Let's make like a banana and split!

Well not so sweet as a Banana split, but I did have an equally rewarding afternoon.
I split my first rock today using the feathers (shims) and wedges that my father made me for my birthday and boy is it fun strangely fun.
It worked just as the book I'd read said it would and that's just fantastic for me. To take new found  information and apply it, is as rewarding as any other challenge i've come across.

So here's the quick version.
Buy a rotary hammer drill. This is very important, why? See my previous post on burning out a drill!
Drill holes 150mm or so apart
Insert feathers with wedge
Tap continually in sequence till you hear a great, immensely satisfying but little, snick.

So the rock I bought home to practice on was large enough to split twice. So now, out of one somewhat unusable round stone I now have three, very useful flat bottomed face stones one of which will be used in a corner. (A very important location)

One happy chappy today.

Now i'm going looking for those large difficult rocks!

Rotatry hammer drill

Feathers and wedges in place

 

Burnt out.

So my father sent me a birthday gift yesterday; some feathers and wedges that he made for me, so I may attempt to split some of these rocks for our garden wall.

Whilst a little inconsistent I have a feeling that they will work very well.  He used 20mm round bar and cut off the feather from each side and had them hardened at a local place in Glen Innes.

my hands after one minute pushed me to a better solution!

I found a 20mm masonry drill bit to use in my smallish Makita hammer drill.
Now from what I've read this may not quite be up to the task of drilling all day but I thought that I could at least practice to see what would be possible with the right equipment.
So I chucked up the drill bit and set to work on the first hole. 1 minute passed and my hands got that crazy itch you get from too much vibration, a bit like those old vibrating exercise machines from the 80's and with out much progress, just like the 80's exercise craze I guess.



I got to thinking.... There is a better way.
I thought of ways to automate the process particularly holding the drill and adding force to the handle.
I thought of adding weights on top but it seemed clumsy and then I thought of an image in a book that I have read many times. Scott landis' workbench book. On the back cover of my version there is a picture of an old guy holding a log down on a trestle using a rope or chain and his foot. Awsome I thought, that'll do me.
So in about two minutes I had two lengths of timber and a rope.
Drilled holes is the ends of the timber and tied the rope between them.
Place one length under the stone and the other stuck out the side. Looped the rope up and over the back of the drill.

It works great! The harder I tread on the timber the more force is added to the drill. It was so successful I drilled an inch in about 30 seconds and I didn't even have to apply any drive with my hands!
During that time I quickly learned that too much pressure is not so great as the drill struggled a bit.
After about 31 seconds I could smell that ominous stench of electrical overloading, bad bad bad. After 35 seconds before I'd even had time to consider stoping smoke billowed from the vents in the body if the drill and it ceased turning.
Both delighted and disappointed as the progress was fast! But I'm now with a hammer drill, a small problem. Warranty I hear you say, we'll as Murphy would have it, it's 8 months out. Boo hoo...

 

There are three kinds of men.

There's the one who learns by reading, a few who learn through observation and the rest have to pee on the electric fence themselves.

No we're not putting up an electric fence but this past week did see the strainer posts for the fence erected.
Now that the concrete is set the fencing contractor will be back later in the week to complete the rest.

The other photo shows the beginning of the low stone wall that will separate the veggie garden and the lawn.
I've not got a flat stone on the whole property I swear, thus this wall is going to be a challenge!