WOW …Great Job the Dexpan worked ! I’am impressed with all the different techniques you have tried to break this rock up. After watching you guys trying move or break up these huge rocks, and all the trees I have seen you cut down, etc, I think you are ready to watch some of Andrew Camarata’s video’s. I think you will really enjoy some of his techniques, if you have not watched him yet. He does all kinds of land management, cutting trees, moving & breaking up huge rocks, moving lots of dirt, with lots of different types of machines and tools. What he does will blow your mind ! Please take the time and watch any of his videos and you will learn a lot ! I JUST found your channel a few days ago and I’am binge watching every couple of days to catch up. LOVE YOUR CHANNEL, Take Care !
Nice job! If you ever need to move large stones well above your tractor's capability, mill yourself some 4x4 or 6x6 lumber and put it underneath the stone to act like railroad tracks and decrease the friction drastically. And it's simple enough to rig your pulley high up on a tree to help lift the stone onto the lumber. Keep up the good work!
Great valuable tips here - love it! That boulder was pulled across the trail to the low side and plowed the earth on its path. I wish I took some time to make the move easier, like what you suggest. 👍
@@WalnutsandWineberries Indeed. Cribbing is always our friend. It gets bypassed alot because we dont want to waste material or are afraid of it not working, which is usually a mistake. One that ive made many times myself, so im not critisizing here. Also, ive benifitted alot through the years using the basic concepts shown in this vid. th-cam.com/video/E5pZ7uR6v8c/w-d-xo.html Good luck with the new place.
About 1975 I helped a true stone mason in North Carolina named Mister Cliff by carrying mortar up the scaffolding or loading the bucket on the pulley system. The plantation house my family was restoring had 3 stone chimneys that his grandfather had built originally and needed repair. I think I got this info from him but never tried it, so here goes, and remember back in his grampa's time drilling in rock was done with star chisels. Black powder was not used as much as dogwood and water, dry dogwood evidently expands in the hole enough to crack it along the grain. Might help with your budget. If you can still find a 14 lb. stone hammer it is no slouch either. Another way is to bore a hole , fill it with water, then plug it in and wait for freezing weather.
Almost there, Dean! Such a long project, but it will be a nice private road once done. I started going back to widen and perfect certain areas to 10+ feet wide. Looking good!
Looks like what you thought was limestone is instead an igneous intrusion of what is now granite. Its very possible that the whole hillside is granite under the over burden of thin dirt. You may be in WAY over your heads. Then again it might just be a moraine of huge boulders deposited by the last glaciers 13,000 years ago. Could go on for miles. Good luck, do some test trenching to see if its a huge boulder field.
I almost bought some of those! I think they are a 3 piece system. Maybe called wedge feathers? I just got tired of being defeated by this rock and had to go with the for sure thing.
What you need is feather and wedge two in a series the feather part goes on either side of the wedge and with you hit the wedge in between the feather pieces spread the rock and the rock splits along the faults you drilled in to the stone. Look up this system on line.
Y'all should start standing those big rocks up and carving them like Moai statutes along the new driveway. Great job guys, keep it up and one day you will have the most epic driveway on TH-cam. Love y''all
Carla, I was almost going to try that, as you heard. I wasn't even joking. Then I thought about the chain slipping or cracking while pulling it, and now Ricky and I are part of a catapult's projectile! Haha! Glad the dexpan worked as well as it did. Good riddance!
I have used feathers and wedges as they are called to split large rocks, but that is labor intensive. I had never heard of Dexpan until I watched your video. I am glad you made it and I watched the whole thing.
Yes, the firing pin is on the edge. All .22 rounds are what is call rimfire shells. Anywhere on the circle of the rim is part of the firing mechanism. You need to be careful though because the explosion is going to take the path of least resistance and it can turn that drill bit into a bullet coming out of the hole. Please be careful. Your only other option is to path drill across the stone and use bore breakers to crack it. A bore breaker is a set of high tensil metal plates that drop in the hole and you drop a greased wedge between the plates, usually 3 plates, and you drive that wedge, usually a tapered rod into the space between the plates and as it expands them it cracks the rock. Otherwise, you need full blown explosives. Use the sledgehammer so that little finish hammer doesn't come back and hit you in the head. You will need a much bigger charge to crack that rock. Use the sledge hammer on those chisels and you might get somewhere.
Dang it, was not notified when this video came out and only 72 likes with 620 views, come on people hit that button. You cannot find this entertainment anywhere else but right here on Walnuts and Wineberries show your support by liking and sharing this great channel to keep them motivated as they take us along on this journey. Thanks Jon and Meg
I removed about 4-8 tons of granite with dexpan. At first I thought it was all sand stone so I cut it with wet saw. I burned up saw blade trying to cut it out. I started with 3/4 inch electric hammer drilled burned it out. Went to bigger drill with 1.25 in drill bit . Then went to rock drill with diesel compressor. Rock hammer drilled about a foot a minute compared to electric drill was 10-20 mins a foot. Breaking rock up is all about size, budget, access and time u have . Both dexpan and feather and wedges work. Great lessons learned always go bigger . I prob
3/8in 65ft long. Snatch blocks from Harbor Freight, too. The cord is rated at 12K lbs and the blocks are 20K lbs each. Nice heavy-duty stuff. www.harborfreight.com/38-in-x-65-ft-replacement-winch-cable-with-hook-61667.html
Plugs and feathers are available from Trow and Holden in... Vermont? If you pour water into the holes as you drive the plugs, the water opens up the cracks (at least in granite....). Sounds like the rind of a ripe watermelon splitting open ahead of a knife. Very satisfying :-)
It may take a bit more time but since you have a jack hammer you could dig holes into the rock just large enough to fit a wooden wedge. Hammer in several of the wedges along the fault line you want. then soak the wedges in water. As they expand they will crack the rock along the fault line. I believe this is how ancient rock workers used to get rocks to break. Just a thought.
It's a great alternative to explosives. So relieved it worked, especially on the thick section on the left. I was telling Meg, that even if we busted through the crack we were working in in the middle, that rock still would have been way too big for the tractor. Can't recommend this stuff enough 💪
You guys are definitely not afraid of hard work. I have used fertilizer to blast rocks in my younger days but I've never seen that stuff that you guys use that looks safer than the stuff I used to play with, what state are these guys in does anyone know it's beautiful country.
Drill some holes about 2” apart in a strait line where you’d like it to break. Then take splitting wedges and drive them in with a 16lb sledge. It will crack. Other than that you’d need a jack hammer. That’s not an easy job, even for a pro. There’s no short cut.
@@garryquiggins8183 Nothing is wrong with that, but $32.99 - 10 pack feathers and wedges for splitting stone and a mason hammer you make it in a morning with a 3000 years old technique with no big effort. I'm not judging them, it's a question of knowledge they apparently don't have.
John, my wife said you look like David Duchovny. I must agree. We have added the Dexpan to our list of tools. We have shall and limestone to deal with. Merry Christmas
I have an Internet Media Business which turns a bit of a profit. Based upon my experiences, you folks are magic. I subscribed and look forward to watching your videos. Thank you for all you do to share your challenges and victories to your viewers.
The sound of backhoe/tractor bucket sliding/scraping against rock. Some would say it's like fingernails on a chalk board. I know it so well. Rocks and stumps was why I bought my tractor. Luckily the rocks I had that were too big were fairly round and I could roll or slide them with the tractor as a bulldozer.
Correct me if I am wrong but I worked around Chillers and Boilers for years and PSI was a topic I brought up for years with customers. One simple way to explain PSI is a car. A 2,500 lb. car has 4 tires with 30-35 psi to hold it up. Another example is a graduation cap top which is called a mortarboard and if it is 12” x 12” there are 144 squares on top which if you apply just 3 PSI to each square the total weight of 432 lbs. would be on your head. Remember those tires holding up a 2,500 lb. car.? Now think what 18,000 lb. PSI can do.
Meg, I was expecting you to go after Jon with that jackhammer when he was pestering you with the air gun. Alas, you let him get away with it. Please make sure you get it on camera when he pushes you past the tolerance point. LOL
Suggestion: You might visit Outdoor with the Morgans... He is a former Blaster. Also as a former Black Powder shooter I would try black powder and a fire cracker wick. Carfull it would be very easy over charging the hole.
