Watched this in the morning while making a bagel. Used my digging knife to get the cream cheese and then my grading knife to spread it out.

Can’t believe 8 years ago I came to this channel to watch some guy in North Carolina breaking up a Beaver Dam. And 8 years later I’m still watching his videos.

It's funny how a guy can do something for years with the equipment you have. And then you get a new piece and you can't live without it from then on. Great job Chris love how you explain everything you do. 👍

just recently found these videos. I loved them so much that I went back and watched some old ones....haven't laughed much lately...lost hubby in Sept. ...but when you destroyed 2 trailers and your commentary...I laughed ....thanks for sharing love and peace

You turned that big mess into a little paradise, job well done

Just started watching it 5 min.'s and its done already. Almost 1 1/2 hours on this video. How time flies when enjoying one of Chris' videos. Great job on that mud hole.

Congrats on 400k subs Chris, VERY well deserved. Pond is looking great. Cheers.

(Let's dig)...Man do I love this channel......you are one heck of an operator...and one fine Man...your elders raised you OUTSTANDING!

Sick. Binge watched the whole pond series today when I found your excavator recovery video. You move that thing like it's part of you man!

Holy smokes... an hour and twenty-seven minutes. Awesome!

Wow Chris, congratulations on 400k plus subscribers! This video shows that your sister is not the only teacher in the family. I just read over 70 comments and did not see one negative comment. Your a great teacher and I'm in class early every evening waiting for your class to begin. Thank you for not just showing us the right way, but telling us the reason why you do things the way you do...

The skill that this man has is incredible... Good Work!

I like when you present your layout thoughts and methodology of establishing the water level.

Haha Winston is like “you better put my seat warmer on!” 😄 AMI seems to be good for attachments and service with the LD18 setup and all 👍🏻👍🏻

Such great work . Yet again. Thankyou. Really enjoy watching you take pride in all that you do. Andy Australia

Very nice finishing. Great video. Another excellent end product. Stay well everyone.

I'd like to see some of these ponds after they have filled and the water cleared a few months later

Big difference than when you started. Looks great man. Now the turtles can start living the good life in style.

The "Forgotten Pond" wont be forgotten now. Excellent work, your attention to detail always pays off.

What a muddy needs. Never thought it would look like that. Great job Chris.

Hey Chris, Great project and video as well! As this is so close to your house, it would be great to see a monthly overview over the next year to see how everything greens up!

my grandfather used to say every completed job is a self portrait. Chris, you must be a powerful handsome man!

Fantastic work what a difference, if that was my pond I would be building myself a little small cabin on stilts so it was off the floor, imagine that nothing to big but insulated with a small log burner, what a retreat that would be for some quite time overlooking the pond.

Hi friend !!! From French Guyana I am admiring your " super calm " nice and clean work, yes starting with sh....... and ending with the best always . Truly I admire you !! I have a small Komatsu PC27 and I do some work now again age not helping any longer .......But it was a time I could spend time at work just or about as long as you do. Keep good health strength and your beautiful calm. Thanks for the video. Warm regards !

You sir have an incredible eye and talent. I’ve used a backhoe for years now. Your a master.

A truly amazing transformation my friend! The land owner HAS to think that was money very well spent.

I bet the owners are going to love it! Awesome job brother!

The pond area is starting to look better and better, 😊👍💕💕💕

One of my favorites Chris. The drone shots show how good you really did. Please walk over there and give us an update every once in a while. Have a great day.

Wow!! Talk about a transformation from the beginning to the end. It’s amazing how you can see the end result. Nice job.

Really enjoyed the video Chris, outstanding transformation. Your neighbour should be delighted with your work. Greetings from Toronto Canada.

Congrats on 400K, pond looks great. I have a hyd QD fail as a aircraft mechanic you deal with hyd ..but you adapted and finish the great work.. keep digging!!

In the last 2 week's I have binge watched near 300 of your vids!! It has been interesting seeing your youthfulness at the start compared with your maturity now. Is this pond on your place or a neighbor? I look forward to each evening when you post. I'm a 71 year old lady but am very entertained by your content.

