Splitting Rock Questions

[bcp]

We split tons of bolders to build a greenhouse.

First time I've seen rock split thin enough for light to pass through.



Bruce

 

[Egon]

Musta run into some pure Mica.

 

[deereman75]

You forgot deereman, you got to say "feets don't fail me now":laughing:

Ya that might help, also use some duct tape to make sure the fuse doesnt fall out. (if it works for red green, it will work for you)

 

[JohninCT]

Holy boulder buster Batman!!!! I was quoted a price of $3,995++++, Plus tax, plus shipping, plus loads, plus heavy loads +++. I still can't see where this little gadget is worth over $4500. I can buy a hyd hammer for my B26 for just over $6000. Much better value in my opinion.

Oh well I guess I will be ordering some cannon fuse, and see if I can split some rock, without blowing myself or the neighbors house up. Wish me luck.

Wow! I guess that price puts it well out of range for most of us do it yourselfers. Plus you would still need to have a drill suitable for drilling the rock. If you have a lot of rock/boulders to deal with a good drill may be a better investment.

Thanks Carl for checking that out for all of us.

 

[lakesidebobcat]

Find or call your local rental yard and rent a rock drill package (in CA they rent for around $150 per day)......then purchase the expansive material (sells for around $120 per box)...I listed a picture of the granite rock we split on an earlier post

 

[da_junkman]

If you're cheap (like me) and don't mind whittling away at it for a couple of weeks (like me) the pyrodex method works pretty well. I had some serious rock in a hill I was cutting away with my excavator. I drilled 1/2" holes about 16" deep, blew them out with air, poured in about 120 grains of pyrodex, stuck in cannon fuse with about 6" sticking out of the hole. I packed in plumbers putty and used a dowel to compact the putty. It has to be packed tight. Once I lit the fuse, I threw a piece of old carpet or plywood over it as a blast blanket to catch any shrapnel that might go flying through the air. Mostly that consisted of a few rock chips so it was nothing significant. I also did it during deer season so most of my neighbors just thought someone was sighting in a muzzleloader.

 

[Egon]

Using some fertilizer might reduce your shooting cost.

 

[Haoleguy]

I've added some pics below that show (1) largest rock, (2) medium rock, and (3) rocks I can manage with rented 14 ton excavator. My JD 5325 is shown in each pic for scale. As I said before I have 6-8 rocks I need to make smaller so that I can move them with excavator....Gary

Well last week I had a contractor out to show me what they could do in a 1/2 day at $100/hr. His equipment is a rock drill and a hydraulic wedge. The larger boulder in my first pic had 16 holes(30in deep) put in it and the wedge generated long cracks through the boulder. That one took 3 hrs to do. Then I had him do 2 rocks of ~20K lbs. Each rock received 3 holes but one was harder than the others and took longer to drill the holes. One rock split real good but the other is questionable....won't know until I take an excavator to it. At the moment I am pleased with the results. In the near term my plan is to rent a 20ton excavator and dig these and other rocks/boulders out for burial under a driveway. I have a agreement with this contractor to respond within 48hrs if I need additional rocks split while in the possession of the excavator. Watching the rock drill at work left me with the feeling that better to have someone else do it.....it would probably rattle my fillings loose.........Gary