On Sat, 5 Dec 2009 19:54:28 -0800, the infamous "Steve B"
scrawled the following:

I have about six tons of "Windsor Wall" blocks, plus a few tons of pavers I
have to set. The "Windsor Wall" blocks are about 12" wide, 6" deep and 6"
tall. There is a lip on one edge so one can stack them, and they form a
receedin taperedg wall. The pavers are about 6" x 8" x 2".

I need to cut a lot of them, either to make them fit, or cut into halves.

I cut a couple with a diamond blade on a Skil M77 saw, and they did good,
just a ton of dust, and a lot of time. Plus, blades are $20 per.

I can make a hydraulic press (I'm a welder) that will chomp these between
two blades, but first I would score a line on each side about 1/8" deep. I
have seen blocks and bricks cut with a wide mason's chisel, and done a few
myself. It works good if you have a line scored, and make a good solid hit
with a large hammer.

Has anyone had any experience with "chomping" these blocks/pavers between
two sharpened steel edges using massive hydraulic pressure to achieve
cutting force?

I've cut a dozen in half with the mason's chisel after scoring, as you
stated, but I've never tried to automate it. And I've broken brick
with a single tap from a flat-edged mason's hammer.

Either way, you'd have to score it first, then whap it soundly to cut.
Maybe have the top cutting tool come down to hold it, have two
sidecutters hit it at 60 degrees (scoring it), then lift the main
cutter to come down and cut it?

Try building a pneumatic setup, Steve. It should give you the quick
shattering whap you need to break brick. Anything else would probably
not work well. I think it relies on the vibrations through the brick
to help shatter it. I beleive that a slow, high-pressure chisel
against it would tend to crush it vs giving you a clean break.

Let us know what you end up with, OK?

--
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