I want this rock

[EddieWalker]

I don't know what size your tractor is, but since you were able to move the rock with it, I wonder if a neighbor with a bigger tractor or skid steer could move it for you?

 

[ponytug]

minor update...

I stuck the forks under the rock, wrapped a chain around it and to the forks, and got the rock to stand on the forks.

It was near the end of the forks so despite the fact that it's just too heavy, being way out there was ungainly, so I shoved the rock into a couple poles braced against the hillside to get it closer
View attachment 2932887

The loader clearly didn't want to pick up the rock (+ forks), but I was able to drag it backwards a bit.
Got it to a decent location in my turnaround so that there's room for my truck to pass by it
View attachment 2932888

Very convenient of it to have a flat base to stand on. The eventually position will likely be with the rounded end you see on the side set into the ground in some fashion; the opposite side goes to somewhat of a point which I'd like to have going up towards the sky.

Of course it was still on the forks. I used a heavy wall 1½" x 8' metal pipe as a lever and got a wood block under it to unload one fork blade, and found that the other is actually not on the fork with the rock being on the ground.

I ran out of daylight as I had bird chores to do - twilight is curfew for my chickens, ducks and geese, so the forks are still there.

I'll get them free tomorrow, and then leave the boulder as a monolith/monument until I rent the CTH.

Congratulations on getting moved! If you extract the forks, how stable will the rock be? Could it fall over? On someone playing on it perhaps? I'm asking because I had a high school teacher of mine crushed by a large (30'xy'x2') slab, as he was bouldering his way up a slope to go rock climbing. Miraculously, the slab tipped only slightly, leaving him pinned against a small tree, and a second rock kept it from going completely over on top of him. The tree however was perfectly positioned to dislocate the base of his spine. Luckily, he had a friend with him who was able to free him from the boulder. These days he is enjoying his retirement many decades later...

All the best,

Peter

 

[ning]

Congratulations on getting moved! If you extract the forks, how stable will the rock be? Could it fall over? On someone playing on it perhaps? I'm asking because I had a high school teacher of mine crushed by a large (30'xy'x2') slab, as he was bouldering his way up a slope to go rock climbing. Miraculously, the slab tipped only slightly, leaving him pinned against a small tree, and a second rock kept it from going completely over on top of him. The tree however was perfectly positioned to dislocate the base of his spine. Luckily, he had a friend with him who was able to free him from the boulder. These days he is enjoying his retirement many decades later...

All the best,

Peter

Nobody around to play on it except raccoons probably.

I'll make sure it's reasonably stable, but it won't be ... rock-solid ... until I set it in front of the house. From what I can tell right now, I'd have to shove pretty hard to topple it. If it's at all wobbly I'll either knock it down or wedge it solid.

The edge that's on the wood block is surprisingly flat and perpendicular to the major axis of the rock, great for current stability. The other edge that's visible here right next to the closer fork blade is flat but not as wide and poses the greater concern.

 

[ning]

I don't know what size your tractor is, but since you were able to move the rock with it, I wonder if a neighbor with a bigger tractor or skid steer could move it for you?

It's possible. From what I have seen, one neighbor has what looks like a ~20-25hp kubota circa 2000 and I haven't seen any other tractors (generally hilly-ish area). The only real ag nearby is a guy who has a free range cattle business, but I've never seen a tractor anywhere nearby.

I do have plans to hire a kinda-neighbor (about 2 miles down this same county road) who has a full size backhoe & dozers for another job and he could definitely set it; if we do that job before I rent the CTH I'll probably do that.

 

[ruffdog]

Years ago I dug a refrigerator sized rock out with an old Ford TLB. Just to drag it, it took the TLB and Ford 801 linked together to get it to it's resting spot. I stood it on end and it is still resting there. There was NO WAY the TLB would even come close to lifting such a rock. Rocks are just a pain unless you have the right equipment.

 

[RayIN]

I've found that poison oak decomposes tree
rapidly when dead; I cleared out about thirty square feet of dense growth once and just left a pile by a tree out of the way; the next year it looked like 5% size pile of sticks and the year after that it was unrecognizable.

Why not just spray it with brush killer? That's what I do, and it's dead in a few weeks, never to return. Brush killer doesn't affect grasses.
Standard ole kill everything doesn't work well for me.

 

[RayIN]

I know where there's a tee in roads. Someone built a house about 100' back from the tee. I guess he tired of cars running into his yard. Now there are about 6 large boulders in his yard in front of his house. I'd guess each boulder is at least 3' in diameter.
I always wondered where he found those round boulders. Talk about hard to handle and transport, wow.

 

[ning]

Why not just spray it with brush killer? That's what I do, and it's dead in a few weeks, never to return. Brush killer doesn't affect grasses.
Standard ole kill everything doesn't work well for me.

I prefer to avoid poisons in general.
You know, random irrationalities like that

 

[2manyrocks]

That isn't irrational.

It's harder to move really heavy rocks when the ground is soft because they tend to dig in that much more.

 

[jymbee]

google "stone boat" There are a couple of different plans online. Been around for centuries. You don't think they carried all the rocks in the stone field walls over there by hand do you?

I've a lot of hours in the "old days" clearing rocks from plowed ground. No loaders or anything like that, just grunt work.

Move ahead a few decades and when the rocks got bigger, so did the tools.