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What are the advantages of a composite auger over a steel one?

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ont_angler:
Have been looking at the eskimo bit and the strike master bit, both in 8"

Just for my own curiosity..... aside from saving a 1-2lbs...and obviously costing 2-3x more then a conventional steel auger.....

What other advantages are there to running a composite auger?

Not interested in the K-Drill, not a fan of chipper bits....

My current auger which I run on a clam plate with the power drive gear box and a Ridgid brushless hammer drill using 4ah battery.






eskimo


strike master


Cheers for the input guys.

hawg:
Has to be more than 1 or 2 lbs?

hardwater diehard:
StrikeMaster flighting is composite the shaft is metal..Eskimo is compostit flighting with an aluminum shaft . composite flighting is lighter and does not rust .Eskimo are Mora/shaver/flat blades ..can be replaced for less and can also be sharpened by hand with practice/skill set ..Strikemaster has lazer/curved blades lil pricey to replace and have to sent out for sharpening. Both SM and Eskimo has a center point ..hand augers not so much . sometimes breakthrough can be an issue with hand augers .

primepin65:
I have a Mora hand auger but I'm looking at an Eskimo pistol bit. Both an 8" cutting head. The Mora is listed at 8lbs on Rapalas website and the pistol bit is 3.9lbs on Eskimos website. I'm using a Dewalt DCD998 drill with an 8ah battery, which weighs 5.5lbs combined. So for 1.4lbs more(9.4lbs total), I can cut sooooo many more holes than doing it by hand. I get winded after punching a few holes by hand, depending on how much ice I'm removing. There's little to no fatigue when using a cordless drill/auger setup.

Since I don't have a composite auger yet, I can guess a few of the advantages of a metal auger. The cost is 1/3rd to 1/4th of a composite auger. I can find a replacement at (almost) every single store that sells ice fishing gear. I can find a ton of used metal hand augers on facebook marketplace or craigslist. If my drill dies on ice, I can put the handle back on the metal auger and keep punching holes.

Downside is my current drill set-up weighs 13.5lbs.

Ice fishing seems to be going the direction of "lighter is better" and I can't disagree. My lithium flasher battery is 2.83lbs versus ~8lbs for an SLA. A rechargeable LED lantern weighs a ton less than a propane/liquid fuel lantern. There's tons of people ditching a shanty in favor of a dedicated ice fishing suit. I haven't willingly used a tip-up in years and just jig now.

Rebelss:
Added bonus, if ya ding up or bend the metal auger, it can be filed out or carefully bent/tooled back into shape. (Depending on yer skill level) Ya bust a composite....well, it's busted.

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