Smart Design for a Handheld Trenching Tool

Out here in the country, you see a lot of ditches and trenches being dug. It’s how plumbing and electrical infrastructure reach houses. By the side of the road, you’ll often see contractors using machines or tractor attachments made by a company called Ditch Witch: Some properties aren’t accessible by these machines, either because they’re remote or because existing fencing prevents it. In those cases, workers have to resort to using narrow spades called sharpshooters. It’s obviously hard work. However, Australian tool company ArborTech invented a portable, powered trenching tool that eases the task. The chainsaw-like form factor of the Ditch Witch wouldn’t work for a handheld tool—the kickback from trying to dig into hard dirt would wrench the tool out of the worker’s hands. So instead, ArborTech’s AllSaw uses two U-shaped oscillating and reciprocating Trench Blades: The alternating motion of the dual blades completely eliminates kickback; the blades simply shift through the dirt in an alternating pattern, ejecting material while the user guides the tool. Rather than investing in their own proprietary battery, the company shrewdly partnered up with DeWalt. The AllSaw runs on DeWalt’s FlexVolt batteries, making the tool an easy buy for contractors already on board with Big Yellow.