Large boulder must go

[dave1949]

Go back to the fire, but with a better technique.

The Romans used to dig vertical shafts through rock by building a fire and then quenching the rock with water. That whole rock is about the size of one of their shafts.

You don't have Roman slaves to fan the fire to get it good & hot, but you can get a leafblower, or even an electric fan to do the same job.

Start in the center of the top, and use charcoal to get a good hot fire. Use a leaf blower or fan to get it really hot for an hour or two and then quench with water. Lots of water. Maybe 5, 5 gallon buckets.

Let it dry out and repeat. removing the fractured rock each time.

Wear eye protection if you use fire. I have had granite spit off shrapnel when well heated.
Dave.

 

[Jerry/MT]

I have a large limestone boulder 6' wide 10' long about 5' thick happens to be right where a new garage is planned to go. (Plan A)Tried a nice hot fire under one end which did form some cracks, but I figured I'd run out of wood before the rock would give in. (Plan B) Then rented a 60lbs jack hammer and compressor, which hardly touched it, pounded it for hours , the best luck was the end the fire had made several cracks in, some large chunks broke off. (Plan C) Betonamit or Dexpan, or feather and wedges. Leaning towards feather and wedges might be less money, then I can reuse if things don't split small enough. Any comments or ideas would be great

Heck I have bigger ones that that and they aren't limestone.

Get someone out there with a cat and he can move it to where you can use it for landscping. For what you all ready spent, it could have been moved

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Put a Harbor Freight label on it and have Dargo come over to play with it....he'll have it busted up in no time:laughing:

I think that's the best option...

 

[db556]

I had a large rock like that once. I used a LOT of wood and a leaf blower to fan it then a 50lb siphon tube bottle of Co2 with a hose on the cracks.
That got it into semi big layers that I could drag off.

 

[RobertBrown]

I don't think I'd want to use C4 on that rock. C4 has too high of a brisance in my opinion with its roughly 26,000 feet per second detonation velocity. It would tend to shatter and tear the rock which is a little dangerous. You would want to use ammonium nitrate and fuel oil with a cast PETN/TNT booster or something comparable for a rock like that. ANFO has a much lower brisance and tends to heave more than shatter making it much more safe to use when blasting rocks.

This guy knows what he's talking about get him to blow it up for you.

 

[dex3361]

Put a Harbor Freight label on it and have Dargo come over to play with it....he'll have it busted up in no time:laughing:

Now that funny.:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[mjncad]

I've found my wife to be particularly effective at crushing / obliterating stones

At least mine anyway

"what honey, sure I'll stop watching the playoff game and run out to the store and get some milk and bread and feminine hygiene products and then make lunch while you soak in the tub, of course I don't mind"

Joel

At least she didn't make you pound them flat yourself!

 

[veteranchuck]

Remember when we used to be able to go out and buy dynamite, caps and fuses? Then we had to find a guy who knew how to use just the right amount to do the job and keep from blowing up the neighborhood. I remember one rock that my dad had in his field that he just couldn't put up with anymore. He got the local blaster out there and they tried stick after stick of dynamite and that rock just wouldn't budge. They had enough frustration, so they finally put 12 sticks under that rock. The whole neighborhood shook. Though that was over 65 years ago occasionally we still find pieces of that rock in the field.

 

[zmoz]

"Uncle Bud" would have that thing gone with dynomite in no time. He has granite boulders all over is 1000+ acres. I remember looking through his barn and finding some old wood boxes marked dynomite....I didn't look inside. He's lived almost 100 years on the same property!

 

[jimmyj]

Put a big sign on it saying, private, do not remove, no trespassing. Then put a lock and chain around it. Should be gone by New Years! :laughing: