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Boulder Hunt!

Willie B

Willie B

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Jan 2, 2016
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Mount Tabor VT
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Electrician
wall1.jpg wall2.jpg

Here is a wall I built 10 years ago. 7' tall, 120 feet long 12' wide at base. My excuse was a flash flood diverter, but also to dispose of rock.

2012, water was splashing over the top of it, but gravity swept it past the house & garage. The sugar house at rear of the property didn't fare as well. 24 X 40 building, half the footprint was left hanging over nothing but air. I could walk under the concrete slab that had been poured on level ground. I figure I lost 2000 cubic yards of earth, mostly boulders.
Otter Creek is 1/2 mile away. None of the big rocks made it to the creek. Most were smashed into smaller pieces.
 
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Tugger2

Tugger2

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Mar 22, 2018
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1,379
Location
British Columbia
The job im on now has some tunneling going on. they are in glacial till with random boulders ranging from 6ft to gravel. Some of the samples are coming up to over 23000 psi . Pretty hard boulders to stand up to being rolled around under the glaciers.
 
Pixie

Pixie

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Joined
Nov 11, 2011
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374
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NH
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remodeling
Here in the Granite State, the size and number can vary quite a bit. Some places you see 3x4 foot rocks sitting on the ground in the woods every 15-20 feet. The kind of thing that would turn logging in to a maze game.
Other places there are just a few the size of VW Bugs scattered around.
Every piece of rural land I've owned had them spaced in an evil pattern underground so that augering to place posts turned into a game where for every two holes completed, the framing plan had to be reconsidered at least once. I finally gave up on having a plan and put the posts where ever they would go and had a heavy plate and scabs and braces from there to complete a pole barn cover for a 28' RV.
 
kshansen

kshansen

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Mar 11, 2012
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11,165
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Central New York, USA
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Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
Pixie said:
Here in the Granite State, the size and number can vary quite a bit. Some places you see 3x4 foot rocks sitting on the ground in the woods every 15-20 feet. The kind of thing that would turn logging in to a maze game.
Other places there are just a few the size of VW Bugs scattered around.
Every piece of rural land I've owned had them spaced in an evil pattern underground so that augering to place posts turned into a game where for every two holes completed, the framing plan had to be reconsidered at least once. I finally gave up on having a plan and put the posts where ever they would go and had a heavy plate and scabs and braces from there to complete a pole barn cover for a 28' RV.
Click to expand...
Pixie, That sounds a bit like up in the wooded area behind my house. Except here it is all limestone. Might be why there are two limestone quarries within spitting distance of my house! Can not understand how the deer manage to walk around in those woods!

Back when we bought the property for the house I first borrowed the old back-hoe from work and ran it down to the property and used it to dig a hole in the middle of the field about where we would be placing the house just to know there was actually enough dirt to have a full basement. Funny thing is when contractor was digging the hole at the east end he hit a big rock so moved the hole a few feet to the west. Sure enough when he got to the west end he found another one of those VW size rocks! Dad and I spent the better part of a day with jack-hammer getting it to a size the contractor could move with his little dozer and back hoe!
 
colson04

colson04

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Apr 11, 2016
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2,087
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Delton, Michigan
kshansen said:
Pixie, That sounds a bit like up in the wooded area behind my house. Except here it is all limestone. Might be why there are two limestone quarries within spitting distance of my house! Can not understand how the deer manage to walk around in those woods!

Back when we bought the property for the house I first borrowed the old back-hoe from work and ran it down to the property and used it to dig a hole in the middle of the field about where we would be placing the house just to know there was actually enough dirt to have a full basement. Funny thing is when contractor was digging the hole at the east end he hit a big rock so moved the hole a few feet to the west. Sure enough when he got to the west end he found another one of those VW size rocks! Dad and I spent the better part of a day with jack-hammer getting it to a size the contractor could move with his little dozer and back hoe!
Click to expand...

We have glacial till here that is sort of banded worse in areas. My cousin bought property to build a house in one of those stonier areas and discovered some monster boulders when they started excavation. One was right in the middle of the soon to be basement. They spent a weekend with backhoe and bulldozer (Deere 450 and Deere 310A) trying to dig it out and gave up when they realized it was bigger than the dozer. They moved the entire house location some 30ft and prayed they didn't find another boulder like that.
 
Willie B

Willie B

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Jan 2, 2016
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Mount Tabor VT
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Electrician
The fix is in one word: Fire.
I get rocks too big to move with the 410C. I have two right now in the way of a project. A weed burner torch works OK if the propane tank is big enough. I've done it with a oil burner out of a big boiler, but the traditional way is with a wood fire. works especially well if you can dig under it.
 
Willie B

Willie B

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Mount Tabor VT
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Electrician
aighead said:
@Willie B explain further please...?
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Expose at least one side of the rock. Build a fire up against it or use a gun oil burner from an oil furnace. The heat on one side will cause expansion & it'll flake away. It's best to keep the flakes moved away to let the heat penetrate the rock.
As a young man I did it more, didn't have machinery to move big rocks. I've probably broken 100 rocks this way from boulders weighing four or five ton to liftable size.

My fire pit doesn't look very good. It was three large boulders lined with fire brick. No mortar as it'd crack anyway. Bricks were once large fire bricks, most are broken. Still the bricks protected the rocks for years, no cracks.
Once when Mrs B & I were away, my son had a get together for our Daughter In Law's birthday. We came home to this. He swears there was no unusually big fire, I've got my doubts.

fire pit1.jpg fire pit1.jpg fire pit2.jpg
 

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aighead

aighead

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Dayton, OH
Wow! I've never heard of or thought of that technique for breaking up rocks but it makes sense, thanks for letting me know!
 
Willie B

Willie B

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Mount Tabor VT
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Electrician
Broke it Saturday. This rock I could lift with the John Deere 410C. It lifted both rear wheels off the ground to lift it. I don't know if I could calculate the weight of the rock from that, but the tractor weighs 17400 LBS with me sitting in the seat. There is a great portion of that weight at rear. Much of the time I find it lifting front tires off the ground.

First is a picture of a failed attempt with a weed burner torch. Propane tank was too small & it frosted up. Torch flame withered down to nothing.

Next is a bucket of rotted wood I wanted to dispose of.

Final shows a few cracks barely visible in the picture, but obvious to the eye. Drop a boulder on it at this point, it'll break.
I ended up breaking it into an 8' long X 4' wide X 1.5' chunk & a 3' slice, plus a billion small pieces.

I took final pictures, but they are no where to be found.

Weed.jpg Weed.jpg Wood.jpg Weed.jpg Wood.jpg cracks.jpg
 
aighead

aighead

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Such a pretty rock! That appears to be about the size of the biggest one in my yard, I wish I could get several handfuls more that size.
 
Willie B

Willie B

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Mount Tabor VT
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I further worked on the boulder today. The fire separated maybe 1/4 in one piece. I had thousands of little pieces & visible cracks through it. If I left it through a winter, it'd break further, but it was in the way. The process involves lifting a smaller stone as high as possible, and drop it on the bigger one. Fire caused flaws, impact will break it.

Portion.jpg

First picture is the first segment popped off by fire, maybe 1/4 total weight. It's 8' x 3' x 18"

Breaker.jpg

Next is a handy stone I'll drop on it.
 
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Willie B

Willie B

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Jan 2, 2016
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4,062
Location
Mount Tabor VT
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Electrician
Success.jpg

Third drop I broke another chunk off

color.jpg color.jpg

Fourth drop my drop stone broke. Note the discolor around the edges. I presume the rock is somewhat porous, and absorbed color from soil
 
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