Allan M
Well-Known Member
I'm cutting a fire break near the house. Under two feet of top soil is mainly serpentine (a soft, decaying rock) that breaks easily under my excavator 18" bucket teeth (11k pounds of break force at the bucket curl). I have hit a few areas that I would consider Igneous rock (like granite right in picture) that is very hard and some large boulders. I've tried to work around these. At what point will I damage or break my bucket teeth by scratching away at these hard rocks with a tooth or two trying to widen my path? Common sense tells me to not tackle rock that doesn't easily break on first draw--unless I can dig it out as a single piece. Is there rule of thumb that would let me know if I'm pushing my machine too far when trying to break through rock areas? All advice appreciated. Thx Allan