These ears just get bent up and have to be bent back into place often, eventually snapping off or getting so bent out of shape that they no longer function. Also, this type of feather and wedge lacks the awkward “ears” that other feather and wedge sets have. Feather and wedges (I prefer THESE feather and wedges, with the rubber band to keep them in place.Technically a regular carpenters hammer that has a “hammer drill setting” will work. Tools needed for this type of stone splitting Such scoring may also be done with a hammer and chisel. Usually, I’m only doing this for a less than completely cooperative stone type: usually, it’s just not necessary. This method can help ensure that the cut comes out nice and straight. Take an angle grinder and just scratch the stone, like an 1/8″ deep, along the line where you want the cut to be. Other times, it can be helpful to score a line first.In some cases, a softer or lager stone may not want to split, and may even split in a less predictable manner–this pausing helps. Sometimes, I’ll drive my plugs down a third of the way–and then pause for a minute. For softer stones that might not want to split, or for thicker stones, you may need to go even slower.Harder denser stones tend to break easier, using this method.Usually, I use a 3 pound sledge hammer for this task.Your goal is to drive the plugs down as evenly as possible. One or two taps per plug, then the next plug, then the next. Then, once all feathers and wedges are situated, you want to gently drive the plugs down.Step 3: drive wedges down in between the feathers Next insert the plugs with a gentle tap to get them into place.Put the feathers in first, seating them all the way down into the hole.You want your feathers and wedges to be set perpendicular to the cut line.Step 2: insert feather and plugs aka feather and shims, feather and wedge, feather and plug We’ve also done what I’m doing in the video:use water to eliminate dust, plus a dust mask or bandana just in case the water doesn’t catch all the dust. Many people will insist on using a proper respirator…to date, we’ve used fans to remove the dust, proper respirators with p100 cartridges on them. Water being used keeps the dust down, but it’s not 100%, so it’s good to have some other sort of protection….you do not want to breath in stone dust. The bandana around my neck is there in case of dust.This extends the life of the drill bit, makes the bit go down faster, and keeps the dust down too. As the bit goes down, I dip the sponge into the bucket and then dribble water onto the bit. As such, I usually have a grout sponge sitting in a bucket filled with water next to me when drilling stone. Cooled and lubricated bits last longer.If I was splitting much larger boulders and needed to use a larger sized feather and wedge set up, then I may have gone for 1/4″ bit, to 1/2″ bit, to 1″ or however big it ultimately needed to be. In this case–I stepped it up to a 5/8″ drill bit because that’s the size hole I needed. Make the hole wider by switching out your drill bit for whatever size it needs to be stepped up to.This is a time saver–you first dill all the way through the stone, using a quarter inch sized drill bit or similar. Usually, I drill a pilot hole first, using a smaller sized drill bit (masonry SDS bits).I have no great brand loyalty here….but here’s the one I’ve been using for the past couple years. Not great, but works for a trench or other project to get rocks out of the way. My preferred method became digging holes near the rocks and pushing or pulling them out of the way into the new hole. Unfortunately there's not a lot of good solutions. Hydraulic breaker: Unable to find an attachment for my BH and was told that it's REALLY hard on the tractor. issue here was the time and drilling holes was still needed. Chemicals : Same effectiveness as feather and wedges, but takes longer. Drilling also took FOREVER and I dulled the drill bits quickly (should have used water or something). i've had limited success, but my rocks tended to fracture and shed chunks VS splitting. You drill with a hammer drill and bunch of times and then use the wedges to crack it. Wedge and feather: This actually should be the easiest method. Rent a jackhammer: This actually works, but is slow and a lot of effort. You likely have a lot of granite, which unfortunately is VERY tough. Depending on the type of stone you may have some options. I've tried a bunch of approaches (I have huge rocks).
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