I had some large rocks to deal with. They are everywhere. A rented Caterpillar D5 high track was a easy solution. Rented it on a Friday they were closed on Sunday. So got for 3 days but only had to pay for 2 days.
Limestone is soft and easy to drill but hard to crack because it compresses ever so slightly. Granite and basalt are harder to drill but easier to crack. Still binging!
You should drill a line of holes, and then use the jackhammer to fracture between the line of holes. Those .22 Ramset cartridge's aren't going to cut it! Maybe if you got a few pounds of Tannerite to shoot to blow it up.
Failure of the 22 shots may have been gas leakage around the rod. A bit of slurry in the hole might help. Likewise you could probably do what old quarries did - feather and wedge your holes, or simply drill big holes, fill with water and let winter freeze do the work. Your solution worked as well, and didn't require frost...
You're dead on. I felt the kick-back on my hand. This would be a great skill to perfect. I think a dense plug near the top would help greatly... something the rod could slip through and seal the gap.
@@WalnutsandWineberries I am a bit reluctant to suggest this, but you can put an Inch of pyrex in a sealed soda straw and put that in the bottom of the hole under the 22 cap. Covering with a heavy cloth is required as this may result in fragments flying
You also had me wildly interested in the blank cartridge down the hole idea, so I went in search as Im sure you did. I think where you went wrong was the caliber. The largest rim fire blank I found was 27 cal long. Im wondering if you couldnt use center fire blanks, they go up to 38 cal. Just a thought.
I'm going to try that method again at some point (just for fun). I think I need to cork the top around the punch and the hole so the explosion stays contained and doesn't blow through the top weak point. That's just my guess though.
If you get the bucket partially under the edge of the rocks you will be able to flip them over easier than pushing against the rock in the middle of it.
Cut it with a con saw. Drive lead into the cut. This puts huge pressure all alo g the cut. Pour water onto it to relieve the surface tension then give it a thump with a sledge hammer and the shock wave will concentrate on the tension and you will hear the note drop in two or three thumps. Alternatively, Jack up the rock then rest it somewhere around its midpoint. Then hit it with a sledge hammer on the top right above your fulcrum. The stone's own weight will do the work for you. It will literally fall in two. Just mid yourself because you will be at rusk of trapping yourself so it rolls. Also worth noting. As you drive your feathers in chisels in listen to the note. When you achieve a higher note then move to the next one. When you have a few in go back and hit the first one again and see if it's note has dropped. Don't forget to add water when you tension everywhere. One last thing time works for you. Don't look for instant results. Take a break. Have a coffee or go for a walk then come back. Its easy, it's just not working because you don't know how easy it is.
Dexpan! Also, there's feathers and wedges. Drill a line of holes, insert feathers, drive wedges. They will break off multi-ton slabs of rock. There are bunches of TH-cam videos about them.
Boulder or rockbuster. Just a bigger version of what you tried with the power caps. 1 inch hole filled with water set the gun in and boom. Little rocks.
Plug and feathers is the way to go where you are working.Also change the bight position of your chain and attempt to roll rock rather than drag ,from the U.K.
I was happy to get the thing to move at all. Such a monster at 17 ft long! I do plan on playing around with some plug and feathers... something I've been wanting to try to quickly break a boulder in half to be more manageable.
you guys need to use a hammer drill with masonry bit, drill a line of holes in the rock, and discover dynomite or blasting powder, or diesel/nitrogen quarry blasting juice, with a blast mat you drape over the area to damp down the projectiles. seriously!
I think maybe the. 22 cartridge idea may have worked if there was no space round the cartridge, ie it was a very snug fit in the hole so the pressure would build up more. That's what I would try.
Wedge and feathers are not always the answer. I have used them on basalt with a rotary hammer drill and 5/8" W&F. Works great. I recently encountered a large rock (composition unknown) and the W&F caused it to spall and flake but no large breaks or fractures. It woiuld take weeks to clean up that 3' x 3' monster. My theory is the rock is porous and interior deformation absorbs the stress. I want the rock gone and am wondering if Dexpan would be the answer.
It has cracked anything I have tried it on. The trick is having the right sized bit. Don't go smaller than 1 inch. I have used 3/4 bits and the difference is night and day.
Bravo Guys, perseverance wins out; I've not heard of 'Dexpan' before, a scientific brute force, some kind of chemical frost effect? Impressive results :-)
Make chisels out of 3/4 inch ReBar. 1 ft or 18 inches in length. Do you live in a Freeze zone? Water will crack anything. Engine blocks - cement - granite. I have done granite. 8-9 on hardness scale.
Drill multiple holes then insert little wedges. Tap and tap and any big rock will crack eventually. This is a system that has been done throughout the ages. There are several youtube videos. Good luck.
There is some kind of chemical compound that works like hydraulic cement. Drill the hole mix the compound fill the hole come 24hrs later and the compound expands and fractures the rock.
There is a device called Sierra Blaster that does not require an ATF licence that will split rocks faster than Dex. If you have days dex is OK, Sierra works right now.
I dont mean to critique your efforts but I have been in rope rescue for over 20 years. Your minor direction changes with your pull cable does not multiply your pull force. The change of direction must be less than 90 degrees to gain mechanical advantage. Your system was a 3:1 or 4:1 by the angles I saw. Also 4:1 actually refers to pulling your lead 4' to move the load 1' or 4" of pull to move the load 1". Good work, I enjoyed watching you guys. Keep adding snatch blocks, you can move the world.
John to remedy the removable of large stones maybe you should think about renting a larger excavator to make your roads your beating the heck out of Ricky.
I agree with Chris Bertelson, feathers and wedge is a good alternative.
If it is basalt not so much.
Never heard of Dexpan before watching your video. Thanks for sharing. Awesome!
18:40.... Gratifying , thank you and love you vids guys~~~ !!!
YES!! Feathers & Wedges. It's how they break rock in quarries.
Good job, and the remaining ones will be easier!
It is hard to not Monday Morning Quarterback, but the reason you succeeded is that you didn’t quit.
WOW …Great Job the Dexpan worked ! I’am impressed with all the different techniques you have tried to break this rock up.
After watching you guys trying move or break up these huge rocks, and all the trees I have seen you cut down, etc, I think you are ready to watch some of Andrew Camarata’s video’s.
I think you will really enjoy some of his techniques, if you have not watched him yet. He does all kinds of land management, cutting trees, moving & breaking up huge rocks, moving lots of dirt, with lots of different types of machines and tools.
What he does will blow your mind !
Please take the time and watch any of his videos and you will learn a lot ! I JUST found your channel a few days ago and I’am binge watching every couple of days to catch up.
LOVE YOUR CHANNEL, Take Care !
Greetings from the BIG SKY of Montana. Dexpan is something I haven't seen.
As I see you guys struggling I just want to jump in and help. Surprisingly good result with just 1 inch holes. Good work, you killed it.
I agree with Chris Bertelson, feathers and wedges are a great alternative
When using a cable, chain, or rope under high tension throw a few 4ft x 4ft pieces of scrap carpet over. Just on case of a snap.
My family loves your perseverance as always.
Even more simple option is rent a concrete saw, cheep, fast, and easy but i admire your work ethic and love yalls videos
Wow!!! That was an amazing effort and example of perseverance!! Great to know of the Dexpan product! No rock is safe on your mountain!!
It amazed me when the rock got pulled through a pile of dirt. Mind boggling how strong pulleys can be.
Nice job!
If you ever need to move large stones well above your tractor's capability, mill yourself some 4x4 or 6x6 lumber and put it underneath the stone to act like railroad tracks and decrease the friction drastically. And it's simple enough to rig your pulley high up on a tree to help lift the stone onto the lumber.
Keep up the good work!
Great valuable tips here - love it! That boulder was pulled across the trail to the low side and plowed the earth on its path. I wish I took some time to make the move easier, like what you suggest. 👍
@@WalnutsandWineberries
Indeed. Cribbing is always our friend. It gets bypassed alot because we dont want to waste material or are afraid of it not working, which is usually a mistake. One that ive made many times myself, so im not critisizing here.
Also, ive benifitted alot through the years using the basic concepts shown in this vid.
th-cam.com/video/E5pZ7uR6v8c/w-d-xo.html
Good luck with the new place.
About 1975 I helped a true stone mason in North Carolina named Mister Cliff by carrying mortar up the scaffolding or loading the bucket on the pulley system. The plantation house my family was restoring had 3 stone chimneys that his grandfather had built originally and needed repair. I think I got this info from him but never tried it, so here goes, and remember back in his grampa's time drilling in rock was done with star chisels. Black powder was not used as much as dogwood and water, dry dogwood evidently expands in the hole enough to crack it along the grain. Might help with your budget. If you can still find a 14 lb. stone hammer it is no slouch either. Another way is to bore a hole , fill it with water, then plug it in and wait for freezing weather.
John and Meg, I applaud your determination. To say you guys "rock" is an understatement. You guys are whipping tat Mountain into shape.
Almost there, Dean! Such a long project, but it will be a nice private road once done. I started going back to widen and perfect certain areas to 10+ feet wide. Looking good!
Looks like what you thought was limestone is instead an igneous intrusion of what is now granite. Its very possible that the whole hillside is granite under the over burden of thin dirt. You may be in WAY over your heads.
Then again it might just be a moraine of huge boulders deposited by the last glaciers 13,000 years ago. Could go on for miles. Good luck, do some test trenching to see if its a huge boulder field.
That is definitely NOT Granite
Ok ok ok! Sorry I can't resist! You guys rock!!!
Very cool you two! Never heard of Dexpan but seen people split boulders by drilling holes and using many steel wedges with a 5 lbs hammer.
I almost bought some of those! I think they are a 3 piece system. Maybe called wedge feathers? I just got tired of being defeated by this rock and had to go with the for sure thing.
What you need is feather and wedge two in a series the feather part goes on either side of the wedge and with you hit the wedge in between the feather pieces spread the rock and the rock splits along the faults you drilled in to the stone. Look up this system on line.
Y'all should start standing those big rocks up and carving them like Moai statutes along the new driveway. Great job guys, keep it up and one day you will have the most epic driveway on TH-cam. Love y''all
Carla, I was almost going to try that, as you heard. I wasn't even joking. Then I thought about the chain slipping or cracking while pulling it, and now Ricky and I are part of a catapult's projectile! Haha! Glad the dexpan worked as well as it did. Good riddance!
I have used feathers and wedges as they are called to split large rocks, but that is labor intensive. I had never heard of Dexpan until I watched your video. I am glad you made it and I watched the whole thing.
Yes, the firing pin is on the edge. All .22 rounds are what is call rimfire shells. Anywhere on the circle of the rim is part of the firing mechanism. You need to be careful though because the explosion is going to take the path of least resistance and it can turn that drill bit into a bullet coming out of the hole. Please be careful. Your only other option is to path drill across the stone and use bore breakers to crack it. A bore breaker is a set of high tensil metal plates that drop in the hole and you drop a greased wedge between the plates, usually 3 plates, and you drive that wedge, usually a tapered rod into the space between the plates and as it expands them it cracks the rock. Otherwise, you need full blown explosives. Use the sledgehammer so that little finish hammer doesn't come back and hit you in the head. You will need a much bigger charge to crack that rock. Use the sledge hammer on those chisels and you might get somewhere.
working on a similar project, a friend just sent me some feathers and wedges, if they dont work, i'll have to try this. very cool.
Dang it, was not notified when this video came out and only 72 likes with 620 views, come on people hit that button. You cannot find this entertainment anywhere else but right here on Walnuts and Wineberries show your support by liking and sharing this great channel to keep them motivated as they take us along on this journey. Thanks Jon and Meg
Warms our hearts we have such great fans! Thank you for cheering us on 👍👊😊
Agree 100% makes no sense you aren’t getting 1M views each episode 😎
This was VERY exciting for me to see! Move that rock!!! YAY!
We were BEYOND THRILLED, Gere. Thanks for cheering us on!
I removed about 4-8 tons of granite with dexpan. At first I thought it was all sand stone so I cut it with wet saw. I burned up saw blade trying to cut it out. I started with 3/4 inch electric hammer drilled burned it out.
Went to bigger drill with 1.25 in drill bit .
Then went to rock drill with diesel compressor.
Rock hammer drilled about a foot a minute compared to electric drill was 10-20 mins a foot. Breaking rock up is all about size, budget, access and time u have . Both dexpan and feather and wedges work.
Great lessons learned always go bigger .
I prob
3/8in 65ft long.
Snatch blocks from Harbor Freight, too. The cord is rated at 12K lbs and the blocks are 20K lbs each. Nice heavy-duty stuff.
www.harborfreight.com/38-in-x-65-ft-replacement-winch-cable-with-hook-61667.html
perseverance is a state of mind 🥳 job well done 🍺🍺🍕
Plugs and feathers are available from Trow and Holden in... Vermont? If you pour water into the holes as you drive the plugs, the water opens up the cracks (at least in granite....). Sounds like the rind of a ripe watermelon splitting open ahead of a knife. Very satisfying :-)
I use a rockdrill, gunpowder and a electrik match (wrapped sealed in paper). Works every time and it's fast. :)
Hope your ground anchors hold and your family safe and dry today. Thoughts are with you.
Thanks, Adam! Ok so far. Horrible what happened last night in KY.
Dexpan is the absolute best stuff on earth!!! I usta use it to bust out concrete pads and patios and driveways…
It may take a bit more time but since you have a jack hammer you could dig holes into the rock just large enough to fit a wooden wedge. Hammer in several of the wedges along the fault line you want. then soak the wedges in water. As they expand they will crack the rock along the fault line. I believe this is how ancient rock workers used to get rocks to break. Just a thought.
Dang that Dexpan worked very well! Good stuff!
Loved the video! I'd never heard of Dexpan but it may be in my future!
It's a great alternative to explosives. So relieved it worked, especially on the thick section on the left. I was telling Meg, that even if we busted through the crack we were working in in the middle, that rock still would have been way too big for the tractor. Can't recommend this stuff enough 💪
I didn't look up the name but yes I said in a comment that you should try that stuff! Cool!
Perserverance, determination resulted in success.
Awesome👍 I had bought a small amount about 2 yrs ago when splitting 2’ diameter rocks with feathers.
You guys are definitely not afraid of hard work. I have used fertilizer to blast rocks in my younger days but I've never seen that stuff that you guys use that looks safer than the stuff I used to play with, what state are these guys in does anyone know it's beautiful country.
Hard work is very rewarding to us. We are in Virginia (southwest).
Drill some holes about 2” apart in a strait line where you’d like it to break. Then take splitting wedges and drive them in with a 16lb sledge. It will crack. Other than that you’d need a jack hammer. That’s not an easy job, even for a pro. There’s no short cut.
What's wrong with the easy shortcut they're using. One big rock is now many small rocks, all they did was drill pour and wait?
@@garryquiggins8183 Nothing is wrong with that, but $32.99 - 10 pack feathers and wedges for splitting stone and a mason hammer you make it in a morning with a 3000 years old technique with no big effort.
I'm not judging them, it's a question of knowledge they apparently don't have.
the nail gun that you use is called a ramset and Ramsey loads
Awesome results after the struggle! Dexpan (rocks)! ;)
You had me 15 min in by blowing stuff up...well done
Nice to know it works👀
If there's a queenship for snatch blocks, Meg can easily claim the title.
John, my wife said you look like David Duchovny. I must agree. We have added the Dexpan to our list of tools. We have shall and limestone to deal with. Merry Christmas
The truth is out there 👽
Merry Christmas, Jason!
Any Christmas decorations in future videos?
I have an Internet Media Business which turns a bit of a profit. Based upon my experiences, you folks are magic. I subscribed and look forward to watching your videos. Thank you for all you do to share your challenges and victories to your viewers.
The sound of backhoe/tractor bucket sliding/scraping against rock. Some would say it's like fingernails on a chalk board. I know it so well. Rocks and stumps was why I bought my tractor. Luckily the rocks I had that were too big were fairly round and I could roll or slide them with the tractor as a bulldozer.
It's like music to my ears. Haha!
Correct me if I am wrong but I worked around Chillers and Boilers for years and PSI was a topic I brought up for years with customers. One simple way to explain PSI is a car. A 2,500 lb. car has 4 tires with 30-35 psi to hold it up. Another example is a graduation cap top which is called a mortarboard and if it is 12” x 12” there are 144 squares on top which if you apply just 3 PSI to each square the total weight of 432 lbs. would be on your head. Remember those tires holding up a 2,500 lb. car.?
