Bush hammer or pneumatic point

["Disbrow Consulting" <diz@zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz>]

Morning Bill,
I am going to start work in the next couple of weeks on an article about
stardrills and featherwedges for splitting/cutting boulders.  It's part of
one of my next home projects.  Jeanette wants a nice little grape type
arbor/gate on the property line so she can visit with our neighbor Mary, and
have iced tea on hot summer days.  For this I will need curbing and flat
stock.  My brother also has a problem with boulders on his property, which
need removal.  I had thought that star drills weren't currently being made,
but when I spoke with the guy at the only place where I was able to find
feather wedges I discovered that they are still available.  They are new and
modern, and in much better shape than the ones sitting in the bottom of my
tool box.  I'll be ordering some soon.  I will also be teaching my brother's
kids to use a stardrill and wedges.  Even James (the four year old wild
crocodile hunter himself) will be able to drive the wedges hard enough with
a brick hammer to split the boulders.  My brother is an expert level
photographer and has agreed to photograph these shenanigans for humor and
posterity.  The biggest trick is training the eye to see the grain of the
stone and working with it to get a piece that you would like to use, and I
find the stone detail difficult to photograph.  John, my mentor, who
indecently took-up masonry at 35 or 40 when his trained profession faltered,
had been an ice man.  I have heard a lot of those stores, which should also
be published someday, but sadly never got to see.  John said that cutting
stone was like having a wife.  You can do whatever you want, but life is a
lot easier if you listen to her and find-out what she wants to do first.  I
apologize to the ladies here for the patronization, which probably works
both ways, but that's the way I learned it.  I have been playing with my
cameras trying to be able to show grain, and which way it prefers to go.
Feather wedges allow for a little better soft persuasion with a stone than
do stone axes, and I have seen some guys in the quarry yards do things with
radial cuts that would choke a diamond wet saw.  I am not nearly that good,
and the guys that I remember doing that kind of work are just not around as
much anymore.  It's pretty sad.

If you want to split stone Bill, you will need to get the right tools that
will allow you to work for extended periods.  The old timers here used very
soft steel heads that were hard faced.  This didn't kill you off in the
first 20 minutes of the day.  The experiment goes like this...Take a 16
pound sledge and swing hell bent for election on a big rock.. take your pick
of stone.. the result will be the same.  you will feel a shockwave that will
have you dancing like a 220 plug in the bath tub after a couple of swings.
Tool steel is too hard and it reflects the vibration back at the lowest
common denominator, which is you.  Softer steel doesn't send the vibration
back at you, but tends to vibrate the stone hopefully in the direction where
you want it to go.  Hard facing the face will keep the softer steel from
turning into "Mushroom Surprise" by the end of the afternoon.  I am not a
good welder, and only have a small arc welder, so I tend to use rods that
are meant for welding iron, and others that were designed for medium steel.
If you have access to a bigger unit, borium rod is an excellent choice.  If
you have a friend who is a really good welder and has the ability to keep
the steel at an optimum temperature for hardfacing... by all means.. have
them do it.  It lasts up to four times as long as any line that I can draw
on the face.  We have some highly qualified steel workers and Smiths on this
list.  I would enjoy being corrected as far as the metal is concerned.  They
may tell me that the vibrations are all in my head, but fun it fun.

That monster point that you showed (Let's call it the Halloween Hammer.. tis
the season?) looks like it would work great if struck with a softer hammer
and using the handle to keep the point exactly where you want it.  That in
my mind would have been the perfect too for concaving the stone surfaces for
the iron fittings for picket fences the way they used to do it.  Stone posts
went into the ground and supported iron hangers that supported the actual
wooden fence.  You still see the posts around here and there in some of the
old places.. the wood is long gone.  Jerry would probably be the best source
for information about this kind of hardware.  You see these posts all over
Williamsburg.

I will admit up front that I do things the old way partially because that's
the way I was taught, and also because I tend to be a stubborn cuss.  I
wasn't taught to buy tool heads in a store or in a catalog when I could get
them free at the dump, modify or make them, or get them given to me by folks
who just never want to see the tool again.  The latter is the best way to
get big hammers.  A 26# stone axe sells for almost $400 last I looked, but I
was helping a friend clean out his barn, and his wife said.. "get that thing
out of here before he hurts himself with it".  Kewl savings to me.  I had
though to photograph my tools for the article, but when I looked at many of
them I realized that I really want to do some grinding on them before I
completely embarrass myself.  Who has time for everything?  We have a long
winter coming.  I hope to have the tools looking right by spring.

Craig Disbrow, MBA, JD
Week-end Warrior
.
Disbrow Consulting
603 523 4259 (Voice)
603 523 4574 (Facsimile)