A(nother) Home in the (different) Woods

[dstig1]

Eddie - Thanks for the support!

MJN - Thanks also, and yes I was wiped out after that week.

PAGuy - That is the raging debate. The problem with an ex and the bucket is that it drops the rock when you start to uncurl. So you get no control. We may end up having to hoist blocks into place with straps and the bucket.

Obed - the quarry pretty much just breaks them out. They are pretty consistent within a layer of the rock, but they do nothing to them to make them flat. "They grew that way" essentially....

He dropped a new load of blocks today. I will need a couple more loads before we can go at it for the upper layer.

[Depmandog]

Eddie - Thanks for the support!

MJN - Thanks also, and yes I was wiped out after that week.

PAGuy - That is the raging debate. The problem with an ex and the bucket is that it drops the rock when you start to uncurl. So you get no control. We may end up having to hoist blocks into place with straps and the bucket.

Obed - the quarry pretty much just breaks them out. They are pretty consistent within a layer of the rock, but they do nothing to them to make them flat. "They grew that way" essentially....

He dropped a new load of blocks today. I will need a couple more loads before we can go at it for the upper layer.

No problem for an excavator with hydraulic thumb. You will need to size it accordingly based on lift height, needed reach and lifting weight.



Your other option is an extending boom hi lift rough terrain forklift (telehandler)

[dstig1]

I'm not as sure about the excavator with thumb as I used to be. It is not as good of a tool for this as you might think base don my experience. The proper tool is a large Excavator with a rotating clamshell like below but they are rare and very spendy.



The telehandler did come up as one option. The possible problem there is that the first layer or two might not be directly reachable with the machine sitting down in front of the lower wall. The angle of the boom might be too high to get down to the ground on the upper deck after clearing the lower wall. Crude sketch of what I mean:



If you can get the first couple layers in place somehow, then it should work great. You really need to carefully place rocks, not just drop or dump them in place.

[Depmandog]

I'm not as sure about the excavator with thumb as I used to be. It is not as good of a tool for this as you might think base don my experience. The proper tool is a large Excavator with a rotating clamshell like below but they are rare and very spendy.

<img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=281762"/>

The telehandler did come up as one option. The possible problem there is that the first layer or two might not be directly reachable with the machine sitting down in front of the lower wall. The angle of the boom might be too high to get down to the ground on the upper deck after clearing the lower wall. Crude sketch of what I mean:

<img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=281764"/>

If you can get the first couple layers in place somehow, then it should work great. You really need to carefully place rocks, not just drop or dump them in place.

In regards to the excavator and thumb, a good operator wouldn't have any problems. Now he would set the rock and the bucket would be on the backside, so there would need to be enough room between the rock and the dirt. It's possible he could rotate the rock out away from the machine - but he would lose come control.

The telehandler - yeah the lower row might be tougher. Your could move some dirt for it to ride up on. Also, different brands are constructed differently - with a higher mast connection location. You might find one that would work better than another.

[dstig1]

I realized I haven't posted the final results of the wall. Here are a couple pics of the final result. This was wrapped up in Mid Oct. The guy who sold me the rocks did the placement of the upper deck with his excavator (deere 312L, I think?). It is amazing to watch someone who is an artist with an excavator work. He did things I really didn't think were possible. I was making backup plans for when his idea of placing the blocks with his ex didn't work. He did the last part of the wall (the upper deck) in a day and a half with help from me and another guy. Wow. I did the other 2/3-3/4 of the wall basically myself with the tractor and a rented skidsteer in a week or so.

Here's the stats:

Blocks: 200 tons
Backfill crushed rock: 180 tons
Length: 170'
Max height : ~10'

Here is the front view. Most blocks are about 36-48" wide, 14-18" tall, and 20-30" deep. Roughly 1500-2000 lbs each or so, I guess, though I never weighed any of them.


There are two tiers to the left side of the wall. Here is a side shot that shows the second tier. Hard to see on the frontal shot, but you can if you look.

[94BULLITT]

I just looked through your thread, I had not seen it before. It looks like you have made alot of progress. The wall looks really good. I also noticed we have the same chain saws kind of, I have a MS660 and a 034 super (3.6 cubic inch) which would be the equivalent of your MS362.

[mjncad]

That's one he!! of a wall you built!

[EddieWalker]

AMAZING!!!! I sure wish I had rock somewhere close to where I lived. If it was just expensive, I'd buy it, but it's beyond expensive here. Congratulations, you created a thing of beauty.

Eddie

[Obed]

Dave,
Very nice job! You'll be proud of that wall for many years to come. It's satisfying to be able to look out over your work and appreciate it when you know you did it well.
Obed

[dstig1]

Thanks guys. It was a ton of work, and I was pretty concerned about how the upper deck was going to happen for a while.

Since it was going to be such a large feature, I really didn't want to do it from concrete retaining blocks as it would look too cold and industrial, IMO. I may do other walls with retaining blocks as needed, but that just didn't seem right for this one.

The limestone is pretty common here. It has a lot to do with the same geography that is the source of a lot of the "frac sand" used in gas/oil fracking operations. That has become huge in the area...