Now think what 18,000 lb. PSI can do.
Careful with that air line! Bubbles in the blood can kill !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Meg, I was expecting you to go after Jon with that jackhammer when he was pestering you with the air gun. Alas, you let him get away with it. Please make sure you get it on camera when he pushes you past the tolerance point. LOL
Shop vac to pull dust out of holes may have worked better- I'm sure you have heard from every Monday morning QB by now. Way to persevere!!
Greetings from the BIG SKY.
Suggestion: You might visit Outdoor with the Morgans... He is a former Blaster. Also as a former Black Powder shooter I would try black powder and a fire cracker wick. Carfull it would be very easy over charging the hole.
I had some large rocks to deal with. They are everywhere. A rented Caterpillar D5 high track was a easy solution. Rented it on a Friday they were closed on Sunday. So got for 3 days but only had to pay for 2 days.
Limestone is soft and easy to drill but hard to crack because it compresses ever so slightly. Granite and basalt are harder to drill but easier to crack. Still binging!
You should drill a line of holes, and then use the jackhammer to fracture between the line of holes. Those .22 Ramset cartridge's aren't going to cut it! Maybe if you got a few pounds of Tannerite to shoot to blow it up.
Best way to do that is pins and wedges method you drill a series of holes put your pins and wedges in and tap them with a 3 or 5 lb hammer
Just curious if ice would work, drill holes and fill with water and on cold day water will freeze
I now know what this substance is and can do. A most expansive substance.
Failure of the 22 shots may have been gas leakage around the rod. A bit of slurry in the hole might help. Likewise you could probably do what old quarries did - feather and wedge your holes, or simply drill big holes, fill with water and let winter freeze do the work. Your solution worked as well, and didn't require frost...
You're dead on. I felt the kick-back on my hand. This would be a great skill to perfect. I think a dense plug near the top would help greatly... something the rod could slip through and seal the gap.
@@WalnutsandWineberries I am a bit reluctant to suggest this, but you can put an Inch of pyrex in a sealed soda straw and put that in the bottom of the hole under the 22 cap. Covering with a heavy cloth is required as this may result in fragments flying
You also had me wildly interested in the blank cartridge down the hole idea, so I went in search as Im sure you did. I think where you went wrong was the caliber. The largest rim fire blank I found was 27 cal long. Im wondering if you couldnt use center fire blanks, they go up to 38 cal. Just a thought.
I'm going to try that method again at some point (just for fun). I think I need to cork the top around the punch and the hole so the explosion stays contained and doesn't blow through the top weak point. That's just my guess though.
Hey look up feathering it's where you put a chisel in there and you make like a line like down the rock to bust it up and it makes a clean line
Nice work! Had similar results with Dexpan. Worst part is the drilling
Agreed. Takes a while, but pays off big time.
If you get the bucket partially under the edge of the rocks you will be able to flip them over easier than pushing against the rock in the middle of it.
Have you guys ever thought about Land shifts like mud slides that take down the whole side of a mountain?
Take the big broken chunks to a local stone works maybe work out having your own gravel?They may be able to come and get it and trade. Just a thought.
Seems covering the stones with enough soil would work. They're not far up from the ground surface.
Long logs and a point for Jack hammer make life easier
Cut it with a con saw. Drive lead into the cut. This puts huge pressure all alo g the cut. Pour water onto it to relieve the surface tension then give it a thump with a sledge hammer and the shock wave will concentrate on the tension and you will hear the note drop in two or three thumps.
Alternatively, Jack up the rock then rest it somewhere around its midpoint.
Then hit it with a sledge hammer on the top right above your fulcrum. The stone's own weight will do the work for you. It will literally fall in two. Just mid yourself because you will be at rusk of trapping yourself so it rolls.
Also worth noting. As you drive your feathers in chisels in listen to the note.
When you achieve a higher note then move to the next one. When you have a few in go back and hit the first one again and see if it's note has dropped.
Don't forget to add water when you tension everywhere.
One last thing time works for you. Don't look for instant results. Take a break. Have a coffee or go for a walk then come back. Its easy, it's just not working because you don't know how easy it is.
It is always on the edge
You can never win any battle if you give up. Thumbs up!