Man, I would put s little cabin back there and spend all winter camping there....Nice place close to home to go hide out and relax. Most people see a nasty old over grown mess. Chris sees a beautiful pond with nice trees and mowed edges. As always, nice work brother.

Enjoyed watching you work. The clients are bound to be some real happy campers for sure! Thanks.

We had a pond dug in 1983 with a drag line. Our kids were young and it was the center points of our life for our family and neighbor kids and fires and hayrides.center trench is 15 ft deep and it's 150 ft long and75 ft wide (approx) springs were opened up when dug and when you swim down deep it is ice cold even when the top few ft are warmed by the sun. It's still mowed around and we have family parties back there yet.I guess the reason I'm telling you this is our pond was and is good for family gatherings and our kids( near 50 years old) still talk of good memories they have of the pond to their kids.I never thought much about the thought you go thru digging a pond and your plan to do it.great videos and I thank you for them

2:40am, germany, time for digging

I want to get some land with a pond on it in a couple of years. Seeing this video series lets me know how work should be done right if a pond should need it.

You turned an old swamp hole into a really nice small pond. Another job well done

Another Letsdig18 masterpiece! People don't know how lucky they are to have you work on their projects

That clay that you were talking about reminds me of the job you did a few years ago (Tim still worked for your family company) where you were building a 5 acre pond and had to add a material that when mixed with sand and water, created a concrete like/cement type bottom that water wouldn't seep through.

That turned out fricken AWESOME 👏 can’t wait to see it in the spring. Hope you give us an update.

Some beautiful work brother. 59:00 mark where you are grating it back. Love the view. Let’s the boys see the upward angle of your bucket and how you are scraping high and using the heel of the bucket to smooth and compact. I do a damn fine job myself but nothing like you. Keep up the good work..ACES !!!👍👍

I enjoy watching this guy videos! The man is a very skilled operator!.......Job well done there friend!

Please keep doing up date on this over time. It would be nice to see it when the water clears and the banks start greening again.

That spot where the grading bucket failed was just staring at you the whole time. 🤣 that's beautiful work, as per usual.

Yes a nice pond, I can imagine what it will look like when nature puts the finishing touches to it. Good job you built a beautiful thing out of a mess that it was.

👍With all the rain your area seems to get, I imagine that will fill pretty quickly. All it needs is a nice solar powered fountain to keep it aerated after a good shock treatment for the green slime. Nice job and I guess the wooded area will have a chance to drain and somewhat dry. Thanks for the vid.

Yeah that recovery video is epic! Well deserved.

Have to bring us back in a couple weeks when its full.

Looks a million times better!

Winston is proud of your accomplishments!!! We need to see more of him on your job sites. Great work Chris!

since it is close to home any chance you could update in a month or two when it fills up and settles?

Newcomer to the channel here. Just want to say a couple of things: 1. You're a poet with an excavator. I've seen surgeons less precise with a scalpel than you are with a 48" bucket. 2. I love your work ethic. Always a quality job done well with attention to the details. No backsliding for a quick buck. I really admire that.

You've done a fantastic job on the restoration of this pond. The owners will be very happy with the finished product.

He makes it look so effortless. And he gets to "play" with fire, dirt/mud, and earth moving equipment -- the dream of most little boys. Keep up the great work and thanks for posting all the videos.

I like how you do the before and after. Looks great

I remember a pond that my friends and I fished at which was about a quarter of the size of that one. It too was located where the water table was close to the surface, and we had a blast using little poppers and so on to catch (and release) panfish and too-small bass. I've got a feeling that this pond will become a fishing hole. I'd like to see a short video after it gets filled with water. Also, I would not be surprised if you were to snoop around in the woods, looking for seeps - and one of them will turn out to actually be a decent spring if you dug a little. I've seen that several times over the years... sometimes seep springs (a few gallons an hour) to ones that flowed pretty good. That would pretty much guarantee that the pond could hold fish (also, some native underwater grasses really improve the habitat and help with the duckweed!).

Absolutely beautiful job chris ...have to say that tilt bucket is the job no leveling your self up all the time or trying to put yourself on slant.... Worth the money....very tidy job 👏

Another beautiful Chrispond. ❤

When your done, we need a feedback report from the (5) turtles that live there ! LOL !

I loved this project! Some barley extract would take care of the algae and duckweed.

I like how you explain what you're doing and why. Us city folk need explaining!

What a great transformation Chris! That pond wasn't neglected, it was totally forgotten. Now you've turned it into a jewel! Great job as always

This is like a feature length film!

Wow, Chris, what an amazing transformation. Kudos to you. It was an epic video - and I enjoyed every minute. You are one skilled operator, with such fastidious attention to detail. Thank you for all yours efforts in bringing your videos to us to enjoy. Regards from Melbourne, Australia. Cheers, Jeff. 👍😀🚜🐠

It just doesn't get any better than see some one that cares enough about fish to build them a good Pond ...You the man 👍....that makes that machine look so easy to operate even in deep mud

It would be nice to see a visit back to this pond after spring.

Just found this channel! Really makes me want to get back into digging...it’s been over two years 🥺

That white sand reminded me of that pond you dug awhile back with the gun range.

I watch your videos daily right before going to bed. I used to be in the business and really enjoyed the work. Chasing the paychecks not so much. Listening to that Volvo hum makes an excellent lullaby to get to sleep with I have found ! LOL

Thanks for the detailed description on how you find and set grade on a pond. Always wondered how that was done.

Chris your a pond master. I think there's no pond or lake you can't fix or improve. Love the video's Chris

Cool man discovered your channel today. I hope there's some bass in that pond for you!

Chris, that pond is going to look totally transformed and awesome! GREAT JOB BROTHER! 👌🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Fantastic transformation! Pond jobs are my fav to watch on your channel.

For those who subbed from the recovery video... this isn't the same Volvo 220 Chris used in that recovery. This is his own personal Volvo 220 he does weekend jobs with.

Can't wait to see this full and surrounded by grass!

I've loved watching the progress on this pond. What a huge improvement. Since you're neighbors, you should enjoy having it cleaned out, too.

Amazing watching a professional at work.

been following the progression of the pond, had to sub! you know you're getting old when you watch videos of people working lol

Great make over Chris. Man that looked shabby in the beginning!

I can honestly say I never get bored watching you and the way you work and the skill athank you from the 🇬🇧

Chris, you’ve made a little gem back there in the woods. I think the owners could use that old portable toilet shell as a place to store fishing gear, a couple of chairs, a cooler, and plenty of skeeter spray!

Just found this channel, Glad I did 🤙

I hope you do a review of the last few ponds you have done after they have grown in a bit.

Nice job. I’m a truck driver now, but used to drive machines in another life. Watching this has made me wish I was back there.

Pond looks good, it'll be a nice place when the grass comes up and the water clears up. And a nice, long video. Thanks. 👍👍👍

Chris you're Too kool for skool! almost 4 million views on the recovery

pond look great would be nice if you could fly your drone over it when it gets full and settled down

That worked far better than I expected. Its kind of stealthy. It's dark and then pow! I dig it

Amazing transformation. You should put up a video in a year or two of this pond with grass growing and kids fishing.

I've been watching Chris for so long now I need to apply for my internet excavator expert badge and gold star. Can just about anticipate what he's going to do next. :)

Need a video when it’s full!

Just found the video showing the pond full. So cool! Well done.

In the decades of working on railroad track working equipment I've never seen a quick coupler fail like yours did . I hope you tear into it and post a video . Great job on the forgotten pond . The customer has to be thrilled with the results . Awesome video .

Over the years we would see someone doing work like this and we would say that man has made honey out off dog shit ,good job Chris

That was great Chris! Loved it!!! You've convinced me to go get a Volvo.... I thought I would hit the mega Friday night, guess I'll have to wait till next Friday. I'm sure I'll hit it then! 😆🤣😂

I always have thought it was strange seeing you build these tanks around 4 or 5 feet deep, then I remembered you guys get so much rain you don't have to worry about them drying up very often. Here in TX where I am from we have to dig them deep to hold enough water to try and make it through droughts. The two tanks on my place are around 12 foot deep and I have seen them both dry at times. Your skill with a bucket is awe inspiring, I wish I could work my backhoe half as good as you run your equipment.

Great job on the forgotten pond! What a lovely spot, now! You do such wonderful work!