Need to remove rock tops............

[harpoonalt]

Ok....the hammer and chisel thing just made the rock mad. It's solid and it doesn't break up like some do. I'm going to see if I can find a 4" diamond blade locally for my angle grinder. If that fails, jackhammer time. After that.......dynamite.

 

[Egon]

Angle grinder with diamond rock blade will work.:thumbsup:

 

[CurlyDave]

I would sure try Baby Grand's Roman method before I spent a lot of money on anything.

We have some technological advances the Romans couldn't use.

1. Charcoal Briquettes

2. Electric fan

For no more than $5 - $10 you can try this on one rock and see for yourself how well it works.

It will save you time, effort and money.

* * * * *

The second method I would recommend is a jackhammer. But you have to understand how to use them. Take advantage of the fact that rock has low or no tensile strength. Which means the most efficient way to use a jackhammer is to move back 2-3" from an edge and hammer there. As you chip material off the edge, you keep moving back.

I have watched and laughed inside as guys started in the middle of a large flat expanse of rock and got nowhere fast. Throw down the jackhammer, shout a few choice words and walk away. I pick it up, move to an edge and start making rubble pretty fast.

 

[Western]

You can rent an electric jackhammer around here for less than a $100 for the day, before I bought mine, it cost me $45 for the day to rent. A couple of rocks like you have, should be a quick job.

 

[studor]

If you do go for the diamond blade remember to cool it with water -- -does not have to be a lot, just enough to not burn the diamonds off the blade.

 

[Mistyridgefarm]

4.5 inch diamond blades for side grinder are available at lowes and HD. Run about $30 last time I bought one. Works fast and if you keep it cool, will last quite long. If you are doing flagstone, you can use it for scoring and cutting the stone to fit.

Depending how much of the top of a stone you want to take off, score it an inch or so around the top. The cut some wedges out of hickory, drive into the cracks, and wet them. Keep them wet for a day or two and they will pop the top of the rock off.

My grandfather used to work a quarry long before big saws and jack hammers were around. He showed me several things like the hickory wedges. It does work!

 

[Artisan]

CLICK HERE

I was very sucessfull in removing the top 16" of a large piece of granite using Dexpan. Drill your holes, mix your Dexpan and pour it in your holes, walk your carcus away, let your Dexpan do your work for you. After a few hours
return to see your mess, clean up and smile. It is amazing when used correctly.

 

[Artisan]

I forgot I had taken pictures, here is the aftermath, need I say more?

 

[PILOON]

Artisan is the man!
I have read a lot about that material and as well heard excellent reports from a very large blasting contractor in our area that I have known for many years.
While professionally it is less cast effective he told me that the results were excellent.
The beauty is no permits are needed, just drill holes and fill and add water.

 

[Artisan]

I weighed out wedges and feathers, to buy them was really expensive. I
have plenty of machines, from a Stihl 14" handheld Quikcut saw, to a 9, to a
7, down to 4" . The cost of Dexpan and drilling vs sawing and breathing the
superfine saw dust just seemed the easiest route for me. ( I would love to
own feathers and wedges if anyone cares to sell them cheap )

I have 1/3 a box left over, some day I want to experiment w/ it and see
how precise one can be drilling smaller holes . I think I used a 1-5/8" X 18"
long ArrowHead style bit under a bosch chipping hammer. It sent me
and my helper for a few turns before it was all done!:confused2: But done it was.
It is like painting, do a crap load of tedius prep work for 5 minutes of fun.
I blew out the holes really clean.

You actually mix it in a pail then pour it in. Use a big funnel, I didn't and you
can see I wasted some. It sets up purdy fast. When done it turns to talc powder. I was amazed at the outcome.

WARNING: I spoke to several pros about this stuff prior to use. BLOWOUTS
can occure. I am told it can shot 40' up into the air should it slip, so keep
kids, people, animals etc away and be forewarned. I understand it is rare
but it can happen.

You buy it based on temperature if I rememeber right. BE SURE to learn all about it and respect
it. This stuff is freaking awsome. There are a couple of brands, do your
homework.

I wished I had taken before pics, before drilling, after drilling and after silent
dexpan-demo.

 

[tractchores]

I weighed out wedges and feathers, to buy them was really expensive. I
have plenty of machines, from a Stihl 14" handheld Quikcut saw, to a 9, to a
7, down to 4" . The cost of Dexpan and drilling vs sawing and breathing the
superfine saw dust just seemed the easiest route for me. ( I would love to
own feathers and wedges if anyone cares to sell them cheap )

I have 1/3 a box left over, some day I want to experiment w/ it and see
how precise one can be drilling smaller holes . I think I used a 1-5/8" X 18"
long ArrowHead style bit under a bosch chipping hammer. It sent me
and my helper for a few turns before it was all done!:confused2: But done it was.
It is like painting, do a crap load of tedius prep work for 5 minutes of fun.
I blew out the holes really clean.

You actually mix it in a pail then pour it in. Use a big funnel, I didn't and you
can see I wasted some. It sets up purdy fast. When done it turns to talc powder. I was amazed at the outcome.