Enjoying being a New Sub.👍🏻
This is what they make explosives for. You could have done it in a couple hours with a little kinepak.
Illegal.
@@WalnutsandWineberries you could get a license.
Yes... 90 minute job.
Read up on using Ammonium Nitrate uses or Wedge and Feather Shims.
Was I disrespectful? I admire this couple! Go kids.
there is a reason they have used feathers and wedges for thousands of years to shape/breakup rocks.
Dexpan! Also, there's feathers and wedges. Drill a line of holes, insert feathers, drive wedges. They will break off multi-ton slabs of rock. There are bunches of TH-cam videos about them.
Boulder or rockbuster. Just a bigger version of what you tried with the power caps. 1 inch hole filled with water set the gun in and boom. Little rocks.
Plug and feathers is the way to go where you are working.Also change the bight position of your chain and attempt to roll rock rather than drag ,from the U.K.
I was happy to get the thing to move at all. Such a monster at 17 ft long! I do plan on playing around with some plug and feathers... something I've been wanting to try to quickly break a boulder in half to be more manageable.
you guys need to use a hammer drill with masonry bit, drill a line of holes in the rock, and discover dynomite or blasting powder, or diesel/nitrogen quarry blasting juice, with a blast mat you drape over the area to damp down the projectiles. seriously!
Safety tip, never stand inline with a chain or rope that has a load on it, if it snaps your a target 🥴
I think maybe the. 22 cartridge idea may have worked if there was no space round the cartridge, ie it was a very snug fit in the hole so the pressure would build up more. That's what I would try.
Wedge and feathers are not always the answer. I have used them on basalt with a rotary hammer drill and 5/8" W&F. Works great. I recently encountered a large rock (composition unknown) and the W&F caused it to spall and flake but no large breaks or fractures. It woiuld take weeks to clean up that 3' x 3' monster. My theory is the rock is porous and interior deformation absorbs the stress. I want the rock gone and am wondering if Dexpan would be the answer.
It has cracked anything I have tried it on. The trick is having the right sized bit. Don't go smaller than 1 inch. I have used 3/4 bits and the difference is night and day.
Feathers and wedges work also for cracking rock
They have been purchased! Stay tuned for our next episode. ;) - Meg
2 to the 5th minus 1 megs. Move the chain to increase the leverage.
Feathers and wedges are the way
If you fill the hole with water first you would get a expanding pressure in all directions. This pressure would be equal in all directions.
Bravo Guys, perseverance wins out; I've not heard of 'Dexpan' before, a scientific brute force, some kind of chemical frost effect? Impressive results :-)
Make chisels out of 3/4 inch ReBar. 1 ft or 18 inches in length. Do you live in a Freeze zone? Water will crack anything. Engine blocks - cement - granite. I have done granite. 8-9 on hardness scale.
Lots of pulley action finally .
Drill multiple holes then insert little wedges. Tap and tap and any big rock will crack eventually. This is a system that has been done throughout the ages. There are several youtube videos. Good luck.
Don't be a quitter. Finish the job.
There is some kind of chemical compound that works like hydraulic cement. Drill the hole mix the compound fill the hole come 24hrs later and the compound expands and fractures the rock.
It is called Dexpan. That is what we use in this episode. 👍
There is a device called Sierra Blaster that does not require an ATF licence that will split rocks faster than Dex. If you have days dex is OK, Sierra works right now.
With the small hammer you loose more energy up out the hole, also if the holes are too close the energy just go's to the next hole.
You're tryin to move a 22 ton boulder with your toy tractor. Good luck. I'd make the speed bump.
Dang! You practically turned that rock into gravel
I dont mean to critique your efforts but I have been in rope rescue for over 20 years. Your minor direction changes with your pull cable does not multiply your pull force. The change of direction must be less than 90 degrees to gain mechanical advantage. Your system was a 3:1 or 4:1 by the angles I saw. Also 4:1 actually refers to pulling your lead 4' to move the load 1' or 4" of pull to move the load 1". Good work, I enjoyed watching you guys. Keep adding snatch blocks, you can move the world.
John to remedy the removable of large stones maybe you should think about renting a larger excavator to make your roads your beating the heck out of Ricky.
To split the rock you need 2 steel plate and a chisel to spread the rock apart