AbstractThe tropical red clay soils, formed by the Quaternary weathering of volcanic deposits (and other rock types) in tropical and subtropical environments, have a very open structure and consequent high voids ratio. These soils are particularly sensitive to disturbance during sampling and subsequent transportation and extrusion of the samples. This technical note describes a simple method for obtaining high quality, undisturbed samples from pits in a way that does not require extrusion or trimming of the sample in the laboratory prior to triaxial testing, and only minimal preparation prior to oedometer testing.