[TowerTalk] Moving big rocks

[Roger (K8RI)]

Dynamite is certainly the fun way, but now days they require a "powder 
permit, or license".
I've dug holes through hard pan and within feet of windows without 
breaking anything, but it takes a little at a time.
Now days, and some one already mentioned this stuff, but I can't 
remember the name,  you mix the goop up, pour in holes, go do something 
else over night and come back to find the rock neatly broken...if you 
drilled the holes in the right places.  There was a discussion on here 
about the stuff within the last year so it should be in the archives.

On the farm, besides busting them up the noisy (and messy) way, we used 
to work them onto a skid  that consisted of a piece of relatively thin 
steel with a reinforced leading edge and eyes welded on for chain. Once 
on the steel some pretty large rocks can be moved around with relatively 
small tractors.

One reason we didn't blast them was due to the small (and not so small) 
shards that are formed.  You have to darn near pick up all of them as 
they sure are hard on tractor tires even if those tires are steel 
belted. It really didn't take much dynamite to bust up a rock, but it 
took a lot of drilling. A quarter to half stick at the bottom of a drill 
hole poured full of soupy clay would work wonders.That worked in long 
drill holes, but not very well in short ones.

73

Roger (K8RI)

K7LXC at aol.com wrote:
> Hiya, TowerTalkians --
>  
>     I need to do something about 2 big rocks sitting on  top of a new tower 
> base hole. They're about 5x3x2 - looks like about a cubic  yard each. It's 
> not very possible to get a piece of machinery to move  them so we'll have to 
> do it by hand. Should I drill some holes and then  split the rock or would 
> a jackhammer work? Any other methods to try? Tnx.
>  
> Cheers,
> Steve     K7LXC
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