WARNING: I spoke to several pros about this stuff prior to use. BLOWOUTS
can occure. I am told it can shot 40' up into the air should it slip, so keep
kids, people, animals etc away and be forewarned. I understand it is rare
but it can happen.

You buy it based on temperature if I rememeber right. BE SURE to learn all about it and respect
it. This stuff is freaking awsome. There are a couple of brands, do your
homework.

I wished I had taken before pics, before drilling, after drilling and after silent
dexpan-demo.

Where did you price wedge and feathers? I got a set of 1/2" ones for $30 and they work well for smaller rocks (less than 18" deep), for bigger ones you can get a larger set at similar cost. The nice part is you get the same effect, but it takes just a few minutes and they're reusable.

 

[Egon]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...1187298232-splitting-granite-rocks-rock-1.jpg

A thread showing stock being split.

Wear a mask for breathing protection. Some blades are made to be run dry. Let's all the fines blow away. Water makes gummy mixture and the fines stay in the hole or the saw cut.

5/8 sds rotary hammer drill works well . Angle grinders with Rock Blade work well.

Feathers and wedges are inexpensive. A supplier is noted in the above thread.

Method used will depend greatly on the shape of the rock to be removed. If it's granite there will be no fracture planes.:thumbsup:

 

[Artisan]

Thinking back, I went to Trow & Holden shopping for feathers and wedges where
I have shopped in the past, they make NICE stuff, I have a sculpting set of
carbide tip tools I pull out when I am chipping away granite etc from around
tub and shower valves + where the lazy-mason cheated and
removed the plaster/ stone guard to save himself time.

I think I might see my err , or did I...:confused3: , regarding pricing.

I was using a 1.625" bit so I looked at feather and wedges to fit that size hole. I
wasn't splitting a piece of something on blocks, this is a huge rock
that I needed to knock the top 18" or so off of. I read what they had
to say (see link above) and figured I needed the 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 Hole 12in Depth
@ $30.00 EA set, trying to stay conservative, they have longer.

I remember I wanted at least 12 sets, that would be $360.00 plus a good $15.00
at least for shipping, so we were just this side of $400.00 for Feathers and
Wedges, expensive for one job.

If I was wrong it wouldn't be the 2nd time I made a blunder.

Small units I believe are OK for free rocks, rocks on blocks etc, not what
I was doing. I didn't want to do the job 4-6 times in layers down to level
either.

I am still a buyer if they can be bought 2nd hand right, I definately see
a place for them, even doing concrete removal.

 

[tractchores]

Thinking back, I went to Trow & Holden shopping for feathers and wedges where
I have shopped in the past, they make NICE stuff, I have a sculpting set of
carbide tip tools I pull out when I am chipping away granite etc from around
tub and shower valves + where the lazy-mason cheated and
removed the plaster/ stone guard to save himself time.

I think I might see my err , or did I...:confused3: , regarding pricing.

I was using a 1.625" bit so I looked at feather and wedges to fit that size hole. I
wasn't splitting a piece of something on blocks, this is a huge rock
that I needed to knock the top 18" or so off of. I read what they had
to say (see link above) and figured I needed the 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 Hole 12in Depth
@ $30.00 EA set, trying to stay conservative, they have longer.

I remember I wanted at least 12 sets, that would be $360.00 plus a good $15.00
at least for shipping, so we were just this side of $400.00 for Feathers and
Wedges, expensive for one job.

If I was wrong it wouldn't be the 2nd time I made a blunder.

Small units I believe are OK for free rocks, rocks on blocks etc, not what
I was doing. I didn't want to do the job 4-6 times in layers down to level
either.

I am still a buyer if they can be bought 2nd hand right, I definately see
a place for them, even doing concrete removal.

The ones I got come 5 to a set, though the packaging made it confusing and it took some detective work to determine if I was getting just one set or many sets. I found them on Amazon.com relatively cheaply. When it comes to rocks I think whatever works and you're comfortable with is the way to go. After having dealt with a bunch of them in the last few weeks my new preference is digging a deep hole next to them and pushing them in and then re-burying if they're too big to easily lift or push out with the FEL or BH.

 

[harpoonalt]

update: I picked up a diamond blade for my 4" angle grinder at Ace hardware. It works pretty well for cutting grooves in the rock, which I believe is granite. Still need to use the hammer and chisel to break pieces out. I think a bigger blade for a circular saw would be better. the grinder is only able to cut 1 1/2 " deep grooves. I'm making progress.....

 

[Baby Grand]

A word about drilling granite: drilling resuts will be directly proportional to mica content. Enough mica in the mix and the drill has a tendency to bounce around, rather than shatter out bits of rock with every impact. I have hand drilled the stuff with a 5/8" 2 flute drill and hand sledge and observed this first hand. Also, don't breath the stone dust. There's a reason the first pneumatic drills were called widowmakers by the old hard rock miners, and it had nothing to do with cave ins. Use plenty of water to keep dust down.

 

[Artisan]

Great advice BG thanx...