Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 31 Dec 2010 13:18:22 -0800,
wrote:

(...)

Yup. I was thinking of an internal 'scissor grapple' that would
tighten against the inside of the square hole as lifting force was
applied for those rare instances when I have a 'complete'
footing to remove.

That would simply break it apart, as my digging bar does, unless you
excavate under the concrete plug and can get the jaws to expand beyond
the hole. Then it would simply lift, not spread while it tried.

The big footings my pal put in would've popped out before
breaking, without question. Mr. Sledge had a heck of a
time breaking them up!

Just
put it in the hole of the concrete so that its spring loaded "toogles"
will flair out on the bottom side of the concrete block and yank out
the block with whatever lifting force you want to rig up to this
gadget.

Still too iffy IMHO. Requires the footing to remain in one piece.
I really like anchoring the ferruled ends of an aircraft
cable loop to a couple three places on the footing and yanking
the whole mess out of the ground via a tripod mounted winch.
It'd work on cracked footing pieces and be Quick and Fun!

Most often, I'm left with a few teensy tiny concrete rocks or a
leetle concrete ring. There normally isn't a lot of area to grab.
So the challenge is to find a hand tool that'll generate the couple
hundred lbs of force necessary to grasp and pull little shards out

The concrete ring would be a heavy bear, but a 1/2" hooked rod should
do it.

The challenge is to have the proper tools on hand
to clean out the hole efficiently, no matter what
size or shape.

of the clay a couple feet below grade. My slate bar is a champ for
loosening this stuff up, for example.

Whoa, how'd you make a bar out of _slate_, Mr. Wizard?
Ain't she fraggle, er, fragile?

http://www.restockit.com/images/Prod...27-1174300.jpg
It's made of steel! About 5' long. Amazingly useful.

sniff, sniff Hmm, smells like my teriyaki boneless beef ribs are
getting done. Time to make the rest of supper.

A pal is dropping by in an hour with Chicken and Dumplings or
BBQ ribs (She can't decide which). I will happily eat either.
Yum!

--Winston