Breaking stone with a hammer and chisel requires patience and finesse. Score a line along the edge of the section you wish to remove. Once the line has been etched, strike hard in the middle to make a clean break.
Take a desired quantity of stone and break it down into manageable chunks that are no bigger than the size of your fist. If the stone is already this size then you are ready to begin the first part of crushing it fine, but if if your samples are very large, use a sledge hammer to shatter them down into fist-sized pieces or smaller. Step 2
Some on this site have had luck with chemicals that break down concrete so it fractures easier. You just have to wait for the chemical reaction to do its thing and you need a hammer drill and masonry bit to drill holes. You will still need a sledge to break it up. I think you will be surprised how well the sledge hammer works.
A sledge will break rocks. A jackhammer will typically break rocks faster. ... As mentioned above, larger stones,fist size or bigger, will have to be strategically weakened or compromised some how before breaking. They make masonry cutoff wheels for angle grinders if you have one. Some diamond wheels can be run dry. Cutting slits or wedges ...
The easiest way to break big rocks is by using a sledgehammer. Just hit a specific point on the rock over and over with the sledgehammer until …
For general light-duty breaking of concrete, a 8- to 12-pound sledge hammer should do the job. For more heavy-duty breaking of thicker concrete, you may need a 16- to 20-pound sledge hammer. If you need to break large pieces or slabs of concrete, such as a patio or driveway, you should use a heavier sledge hammer, in the 20- to 24-pound range.
Some older concrete steps may have steel handrails inserted into the concrete at the original pour time. If this is the case, the steel may sit deep in the concrete, and you may need to cut the bars to remove it safely. When working to break …
Wearing protective eye glasses is the number one rule in all rock breaking activities. It doesn't matter if your breaking small rocks apart with a chipping hammer in your hand or swinging a large sledge hammer. Nothing is …
Then insert the feathers and wedges. Tap each one in until tight. Work from side to side tapping each one lightly. Don't force it. Eventually, there will be enough pressure to split the stone. If you tried to break the stone using just a sledgehammer, you will only succeed in getting shards of stone to fly into your eyes. –
A jackhammer will typically break rocks faster. An electric jackhammer might be the happy medium for "an enclosed environment" if there's a lot to be done, and electricity, …
You can go at it with a sledgehammer (or a smaller hand sledge) and a star drill, and then drive wedges into the holes (or if you are patient, fill the holes with water and let them …
Smaller rocks, up to about what an average (modern) man can lift are fairly easily dealt with using just a sledge hammer. Rest them on …
The easiest way to break a concrete slab is by lifting an edge so the slab is no longer supported, and hitting it with an appropriate tool (e.g. sledge hammer, jack hammer, or …
There's definitely more than one way to go about breaking apart smaller rock samples, but these should at least get you started. In this article you'll learn a few small rock breaking techniques.
Usually, I use a 3 pound sledge hammer for this task. Harder denser stones tend to break easier, using this method. For softer stones that might not want to split, or for thicker stones, you may need to go even slower.
The first thing you'll want to do is cover the rock, so when you hit it with the sledge hammer you'll minimize the amount of broken off shards that fly off. Depending on how large the rock is that you're working with, try wrapping it in a scrap piece of carpet or even old burlap bags.
Wrap your rock in an old piece of carpet, or a couple of old burlap bags, place on a piece of steel or thick concrete, put on your safety glasses, hit rock with a sledge hammer. If …
For thin slabs of concrete, use a sledgehammer to break it up. If the concrete is too thick to break up with a sledgehammer, you can use an electric jackhammer instead. Whichever tool you use, use a pry bar to lift and remove the pieces of concrete after you break them up. To learn what to do if you encounter and mesh or reinforcing bars ...