days' rental.
One of these: 
Is your nearest Home Depot rental desk closed too? I haven't had any issues getting equipment from them lately.
I would recommend this type of post hole auger over the handheld version:
06HHR (Forum Supporter) said:
No equipment rental places nearby? They got the gas powered ones with the auger, should make quick work of the holes and you give it back when you're done. Probably no more than 50-100 bucks for a days' rental.
One of these:
This is from his post:
2) None of the local tool places are renting due to COVID
codrus (Forum Supporter) said:
Dynamite? :)
I was originally thinking tannerite, but one of the post holes is pretty close to the main water line.
@newrider3, I was at Lowes earlier this week and they refused to rent tools, unsure about Home Depot
I got to play with digging post holes in central Texas recently. You either need a spud to break it up and then jaws type digger to scoop it out, or you need actual equipment, like a Bobcat with an auger. Best case scenario with that hand held thing is it doesn't work, worst case is it rips your arms off.
A spud was the same conclusion I came to. A conclusion I was hoping to avoid. I used a walk behind trencher several years ago in the same type of soil and that thing nearly ripped my arms off. I can imagine a hand held version is 1000x worse.
codrus (Forum Supporter) said:
Dynamite? :)
Grandpop would plant citrus plants on limestone islands in Florida by drilling a hole and dropping in a quarter-stick of dynamite.
My dad works for the electric company and has brought home the truck they use to dig holes for electric poles many times. Being that you only need 4 holes could you call them and ask if they are willing to do it? I'm in a small town so that sort of thing is usually more acceptable.
Dang! Just four holes? I just dug four holes in this Virginia clay for a little garden gate fence project. Ground was still pretty moist. Dug it down maybe 24". Wasn't too bad. When it gets dry, it's like concrete.
Not familiar with Texas limestone, though. Is it literally a slab of stone? Or can you soften it up if you let a hose run for a bit at the site of the digging?
There's an old-school tool called a digging bar that might be of some use, but it's going to take some doing if it's solid limestone.
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200621553_200621553
Ive had no problem renting tools from Home Depot the last 2 months.
Does Lowes even rent tools?
I just called Home Depit Tool Rentals in Austin TX.
They are open. They have a 1 man auger for $80 per day, a 2 man auger for $98 per day, and a Towable auger for $118 per day.
They also have jack hammers. 20 lb, 27 lb, 35 lb, and 65 lb. An electric one runs $74 per day.
SVRex out here doing the lord's work. Guess I'm hitting Home Despot and working on my tan tomorrow. Thanks gang.
Save injury, spend the $118.
calteg said:
3) You can't dig very deep in TX without hitting limestone. I made it roughly a foot and a half using a manual post hole digger, with another foot and a half to go.
Got any old lead acid batteries laying around? The acid would go through the limestone really well. Just bring some baking soda to neutralize it. 
