Background: I live near Phoenix, Arizona. The soil here is clayey and very, very dry. I bought this with the idea of using it to "pre-drill" holes that I would insert landscape lighting poles into. Cut through hard, condensed clay. The first lamp came with no problems. I went to where the second lantern should have been. Once again this snail worked like magic. or so I thought. I pulled the chisel out of the ground and found that only part of the shank (middle) was left. The "twisted" part of the drill (the part that looks like a ribbon wrapped around the shaft) was still in the ground. I was able to dig out the coil with a little more effort. Looking at my two piece drill bit (see attached picture) I saw that the coil was welded to the shaft at 2 points. and both welds broke. Conclusion: This auger works great until the welds break. In my case they broke on the second hole.